incredibly frustrated here. The board isn't close to being contained and now if he gets a bingo I am barely ahead. E7 T(U)RR is winning a sim, isn't that ridiculous. I saw it but thought it took an E. lmao fuck. I can just block the S hook later with a VIVAT play ending in RT. #knowledgemedium I exchanged XTTRT keeping RZ
Yes, I saw 2A PANADA, and I absolutely should have played it--it scores better, keeps better, turns over one more tile for the blanks, and creates a high-scoring lane on column A, which I may need because I am behind. #strategymedium
Didn't know fricking EWERS. Feels like SADDEST but since it's only 5 points. #knowledgesad and also 1K VEG(A)S. I was completely out of time. #timeSADDEST
CoCo Seattle Scrabble tournament round 4. The static evaluator likes 8H CRAMBE, an interesting idea that prevents most seven-letter bingos that don't contain an S. Championship Player likes 8D CEMBRA#, which I didn't know. I was unsure of CAMBER, which I would have played at 8D. #knowledgesmall
I8 SPOOL looks a little better. NORSS doesn't even bingo more than NRS and is much higher variance, plus SPOOL creates another S hook I can use. #strategysmall
big oofs all around here, frens. 15A FOREtOL(D), 15A OvERFOL(D), 15A FORsLOE(D) 15B REFLOO(D)s all would have been fine #KNOWLEDGESADDEST #FINDINGSADDEST #VISIONSADDEST
This is the highest scoring play, but it empties the bag, and Ruth may be able to outscore me in the endgame. Quackle suggests M12 LIB, which sets up a scoring lane on row 15 that only I can use. #tacticslarge
I briefly thought about doing 5C OHIA or 5C CIAO as well as this, but those gave up too many points, and I still have Columns C and D to use. J2 OHO would have also been an interesting move setting up my C, however, I'm still not likely to win this game. And that's the hardest for Robin to block. #visionlarge #strategylarge
D4 KILL(JO)Y. I'm pretty sure I would have known this was good if I had seen it and I didn't even look at playing through JO, making it a #visionsmall mistake. Also #knowledgesmall for the +5.
6A YARDeRS #knowledgesaddest #visionsaddest. This ends up being a 12-point dynamic equity mistake. I saw the word but wasn't sure of it. I might have tried it but didn't even see the spot. My play is second best tho
I did see O10 ARGUER, but what prompted me to keep EGR was the open I in TRIGO and the 4 unseen Ns. I didn't think this would sim too far back, but Quackle doesn't seem to like my move, and I understand that knowing ARGUER is 11 more. #strategylarge
This was my second-worst mistake of the tournament. I saw multiple winning plays, including C1 RAT, which is tied for best. I was devastated when I noticed my phony. My thought process was something like this:
[on Dennis's turn] I see C1 RAT, that scores 19. Oh, I see 7F TAR making T(OHO)#, that scores 20.
[Dennis plays MOYL#] ok, Dennis keeps EST, where does that go? Oh, does STERNING# take the S? L3 EST would score 27. I should block. M2 INTRA# for 13 looks like my best block. [I set INTRA on board] Where else does EST go? Oh, he has 3A S(I)TE making S(HOVING), that scores 24. [I put tiles back on rack] [after calculation] INTRA wins by 1 after SITE ... RAT blocks, but it ties after EST, and I am unwilling to challenge ... TAR outruns EST by 1 point and SITE by 4 points, so if STERNINGS is phony, TAR is theoretically better than INTRA.
[I play TAR and hit clock] Oh no, I just played RAB*. #endgamelarge (-35)
glad I didn't see GLITCHED (apparently not a word??) and let the phony go, definitely would have played it.
GLID/GILD K5, would have played that. #findingSAD
I played this fairly quickly but didn't consider WA(N)ION which looks way better. I think this is a strategic error because I didn't really think about how OW keeps duplicated tiles in AN and blocks the E, so I didn't look for a play that played more tiles. I bingo a bit more after OW still, but not by a ton and I score more. It's a bit better for the board longterm as well, I expect a play on row 15 which will help keep things open for another couple turns, rather than a blocking play after OW. I also lower his average score by a point with WANION! surprising. #strategymedium
this is only an 8-point mistake, but it's laughably stupid. Completely spaced out on GAM's obscure hook. Best is 3G AGMA which I saw as a 2nd play following F(R)EMD, but thought this was best because it blocked RAYAH plays. Great job, me. #endgamemedium
RURP and URP on row 6 look best here; they score as well or better than TROP and yield fewer bingos in response, especially RURP. The A1 scoring spot is tough for Ayo to hit with this pool. #strategymedium 4:39
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
it seemed too easy for him to bingo making metrics if i play it at 12H. but then i can get a big Z play! if i play my metric and he bingoes i might not get much back! -3.5 #tacticsmedium
-21 #endgamelarge. i should do better. I10 TE(L)OI looks best here. i considered GIT/GIN/AGIN, etc, but didn't see EONIAN. eventually i just said screw it, let's see if this works.
I have a habit of misevaluating Gs and Vs. 7G MOG is clearly better, bingoing a whopping 10% more often and yielding 7 fewer points per turn to Matthew. Oddly, I'm not sure it crossed my mind as an option. #findinglarge
i always absolutely hate having to make decisions like this. is AW a fish? it seems like i just have to score. quackle likes it too, but it also likes 11C EARWIG. upon further thought, i think i would have played EARWIG if i'd seen it. #tacticssmall
H1 GANEF; let's keep some good leaves, open boards, and score. GID keeps an inflexible leave for next turn and i will struggle a bit more to score. -10 #strategylarge
I didn't see the bingoes on Column I- hANGABL(E), GNAwABL(E), and GAiNABL(E) all play. However, not bingoing is actually better with all those 3x3s that those plays give up in a close game. If I'm not going to bingo, which I suppose I had the right idea either way, then O8 ALANG is definitely better. #findingmedium
This is a huge mistake because it allows 10B JAR creating a pretty much unblockable A(JAR) hook. I was trying to block 11C RAJ, but I should have played D1 WYLE allowing it and the board is toast. #strategylarge
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