out of the EO/EE + FS/WS comboes, I liked EEFS best, at least right now. the W could be useful at other times, and maybe FOE is a bit better than WOE here. I didn't like the FO combo, so WOE over WEE, plus the hooks. I can also do EEEW here. I didn't like EEOS after FEW, inviting overlaps that I won't be able to hit well, and making no S hook. Q likes FOE best by a bit, I bingo a smidge less than after WOE but score a bit better w the W for overlaps. #tacticssmall
I didn't have to phony here. I saw TOKENING but it looked awful, and missed everything else. KENoT(R)ON is a word I was not familiar with, and it plays for 94! I also had NEKTON(I)c. #knowledgelarge
Thought this was a good phony though. I chose the more volatile spot because it was less likely to get challenged if it meant leaving big spots open.
I missed the R hook on JAKE and the L hook for PATAGIA (which I straight up just didn't know, I thought it maybe took an S or nothing). Once I saw that B9 (BA)IRNS guaranteed the win I didn't really think too hard. #visionsaddest #knowledgesaddest
just play X(U). This was stupidly fancy and cost me the game. It just seemed to fit my Nationals profile. Also shout out to PAN(CREATIN). #tacticslarge
Omg...I missed a really cool idea here. I did not see that I could have made BRAIDINGS, which is valid, with G7 CAB. That sets up an S hook that will be extremely difficult for Evan to block and it keeps additional lanes in MANSIONS open. #visionlarge
I didn't have much time here and decided I just needed to play fast and I missed K3 (G)OETY. I also wasn't sure of 12H (C)OUTHY. #timesaddest #knowledgesaddest
I rejected 8J (L)UNULE because it opens the right side of the board. I missed 15A UNREEL(ER), which wins a close sim over (L)UNULE and looks best. #visionmedium
ugh i was so frustrated by JAUNTEd that i spent literally 9 minutes on this move. i spent a very long time trying to alternatively talk myself out of BESETTED*, talk myself into playing DEBT instead of bingoing, and then trying to find a better bingo than BESTEaD. then for about two minutes i started even doubting BESTEad was good. With about 12 minutes on my clock i said screw it and just played bestead. very frustrating, constantly losing to Joel. DEBT sims significantly better than BESTEaD, and BEDrEST is also a better bingo. -8.5 #strategylarge -- i didn't think he would leave the 3-3 open
I didn't see TUR(BI)D, which looks like a better X setup. It's not as clearly an X setup and doesn't open an S hook for him. With ADES I wasn't so concerned but I'm still giving him a couple awesome lanes, and he's taking the spot very often anyways. Even XU/LOT is probably fine here. #findingmedium
don't have my racks from hereon out. I think I saw most of the candidate plays and felt lucky about hitting the I in GUILT. This is bad. I think I soon regretted this fishing expedition. This is my best guess about my rack given what I wrote down on my scoresheet (EGLMNOR and EGILMNOR) #strategysaddest
Seemed a worthwhile gamble; if Tim doesn't have an E or blank it's just so annoying. Quackle slightly prefers M8 PEZANT, 2A PATZER, and 13J GATED. PEZANT opens two lines at once on a board without many good ones; PATZER creates a moderately annoying threat on column A. Marlon noted that GATED sets up both ZAG and ZIT as potential overlaps on row 11, which I didn't consider. All three plays draw more tiles towards a blank with both unseen than ADZ does. Upgrading this from small to #strategymedium. 11:14
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
I probably need to do something like N9 MALT and hope to draw the S and threaten unblockable bingos. I kept thinking that she must've been keeping 3 vowels with her last fish but she could easily be keeping just 2 which makes N9 MALT best I think. I was going for MARTLET with this fish here. #strategysaddest
B13 OW does sim ahead of dumping the Q immediately because I can easily dump it on a future turn, as much as well all know how dreaded it is. I would do B13 OW over L7 (Z)ORILS even though that is shockingly the top simming play out of everything there is. #strategysmall
MIRV# is the highest-scoring play. The best play by 2 points is 14A VOE, blocking 14B BORNA# and other words making HIPPIER. If I draw the N after VOE, I am rewarded with 4I TIN(aM)OU! #tacticssmall
dunno, what letter do you put in the 2x2 lane if you know Matt is strong AND he has an A? He probably also has an E, so RETINAE looks better. #tacticssmall
I feel I've already lost this game. I missed ECO J9. Hoping I paralyze him with this play and that next turn I can either draw well or take a low-variance turn to exchange. ECO is the best play. #findingsmall
I probably need to do N5 OU(R) here, I need two bingoes to get back in here. that also does the mose for the board longterm, makes it hard to close everything. AUDIO sims well but I need to go harder on bingoes. #findingsmall
the aggressive 14K F(I)CE sims far best, but are the 10 extra points of equity worth the incredible defense I am planning to play after FE(E)ING? (yes) #strategysmall
So, yes, I have the blank and im closer to a bingo and it's better to set myself up with 15H AJI and i DID think about it and i did put AJI on the board but then i switched it to JAI at the last second because i was afraid #strategysad
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
wrote a big X here on my scoresheet, which seems to designate that I saw that I had missed NAKFA from the N in DESIGNEE. #findingmedium
AUK L1 is only a 4-point sacrifice too, seems worth making for the leave.
(J)EU is nice here, keeps things quite tight and keeps a more balanced leave. This seems a bit worse since it makes things a bit easier on Rob #findingsmall
Many options here keep the board open for a while, which is something I want to have against him. D8 (H)UMPY is the best equity play and does take out 2x2s using the E in HEAVE. I'm glad I found this since this does set up my Y nicely, however, D4 MURP(H)Y, which I didn't see, gets rid of my Y while also setting up my B nicely. I do need some spread since I still need to recover from the Rd 5 debacle and BURP accomplishes that aspect. That said, MURPHY does a better job of that while taking out a dangerous floater. #findingsmall
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
playing on the 7 row makes a lot of sense here to block X plays like RAX 7K and J/X plays making IKAT. I like 7K GAT upon reflection. I now misread my pevious indicated score of 389 as 387, so 409. instead of 417. #strategymedium
I think 3I WUD could have been done here to open up a 2nd lane. The extra points immediately were not worth it. Gotta love new themes sometimes, right? That's the beauty of Scrabble. #visionmeh
13C D(E)NCH #knowledgesadder also 11B CH(I)LD is a better version of L(I)CHT. I really struggled here because I had basically no way to block a bingo from coming down (apart from if I find CHILD)
wow, it looks like i made a very amateurish bad play. i'm surprised I6 OF(T) and 9I OF sim THAT much better than it. i gotta get better!! - 12.5 #strategylarge
This play wasn't great. I had the right idea by blocking him from potentially getting QI down for 64, but this actually gives him back something else. J10 AIT would have done that just fine without giving up a lot of points. #visionsmall
chickened out of 2B WH(I)FT #knowledgesad also i picked 15A WHI(T) over 1A WHI(D) because i figured the T was easier to trip-trip through but i should just go for the points #strategysadder
I considered I6 VI(E)WY as well as my placement as well as exchanging. I wanted the right side of the board to be openable later on, so I eschewed the I6 placement while behind. F6 OW(L)Y sims better than I would have thought given I am keeping an ugly leave that I felt was more likely to lead to an exchange than playing VIEWY. Based on this, OWLY is probably better. #strategysmall
i guess 11F RIGgERS is better but i didnt wanna give back TRIGGERS hooks and i also felt like my play was a bit more open esp since we were about to be pretty even ?#strategysad 11H SERRInG takes the hooks debate off the table tho so #knowledgesad there
JUBE sims a little bit better. i guess quackle wants me to keep the R and S open for my own strong leave.. even though it's a little more volatile and i'm up. shrug. i do like starting to close down stuff early if possible. -1 #equity #strategysmall
C12 OTTO is so insane and it sims so well. I bingo more after J9 TO(N)G than C12 OTTO but my bingos score a lot. I need to leave 2 in the bag so that she plays like 1 which doesn't score as much and doesnt block places as easily. It's all about the timing #strategysaddest
now I need to play with INDUSIAL and forgo the cheap bingo. I knew that even if INDUSIAL was no good he was likely to let it go. It was the small percentage of the time it wasn't good and he challenged it off that would have potentially thrown me off even more. Fear management. #knowledgesaddest
I should probably leave the 3 row open, it's hard for him to close. I hated all my options - DAV(E)N? that puts pressure on at least, it's probably better than VAN. I was kinda hoping he wouldn't have a good TAGS block, but he can always do a mediocre one from the G in KLEAGLES or with ETA, and then I have to bingo on some terrible marginal lane. I think I got too obsessed with staying in bingo range, DAVEN isn't likely to win but at least I will be able to have a place to bingo. I think B4 ADD is good as well, keeping the 3 row and 13 rows open. either one of those seem way better than VAN #strategylarge