Meh, I liked the 12 extra points over AUDIT in the same spot, but AUDIT keeps a much more flexible leave for this particular board. I can draw plays like 5K PARR or PAIR as well as 8L PAGE next turn. IU just isn't doing much. #strategymedium
Although FIQUE gets me 12% more bingos than QUITE, it only results in an average score of one more point per turn for me on my next move. Odd. #tacticssmall
at some point before my turn realized this likely wasn't a word, and that INARMED was the word in here. Still, didn't find MIDRANGE so I had to phony. Got away with this, but MIDRANGE is probably correct #findingSADDEST
I won't need the GAUNT hook after I spotted this overlap making 3 separate 3-letter words. Very happy to have seen that this still fits. And it's rare to see 2 bingoes with a W in the same game knowing how many bingoes it actually kills. #visionsolid
4C MI(K)VOT is a hard word to see, but that does look a little stronger. F3 VIOL closes the board too much at my deficit, so I do like this better than VIOL. #findingsmall
So many lanes, so much potential! I spent more than 5 minutes looking for bingos and didn't see one. After the game, I gave the rack to Alec and he found the only bingo in about 30 seconds. Dude is *sharp*. Also, LENO 1A is better than any other play by far. I must have gotten flustered after wasting all my time failing to find the bingo that I didn't take more time to find the right non-bingo play. (-30) #visionlarge, #strategylarge, #timemanagementlarge
I was low on time and forgot to track the blank in BIOTITE. I gave up an played line with seconds left. Only 14A LINIE(R), 14A INLIE(R), and 12F (T)I(R)E win. #TIMESADDEST
so now this plays with TUTTIS for 101. I considered many times whether I would be game to challenge TUTTIS this game, and figured that I wouldn't be able to. #knowledgesmall
I knew that C2 GINN(Y) gave back 4A Zi(N)G but I was low af on time and could not figure out what else to do. Maybe play L11 N(I)M? He can have 14H ZOoGLEA for a million #strategysaddest
this was probably the most idiotic thing I did at Nationals. I saw that I could probably find a 2x2, but thought that I could just hook AY and score just as much, since the 2x2 was just 6 more points, equivalent to hooking AY! So I just went for the first thing I saw. Unfortunately, math does not work like that. #sad #findingsmall
C: I thought about burning the blank with QUA 14F, and indeed it wins the sim. The blank is usually worth 30-35 points, but here it's a little bit less since I'm relatively close to a bingo even without it. (-4.5) #leaveevaluationmedium
J: He said he considered QUaSS 14F. He probably also considered QUa in the same spot but knowing his style he would not play this since it gives back an immediately lucrative bingo spot for me. Another really interesting play is 14A SO(T), keeping the deadly QU? combination for 14F. It really doesn't appear to be a play keeping the Q, so unless I had a play in that spot, Carl would be likely to be able to play there next turn, perhaps even draw an A or an I to be able to retain his blank. I really like that play, but QUa's numbers are crushing according to quackle. 38-point average score after 66 instead of 66 average score after 31 (assuming Carl finds all of his blank bingos, which is a likely scenario).
Considering the option of recurringly keeping the Q, I think SO(T) would be the play here. #tacticssmall
A: The best plays are exchanges: Quackle's pick is to exchange all 7, followed by other exchanges keeping the S and maybe one other tile. Keeping the S seems right because it is essential for column O and also useful on column N making ZITIS. GIRT blocks column D and leaves 6 in the bag, making it impossible for me to play two bingos. #strategysmall
C: Worse yet, a few years ago, I prepared a spreadsheet of all the blank bingos with 5 or fewer solutions, and have looked at the top 3,000 8s maybe 50 times each. One of these blanagrams is ?AEILNNO, with four solutions. If I had recognized this, I might have found mINNEOL(A) E4, but that seemed like the least promising lane, and I didn't give it enough time. All those hundreds of hours I've spent looking at those lists, and then I miss something from there. But it pays to remember that all the study in the world can't guarantee that you'll find the word. It merely increases your chances of finding it.
I honestly thought he had taken away a ticket back into the game, but unfortunately I did not see my bing to the O, once again. Damn. If I had only thought about this rack as more than a "play ENTICES/IGLOOS if he doesn't block and play it with KIS if he does block" #findinglarge #knowledgelarge
wow this is awful! I def overestimated EEESX and underestimated EIQ. Us are out, I have QI as backup, and QUIN? plays at the bottom right can hit hard. M1 EXES looks like the play here. I also didn't realize K6 QI is better than this cause I set up EXES next turn for 51!! well worth the 2 point sacrifice, but EXES still kills that in a sim #tacticslarge
missed a couple of things here, mainly MAR(CELLED). Didn't know MARCEL was a verb. I guess I'll know for next time CELLED is the opening play. I also missed OZA(L)ID for 40, and potentially misevaluated ZO(O)ID K2. Wanted to do a bit more to the board here, felt in control. #knowledgemedium #findingmedium
i wrote BAD !! next to this play at some point. not sure what makes it so much worse than missing HADJEE, but something like AVAIL or even EVICT is straightforward here. -2.5 #strategysmall i think i'm mostly mad at myself for fishing for no reason.
#knowledgesmall for WINDWAy. I desperately set up a 3x3 with TAO. The sim winners are C1 ALO(W) and A3 OLEA, with the same idea. ALO(W) nearly maximizes my average score next turn, while TAO maximizes my opponent's score. #strategymedium
Another pathetic play. I did not know CLADIST, but I'm thankful that no bingoes were missed here. O8 ALCIDS is 41 which is perfectly fine. #findinggross
Another tank here as I evaluated as many placements as possible. The board after STRIGAE was pretty close to locked down, FOXIEST plays aside; maybe one or two more defensive moves would create a real problem for Dave. Quackle actually prefers 11A STRIGATE and I5 AIGRETS, both of which I considered; I'm not sure I thought of 14B SEAGIRT, which is also a play it likes better. #tacticssmall
I didn't consider for long enough the option of exchanging OQ. I also eschewed the defensive aspect of LOX. It would appear exchanging down to ELR is best here #tacticssmall
Way off. The right play here is MURA 5B, setting up the Y. I didn't see it, or anything else for that matter. And no, I didn't pick up on any tells; I'm just a spazz. -17 #visionlarge
Potomac Tournament Round 3. 8D BANGS is better, obviously, and I did consider that I was giving up 8 points to play 8G BANG, but I genuinely don't know what was going through my head that I didn't play it #strategymedium
i considered trying OVERDARK* here. he might have let it go after an incorrect challenge. REVOKED C3 sims best though; didn't spot it. -1 #findingsmall
K10 IS bings way more. Whatever I play here, he's going to know I'm close to a bing. I might as well increase the bing % and fish the S instead of the N. #strategylarge because this is way worse for bing %.
getting V stuck if I play REL(I)EF, so I need to keep at least an E or playing the V. Thought this would be good to keep VEE(P). Quackle doesn't find it but I imagine it's fine. I draw into EVENT sometimes as well. This play has a value of -3.875, average spread +137.125. Quackles best find is 2A LEV(I)N which has an accurately calculated value of -1.75, average spread being 139.25. So this is -2 unless there's something better #strategysmall
Quackle likes 11I OMEN a lot, blocking columns J-L and, to some extent, M. I wanted to keep my N for E4 INFLUXES, and ATOM is the best equity play, but blocking the board is of greater importance. #tacticssmall
I can't afford to keep two of BPV here. B9 BE(S)POT# is best; it frustrates column A and row 15, unloads two of my clunkers, and maximizes turnover for the blanks. I did not know BESPOT#. Next best is the equity play, A6 BOPO#. #knowledgelarge
spent forever trying to find a triple triple and ran out of time. i hope i would have found POSTBAg if the game depended on it. -14 #findinglarge
i absolutely knew i was going to have a bad tournament after this game. it really sucks to lose the opening game, and as much as i need to practice zen and whatever, you just know it's not your tournament after this. i was not feeling it. i do need to practice staying calm before nationals though, and i should have made more of an effort here.
I saw AAEOPZ and was hoping the last tile would be a T for ZAPATEO. But I'm glad I didn't draw ZAPATEO since there would not have been a home for it. Now then: I think this is better than the 9C placement as it is more defensive. ZOEA would have been a little better just because I keep 1 less vowel. #findingsmall
I'll give myself a #knowledgelarge for challenging the valid 4 even though it only ended up costing me 5 points; it could've been much, much worse to have chickened out of a valid bingo on row 10.10:55
Big mistake. I was low on time and did not see that 2B BRAINI(A)C was available in the pool. The best play is L10 (GO)AT by about 30 equity points (I have no idea why Championship Player says it's that much better). 11K (HOO)N is second best making a strong S setup. Other winning plays are stuff like N11 POTT. #strategysaddest
I really only considered QaDI O1, VE(G) I6 and this. I was worried SERIFING* was good, so I calculated the endgames with that in mind. This is wrong since SERIFING* is not a word. 3K V(OWE)D blocks REFINES/SMEW, the only available bingo, and keeps threats of Qa(D)I open.
#knowledgemedium
This game is going to be interesting. Too bad I missed a key option here, E5 LAY(O)UTS, so perhaps things would have been different if I had seen that. I liked this over (G)UY because the leave was less bingo-dependent and slightly less variant. I probably missed LAY(O)UTS because I spent the first minute or so of my time lamenting that SALUTORY* was the word I think Nigel Peltier played against Conrad at 2014 Nationals which Conrad accepted. #findingsmall
i didn't see ANNUL, i did see ANN but didn't like keeping a U -- but even ANN sims a lot better than BLUNT. i think ANNUL/ANN are nice because of the defense, BLUNT gives up more pts. -8 #strategylarge
D11 (T)OTTY seems right, I hit SIZ(Y) with an I, DOZ(Y) with an O, ZEDS or DE(CRYING) with an E, and a whole host of other fun scoring plays exist because I kept the Z, the best tile in Scrabble. #knowledgemedium #findingmedium
lots of options here. This seems a bit too middling and remember regretting it. G(ID) is fine even though it doesn't hit much. I should block the spot and keep decently. #strategysmall
EXED much better, fewer points, but blocks Wendy's best chance at winning COXES making LORDINGS also good, didn't know that was valid. #endgameSAD #knowledgeSAD #strategySAD
part of the reason i played this instead of the standard QI is the hope of challenging off a hook on it. some dead 6s are tricky and i think this is one of them. still, it's certainly not optimal play. -4 #tacticsmedium
Taking the scoring spot at N2 and setting up an S-hook. N1 EE# is better execution, as it scores 7 more points both immediately and on average next turn. #tacticsmedium
i deserved to draw another I. i recognized here that i was in trouble, and i took a deep breath to calm down, i spent about a minute before looking at the board again -- then i still was unable to find a spot for IDIOM even though i saw it on my rack. sigh. it's the best play here, at 11J. -4 #focus #visionmedium
This is such an automatic play that how could there possibly be anything better? Well, I did look for better plays and missed them. KEFIR 8A, which scores a little more, takes out Column B, and-- most importantly, does not open a big scoring spot for my opponent. But a true wizard would have found FEZ H14, setting up the other F. The only other hook that could go there is a T, and there is < 20% chance that Alec drew it after GASTREA. (-15) #visionlarge
The sim winners are N1 GYRE, GUYSE#, and GYRES. GUY maximizes equity and bingo chance, but GYRE, GUYSE#, and GYRES score significantly more and turn over more tiles for the unseen blanks. #strategylarge somehow