I considered sim-winners OE/AEON 7K, but it seemed like Will would be able to control the board after that, whereas OXO ensured that I would have a place for my bingo if I drew one. Quackle says this gives up too much. (-7) #strategymedium
Definitely wasn't doing 7F or 7H GIGOT, especially against someone so defensive and when I'm already down a bingo. K4 OUTING was probably a better play with the open N in INOSINE even though it's no guarantee that's staying open, and it takes many hooks so that the board stays open longer. #strategyquestionable
Sims says C1 OAT, but I'm not convinced. A human player won't open as much. Maybe I have to play 10F RE(LEG)ATIOn and hope for the best. #strategysaddest
MIND 12K is great. why did i create such a GIANT SPOT for no reason?? just 3 more points?? incomprehensibly bad, how do i stop making these errors? i quit. -4.5 #strategylarge
this is actually a pretty counterproductive play. I need to admit I am at a disadvantage and play FIB 7K. This gives back too many bingos and scoring plays. I am setting up points on row 8, but also on row 4 with TEFF. Cool play that I should have seen. I saw BE(D)IM, which is also a lot better. #findingmedium #strategymedium
This is the best in terms of win %, winning 7/8. N12 Z(I)G does the same but with a slightly better equity. #endgamesmall and #knowledgesmall for my sad challenge next turn.
there's a bunch of plays that sim better again, but i thought it very important to go for the X. there are at least two large spots for it, and it seemed like this was the way to win. macondo likes being more measured with F2 CUI(N)G or 7C AULIC, 7D URIC, etc. am i deluding myself and just getting super lucky? #strategymedium
This time, I came up with a good short-term blocking play. But the issue is bigger than last turn: I didn't see 15F OR(D)NANCE. Big whiff. #findinglarge
I probably didn't need to be so defensive here since Amika didn't keep an S after OOLITE. I got too focused on blocking this and shoud have looked harder and spotted C9 DA(B)BLE for 40, even with the hooks it takes. That's too many more points. #visionmedium
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
13A MAX gives back a lot on column A and row 14, but there is already a lot of scoring potential on this board, and MAX unloads one of my A's and scores one more point. #strategysmall
The sun has pretty much set and I was also slightly tilted because I thought UNMARRED might have been phony (it's not). I have no idea what I'm supposed to do here other than resign. #strategysaddest
I gave up here and blocked some potential bingos since spread could be really important later on. N7 YOGI is even better for saving spread. #strategysaddest
LIBEL 11I is actually simming better; i suppose there's the dangerous hotspot i'm creating, plus it's relatively easy for him to score a bunch at 11K as well with the right letters. -2 #strategysmall #finding
His only valid bingo was 12H (N)OONTIDE for 70. Instead, I let him get away with this plausible phony. You can apply things like suntan lotion, right? #knowledgesad
i missed ZIBET, which is weird because i'm pretty sure i thought the words "i have ZIBET". -8 #nervousnesslarge #findinglarge i knew i was going to find a way to lose this game because i haven't beaten joel in like 6 games and no matter how positive i was trying to think it was over as soon as something told me to play UTE.
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
worst mistake of my life. i thought SOY closed that part of the board permanently and forgot about the H hook on RAKIS. additionally the leave is so much worse than playing YOU 14F. of course YOU has its own defensive issues, but then maybe YOUSE is an in-between play. SOY is so so so bad and lost me the game. but would YOU be comfortable playing YOU here? -12 #strategylarge
ahhh CONVENTED! #visionlarge I also kinda regretted playing FUN, it lets him overlap sometimes when he has MNX tiles. The sim is kinda weird cause it has him opening a lot after FUN, but realistically I think I should play (E)NUF to be more defensive. CO(N)N is super defensive but also blows up my rack. #tacticssmall for ENUF.
10G G(O)WD doesn't win often. i bingo rarely with that fairly ugly pool. neither does M11 GAWPS, but that one wins at least a little more often because of going for the Z or something. -12 #strategylarge
kind of an insane idea. Thought about IND(I)CT 5E which was also insane and fun. I also considered (I)NDICT, X(E)D and NIX(ED). The problem with this move is that I am keeping NN even when I cash the X on column F, which I think is workable, but what can't be worked around is that cashing the X sets up very easy overlaps for Joey. This means I either need to make sure I'm not keeping NN and score 4 less (and draw an O or A more often) or I just need to stomach playing the X now and ether fishing (XED now hits 30% next turn) or NIX(ED) which hits 20%. Quackle can't decide which INDICT placement is better, but those sim best. This is around 4 down. #strategysmall
Odd that I didn't think of 5E OVERATE or even 10H COX; just debated OX vs EX, really. I figured the Z already played in some good spots and I would bingo more after EX than OX, which is true. But OVERATE is much better defensively and draws into XI 14J with an I and redraws the EX/OX plays atop MANURE next turn with any of AEO, at which point I can play them without worrying about high scoring parallels. #findingsmall 17:23
i like this move, but quackle thinks just dropping the H is fine. apparently i bingo close to 89% of the time when i do that! definitely sounds a bit high, since i don't hit bingos with the B or R, and he's going to block some percentage of the time. so i'm not sure. anyway, i didn't see that many possible bingos, and wanted to keep the F for scoring at O4. #strategysmall ?
Wasn't really sure either way here. Decided to go with it, but was kind of aware it might not be a word. Some are intentional, some are unintentional, and this is somewhere in between. #knowledgesmall
I know that FRS is in the bag and I was trying to set up some unblockable bingo but I think he's able to block everything. I dunno. F1 (ZO)RI seems pretty good here. #strategysaddest
Considered BIPOD in the same spot, but didn't want to allow high-scoring 7s ending in S with all four Ss out. Also PRO is a much better leave than NR especially with no Ns played yet. At this point I'm pretty much conceded to an open board so wasn't that worried about the BINDI hook, so chose BIND over BOND to avoid a possible onslaught of Is from the pool. The best play is probably 2J IODIN, which I didn't see. #visionsmall
FIE 14A is best here. I considered stuff like that, but GRIEF seemed better because it scored more and didn't give back parallel plays. (-3) #strategysmall
now this isn't actually so bad since I have a pretty good stranglehold on the position afterwards, but 15A LO is still the play by a few points. #knowledgesad
7F NOODGE scores 1 more than GEODE, keeps a better leave, and does not set up a Z bomb. While I agree with Quackle that NOODGE is better than GEODE, I don't see how it's a 10-point mistake. #findinglarge
yeahhh wasn't really sure of SICE, that's bad. ERODE is pretty good if I will play SICE next turn, but she also has an S a lot of the time and may take the spot. #knowledgesmall
I have trouble seeing the word BUNGEE for some reason. It eventually jumps to 3rd in the sim because Quackle recognizes that I do need to pick a WEN hook to hit stuff there. Even 4C NGWEE is fine since there's still 6 Es left to pick. I probably should have taken the 6 more even with getting rid of both Es. #strategymedium
i was trying to be a little bit clever and not keep IU or ITU or EITU. i thought this might sim slightly below but it seems like a stylistic choice. -1 #tacticssmall
I am terrible. I thought it was only KNAIDELS and that I had phonied with SANDLIKE before, but it was DIRTLIKE* against Vera in 2013 where I had TIDELIKE available and chose wrong. Stupid stupid, this is the perfect time to phony anyway. Dahhhhh also KADI and KINDA..... #knowledgesaddest #findingsaddest
I always underestimate how much more bingo-prone the I is than the A. I felt that AD had enough synergy over DI that ADES was the better leave, but the difference in scoring isn't that great and DEIS bingoes a few percent more than ADES. ex AE also bingoes more than both, which I find kinda surprising cause I felt ADEIS was one of the worse 3v2c leaves, since the D is less flexible than stuff like the LNRT tiles. Ofc that's with no inference in the sim, Joey will restrict my bingo% more after an x2. I'm willing to say this is a #tacticssmall since I doubted DEIS too much. IDEA or AIDE are okay optimally, but it's pretty close, and my plan against joey is definitely not to play either of those plays, giving back a lot more in score and bingoes. even optimally I tend towards exchanging.