Chosen over 13E VINED to preserve a better board for making a comeback, but there sure are a lot of Os unseen... F2 or 13H VENINE look like safer options that still keep a lot of threats available. Tough call. #strategymedium
This was really bad. I got paranoid about the S hook for MADLINGS for some reason which is ridiculous since I have two S. 12A BUIKS is best. #strategysadder
I'm so damn lazy. i saw sherbet, and freshet, then i thought hey freshet looks cooler, so i laid it down, then halfway to hitting the clock i realized sherbet is better positionally, but i couldn't be arsed to change it!! wtf? come on cesar! -2 #tacticssmall
N10 FEERIN and N10 FINEER sim best which seems reckless but plays parallel to N10 FREON can score a lot, so I think they are slightly better. #strategysadder
Quackle says I can win 1/4 times with but I'm pretty sure it's lying to me beacuse I played them out and I don't see it. I have no idea if I have a win here or what the best play is. Regardless this play is terrible and I had no time. #strategylarge #timelarge
Good thing I found the word. I would play this at G6 in a do-over. That's much more defensive and scores 4 more, especially after his range likely consists of another S and another vowel. #visionsmall
He ALMOST played L9 RAIS(I)NG, which would have given me M5 PINKEST
D3 P(O)KE here? Keep trying for a bingo? #strategylarge Also, I miscounted 5F (JO)KIEST as 34 oop
missed 3(!) bingos here, and I knew I was missing them too. LOPPERED and LAPPETED I didn't know for sure, and I chickened out of DEPEOPLE. #knowledgeSADDEST
It seems that I undervalued EINT on this particular board after doing JEON. I can easily parallel the EON with my leave, so 2 extra points isn't worth it here. #strategysmall
now I see the spot and decide POUNCY* is phony
I missed every scoring option here. PUNANY# and UNPAY# and NU(N)NY# I didn't know, but L4 NANCY sims best. #findinglarge
i had a very bad feeling about his rack based on my last couple of games, and knew i needed to race to the blanks and S (SWILE, two blanks unseen, etc). i thought i should block a few lanes. of course it's an overreaction to blow up this nice rack for 20 pts only when i can do L1 KAMI, which decently blocks the T as well but keeps a much better leave. 4B CINEMA is another very nice alternative. this is clearly me being scared and overreacting to the way this tournament is going. -7 #strategymedium
missed all the other bings here. Sadface. RECYCLER I should see, RECOVERY I should see. mERCERY I don't play because it opens a 3x3, I'd best play CE(L)ERY for 28. Also thought he might challenge this. #findinglarge
LIRI is the equity play, but Quackle strongly favors 13C TIRL. The only reason I can think of is that Richard averages more next turn by playing through the R or I of LIRI, blocking my best lanes in the process. #tacticssmall
failed to find plays here, many plays look good that I didn't see. This was the start of me thinking I was ahead, when Noah and I were actually around tied. DUNGAREE scored a lot. 13C MOONI(L)Y looks decent here. 9G O(T)IC is very nice, and M(O)ONY only does well because it keeps O(T)IC for next turn. N10 (D)OOMY is also a good play. #findingsmall
2B AECIA is best, unloading vowels and occasionally drawing into 1A QAT with four T's unseen. I seem to never find AECIA, especially when I am distracted by the Q on my rack. #findingsmall
Quackle burns the S for an extra 5 points with STELAI. I'm not sure why that is. Another superior play is OILCLOTH 8A, which I never would have seen. I'd find it as a bingo every time, but not as an extension. (-2% win chances, -10 valuation) #strategysmall, #visionlarge
huge misplay this turn, totally missed a lot of interesting options. HUMANE opens the door to GE(D) and LE(D)E and LE(D)GE as setups. GAED N2 is also perhaps a better play. S(T)AGED is interesting as well. The key here is whether he has a blank on his rack. I think the answer is usually, since Q(I) for 31 would often come down. But with the board not great for bingoes, or a rack that isn't helped by the blank a lot, he may elecet to play Qi without another blank in hand. I remember thinking it was decently likely he didn't have another blank, but wasn't sure. I now think that he would probably keep the blank very often and play for 31, the options to outrun in an endgame are immense. A sim has GED, LEDGE, STAGED, GAED, EDGE, and GLADE I'm really not sure what's right, but I am pretty sure I would play LE(D)GE had I seen HUMANE. #visionsmall
I'm so bad at tactical defense, honestly. I always overestimate 7s lanes and think I'm fancy by playingsomething "defensive" like HERL when really I'm allowing way more bingoes. L(A)THER is fine as a standard play, even with his range it is still a good play, I'm not giving back so many extra bingoes that wouldn't play otherwise. If I really want to be defensive I should do L(A)TH or something, or even HERL D6. #tacticslarge
This is not correct because 11J ODEON and 11J ODEONS block both outplays of 11J OUTLAW and N5 OUTLAW. I saw the ODEON(S) blocks but couldn't see anything better. B12 LOUT is best. #endgamesaddest
K5 JAY. I totally missed that spot. Also B10 CA(R)NY sets up a huge X spot which I guess is okay since I'm down a lot but I didn't even notice it. #VISIONSADDEST
This play is another mistake. I looked for some time for -LESS words and I can't be chickening out on things like K5 BeDLESS which is 101. The only playable bingo on Row 14 is DEBtL(E)SS. Even something as simple as 14G B(E)DS is better because it isn't worth it to keep 2 Ss on this board. #findinglarge
3B RA(V) setting up J*GGLE* bingos sims way better than anything else. He might blockwith plays on 2A more than the sim does, but I think it's probably still best. #strategysaddest
Definitely questionable. I didn't like 5I MOTLIEr or MOTILEs, but I did not see 11G T(O)ILsOME, which is definitely safer knowing there's 3 Ss left, and Robin didn't seem to hesitate burning an S with DUNTS. #findinglarge
This one came to mind just because we all went through such an era! If I had seen D8 (M)ODICA, I would have played it just because I keep better and I score an extra point. #findingsmall
tough choice here again. I could open nothing of import with M3 JOG and sacrifice a lot of points, go with DEBARKING now and eat his bingos, or go with JINGO 4A which seems to be most thematic, hoping to respond to a bingo with a scoring play from the J. Big issue with both JINGO and DEBARKING is that they bail out a lot of draws. AI and II in particular get bailed out bigtime with bingos after DEBARKING and JAILER with JINGO. That's just the beginning. However, he bingos so often no matter what (2/3 if I do nothing and he finds everything) that it's maybe worth giving up here. I so often sacrifice points to play JOG and get bingo-ed on from the C. But the lingering issue is DEBARKERS. Since Quackle once again assumes DEBARKERS will be played if Wally doesn't bingo, other plays (JINGO and JOG) are a lot more reasonable than Quackle thinks. Considering the numbers and what I know here, I think this was a minor mistake, despite winning the sim. Definitely a tough position to sus out without calculating and iterating, which I don't think I did either. #strategysmall
I was under time pressure and just played equity. I got very lucky that this blocked 11D (BE)WEARIED which I completely missed. 12K VLOG(S) is best. #timesaddest
EENRR is so gross to keep with DHAL...Quackle is saying I should've tried to avoid that with something like 9H DERN. DHAL sims closely behind. #strategysmall
oof. i chickened out on RETRACER, wrote it down but couldn't pull the trigger. ERR is still not right if retracer was phony, maybe something at 12 A like CARET/CERATE/CREATE. -38 #knowledgelarge
Right idea. I did see a good play and considered DEMETON as well as MONTY and MONEY at J2. MON(E)YED is the standout play since that does dispose of the Y, which can be a bingo killer even though it's a nice scoring tile to keep on this specific board since DEMETON sets up another spot for my Y. #findingmedium
I'm really surprized to see RAX F4 win the sim. I wanted to keep that RAZ combo for 14H. I suppose drawing the Q without that U is pretty bad, but I wouldn't think burning the R and the A would be worth it. (-5) #strategysmall
I was trying to set up my S for PECS, but I didn't actually note that there's still two Hs out. I score and bingo the most next turn after J12 PEC, but my opponent also scores substantially more. L12 TEMP is fine here. #strategymedium
#knowledgesad for challenge and #tacticssad because Exch. DNQVW is slightly better, though I figured that with 3 Ts out and no Ns, RT wouldn't be as good
Before this turn, I had maybe 9 minutes on my clock, but my tracking was off. I think I spent about 8 minutes retracking before realizing we were missing a tile. By the time we found it I had maybe a minute left. I panicked and played this. #TIMESADDEST
I think I didn't consider FLABS but I kinda remember considering FLAB and not liking that C- bingoes wouldn't play. I think FLABS is def worth it though, this is badddd #findingmedium
I think I briefly thought the E in BIVALENT was an I (lmao) and didn't play L12 WAUR. Seems pretty lost regardless, not sure what I'm supposed to do. I thought If I drew XZ and some vowels I might have a chance. #strategysaddest
H10 (T)ANGUN is better because it doesn't make the hotspot. I really hated giving all those floaters but I didn't see anything better. #knowledgemedium
Spent a while on this turn looking for bingoes starting at C3 ending with -MOS or -MES, and there were none. 15H (A)cROSOME is a hard find, but nonetheless a miss for 6 more. #findingmedium
Right bing, but should've played AIrpROX instead of AIRprOX to reduce Jason's scores by 1 when he plays at 8A. #tacticssmall, like really really small.
now I was hoping she'd just challenge PEISE, and not MUCROS, which I was still unsure of. EPRISE# is best. I have to give +5 again next turn to report the score accurately #knowledgemedium
Quackle prefers 8C OY, which, unlike BOYS, leaves lanes for sevens ending in S. OY blocks columns C, D, and E, which may be a downside; but BOYS blocks them as well. K6 BOY may be best because it doesn't block any lanes and it even sets up a lane at L1. #tacticssmall
6C DI #VISIONSADDEST Spoiler alert: thus begins a series of the most ridiculous fishes, serving absolutely no-one. Do not be like me, folks. I just clocked out at this point in the game and never actually hit my bingo.
Another interesting call between HEXED, INDEXED, and XI, all of which score essentially the same. Whichever I play, Jackson pretty much has to bingo immediately, since otherwise I can play down through the D in BIND and block everything at once. XI is pretty clearly worse since it blocks nothing and also allows plays like JOINT/BINDI to not empty the bag, which makes it possible that they might outrun me without a bingo (virtually impossible if they empty the bag, as they would after INDEXED or HEXED). As for HEXED vs. INDEXED, it looks like I misevaluated the danger or row 14 after INDEXED. There's really not that many bingos he can have there with that pool, but HEXED gives back stuff like DIVINING, DONATING, DONATION. These bngoes also score more than row 14 bingos do after INDEXED, making me less likely to be able to outrun them. So INDEXED looks like a small improvement. #strategysmall #preendgamesmall
YET or YELD E9 win the sim easily. It's possible that I missed the Y hook on OGEE, but maybe it didn't seem right to fish at this score. E5 does seem like a good thing to block, but apparently not worth breaking up the rack over. Either #strategymedium or #visionmedium (-6)
losing the wheels on the bus here. Missing G10 H(OW)F, but holding on to what I hope will be a closed board soon. Also missing 13I DASHI which is fine. #visionmedium #findingmedium
I knew DONNART meant stupid but i couldnt remember if it was an adjective or a noun (i.e. a stupid person) #knowledgesaddest NORLANDS fits in this same spot
JD: Wow INCH(WORM). Why are there so many WORM extensions?
SK: 2nd best play, but a distant 2nd. This is where I could have used the WORM extension INCH(WORM) for 66. I clearly did not think of the extensions that could have come into play with my placement. #visionsad
I think this was an overreaction to his fish. As much as this move balances openness of the board and score because the HILTS hook has been open for a while, K3 OGEE still is best. #strategymedium