Plays made by the player that were challenged by an opponent. This list may not be completely accurate. Check the 'Challenge Heuristics' section of the about page for more information.
Plays made by the player that were challenged by an opponent. This list may not be completely accurate. Check the 'Challenge Heuristics' section of the about page for more information.
Games in which there are at least 5 challenges made. This list may not be completely accurate. Check the 'Challenge Heuristics' section of the about page for more information.
not good enough. 12A SWIVED scores more and i might be able to score next turn too on the S. VICED though sims best, for 38 vs 33 and keeps the W to score with. -6 #strategymedium
well. one O unseen, and i have to hope he doesn't have it, i think. but quackle thinks this is too much and that i should exchange all -- i might agree, actually. -5 #strategymedium
i thought this was ok since his next rack is random/bad, but GIROS keeps a significantly improved leave, and also gives back a whole lot less. oops. -5 #strategymedium
the Lewises say hi. Hi Lewises! wasn't sure enough of webless or aweless for that matter, although i liked the second more. but i should find tWELvES. bingos with two blanks are hard. #knowledgelarge -9
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
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
none of this crap would hae happened without retracer. quackle likes 7C TEPEE a lot more, or 7B ETAPE, etc. i think with all the Us out i might be able to score more next turn. -10 #strategylarge
jeez, sigh, totally missed the anagram of OPES -- PESO. even 6H OP is pretty decent. OPES is just like "here be my guest and score some points / bingo". -7 #knowledgemedium
i did consider G10 DUNG but i didn't want to open it up for him after his last play or two. his rack kind of smelled of blanks (i can smell them) and i thought i should keep it a bit closed. i maybe could play H1 GNAR too, or 5M GOD or something. either way, i'm in decent shape. -3.5 #strategysmall
i considered not burning my S. i could save that spot, or let him burn equity trying to block it. what do you think? i could play 1G GYNO keeping RST. or even GYNOS keeping a more synergystic RT. -2 #tacticssmall
very annoying, playing HAE instead of HIE. i still do this crap too often. -5 #tacticsmedium (or what is this? i have no idea how to qualify this dumb error)
giving him ES as a leave. i also have to assume that he doesn't know BANDA (for the purposes of getting lucky, i mean). matt did a similar play to this one a few weeks ago and i lost because i didn't block it. in this case, my rack is so garbage that quackle thinks i should mostly ignore it and try to clean up my rack. he probably won't bingo - the bag kind of sucks, but there's big tiles out there so his next score is going to suck for me. the main problem with ID is that it only reduces his average score by about 13 next turn (from 61 to 48), which is not enough to warrant making such a bad sacrifice on my end. so this situation is not at all similar to the one two weeks ago, when i actually had a great block. i really should have done some math here and realized ID was bad. 13K IRID is the play -- -7.5 #strategymedium
maybe TITHE keeping the R hook for next turn? quackle likes 12A TITLE, which seems counterintuitive to me, but i think i need to keep scoring spots open for myself too. -2.5 #strategysmall
i wonder if i should actually exchange. quackle likes 14J WRIT. at this point in the game i'm low on time and not thinking straight; there's a lot of Es to draw so if i play WRIT i give myself a chance at JEU (which is hard to block) or even JOULE. i need to play faster and stop taking so long on every play so i have time to actually think here. -7 #strategymedium
errrr QI is straightforward here. i thought it just destroyed the board though, but BILGED probably does a better job of that! probably a hard move, but it feels so tough to play QI and then not have anywhere to play my bingo next turn. at least BILGED gives me a chance at a dump like QIS for 41, etc. -4 #strategymedium ?
quai etc just seem bad. i don't wanna do that. QUAI only sims so high because my average play next turn does something huge with QUAIS and an SK word -- but she's either going to have the L or take care of that spot in another way, i think? i DO have the last S, but i don't like my chances of using the QUAIS hook at all. -10 #strategylarge ?
i think i just flat out missed PReSOLD, and probably 5H DROPLeTS too. i think i forgot polders had an anagram, but i can't remember. -16 #knowledgelarge
D3 FAH is extremely obvious. HANIWA is a rather bad move; she comes back with AMBIENT a lot of the time, or ANIMATE, etc! I don't lose but it's a massive spread difference. #preendgame #focus #strategylarge
J2 V(E)G doesn't seem good enough to me. quackle says i score a ton next turn though, even if i dont bingo that often? where? FUSED/MODELINGS? -2 #strategysmall
well now i'm worried so it's ok to sacrifice some equity to block here. 3K OBOE just seems way too aggressive right? i guess OTIC keeps way too terrible of a leave, and he could still bingo through the B or something. M3 OE might be ok. idk. -12.5 #strategylarge
with an ERS inference, OLIO is second best to 3K O(B)OLI, which i thought about and wasn't 100% sure was a word. i still don't like OBOLI all that much, i give him his choice of two lanes to bingo to. i like that OLIO sets up a spot for the W i might draw here (since he likely didn't keep it). still, quackle says it's a -2, and quackle is gospel. PBUH. -2 #strategysmall
not sure enough of BLAWED (and i really should be because i know BLAW is a verb, but maybe its only past tense is BLAWN, who knows). but whatever, this wins. -9 #knowledgelarge
WEEDIER only plays in Collins! :( WEIRD might just give up too many points. JEWED or WIDEN sim better partially for that reason -- i also bingo slightly more often after JEWED. -2 #strategysmall
i think ORB doesn't necessarily imply an incredibly strong leave, but let's give him IRS; quackle still prefers 4D RATHE. i don't know what i was thinking. there are two open lanes, and i have a bigger comeback if i let him bingo on lane 14 a lot of the time. i can't block them both, so force him to bingo there. -11.5 #strategylarge it's a new day and i'm back to my bad play.
i probably didn't even see M11 GEY. i'm out of focus again, and making steam plays, instead of looking at the board and considering my options. WYTE O1 is fine too. BEWRAY is bad. -8 #findinglarge #focus i don't need to drop everything and score as much as possible, this isn't duplicate. find the best play depending on the situation. i still have a good shot after GEY.
-3 exch R actually sims ok, although DOR sims better on 4-ply. main problem with DOR is that it's relatively easy to block and i only hold one hook for it. i thought of GRIND as well but didn't consider -R. #strategysmall
this gives up too many points. about half the time he has a letter to hook it and can hit me back bigly. i had typical tunnel vision here and didn't consider any other move besides getting rid of EE somewhere, but EERST is even better than EORST, and K5 OE makes my bingo more likely to fit. this was not a good move. -9 #strategylarge #focus
considered K2 POLKA but in the end i can't pass up that many pts, even if i have the case S -- i have the blank! and this move ties the game. i also wanted to take a potential big -ED play for him. didn't think of 6J FLANK. -3 #strategysmall -- i suppose.
this is the worst possible draw to EINSS, seriously. i need the blank after the bingo! although H1 HIES actually looks better than my play. -3.5 #strategymedium
quackle thinks just POGO at 13D, maybe it's not worth blowing up the rack. also playing at 13C might be best. i wanted to start taking out some problematic spots. idk, be aggressive. -4 #strategymedium
couldn't pass up the chance to hit a giant requinto 1/4 of the time.. (and antique if it gets blocked sometimes) but there's not much else to go for. i guess QUEAN for a good score at 3I as well. (but maybe i should just burn the blank and play that instead). -1 #strategysmall
cmon cesar you know this isn't gonna sim well. yes it's good to play some defense but this is kinda weak. right? FEIRIE G9 sims best, i kinda like it. -7 #strategymedium
i don't know at what point i started playing such lame defense lol. F9 IODATE is fine, or 5D GIE as well. i know it's tempting to block all the things but it's hard to sacrifice so much equity. i don't care about winning, i care about equity. -7 to IODATE, which seems reasonable. i guess i like lowering stdev in this situation. right? maybe this isn't a mistake. #strategymedium maybe
could someone explain how GOT gives up 2 more pts on average than TOG? easier to overlap? is it just the H hook? this is so weird. TOG also results in a higher average score for me next turn so overall this sims a shocking 1.5 pts worse than TOG! #strategysmall
disappointing move. i wrote down LINTELED on my scoresheet and decided to not pull the trigger on it, even though i certainly liked it. no reason to chicken out on this. also DENTIL is 4 more. -41.5 #knowledgelarge
not great; the leave is not good enough. i could do something like 7I WEAR or even the pretty awesome 7I WE -- ACHRRS is a very strong leave through that E. (but would that stay open?). tough move. -6 #tacticsmedium
i held for another 3-4 minutes, and decided that it's very likely good and i had to let it go. i'm glad i didn't make a steam challenge. about my play - i wasn't super enthused about blocking some lanes but i just don't know how to catch up without scoring points. i decided i was going to need to get lucky so i thought scoring 32 pts and bingoing asap next turn was better than fishing. H7 SIR sims best though by win %, it makes sense. #tacticssmall
a bit of a counterintuitive situation here. quackle says i bingo slighlty more next turn if i do ROVED, and it scores 3 more. it sure doesn't seem that way to me. -2.5 #tacticssmall
i did not want to burn the last S with FIDOS. perhaps it just scores too much. i thought i needed to score and then bingo next turn making IFS. the main issue is that FID is too easy to overlap downwards. so FIDO > FID (besides having the better leave). i was playing most of this game on autopilot to protect myself i think; i realized my win % was very low, so i didn't want to spend too much time stressing about it. -2.5 #tacticssmall
oh my god what am i doing this is not a word. i wanted to play K12 JEEP for the longest time but couldn't stomach it because of the E hook (???) and the more obvious I hook. 3A QUA is fine here. #knowledgelarge
i shouldn't be that hard on myself, but wow am i sucking this game. i saw AIRFARE, and it plays, hooking HADJE* (HADJEE). kind of embarrassed. -43 #findinglarge
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.
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
he blocked kinesis and apparently i don't know that INKLE is a word. why don't i know literally any words? i really didn't deserve to be in the top tables, but that's ok. #knowledgelarge
i thought i had a decent chance of getting away with FRAYERS* here but decided not to chance it. i considered FRY for a little while but liked points more. i keep forgetting about defense. it's a thing, cesar. -7 #strategymedium
i'm pretty sure i passed up eNJOINS here, i remember seeing it and immediately ignoring it without counting it. i may have been wrong. also, J10 JO is better than my JO as it sets up an S-ending lane! -4 #strategymedium
oh god, what an awful mistake. i really thought this was a word. i laid it down for a while trying to think of something better and didn't see nuncios. #knowledgelarge
js: COIN at 7H is kinda sneaky cd: this is it, i finally lose. gg man. i should see 7H COIN, which is clearly much better, but i was starting to have tunnel vision. -11.5 #findinglarge
i wanted to open even a crappy lane so this board doesn't fully shut down on me. -8, 12D WHAT sims better, maybe i'll get lucky. idk, hard to know how bad my move is really. #strategymedium
chickened out on 1K TARG(A) but no reason to try that if i have a win, only if it was my only play. -5 #knowledgemedium
i got so freaking lucky this game despite making a number of bad plays.
okras is the play here. even though RS > NS, the difference is small on this board, and OKRAS gives back enough fewer points from that overlap that it's worth it. i'm still sad about playing KOANS instead of KAONS, which sims half a point higher. it's a tiny difference, but it had a huge effect, and that's why it's important to make as few errors as possible. it seems impossible to get rid of all these little leaks. -1 #tacticssmall #knowledgesmall
okras is the play here. even though RS > NS, the difference is small on this board, and OKRAS gives back enough fewer points from that overlap that it's worth it. i'm still sad about playing KOANS instead of KAONS, which sims half a point higher. it's a tiny difference, but it had a huge effect, and that's why it's important to make as few errors as possible. it seems impossible to get rid of all these little leaks. -1 #tacticssmall #knowledgesmall
i saw UNROOT at M3 but i didn't like it that much. i'm down a bit over a tempo and there's only a couple of lamish bingo lanes open. UNROOT sets up some overlap possibilities for him. it didn't seem that exciting. but maybe it's right. TAUON gives back 6 more pts on average. -4 #strategymedium
i chickened out on the far better P(A)NFUL. i didn't want to risk it on a word i wasn't totally sure of, but i need to be better at the words. -17 #knowledgelarge. also, N7 VULN > FLAP because HUMERAL takes an S. i completely had forgotten about this.
quackle prefers taking the pts with B4 NAV (and also killing that part of the board). RTU? should bingo pretty often, and it's good to score more points here. -5.5 #visionmedium #tacticsmedium
quackle prefers taking the pts with B4 NAV (and also killing that part of the board). RTU? should bingo pretty often, and it's good to score more points here. -5.5 #visionmedium #tacticsmedium
this is a very poor placement for my bingo, reminds me of playing newbs who play a blank bingo hitting nothing for 20 fewer than an actual good play. my main problem is that i just completely forgot HUMERAL took an S. if he had put an S on it i would have been like oh yeah! also, the pretty R(EH)EATING is available, and should be eminently findable by me. even BERATiNG is a ton better. i suppose i was trying to play defense, if one was to assume HUMERAL didn't take an S, my move might be defensible compared to BERATING. in any case, i'm very likely to win this game now no matter what, but i should learn the words better. #knowledgelarge -22
quackle's ridiculous robot brain wants me to do J12 TEAT or TEIN so i can have a great chance at a triple-triple or at least a bingo up top. pretty crazy. the equity loss here is gigantic, but i'll just roll my eyes at it. #tacticsmedium
this is often a failing of mine, failing to spot the very nice setup play of 9G OF.. but even if i saw it, i am not a huge fan. look at that ugly leave i keep, and imagine he blocks it. -3 #visionmedium
i challenged this ridiculous word. i looked at my study history and i had guessed it correctly, once, months ago, and never saw it again. jonathan told me he was very surprised i challenged this... but podgy is already a dumb spelling of pudgy, how the hell can podgily be good? in a podgy manner? stupidass dictionary. what a way to lose games. -51 #knowledgelarge
hard for me to determine which one is better between YEW and WAME. i see that EUY is a worse leave than AEMU and WAME might be worse defensively, but i like keeping the Y to score again next turn; YEW seemed easier to overlap etc. meh. -2 #tacticssmall
not sure what to do here. i laid down YARROW, and then couldn't pick it up for ROSARY cuz he saw that i had a W, and that's annoying; i thought ROSARY was better after all. maybe it's ok to let him know i have the W! quackle likes C13 YOW or C11 VOWER too. it's hard to make a play like YOW when i'm down by a lot, giving him an easy scoring spot, but it gives me the best bingo chances and i need that. -2 #strategysmall ? seems like a bigger mistake.
C13 JEE is the obvious play here. my main issue is that i thought the chances of that E staying open were infinitesimal, and not only that but i was probably going to give up a bunch of points. but the amount of points i give up is actually not that big, he has a bad rack a lot of the time and may overreact to the open E (but then i still have nowhere to bingo except through the N or some miracle overlap). so i don't even know. maybe i shouldn't concern myself too much with this situation. -5 #strategymedium
i thought i had made a huge mistake here not playing A11 LINGA but quackle still likes 1A CAL best. maybe i did make the best play. shrug. +3 #strategybest
now this is a mistake. playing ZOO would just work out better. i didn't want to keep two Ns but i have a good chance of using one the next turn if not bingoing outright. ugh! -2 #strategysmall
ANIMI instead of my sad steam play. sigh. -1 #tacticssmall. it seems funny because i'm such a points person that it's such a small error, but it feels like ANIMI is a far better play. is it?
this is wayyyyy too steamful, and i thought i was focused. D10 YEN or YER or even better, 15E AIRY are fine! i'm pretty sure i saw AIRY or at least i should. what am i doing exchanging? bad mistake. -16.5 #strategylarge
it might be that the best way to win is to try to go out next turn. O9 CONDUIT/NOCTUID score a lot and may be possible ways to do this. totally didn't see them. minus a lot, #findinglarge
equitied badly. I have to exchange and keep DENT! is BNT really that terrible? -3.5 #strategysmall (interestingly, i simmed this in CSW19 accidentally first and it was 6 pts worse!)
this is likely wrong. a good player like Joey would be setting up a heavy tile to hit the spot at 10F after my inevitable bingo. i should dump the R there. I considered it but thought he might just be keeping low tiles himself and trying to race me to the bingo, and then OR would be easy for him to bingo to since it has so many hooks, etc. hard choice. i also considered abort for a while. -1.5 #strategysmall
sigh, hard choice here. 12A MAZER is probably right, but i just hated giving up a ton of points if he has an A. should i not care? hard choice.. but i think i have to play MAZER. ZARF's leave is just so lame. my average score after MAZER is higher, and MAZER also scores more. i regret this play. -2 #strategysmall
it's a significant mistake here to miss DORMY. YOU there is (a lot?) better; it sets up a new lane and it also gives up fewer points. -2 #strategysmall
for this tournament i'm trying to take my time quackling. often i can find plays i missed in the actual tournament if i look a little harder. i need to figure out how to stop missing these. FEE 9B seems pretty standard. my play is bad. but even 9C FE is better than what i played, or VEGETE, all of which i saw now. i couldn't see anything else while playing. :/ -5 #findingmedium
3B PAEAN is worth thinking about, and so is B5 PA. PATH keeps a pretty bad leave and opens the board right after he fished. bad idea. -4 #strategymedium
this time my play was terrible. i don't care. this is the worst draw ever to EIN?. i was trying to make it slightly harder for him to hit the triple but i may have also made it slightly easier. what a disaster of a draw this was, it nearly seals the game, but i deserve it for the bad play earlier on. -AIII sims best; i almost did that. -3 #strategysmall
bingoing here is wrong, at least i got that part right. paesanos never wins. i didn't have too much time left, but i figured that the spot at L4 was potentially worth a lot of points, and any bingo i made would be negated by that spot. so i should try to fish and go there, right? i saw ANOA but it empties the bag and i did not estimate my chances of having an out in two spots very highly (it seems to be higher than i thought). i didn't see L4 EON, and i might not have liked it for its AAS? leave. turns out EILO was in the bag so i win many games with a lot of those draws. i should have reasoned it out better. if i leave one in the bag, he can just score a lot and my bingo out won't be enough. why did i get it correct that i needed to pass up a bingo, but then not finish the thought? massive strategic mistake to end this game. -40% win chance roughly #strategylarge
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
i'm fine with trying to make it a bit harder for him to bingo here and drawing some high pt tiles. quackle still likes just KEP or KOP, hm. -4.5 #tacticsmedium ? i think my play isn't terrible
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
i saw TARRIER but it seemed dumb to block up a couple of (bad) lanes. however, 10 pts is 10 pts. i should just take the points, right? what do you think? -7 #strategymedium
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
his actual rack...ouch cesar: i don't understand how i can chicken out on oxhides yet lay down an idiotic "lifesize" in another game, despite that word not looking study familiar. it's so crazy how i can constantly have brainfart turns that make no sense. at least the way i rationalized it might make a little sense: i spotted the word immediately, it looked familiar, but not so familiar that i could be 100% sure of it. i laid down 13G INDEX, then i thought, well, but it doesn't block the S hook, so i should block that. going up nearly a bingo score with the blank in hand, even if i'm a big chicken, i should still win a large % of the time. but this is so so so so bad, i guess i do have to constantly study. -31.5 #knowledgelarge
EUV just sucks way too much as a leave; AURA cannot be right. AHURU looks decent, but i am liking 6L UVA here. there's only one E and S left and i don't have much other hope. i also sorta like M6 VAU, but less. this is very difficult. -9 #strategylarge
ridiculous, my bingo doesn't fit anywhere, although that's what i was trying to do i suppose. VI(EWE)D here is better than EVITED for sure. i may have just not seen it. -8.5 #visionlarge
for the love of god i need more than one vowel per rack. quackle just likes taking more pts with K4 NOD. i desperately wanted to block that AQUA hook and that side of the board.... -5 #strategymedium ?
totally missed O13 SEZ. i think, i can't remember. i don't think i would pass up that many pts for no reason, the S isn't worth anything on this board. -17.5 #visionlarge
it's better through the second R; fewer overlaps to the triple! but O(U)TPOLLs still sims best as it gives up fewer pts (but slightly higher bingo%), i just didn't want to expose an S. -4.5 #strategymedium
bad move. but ACUITY can give up so many pts! i don't know. ACUTE 14J also seems wrong. maybe 10G LIEU is fine but i also hate it. i don't know, i hate all my options. what's best here?- 5.5 #strategymedium
this is me attempting to play defense. ugh so ugly. 14I EAU is probably ok, at least it blocks a bingo lane, although it opens up scoring potential. ZOEA may be fine too. but OLEA is pretty much terrible, and i knew it as i was making it. #focus #strategylarge -14.5
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
now i'm treading water but should still be strongly favored to win if i make the right play here. 6I NEWIE is fine, score 11 more and keep a more balanced leave at least! argh! -10 #strategylarge
why was i so nervous? my brain settled in on CARIES and considered nothing else except CRANES (which is better). but I didn't like CRANES because if he draws the S he can have an easy high scoring overlap like MATED, etc. but i didn't think of the simple CARERS, which keeps a vowel (i DID notice the bag was vowel heavy, but i was so nervous at this time after the RAKIS mistake ...) and i'm quite likely to draw an E because the bag is E heavy, but i thought of nothing else!!! #strategylarge
and then... this happens. ladies and gentlemen, your 2020 National Scrabble Champion can't find a top 500 word, or its anagram, on a wide open board. i don't know what to attribute this to. lord knows i've spent many hours thinking about this move and how i've been playing for nearly 15 years and how simple of a word it is, one doesn't even have to be a scrabble player to anagram the simple everyday word UNIDEAL. argh. makes me want to never play again. but i'm pretty sure it was due to a combination of nerves and tilting, and as long as i am actively working towards those, i suppose errors like this will become rarer. but talk about not being clutch at all, god damn. -39.5 #knowledgelarge #unideal #ridiculous
i couldn't really explain my decision to end up choosing this of all moves, other than just the hope that the amount of time he took to play HABIT might mean he left the other S in the bag, and that my only chance of winning is to score a lot and get some big bingo next turn. i totally missed EXPO though, which is better than my play and keeps the S hook open. i considered 15A COXES for a while, that also does the trick. overall this is a bad situation though, so props to him on HABIT, that's a good move. i maybe shoulda done QI at 9E instead. quackle prefers B8 FOX best for some reason. #strategymedium ?
he would later mention that i got all 10 power tiles but if you notice here it's a great disadvantage to have these tiles in this case. D11 BEG looks standard, i suppose, but so ugly. ugh. -7.5 #tacticsmedium
i was very low on time at this point and freaking out about how close he got so i missed a million outs. i just picked something that scored and accepted the fact that i totally bolloxed up the second half of this game. -11 F11 YIrRS. my favorite out is G6 S(AVO)RILY (L is a blank). #endgamelarge #time
i was very low on time at this point and freaking out about how close he got so i missed a million outs. i just picked something that scored and accepted the fact that i totally bolloxed up the second half of this game. -11 F11 YIrRS. my favorite out is G6 S(AVO)RILY (L is a blank). #endgamelarge #time
i chickened out on ICKER. that's by far the best play here. i just need to learn the words basically. i don't know how to learn 4s and 5s. i don't think Aerolith is the best way for short words. -11. i also considered C12 MM but it seemed too weak, it sims better than my play though. #knowledgelarge
i should still do C12 MM. it just seems so lame. i'm not enthused by that leave and would rather get some more points. RETEM does give back a few more, though. if i'd seen CERMET i might have played it. -3 #findingmedium
i didn't think making dinky two-tile plays was gonna get me very far here (10F FA). i wanted to at least semi-block a lame lane (the L column). i didn't spot 2L O(V)UM which i like quite a bit. i also didn't spot 10I FOUL. that's better than FOAM for sure. i think i didn't look there too hard because it wasn't a double word score? lame. -4.5 #visionmedium
i think this was a massive mistake. i didn't want to play 3C TAX for 29 because it keeps two Us, and i was worried that i was just going to have a very clunky rack the following turn and lose that way. my play at least sets up a lane. but, if he has WAX or TAX himself i'm dead. i really regret not playing TAX. i think i could survive with BLSUU and 29 pts. having the case S is awesome. i can also do E11 HABU, which i also like. -6 #strategymedium
14D ULVA is a nice play. i saw it, and passed on it because there's a lot of big tiles left and he can just score there and outrun me (GOUTY or something). but maybe i should do this, so that i have a good scoring spot myself. maybe i don't have much choice. quackle likes ULVA a lot. i think the main point should be to try to find a winning line. what do i have after LAVA? nothing. after ULVA, i get to draw for a big play somewhere, leave 1 in the bag, and then maybe win that way. #strategymedium
-7 it's not really the triple triple fear, but FS is not a great leave and i'm giving him some more letters to bingo through, C and R and keeping the E open. i wanted to obviously block the 2-2 lane, but something like 5K FORB is effective because if he bingos i have a good chance at a high scoring comeback at O1. #strategymedium
i don't know if this is an overreaction. do i just play Z(A)G? GADJE sacrifices a lot of points but gets rid of some ugliness. CDEJT doesn't strike me as an appetizing leave. i suppose if i draw another E i can get JETTED for a few points, or DEJECT, etc. i hate this and should have exchanged on my first move. quackle thinks the sacrifice from GADJE is not worth it as i only get slightly more points next turn with GADJE than ZAG, but i'm sacrificing 13 pts now. makes sense that this is such a big equity loss. -10.5 #strategylarge
when i choose to play all ugly i have to play as precisely as possible. maybe a robot can play perfectly after VIM, but i have to be able to find the somewhat hard to anagram CATGUT through the T and see that it's better than CUTCH. keeping the H is nice for the possibility at B10, and CH has good synergy as well. -4.5 #findingmedium
he played CRAB too quickly. he has a bingo there a lot of the time, but he probably has it even if i block CRAB. AG bingoes more often, but i wanted to open an additional lane.. so i don't know. if we give him a leave of ATS? for giggles, my move rises up a little higher, but G13 OD is at the top, i guess opening another triple for me to use or something. not a good position for me, but this is all a result of VIM. i'm going to be down my next move unless i bingo back. -0.5 #strategysmall
I HATE THE LETTER Y SO MUCH. M12 AYE actually sims just a tad higher than my play, despite scoring 8 fewer - i knew my play was inviting a big annoying comeback as well. damn it. #strategysmall
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'm a bit surprised at how horribly this sims, but it's not just a simple points formula; QUERN sucks because it gives up 12 more pts on average than exchanging keeping DENR! (it only barely increases the bingo %). -9.5 #strategylarge
jesus i still didn't know if TAENITE was TWL, and i remember checking it after the game. 1A TENIAE sims best, despite opening up a potentially dangerous 8 lane. i think it wants me to kill row A's huge scores. bANJO or something. -5.5 #strategymedium
spent way too long looking for better bingoes and eventually gave up. i couldn't find MONgOES and didn't like MOONErS for whatever reason. #findingmedium
i did see XEBE(C), but it's just.. you know, that seems like the only realistic way to lose now, even though i can't think of an 8-letter word with X in 4th position. #strategysmall
i'm too much of a perfectionist, once i saw that i missed this bingo i felt bad. i think it's my only bingo miss of the tournament, but it's annoying because i wrote AABORRSU and i checked that i've both gotten and missed this word a few times when studying. the alphagram didn't really look familiar, and it's a hard word, but if one wants to win nationals, one has to find BAROSAUR here. #knowledgeSADDEST
of course, sometimes i just make bad plays. i didn't want to play FUG because it's much easier to end some random bingo in an S, but aren't there more words that start with S? also CGU? is not as good as CTT?. also FUGU through the U takes an E, etc etc. still, a lot of the time i am aware i am not making the equity play, but it very rarely seems to be right, and i should just play more like macondo/quackle unless i have a _really_ good justification... but then again -- look at the position. does it really make sense to just play FUG there, giving him a free bingo lane when up by a lot? i always struggle with moves like this and take half-measures. #strategylarge
probably a good idea to keep my S here. a small part of me confesses they did this to maybe draw a challenge on this somewhat rare sticky-S word but that's not worth throwing away an S. i just wasn't enthused about RSU as a leave. -2.5 #focus #strategysmall
14M AW maybe? quackle mainly likes it because of my score next turn; i can probably bingo if i'm lucky or use the W for some points (for example a lucky WREN). i must have misthought this, the equity difference is massive! -11.5 #strategylarge
i don't know about this. i think i was a bit unfocused here and unable to figure out how to break ahead. i saw my S wasn't worth a ton on this board and i need to score. but 12L LARS looks a lot better. -8.5 #focus #strategylarge
tough situation here. should i do 14A JIG for real? it sims far best. but if i don't, JIG at H4 and GITCH at D2 are still significantly better than my lamish move. i definitely saw JIG, but it really didn't seem right. -14 #strategylarge
stupid quackle. i'm basically just going to get every move wrong this game as it wants me to keep making dumb plays at 14A. yes 14A LOVE scores good and keeps a nice leave but then i have to worry about that spot all game if i don't draw the S! -10 #strategylarge ?
i should have just played VIPER at 8A. i keep the Z to score next turn. i thought she was less likely to have a bingo through the O, after what could be a vowel dump. quackle likes 15A UP keeping VIZOR for next turn. -7 #strategymedium
i was in a bad mental state after losing the first game, and i know this affects me. FL(O)P is the equity play here. I think when I'm tilting, I just make weird bad plays, either adjusting to score too much or to leave too much, depending on how worried I am. I may have overcompensated here, thinking i better take the extra 5 points and keep MNT instead of EMNT (i even remember thinking the E is not worth 5 points, so take the 5 points, but as is common for me when I'm playing unwell, I don't pay attention to defense at all -- PELF gives up 4 more pts on average than FL(O)P). -3 #strategysmall
this was a pretty bad move. i was going to play P(O)W, and i talked myself into this somehow. i think a large part of it is that i wasn't sure if POWS was good. but clearly, POW is much better than TWA. i could at least play it at 10E. i think once in a while, i just have one move where i completely don't have a focused brain, but hopefully this will improve! -7.5 #strategymedium
i had a feeling this wasn't a good move, but i actually could not find anything better. i think i thought of OUCH E4 but that's only marginal. i like TOUCH but there's a lot of unseen Es. 2B URETHAN is the clear star play here; just need to improve anagramming. -7.5 #visionmedium
clearly i should block his F spot and play DIB at F2 but no matter what i lose. he can set up an unblockable FLAM at H12 by playing ER. still, endgame fail. #endgamemedium
this is admittedly a bit of a weird move. i'm not up by that much and i have the dreaded Q, but at least i have a U to go with it -- yet i can't really play it somewhere that makes sense. NUCHA does sim best, keeping the U open, drawing for an I for QI, or maybe some other synergistic tiles. tough move. RANCH J1 seems to sim best as keeping QU is probably for the best despite the point sacrifice. -1.5 #tacticssmall
i got a bit upset after this move as i noticed the far better 8B JAGG shortly after hitting my clock. i was low on time, and worried that a bingo from him might end up winning him the game, and i kinda freaked out! -4.5 #strategymedium
att 1-2 i have no hope of making the cold equity play here -- as i said in an earlier game i either am too scared to not bingo immediately, or too scared to fall behind in score, depending on the rack (usually the wrong choice for the rack). PIING or PIG are fine here, but i'm too scared. -3 #strategysmall
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
oh man, gotta get better about finding those parallel plays. 9G ANOINT fits perfectly and is very clearly best. i thought TANTO didn't even take an S. #findingmedium -5
i think i actually have to exchange all of them. there's a lot of Es unseen already and Ss and blanks and other good tiles to go for. -0.5 #tacticssmall
oof, this is a bad situation. considered IDS 15A strongly. it sims best. 27 pts is too much to give up. i was trying to go for some lucky big play and didn't want to take the triple. 9J IGGED is also pretty strong; my play is not good. -8 I think one of the main issues with my play, at least earlier on, but also in general, is just that i start freaking out and getting tunnel vision. I'm afraid of losing the game and it makes me only think of a small number of scattered options. I think I improved at this as the tournament progressed. #strategylarge
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
-0.5 i think, QUELEA lessens disaster racks next turn. i typically like taking Ys in triple lanes because they're good dumps of ugly letters for my opponents. #strategysmall
-14 ! bad bad move here. i liked it thematically; blocking a few vertical bingo lanes. quackle prefers three moves at 12K - PAW, MAW, WAP. ordinarily, with a nice lead, it would be foolish to open the board like that. however, her bingo chances are very low - there's only 1 E, lots of I's and other ugly letters left. so PAW is good! #strategylarge #focus #bag
quackle doesn't like moves like this, trying to "end the game faster". i was mostly going for some of those goodies, like the S or the third blank (the Z). but a V leave sucks. V(E)ENA at K2 is awesome and it blocks the R in case she has some crazy bingo. -13 #strategylarge #focus
BI "only" bingoes around 78% of the time. i always miss ZEDA, something like 1K ELAIN is pretty good; i'm a little less enthused about stuff like 10M AIL. i don't know. i didn't realize this was that bad, although i thought it might not be best. 10M AIL bingoes more than 50% of the time, which seems slightly high, but i guess i can buy it. -7.5 #strategymedium
i just make bad decisions when i'm sucking. i think i'd only won 2 games this whole day by now, and even though i did see BEVEL at 11K i thought HEME was better for some reason. i just want points now even though he can score a lot overlapping me, and EHM? is a perfectly good leave. -8 #strategylarge
come on. i have to fake open the board (PARETICS is obviously available but he might catch on if i don't try to open another lane?). E8 AFIRE is beautiful though, i should have seen it. #findingmedium -2.5
this is mostly a frustrated move, it doesn't seem right. L4 BONNE is ok, keeping SH, just give up on making PARETICS and try to find the best play cesar. -4.5 #strategymedium
the best play here is N1 MINA, which i completely missed, which is sad in several ways. -4.5 #findingmedium #wifemedium . i really like MINA because it keeps the D to score something in both spots!
this is not a good move. i need to outrun him and score more. i didn't want to empty the bag so he wouldn't plan his outgame, but i may not have a choice here. N1 TAN scores 18 and will help outrun him. i don't think i have many ways to win after TOWEL. -3 #preendgame #strategymedium
i saw ELVEN and i was positive it wasn't good, or at least just Collins. did they add it in 2014 or 2018? i should have played it anyway since it's my only win right? i was 2-5 and had to leave for dinner and was not thinking straight. #endgamelarge
i thought about this for a while and i've been studying 6s and only remembered UNGUAL and UNGULAR. i couldn't think what UNGULA could be the plural of. but i guess UNGULAR should mean pertaining to an UNGULA. he also took a while on this and thought he might be makng it up #knowledgelarge
giving him an inference of ES here. i didn't see PYXIDIA, but i thought PARDI had some troll value since he knew i had the X. obviously PYXIDIA is the play. sheesh. -35.5 #findinglarge
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
ugh this is too difficult. with such a small % chance of winning, i don't know what's right anymore. it seems in these types of situations i have to limit the amount of damage he can do, so something like 4K AY or YA is going to sim best despite keeping a U. the problem with GUY, even though it does play short and keeps a good leave, is that it gives back so many points; i know this but have to hope he can't punish it too much. -3 #strategymedium
awful and discouraging. I completely forgot that DEVI was a word so i only thought of making the hook an A. also, because I had spent like half my time on the first three moves, i was pretty low here and could not see a good way to win. i did see FRAT, which quackle says is a winning play, but where's the other spot for WAI besides WAIT? -8 #endgamelarge (edit: 5B WAIR, making three "new" in the last few years 2s!! how can I hope to play Collins if I can't find TWL 2s??)
i saw iritises but wanted to expose fewer letters, especially not Ss. however this gives back a ton of points. 9D vISITER is much more defensive. but iritises still sims best anyway - even though he bingoes slightly more after iritises, he scores more on avg after ditsier. #strategymedium -- on 4-ply, visiter climbs up to the top over iritises. -6
K3 AXE is better defensively than AMEBAE and scores 4 more. so it's better, even though AMEBAE scores a little more on avg next turn. -6.5 #strategymedium i don't understand scrabble.
i did see NONTIDAL but i wasn't totally sure about it. i figured i would take the bingo i'm sure of. I think i would have tried nontidal if dentinal didn't exist. no excuse for not learning my high prob bingos better, though. better hit the books again... -4 #knowledgemedium
wow i didn't expect XU 9H to sim that much better if at all. XU really limits her score next turn. it's ok to play defense if i'm down. -4 #strategymedium
i hated the leave of J9 OH. i probably have no choice. i thought i would open a bit, keep a better leave, and keep OH for next turn, but i guess CUIF just doesn't score enough. -5.5 #strategymedium
i wanted to keep the ED for the tricky lane on row 2, and still open something. at this point my win % is so low that i don't bother too much with worrying about what my best play could be. maybe DIT just takes way too many hooks or something. quackle likes J12 TID(E) which doesn't create a new lane. however, it blocks a scoring spot for her. if i have to get lucky i might as well play the extra tile to draw for an N for ING or some crap.. who knows? scrabble is too hard. -4 #strategymedium
did i even look for bingos to the R? there is no evidence that i did so, although i did look through the U for some reason. wtf? -11 #findinglarge #focus
i did see OXO but i found it much more important to kill that S hook on NAIRU. but is it really that dangerous? QUA also lets him score to the triple, although there's only a couple hook tiles left in the bag. D3 QAID is fine too. -10.5 #strategylarge
this move right here, officer. what was i thinking? luckily, i have an exact snapshot into my mental state at the time, so i'll write it here. let's see, i'm up by NINE points and he just set up an obvious S hook (yes, i forgot that it took a T until after i hit the clock). so, he has an S, and likely another E. he just played off two tiles, and my defense has been terrible this tournament, so it all comes down to this next move; it is crucial to prevent his bingo since i'm not ahead by much at all. this is a 36.5 point mistake (the obvious KEET is the only play here worth making) with no inference; with an EST inference (let's say), this "only" becomes a 33-point mistake. now, with a clear head: it DOES cut his bingo percentage to almost 0%, but he still scores 36 pts on average! and i'm not going to survive that with this lame move. and, most crucially, something that i realized right after, is that no sane person is going to play B(ID)E with a bingo leave. why would he set up a SCORING spot if he has a strong bingo leave, instead of trying to open up another bingo lane? so it's unlikely that he has a strong bingo leave, but is instead trying to set up a 50+ point score next turn. but i freaked out, didn't even think of BIDET, and had already decided to block the bingo lane at all costs. #strategySADDEST #focusworst
ok, so back when he played REARMING i immediately thought "don't forget the P hook" and was looking for a P all game. right after JAYS played, i realized that i missed KEET, and that BIDE was never a bingo fish. you can imagine my brain immediately short circuiting. what happened? this was the last game of the morning. was i hungry? THIS whole game right here is why i'm not coming close to winning nationals unless i change something, and even though i now know that it is my focus that needs help, actually getting to that deeply focused state requires so much effort (for me) that it is insanely difficult. i pulled it off to a small extent at lake george (and still made a bunch of silly mistakes), but i haven't been practicing. what is my POET even doing; i'm going to let him score a bunch off the P, and i'm not even setting up a hopeful S hook. i seem very undeserving of a 2000 rating when i make mistakes like this, which explains why i'm almost never there. -19 #strategySADDEST #focusworst
-4 4A HEVEA #strategymedium . i'm not loving that play. it doesn't seem right for me to just give him a bunch of points. but i guess ALIVE makes it easier for him to bingo! it's also a sick pearl jam song. it comes down to points mostly, HEVEA is 11 more pts than ALIVE.
i saw the only bingo here, 10E NETWOrKS. the main reason i didn't want to play it is that i might be down if he bingoes to DIGHTS afterwards, with an uglyish board. i thought i could take points, keep the blank, and draw some more of the good stuff in the bag? tough choice, but WOKEST does sim just above NETWORKS by win %! 12L WOKS though is the top play, which takes out that lane as well but keeps a better leave for bingoing next turn. oops. -6 #strategymedium
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
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
i didn't think of PRETAPING at the time but of course it's good. F2 PI most likely, but do i want to keep the E open like that, i don't know. -4.5 #visionmedium
ROT is a T setup, but it's actually a QATS setup. if i infer EST for him (reasonable, although HAH doesn't necessarily imply the S, he did play it fast enough), YEW does a little better than before, but still not as well as M9 WANEY - i need to keep a better leave. i wasn't ultra worried because the bag is very slightly consonant heavy but still i may have overreacted here. -3 #strategysmall
this move symbolizes everything that is wrong with my scrabble game (i know that sounds hyperbolic, but hear me out). of course i should try to block, but the only thing that looked halfway decent was ADZ. still, the most important thing here is to ask myself how I can lose this game, and it is by him hitting a huge bingo afterwards, and me drawing poorly to RTVY, and him bingoing again. can that happen? absolutely. if i play ADZ, i force him to bingo at the top; row 2 or 3 most likely. I can then overlap his play, blocking any potential bingos, and i'm still up by a lot, and should be heavily favored to win. i even thought about something silly like VIZSLA being possible but if anything i have the V. ZOOID sims best of course. the biggest mistake i made here, and one that i make often, is not having enough empathy to put myself in his shoes and realize he's likely keeping an extremely strong leave. of course i thought the leave was probably pretty good, but it also seemed desperate enough that ZOOID might just block whatever he has, and that there's a decent chance he missed his fish as well. i didn't think he would have the blank. if i give him AEIS? as a leave ADZ DOES sim better than ZOOID, lowering his average score by about 24. with 4-ply ADZ is still on top. the only issue is that the win% diff is so tiny, yet i'm convinced this is a massive error. #strategylarge
wow, this is a plain bad play. i don't think i even looked that long, FAUGH seemed obvious to me. but surely 13L AHOY for 34 is great, and E10 FUGIO looks good too. -10 #findinglarge
i kind of gave up on finding the best way to win here. i'm not totally sure how to do it. it probably involves him having the Q. like - i'm going to lose anyway, so i shouldn't be trying to avoid the Q, just assume he has it and open up another lane and hope to draw for a miracle. i saw something like 2L MOI could lead to LEPORID, for example, but that seems easily blockable. 15L IM(ID)O is looking best here. #strategysmall
C: i think i lost it here. this is how to do well at nationals; find the winning play. i cashed in my D too early. i can have that spot later (if he blocks it i have AD/DAH too). i need to play at N13 so that he can't play there!! i was low on time, only about 3 minutes, but i didn't do a good enough job here :( -- the winning play is N13 REI #endgamelarge (it's a small error point-wise, but it loses the game)
A: Actually, REI loses by 2 after I play E4 RAH. (-6)
a little upsetting that i missed mingled. i saw melding, and didn't immediately think it had an anagram, because i don't study as much as i should. pretty important to find the right plays in this game. -5 with an inference of IST or something like that; josh would never play ZIG without an S. #knowledgemedium
the main problem with CROP is that it's much harder to open on the left side now. quackle prefers I11 B(E)D by win%, wish i'd thought of it. #strategysmall.
if i play AOUDAD here, josh is just blocking and i lose. i don't think i have a realistic chance of winning this game. quackle is so optimistic. i was hoping to keep scoring as much as possible and maybe i'd draw some miracle pREX or kYAR bingo. lol. I think DOURA gives me the best chance, though. #strategymedium
he has a very strong rack; if we give him AENRS then 9L NICK jumps to the top. is this really the best block?? i didn't consider it. i did think of 14L EMIC setting up a possible big play but it doesn't block TOW. -3.5 #strategymedium ?
i was annoyed here and only looked for a bingo briefly. i figured it wouldn't be worth to bingo in some situations, but i should have looked a little harder, thornily and nitrosyl are simple enough finds. i had my heart set on bingoing the following turn. -6.5 #focus #findingmedium
come on tile gods give me an X or Z, it will suck if he gets both. i saw D8 BOUNCY which is best equity wise. oops, i guess i should keep going for good racks :/ -3.5 #strategysmall
js: this is not a word cd: yeah, i wanted to just play POUCH but i didn't like keeping ALL. i didn't think of HAUL I7, pretty straightforward. i spent a lot of time iterating subwords through P and R etc, gotta always get better at anagramming. -6.5 #findingmedium
i think this is mostly OK, but i don't like opening an S lane. quackle just likes XU or even burning the blank with REaNNEX! -3 - i have a lot of draws for tinkerer, or a bunch of 7s hooking AJAR. nice possibilities. #strategysmall
i chickened out on baneful (thought maybe i was confusing it with baleful) but didn't think it was a huge mistake. but it sorta is. -12 #knowledgelarge (also, it's risky after his last couple plays).
just totally missed the beautiful wellsite. the funny thing is i remember thinking of it at some point. maybe later in the game. luckily my play is not much worse. (well it might be if he has a bingo). -3.5 #knowledgemedium
i saw that this won, and i only had about a minute to find something better and didn't. the best play by far is 10H ENVOI, which leaves an out in two places. #time #endgamelarge
i saw that this won, and i only had about a minute to find something better and didn't. the best play by far is 10H ENVOI, which leaves an out in two places. #time #endgamelarge
i didn't think of PRIMATAL. when we talked about it at the end of the game Lou told me it took an S.. sheesh, maybe it's better i didn't play it or i would have likely lost a turn on an S hook. #findingsmall
i strongly considered C2 BRO, which sims best, but i feel like i should stop screwing around. i'm holding on to a bit of a tenuous lead, both blanks and X are unseen, etc. it seemed good to kill a few lanes here and score and stuff. #strategysmall ?
BIRO at 4I sims so much better, partly because of the leave, but also because BROOK gives up significantly more pts. i thought i had a strong chance of playing BROOKITE next turn. -9.5 #strategylarge
i wasnt 100% on BOULLES. iirc this is one of the "hardest" racks in aerolith, because people always forget one of the three. also soluble takes an S and i wasn't sure on that either. eep. #knowledgemedium
i spent a long time trying to talk myself into TEUCH but couldn't pull the trigger on it, thinking i was confusing it with TEUGH. i have not as much time to study as some other, taller experts. #knowledgelarge
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
why does she have to have another P? PAS there was great. this move is not so good. i was nervous as i usually am in a game like this where my opponent keeps bingoing and i have to play perfectly to win, so somehow i thought i had the last two Ss. but since there is an unseen S, that makes taking the QUODS hook important, and doing so with O1 ANSA looks pretty good here. i still don't like how closed the board is though; my bingo % after ANSA is abysmal, and i kill a good scoring lane for only 30.. idk. -5.5 #strategymedium #focus
quackle likes C11 AWE. i have the last two Ss and the QUODS lane is open for next turn. also the pool looks like AEEIIOORRTTUU lol. DISS bingoes with a lot of that pool. i should at least have considered that. -14 #strategylarge #focus
the previous game against chris schneider was one of the worst games i've ever played. i know i like saying that a lot and hyperbolizing, but it really truly was; it's up on cross-tables for your viewing needs. i still blame it on that first round loss; i truly believe that if i had won the first game i would have won this tournament, but instead i am sitting here at 5-7 with 8 games to go. after tacos el gordo, one of my favorite restaurants in north america, i felt like it would be a waste of my time and money to not give it my very best shot, so i resolved to play the next 8 games as well as i possibly could. i think KEG or OAKED are a little better than my move, though. -1.5 #strategysmall
i did actually see BUSLOAD but i didn't love using my S like that. dunno, DRUB is overall pretty weak, i suppose. should just take the points. -5 #strategymedium
-1, quackle like using the S again, for C9 AVISO. eep. i don't think HOP actually implies he has the S, though, but if he did would that make AVISO even worse? #strategysmall -- another move that looks good here is 13B AVO, which blocks the S but doesn't give up pts like VIGA.
this seemed like a decent block, but it could backfire. DILATE is a little harder to underlap (LA LI LO vs NA NE NO NU with the blanks as vowels), and there are two Ns left. -3 #findingmedium
LIT(RE) is better, or OPT/TIME, or even LIT at 13G. another sorta steamy unfocused play. i'm definitely still not very good at close games. #strategymedium
-3.5 #strategymedium - although, i really have a problem with quackle's top choice of F11 VOG. it seems like it would make it harder to open up the left side of the board. i sitll have a couple very weak bingo lanes, and a possibility through AR; maybe it is worth it to keep scoring as much as i can. i honestly don't know.
although this game is not realistically winnable, i can get some spread back by continuing to fish, for example, H12 BELT is just a couple points below but it keeps a much better leave. i partially thought GLOTTALS* was good. -5 #strategymedium #knowledgemedium
although this game is not realistically winnable, i can get some spread back by continuing to fish, for example, H12 BELT is just a couple points below but it keeps a much better leave. i partially thought GLOTTALS* was good. -5 #strategymedium #knowledgemedium
wow, quackle wants me to play it at 8F. how often will that work? i suppose the thing is that if he underlaps with an O, i can re-underlap? -1.5 #tacticssmall
i saw DISpLANT but i didn't want to give him all those nice letters to bingo through, and it seemed worth it to sacrifice 4 points for it (quackle suggests it's only worth 1 point). i also saw hANDLIST for 10 more and thought i was inventing it. #knowledgelarge -9
i should have at least compared the two plays. SPLAY/PALSY score 12 more than PATLY. it seems worth it to score 12 more points with an S, particularly on a board where there are no S hooks, and QT have some small amount of synergy too! do i psych myself out because i'm playing Carl?? -5.5 #tacticsmedium
i wrote X, WRONG and BAD next to this play a few turns later. i thought i was done making plays like this. at least do ANSA for 10 more, keeping a workable leave!! i thought exchanging could be correct, but it's far behind ANSA. at least i was right that AN and exchanging would sim very close together. i didn't like exchanging, and falling behind with a scoring spot that is open that he will take next turn. -12.5 #visionlarge #tacticssmall
i wrote X, WRONG and BAD next to this play a few turns later. i thought i was done making plays like this. at least do ANSA for 10 more, keeping a workable leave!! i thought exchanging could be correct, but it's far behind ANSA. at least i was right that AN and exchanging would sim very close together. i didn't like exchanging, and falling behind with a scoring spot that is open that he will take next turn. -12.5 #visionlarge #tacticssmall
falling apart here. i miscalculated WANES as 50. at least i made the decision that since that's 12 pts more than ANEW, it's worth spending the S.. and then Carl was like 44? ugh. sims closely anyway. #tacticssmall
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
3F VAW results in a significantly higher score next turn, as well as higher bingo %. if i don't bingo i score a lot at 6N frequently. -3 #tacticsmedium
great play for Mina to make me totally freak out. i figured she for sure had a T, and maybe both Ts. i didn't think she'd have the blank, but it's possible. REFI# sims terrible; if i infer ET? for her it does go up a bit, but it's still too meek. i almost laid down 2B FLOOD, but my worry was that she'd just score a lot up there, and save her T for next turn. i have a lot of trouble when other players do stuff like this against me. quackle likes ignoring it and playing FOLIO at 2A (which is also actually a weak block sometimes), i considered this as well and was just worried about opening up another big bingo lane - but then again, maybe you do want to do this when you're up to decrease volatility (if there is a big bingo lane open, and you open another one, your variance in score difference after two plies goes down, and this is what you want when you're ahead by a bingo). -11.5 #strategylarge #niceplaybun
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
i didn't know MEISHI# (or HOTELINGS#) or SHIAI#. i would think i would have seen the latter in a high playability list of some sort. SHAME is obviously quite weaker, but at least it scores a lot. -10.5 #knowledgelarge
i chickened out on (G)LUER -- was pretty sure but if i'm wrong i probably lose the game. my move also wins 100% of the time but i wasn't totally sure i would win, i had about 30 seconds and i saw that i just might outrun M10 NOIR, although i wasn't sure. too much nervousness early left me scrambling for time. -1 #endgamesmall
DUFF is actually a little bit better. frank played FIR rapidly and confidently. he probably has a good leave. i didn't want it to be too easy to bingo, i guess, but FEUD doesn't really block anything. -2.5 #tacticssmall
i have to do something clever like 2K SIGH here. although my winning % is low, this is how to come back. the problem with my play is it just gives him an easy scoring dump. SIGH makes it tricky for him. also GRITH > BRITH. -3.5 #strategymedium
wow, i would hate to play QaTS here, but it sims best by a little. lol. i should keep RS? or ST? or something. i don't need this ugly RSST? leave. jeez. -3 #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 got so afraid that he would have some 3-3 through IT that i decided to block it, instead of just play AA, keeping EINRS for the triple-triple (or a likely bingo) myself! i really psych myself out a ton when playing top players. -10 #strategylarge
-3.5 to the pretty aggressive 10A OGIVAL. but i shoulda spotted VOILA or GAVOT. remember that the meow meow was not in full effect after my round 2 loss. I had to reset myself after the early bird and start over, and it wasn't until the next day that i achieved good focus again! #findingmedium
wow!! i really, really must have been out of it. i was 1-4 for the day, having just ruined my nationals, and i suddenly got demoted to table 22 for some weird reason. it's more crowded, less comfortable, and i somehow doubled the C instead of the Y for literally no reason. the higher scoring CHOKY is even more defensive. -3 #tacticssmall
i think if i were to train a neural network to play scrabble, it would choose 10B PAINED. that really really is not my style, but i did very strongly consider it. i think i do need to play like that when necessary. PAINED puts me up at least 50 on a closed board. now he has the responsibility to open it and i can just keep it closed. i would come to regret this move strongly. #strategy?
i missed reticule... sigh. yeah, i was definitely not feeling it at all this afternoon :( i'm not surprised i missed it. i don't think i miss it earlier in the tourney. but then again, this just shows me how much i need to study. that way even if i'm having a bad day, the words just come automatically. #knowledgelarge
really wasn't sure about reboring. i was worried i would play it and he'd come back with some big Q play. i didn't think i was going to win if i bingoed, in any case. either i draw the Q and have to go out in two turns, or he has the Q and even if he doesn't have the U he can score enough. however, he does have 20 fewer points because of his clock. this was a desperation move to block QUIT, maybe he doesn't have QUATE or QUOTA, i don't know, i suck. quackle says ReBORING almost never wins, and 7M B(E) will win a bit more often (but again quackle doesn't have his correct score). #strategylarge
still need to improve at defense. D4 QI gives up way fewer points even though it scores 2 less. i can also draw stuff like hoplites or bingos to the S. i think i was trying to block the S lane partially, but that's not worth sacrificing easy triple pts. -6 #strategymedium
i was honestly going for the extra turnover here instead of just playing DURN. i hate doing things like that, but i realized it may be hard for me to win if he draws the blank. should i just keep grooming my leave instead? because quackle hates my play. -9.5 #strategylarge
quackle really thinks i should play through this rack. i didn't spot O4 LARDER, that seems ok enough, i suppose. or I10 REAR? gross choices here. -7 #strategymedium
he blocked LEANERS. i'm not unhappy with this play. sometimes i just like going for it. he seemed unlikely to have the last E and actually was probably very consonant heavy (bag only has 4 vowels in it). the best simming play is 5I E(ATE)N though, which also looks pretty good. perhaps this is the play and i just got too greedy. -5.5 #findingmedium
i suppose i should play a proper endgame here. this is how to get spread. i knew with near absolute certainty DOWNSME(N) was phony and didn't bother looking for a bingo from it (pretty sure i'd find ordinals if needed). i have to block ENOW with 12C DE, and then draw an F or a G, which i know are in the bag. G bingoes in both lanes, and F bingoes up top with SAFRANIN. i also have tRI(JUGATE), in case i draw the F and he blocks the top lane. I was going to try it if i needed it, but wasn't sure of it. in any case, this results in a very large spread error, even though the game is 100% won. -85 #strategylarge #endgamelarge
i suppose i should play a proper endgame here. this is how to get spread. i knew with near absolute certainty DOWNSME(N) was phony and didn't bother looking for a bingo from it (pretty sure i'd find ordinals if needed). i have to block ENOW with 12C DE, and then draw an F or a G, which i know are in the bag. G bingoes in both lanes, and F bingoes up top with SAFRANIN. i also have tRI(JUGATE), in case i draw the F and he blocks the top lane. I was going to try it if i needed it, but wasn't sure of it. in any case, this results in a very large spread error, even though the game is 100% won. -85 #strategylarge #endgamelarge
keeping ES is also worth thinking about. i figured that one was slightly better, but sometimes it's worth not always making the top equity play. i don't think that is a mathematically apt lemma (the top play should always be made) but i figured the difference was small enough that once in a while i like going for it. -0.5 #tacticssmall
i spent a little while doing math on this move. 2 of the 43 unseen tiles are Z and J, so the chance he drew at least one of them is 1 - (41/43)*(40/42)*(39/41)*(38/40)*(37/39)*(36/38)*(35/37) or about 30%. First of all, is that actually right? And second, i estimated it as roughly 25% - which is not quite right, but i figured it was close enough. I should figure out a better way to do this kind of math. either way, it is probably for naught because the best play is either NOOGIE or GOOIER, sacrificing 8 pts but keeping a more workable leave, and not opening up as huge of a hotspot. -1.5 #tacticssmall
i spent a long time on this move and then made a bad play. i should play CURIE 10K here, i considered it and it is aggressive, and good, i have the case S. it might be slightly worse because he is consonant heavy. i strongly considered 9C UNTIE as well, and saw that the bag was consonant heavy (11 vowels and 16 consonants unseen). i knew he probably had like 4-5 of the consonants at least based on his last few plays, so that may even out the bag a little bit, but still, UTE seemed to bingo a lot. my problem is that the bag still has a lot of ugly high point tiles that won't bingo. i was worried that if i played UNTIE or CURIE i would draw 4 consonants and my rack would go to hell. still, i don't know how i spend such a long time on this rack and then make such a lame move. i should be less afraid and play CURIE. there are high scoring tiles to go for like the J, Z, X which i need to outrun him. i even considered DA(CE) for quite a while, which sims almost as well as CURIE. i basically grossly overestimated how much UTE would bingo, and then spent a while trying to justify to myself that i should play it, and then decided it was worth the risk. i was totally wrong. -9.5 #strategylarge
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 blocked my own DIASTOLE. OPINIONED is nice, i wish i'd thought of it. i did think of the hook earlier on. it seems like he is going to block much of the time if i do that. #tacticslarge
UTA sims a lot worse than 6F AA; it says I bingo a lot more often with DESTU than ADES. wow, i had no idea that DESTU was better, and the three extra points make it worth it. (-4.5) #tacticsmedium
i should have played QUEUER (i wasn't 101% on it). i didn't want to give up an easy high scoring S hook. but it's important to balance my rack. -5.5 #tacticsmedium #knowledgesmall
i should have played QUEUER (i wasn't 101% on it). i didn't want to give up an easy high scoring S hook. but it's important to balance my rack. -5.5 #tacticsmedium #knowledgesmall
just weighing different leaves and scores against each other. REF and TREF score quite a bit fewer, but definitely keep better leaves. maybe i misevaluated a little because REF sims best. -2 #tacticssmall
a bit of a hard move here. i had a feeling this wasn't quite right, but it seemed worth it to go for the small chance at IKEBANA/ABELIAN (~12%), score 22, and if it doesn't work i can fish next turn too. quackle likes D3 ABA for some reason, ugh. or BAIT 6B. i don't know. -3 #strategymedium
veratrin takes an E as well as an S. but that's a tiny number of the unseen tiles. maybe just take the points? would you? i suppose if i'm playing someone better i should try to make it a bit more volatile. -2 #strategysmall
bad! by far the best play is the excellent 11J AMUCK. i have the case S, score 28 pts, and go for letters like the Z to score a lot with. i thought of AMUCKS/AMUCK on my rack, but didn't quite look hard enough. LUCK is very weak and is the type of game-losing play i make way too often. the fact that it takes a Y makes it even worse. 9J MUCK is ok if i don't think of AMUCK. -15.5 #strategylarge #findinglarge
bad! by far the best play is the excellent 11J AMUCK. i have the case S, score 28 pts, and go for letters like the Z to score a lot with. i thought of AMUCKS/AMUCK on my rack, but didn't quite look hard enough. LUCK is very weak and is the type of game-losing play i make way too often. the fact that it takes a Y makes it even worse. 9J MUCK is ok if i don't think of AMUCK. -15.5 #strategylarge #findinglarge
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
very hard to analyze a move like this. i need macondo to have inferencing. many moves here would look dumb in retrospect. of course my move looks terrible; i laid down FER/RUGAE first but FERE being good makes that bad. in the end i thought this would make his bingos less likely (i was inferring an S, but that's definitely not necessary). details window shows RUNE still gives up a few more bingos than RUGAE, but the "best" play is GENUA in the same spot, even though it gives up the most bingos. maybe it just really needs me to bingo back. #strategylarge
it's not that i missed every other bingo but i wanted to start killing the board a little bit. idk, it's probably not right. windslab is nice. B(E)DLINer is the "best" play here. #tacticsmedium
wow, this is a big misevaluation. i thought my UPO was much better defensively than the UPO on lane 4, so i gladly sacrificed the point. mainly, it blocks the QUALMS/QUALMY hook. but my UPO is very easy to overlap for a ton of points, so it gives up at least 5 more points on average, and only slightly decreases his bingo %. UNROPE at 4G however is the best simming play. -5.5 #strategymedium
quackle likes 14A ARVO solely because it bingoes a lot more than my play. should i really do that? it seems like it gives up more points and bingoes than FRAT. what a weird move. -4 #strategymedium ??
12C VID for the much better leave and also 100% win. also, notably, H(UM)P seems to win 100% of the time even though it leaves ERECTILE open, probably because i'll score a lot in the triple. i didn't see anything else.. this is a big mistake for spread purposes. #tacticslarge -54
i wasn't totally sure on FOLIAGED. FADO at N11 is simming best. it seems a bit too aggressive for my liking, but maybe i can do D9 DEAF or DEFEAT then (i didn't see AMIRS). my play bingos < 60% of the time and it may not be worth it. -4.5 #tacticsmedium #knowledgemedium #visionmedium
i wasn't totally sure on FOLIAGED. FADO at N11 is simming best. it seems a bit too aggressive for my liking, but maybe i can do D9 DEAF or DEFEAT then (i didn't see AMIRS). my play bingos < 60% of the time and it may not be worth it. -4.5 #tacticsmedium #knowledgemedium #visionmedium
i wasn't totally sure on FOLIAGED. FADO at N11 is simming best. it seems a bit too aggressive for my liking, but maybe i can do D9 DEAF or DEFEAT then (i didn't see AMIRS). my play bingos < 60% of the time and it may not be worth it. -4.5 #tacticsmedium #knowledgemedium #visionmedium
whenever i have the option to overlap the same word above and below, i ALWAYS pick the wrong one. i don't know why the simmer likes the top one so much better (almost 4 pts??). help? #tacticsmedium
obviously L(A)TTER here, which i was about to lay down, but i don't seemingly understand the concept of "cut your losses". now i am absolutely putting all my eggs in the AELRT basket. this one is definitely a significant mistake, simming almost 8 pts back. #strategymedium #tilt?
i strongly considered L6 GOJI/JUGA and 11C JIAO as well, which all sim slightly better than my play. i liked being aggressive with the blank and thought it unlikely that he had another A, although i don't really know why. i am again, though, putting a lot of eggs in that basket. it's probably better to just do GOJI; i seem to be doing that thing again where i take bigger and bigger risks when i am doing well at a tournament, and it usually ends up burning me. #strategysmall
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
i am so doubtful that 9H GIE is the play here. i really am shocked that it sims better than exchanging. i know 18 pts is 18 pts, but come on, how could keeping AEEI be right here. -4? #tacticsmedium ?
a little sad that FORGETS was blocked and he didn't give me any floaters for a bingo. i was thinking if he bingoes through the L he'd at least give me an E for GOREFEST! i considered GOFER, but not strongly enough, I guess; should have counted it and compared to OFTER. quackle prefers FOG(Y) best, keeping a great leave that bingoes > 2/3 of the time. i tend to dislike not taking points early and staying within striking distance; if FOGY doesn't work out I'll fall farther behind. It's hard to really know. -3 #strategysmall
i missed TEREDO; always gotta practice anagramming. i'm fairly sure that's the best play, it's gotta be. i wanted to play AVIATE but it seemed trivial for him to just go downward and block me. with AVIATED, if he doesn't have an O i can use that lane, but it keeps a subideal leave. -3.5 #findingmedium
i think POGO is better than this actually. i didn't want to block a lane with N2 POD, but maybe that lane is way too hard to hit anyway? 6E UP also worth a thought. tough position for sure. -4 #tacticsmedium
i did not want to use my case S on C9 ZONES. i don't see a path to victory after it with a IOTV leave... another tough move. is ZONES actually right? -8.5 #strategylarge ?
i had about 30 seconds or so on my clock. i didn't think he was going to let me play OVATIONS, so i was looking for a Q stick. then he did this. i didn't think he had given me a bingo, and i was only looking to the right. i saw novations on my rack at some point but then thought too bad the ON is backwards. i then tried to continue thinking of a way to Q stick him and couldn't figure it out. this is of course a ridiculously bad play, but it didn't register that i wasn't Q-sticking him at the time, i literally just ran out of time. The funniest thing is that slow-playing the game actually works too, i didn't need to find novations. 6F IT wins for example. -120 #endgamelarge #timelarge #nojudgment #meowmeow
i had about 30 seconds or so on my clock. i didn't think he was going to let me play OVATIONS, so i was looking for a Q stick. then he did this. i didn't think he had given me a bingo, and i was only looking to the right. i saw novations on my rack at some point but then thought too bad the ON is backwards. i then tried to continue thinking of a way to Q stick him and couldn't figure it out. this is of course a ridiculously bad play, but it didn't register that i wasn't Q-sticking him at the time, i literally just ran out of time. The funniest thing is that slow-playing the game actually works too, i didn't need to find novations. 6F IT wins for example. -120 #endgamelarge #timelarge #nojudgment #meowmeow
it's between yuch and huic here, but annoyingly i insta-played YUCH instead of considering them both. i think HUIC might have a small edge here because it's more defensive. #strategysmall
i always struggle a bit with making obvious fishes like this but it seemed to work with a lot of letters, and through the A, etc. quackle prefers N1 PST for 29 or O7 PHT for 14. i think i would have played PHT if i'd thought of it. -2.5 #tacticssmall #visionsmall
i always struggle a bit with making obvious fishes like this but it seemed to work with a lot of letters, and through the A, etc. quackle prefers N1 PST for 29 or O7 PHT for 14. i think i would have played PHT if i'd thought of it. -2.5 #tacticssmall #visionsmall
i'm too chicken to leave that lane open too much longer. i don't know, i always struggle to call these big mistakes because i purposely chose to block a lane given his last play. i suppose i should look at the pool, he may be consonant heavy after his last play VOE so maybe i should just play FONTAL for 14 more and take consonants. if he bingoes after AFOOT, i didn't score enough to outrun it. AFOOT only cuts his avg score by 1.5. -7.5 #strategymedium
MARKING is better than MAKING cuz of the pool, i think. quackle still doesn't like blocking, instead playing 15H MANGEL to open another lane? i really disagree, i think hitting the L would be a lot harder than a wide open lane with MANGEL, and another lane in row 3 or 4. 3B RAGMEN seems to be the best play that blocks the lanes in the top left, and it keeps the K for scoring. -5 #findingmedium #knowledgemedium
MARKING is better than MAKING cuz of the pool, i think. quackle still doesn't like blocking, instead playing 15H MANGEL to open another lane? i really disagree, i think hitting the L would be a lot harder than a wide open lane with MANGEL, and another lane in row 3 or 4. 3B RAGMEN seems to be the best play that blocks the lanes in the top left, and it keeps the K for scoring. -5 #findingmedium #knowledgemedium
J13 BUR is probably fine, i just have to be great at iterating through the bingos to make sure i'm not missing anything. i saw lysines/linseys so i definitely have to block. -6 #knowledgemedium
i turn over UUF to my nice leave of ANRT and it's very frustrating. i didn't even look for a bingo, although i did write down AFLNRTUU. it only triggered the slighest stirring in a couple of neurons deep in my brain. #knowledgeSADDEST -46
J2 ROT is actually a little better because it takes more hooks, as annoying as it is to keep the U. i actually have a decent shot at winning with it (well, if he doesn't have the F, which he likely does after TELIA because he's Will) i could also consider K3 O(U)R. -5 #tacticsmedium
i told a few people this is the worst mistake i've ever made in a tournament game. i think this is correct. what hurts most is that this was day 4, and i'd been playing in the top 5 tables all tournament long pretty much. i had just beaten will and was still hanging around 6th place, just needed a run to get me to the finals. and then i play this. it doesn't make sense. of course i saw caressed, and in my infinite wisdom i decided to keep looking for bingos. i didn't remember studying addresser* but surely it's a word since adressee* is a word. when he challenged it i was kind of shocked and was like "that seems like a common enough word to me" but felt ok because i still had two playable bingos. #knowledgelarge
any shot i had of winning disappeared by missing MEALLESS, which is kind of a hard find, granted, especially with my state of mind at this point. -24 #knowledgelarge
i've actually played ossifier at a tournament earlier this year, but no hope of finding it here. i was nearly in tears by the end of this game, which hasn't happened to me in many years! i ended up losing my focus for much of the rest of the day. -9 #knowledgelarge
gotta find K7 KEMPT here, it keeps a much better leave; i especially need a good leave because based on his last two plays another bingo is coming down right about now. -6.5 #visionmedium
i played the rest of this game in like 2-3 minutes. i realized the only way i was going to win is to speed play; i believe he was down to around 5-6 minutes by now. i'm normally a very slow player so this was an interesting tactic. -3 NUB in the same spot, but shrug. #tacticssmall
more speed playing so i'm not making super accurate moves here. 14A GIF looks awesome, i have the case T, and i also block the S(ELECTING) hook which is now worrisome. -5.5 #speed #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 need to consider defense more. the problem with COZIED is that it gives back a lot more points than ZOOID, which has an atrocious leave but scores 39 pts. i didn't really consider OUZO; i think that's an in-between play that i would have made if i'd thought of it more. J7 DOOZIE is also decent. -6 #strategymedium
yeah, i need to consider equity a bit more robotically. WAUR/WAUL at 13G score too much to disregard. i know they keep ILU or IRU, but that's 11 pts better than keeping a W, and giving back slightly more bingos. -7.5 #strategymedium. it's funny, two fairly significant strategic errors in a row, but i did think it through at least.
joel tells me he hates fishing but wtf do i do with racks like this and the previous one? the problem here at least seems to be that if i'm going to fish i should make it easier for my bingo to fit next turn, so F14 OI is definitely better. -4 #strategymedium
well he blocked my much better spot for INK. i don't know why i didn't play AKIN at 11K though; that blocks up pretty much everything and seals the game. I think i was worried about an UN- bingo but that's unlikely with the pool. i feel like a lot of these mistakes are just purposeful choices and i'm not weighing the probabilities properly. there is probably something i can infer from LA. -10 #strategylarge
M7 MIB is a lil better it seems, at least defensively. -4 #tacticssmall -- actually, i can't see why AEIP results in a higher average score next turn (but lower bingo %).. anyone?
sigh. i thought the U was likely to be in the bag, there's also an S and a blank to draw for (this late in the game, turnover does start to matter a tiny bit). additionally, this is also a bit of a blocking play, but not totally, it's easier to overlap cowiest in collins. but i was reasonably happy with this play, it puts me up by a lot and there's a decent chance i can unload the Q next turn for some points as well. C3 Q(A)T only sims a little better, but the best simmer is 2A OWT! maybe it's ok to keep the Q for now and play shorter? after all 2A OWT scores only 7 fewer than COWIEST but keeps the S. damn. -6 #strategymedium
ugh, this move is so bad. at least i realized that i can't play 4J O(DE) by itself, it doesn't hit enough and scores abysmally. but LODE bingoes even less so it also sucks. i did see 2L ULNA and considered it for a while, but i hate ROTE and i'm down by 100 pts already, i absolutely need to bingo next turn. i didn't see M1 ENOL despite breathing deeply, so maybe there is no hope. -8 #findingmedium #strategylarge
ugh, this move is so bad. at least i realized that i can't play 4J O(DE) by itself, it doesn't hit enough and scores abysmally. but LODE bingoes even less so it also sucks. i did see 2L ULNA and considered it for a while, but i hate ROTE and i'm down by 100 pts already, i absolutely need to bingo next turn. i didn't see M1 ENOL despite breathing deeply, so maybe there is no hope. -8 #findingmedium #strategylarge
i don't have time for this garbage. i need to like take care of my house and work on some side projects, not draw EIIN to INT. so i don't know, excuse me for not fishing again when i'm down by 150 pts with 12L INIA, this game is done. -6 #lucklarge #fml #strategymedium
mistake here. LAR is simming best, and then LARN. i really should have played LARN, but i became afraid because the pool is pretty consonant heavy (21V 31C and a blank). surprised LAR is best. IRS just doesn't bingo enough. -4.5 #tacticsmedium
NOOOOO I FORGOT THEY ADDED A THIRD WORD TO THE ADEIINOT RACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -50 also maybe 3F ION. #knowledgelarge
N5 DUELLI is beautiful. DILUTE isn't that great. it actually slightly raises his bingo percentage, even though i'm trying to block an easy 7 lane. -3 #findingmedium #knowledgemedium #strategymedium
N5 DUELLI is beautiful. DILUTE isn't that great. it actually slightly raises his bingo percentage, even though i'm trying to block an easy 7 lane. -3 #findingmedium #knowledgemedium #strategymedium
N5 DUELLI is beautiful. DILUTE isn't that great. it actually slightly raises his bingo percentage, even though i'm trying to block an easy 7 lane. -3 #findingmedium #knowledgemedium #strategymedium
INTU is clearly a better leave than ETU but i think 7G WAIN sims best partially because i can bingo through the N? i'm not totally sure. my bingo % goes up after it. #tacticssmall
i thought the leave after C13 XU was too clunky, but quackle thinks it's a fine play. FIXT gives up a lot more points and i shouldn't be volatilizing the board too much. still, the game is very close now so maybe having an open board isn't that bad. -4 #strategymedium
poor endgame. i wan't totally sure on FLOCS so didn't want to play it first. #endgamelarge #knowledgelarge. i bled a lot of spread this tourney and it may have made some difference for the cash prizes.
poor endgame. i wan't totally sure on FLOCS so didn't want to play it first. #endgamelarge #knowledgelarge. i bled a lot of spread this tourney and it may have made some difference for the cash prizes.
i spent too long on this play. i disagree with 13L HON. come on, man. i know i have a good leave for it, but who makes plays like that when up this much? however, NOH in that spot is probably better than my play. -4 #tacticsmedium
this is phony. even though it was unchallenged, it is still a large mistake; part of me thought it was good for some reason. the best play here is N2 BUGEYE. this turn could have gone much worse for me. -5 #knowledgelarge
i did see 2F JEE, but didn't like that i don't have one of the A's to front-hook it. i don't like it that much, idk. i think i would still do JIG any day unless someone convinces me otherwise. -4 #tacticssmall (if anything)
i'm making a ton of dinky plays this game. 13J SEME scores and keeps the F for scoring / outrunning. that's what i should be doing. #visionmedium #tacticsmedium -5
i'm making a ton of dinky plays this game. 13J SEME scores and keeps the F for scoring / outrunning. that's what i should be doing. #visionmedium #tacticsmedium -5
wrote down JAGLESS on my scoresheet, and i haven't studied enough to know the words cold. sorry to disappoint my loyal fans out there. now i'll never know how sick it would have been to bingo with JAGLESS. 2E J(A)G is better than my move, btw, i think. -58 #knowledgelarge
wow, this play sims unexpectedly badly. i bingo a lot less than i thought i did -- only about 46%. I guess Ys are the worst letter in Scrabble. quackle likes 3L DY(K)E for 24 - even though i don't bingo often, i get a ton of points the next turn. -9.5 #strategylarge
quackle doesn't like this very much. even though i block way more bingos with my play, 5D VEXIL scores more and keeps AS. also, trains can bingo up top, and it doesn't bingo THAT often (about 60% if i leave the bottom open). #visionlarge -9.5
i spent literally about 7 minutes on this move. i saw almost all the top possibilities, but for some reason really hated M(A)VIN. i also was not a big fan of BOVID, blowing the board wide open for no reason. i should just be more systematic. is BROMID keeping NV really that much better than scoring 6 fewer, but keeping an ok leave of BDO and not giving up a potentially giant scoring spot? i didn't see MO(R)BID (need to learn my 6s - anagram pairs) and i might have played it if i'd seen it; it sims almost as well as MAVIN. -4.5 #strategymedium
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
i need to keep fishing. 9G D(I)F is totally fine. mistake here. #strategylarge -10 (fetid at 13I is a lot better, i didn't even think of it because i was not focused and playing like garbage)
i spent absurdly long on this move. it was frustrating. i should probably just keep it closed and do EM at N1, and pounce on any openings (or still draw a bingo - EM bingoes 46% next turn, maybe a little less because he'll keep it closed, but still). -7 #strategymedium
i didn't see PINKOEs here, but it might not be worth bingoing. my first choice KOP is best. i want to give myself the best bingo chances next turn. -2 #tacticssmall
i did see MOTHERLY here but it didn't seem worth it to bingo for "only" 62. that's actually pretty dumb; particularly because motherly also blocks a lane and puts me up by a ton. MOUTH actually does better by equity, but motherly wins by win%, by just a little. #strategysmall
many terrible choices here. i regret not playing 13J FIZ. i didn't think of it - only thought of FRIZ. need to generate more plays and be better at it. my IF opens a lane but blocks the E. -3.5 #findingmedium
-0.5 #tacticssmall. basically a choice to not keep the H this time. i thought it might sim slightly worse but i wanted more bingo % since he exchanged if that makes any sense.
i gotta find FL(U)ID ... FUD is not good enough. i was a little worried about the X so that flipped the scales, but i hadn't seen FLUID. -4 #findingmedium
i thought i had a better chance of drawing the X if i just bingo now. the worst thing is that ELEPIDOTE is not available because i have the last two Es. quackle thinks I should do 15L DUPE or PULE which i considered. maybe i draw the X, use it, and bingo the following turn?? -7 #strategymedium. honestly i don't know how to compare the two plays.
i should actually play G2 JEEP since i know he doesn't have the blank at this point so i should go for it. i can always block it next turn. -10 #strategylarge
i saw outrank pretty quickly, but missed outdrank. either way i was trying to figure out if it was worth passing the bingo up. F10 TAROK actually sims better than my bingo, but OUTDRANK sims best. -2.5 #findingsmall
haha, i adore D8 (F)A. i don't know how often that works, but i have ZOOID for 79 a lot of the time after that, and ZOOIDAL for 123 sometimes! LOL. clever quackle. always look for setups i guess. -10 #visionlarge ... my move isn't that bad, it's just that FA/AX is so awesome.
it's upsetting that INTIFADA just barely does not fit. what a tough tournament. i'm 1-5 at this point and can't figure out how to play. i should just play FAD. i might play FAD if this was a regular game and i wasn't terrified of losing, but keeping two i's get scarier and scarier the more i lose :/ i didn't even think of the S hook on TAIN until later in the game. it's so hard to play well. i could do D11 AID if i don't want to double my i's, or even 7C AIM. -5 #strategymedium
an unaggressive, lame move. BOW at H13 is probably better. but BROWS/CROWS at 14B for 39 pts is best. i didn't even bother counting the score. i think if i had counted it i would have realized that's the play i want to make. it's really really hard to focus when you're 1-5. i was probably on autopilot trying to keep the RS combo etc. instead of thinking about the game situation. -8.5 #strategylarge
wow. CEROES* is phony. CERO is a fish, not the number ZERO. never knew that. REBEC is still the best play, but i can't find plays like that when i'm 1-5 no matter how positive i am. -1 #knowledgelarge #tacticssmall
wow. CEROES* is phony. CERO is a fish, not the number ZERO. never knew that. REBEC is still the best play, but i can't find plays like that when i'm 1-5 no matter how positive i am. -1 #knowledgelarge #tacticssmall
-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.
crap!! i did that thing i do when i'm down early and instead of trying to keep a good leave i turn over tiles like an idiot! 3F OWIE keeps a great leave of GILN especially with the open letters on this board. -10.5 #strategylarge
noooo just play B(O)W. i think i wanted him to waste some equity but why not try to bingo again. i'm trying to consciously fish a little less but blowing up INRST with a nice G to bingo through is just silly. -6.5 #strategymedium
a poor pre-endgame. once i laid it down i realized where it put the A, and with the unseen tiles he's likely to hit me back for a ton of points. i figured i'd probably won the early bird but i shouldn't be so lazy and pick it up and look again. i considered ducal and acold too. 1F CADI sims best on many-ply. -3 #lazynessmedium #strategymedium
i saw YOWZA but didn't like the leave and what i thought was worse defense. guess i was wrong though. ZONARY has much worse defense; lots of overlaps i guess, or plays through the Z. -3 #strategysmall
considered just 10B FID. the amazing K4 WIF(EH)OoD is available for MORE pts than the bingo, keeping an R. but FID still sims best. oops. got a bit too greedy/scared since matt has beaten me like 6 times in a row. -5.5 #strategymedium
i would have played TIYIN but i was scared after losing the UNRIVE* challenge. i knew TIYIN was good in at least one dictionary. i laid down YETI at L2 but i really don't think that's the play. -2 #knowledgesmall
considered MUD/DUM but i liked the extra pts and thought it was worth exposing the E, making my rack a little worse, etc. i always gotta take defense into account. -2 #strategysmall
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 ?
i was actually doing some math here to try to figure out what the chances he drew an E were. i think i calculated somewhere in the 30% range. didn't see the amazing H10 PINETA. -0.5 #visionsmall
i liked sacrificing some points here to kill the bottom left of the board; i thought it was worth it. 13G CODEiNE sims best because it scores best, i guess, lol. maybe i should do it. quackle doesn't like these types of sacrifices. is congeed correct? i also saw encoded etc at 13G but it still doesn't kill the bottom left quadrant. -3.5 #notanerror? #strategysmall?
i didn't think of G7 HERD. it seems relatively easy for him to block downards though, with either HERD or my play (column G down, or even something like AE, lol). i'm in more trouble than quackle thinks. quackle likes N12 DENE but that doesn't open a new lane. should i do it anyway and try to open a lane later? i don't know. -4 #tacticsmedium
AACIRT is not all that strong of a leave here. weird move. i guess i like sorta blocking the S too, but this still is meh. -4 #strategymedium C2 YA looks standard, but very easy to overlap. maybe M1 YEA?
i don't think i'm that far off from being right. he's about to bingo again, and if he doesn't hit the H i can maybe get some big points back. maybe J7 R(E)X would block his bingo, but idk. #strategymedium?
... which is why i didn't play IRONI(C) here; i don't want to just give up easy points. i thought it better to try my luck at the S and a bingo. #strategysmall ?
i spent a very long time on this move before finally deciding to give up and try to cut spread. 14I OY is the obvious equity play here, and much of the time it's just met with another big comeback. i was up around 1000 spread and 3 games on the rest of the field, so the only way to lose the tournament is to lose 3 games by a combined 500 spread points. now that it looks like i'm going to get blown out here, i wanted to try to stem the bleeding and keep scoring tiles. #strategysmall
i'm pretty sure i saw EE, and thought keeping STEEN was fine. i don't like Os that much. it's kinda shocking to me that EE sims so much better at 7H, but i guess it also doesn't give back some big pts. yeah, i shoulda done that. -11 #strategylarge
fishing is less often right in collins. i probably missed ZE and THIEF, although i did think of ZE in other turns. HOMY is probably ok too. -6 #findingmedium
i had too little time here, but i think i should keep the Q and hope to get lucky! 20-minute timer really messes with me, clearly OW is the only thing that gives me a chance to win here. -15 #strategylarge
there it is; missing PETITORY# is unacceptable. but i know literally 3 csw words. #knowledgelarge -27 also i should block the 14F spot with NOY if i'm going to play those letters (i thought of BEZ too, but the Z at 14F would be worse).
i fish way too much in general. i think i should play EYE here. at B5 it might give up a lot of pts, but if he bingos i might get a big play back, and he seemed like he was going to bingo again. -2.5 #tacticssmall
since i'm at a disadvantage even after i bingo, quackle actually prefers i volatilize it a bit with M5 TACRINE. i didn't want to fall behind again to a lucky X, but i do need more scoring spots since there's a potentially big one in the left of row 12. -3 #tacticssmall
i can smell that X setup from a mile away, Josh. YACK is the obvious play here, but when you infer an X, 10D DAM goes up to the top. there is a lot more C-K synergy so CAM is not right here. -5.5 #tacticsmedium
bingoes like B3 GYrAtED are not worth it here, but IDEAloGY is definitely the right play here. it's 83 points and i should be able to survive a bingo back on column B. i should have looked a bit harder. -16.5 #findinglarge #knowledgelarge
bingoes like B3 GYrAtED are not worth it here, but IDEAloGY is definitely the right play here. it's 83 points and i should be able to survive a bingo back on column B. i should have looked a bit harder. -16.5 #findinglarge #knowledgelarge
oh nice. TIZ 9A has fewer of the problems that BLITZ does. after FARO too it seems he kept something fairly strong or else wouldn't have made such an aggro play. but idk. -1 #tacticssmall
i didn't spot the J14 GYP spot, and at this point i'm pretty unfocused. gotta work on focusing in all situations. since a loss here will make me 1-2 in the early bird so far, it was tough to stay positive, given how i lost the last game! This is a great example of how one lost moment of focus costs one the game. The most elite players make the right play here - it is essential to keep the V to score at 8D, so the best plays should actually keep EV. that makes YEN even better. In the main event, I had a somewhat similar situation, but at that point I was significantly more concentrated and I think I made the right decision. -16 #visionlarge
so defensive .. 10H TOO scores 4 more and it's worth continuing to be aggressive when the board has some juicy bingo lanes. i think? -4.5 #strategymedium
i'm not going to lose the game, but this is a terrible move. i guess i got greedy and thought he might give me a bingo, but instead this gives back a ton of points. just play BATIKS for 49. sheesh! -21 #strategylarge #focus
9F MAXI is a _perfect_ move here, especially after he took so long on DUCKS (it was several minutes, which strongly implied to me he kept a blank; it seems like an easier play to make if he's holding another S). -4 #strategymedium
and he blocked epitasis.. i always hate moves that keep too outrageous of a vowel-consonant ratio, but i suppose IPSST > AISST? since it likes E11 AI more. -1.5 #tacticssmall
amazing. RI(S)EN M11 wins 100% of the time. i suppose this was a standard out in two, combined with trying to find his best play, and i should have figured it out. i didn't think i'd be able to outrun him though, and was trying to draw a challenge on this word (not knowing it's CSW only :/ ) #endgamelarge
pretty sure he didn't have another S, he took quite a bit of time on VOWS, so i figured he had not kept an S and probably had a leave with one-pointers. still, it's a bit much; maybe just doing 13B AA is fine. but i still like this a lot. -4 #strategymedium
this however is a big mistake. i totally didn't spot JEEZ, so ZA there is perfectly fine, but so is CRAZE(D) if i miss ZA. i remember thinking of crazed and i wasn't enthused about it. i wanted to just keep scoring but thought this was probably not quackle's option; i was pretty far off. #strategylarge #focus -15
yuck, kind of hard to see, but i should. DIGITIZE for 94! i was kind of worrying and playing badly here; CATER was quite the wrong move and it led to some crap :( -37 #findinglarge
it's more important here to keep a balanced leave; OOZE does that better despite giving up quite a bit more points. i also score a lot more after it than OOT. -3 #strategymedium
cool -- bag has good enough letters (including the blanks) and is consonant-heavy enough that quackle wants me to keep S instead of ST here. oops. -0.5 #focus #tacticssmall
this is very bad for preventing bingos, given his last move. i was thinking i can't win without drawing the blank here. while that's still likely, if i play COAPT at 14G that scores quite a bit and maybe i can draw an H or something to score next turn. i don't know. but COPAL is wrong. Quackle likes 10K COAPT best, i don't really get it. -10.5 #strategylarge
wow - i need to play D4 TEW here instead of 10E WYE; despite the worse leave, i have to kill the low-variance high scoring spot. this is the type of advanced move only a few players know how to make. how to learn. ::thinking emoji:: -3.5 #strategymedium
there are too many unseen Ts to make this move. i knew this at the time and knew i needed to get lucky, but that's asking to get too lucky. 10M AWN keeps the same leave and gives me a chance to come back... but he's never going to let me have that. so i don't know. maybe H4 WEN or L1 WRENS? WRENS seems like my type of move here actually. got too frustrated. -1.5 #focus #strategysmall
there are a number of fairly easy bingos available on row 11, which a player like me would find on any given day, but not in this game. which is problematic, as these are the types of games where i most need to find these moves. -18.5 #focus #visionlarge I had tunnel vision with setting up EST here partially.
why didn't i trust myself? i held him for a long time and i've looked VANED up out of curiosity, i'm sure. i was too worried my bingo would be unplayable next turn if i was wrong. #knowledgelarge
C: ugh RET? out of that poolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
A: Apparently 15A ThEATER is best. #strategysmall although Quackle is bad at pre-endgames
oh no! this is an uncharacteristic error ..
J: my brain stopped working. I have always felt MEWN* resembled a valid word, so since I was like an infant I've learned to remind myself of HEWN and MEWL, but for some damn reason I decide to not think about that and focus so intently on keeping this board open that I play a frickin phony 4 at nationals. even if this is valid it's not a good play. E2 TWIN and K8 WEND were my other main considerations, I didn't want to play TWINED or anything cause that starts exhausting the board. I wanted humerals to stay open but expected a row 8 play next turn that blocks it. E2 TWIN is honestly fine, keepsthe 7 row with the DMR leave, marginal 2 row, and possibly leaves the K column open if Cesar doesn't have a good overlapping rack. I could even do M(E)W for more variance if I want to go that route, it's not bad. #knowledgelarge
I had a hunch that IMRT might hit more on this board than DIRT (D often ends words, so it's harder to hit the L column), but then told myself I was overthinking it and DIRT was a more standard bingo leave. DAB sims best and bingoes a bit more than BAM! I saw DIRAM which scores well and is a bit better for the board, but BT is quite problematic for the bingo %. #tacticssmall
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
I took the points and defense, but AAR is a bad leave, I'm slightly behind, there are two good S spots (TOONIES and ALGUAZILS), and I know Cesar did not keep an S. I should play 13A CAY and go for a bingo. #strategymedium
I think I liked that FIB blocks the L column, but it's a lousy block considering that it keeps five consonants and that I could potentially use ALGUAZIlS later for the same purpose. C11 FACT is best despite opening a high-scoring lane on row 15 for the unseen AAS. I like 7C FACT, Quackle's second choice. #strategymedium
BURAN is the pure equity play, but 5H UNBE handily wins the sim. There are up to 5 E's in the bag and no A's, and UNBE blocks column K and scores one more point. #tacticsmedium
this is so frustrating. first of all, SPONGED etc plays. yet, I have to challenge off a collins-only 9 confidently to win any games here, a perfectly plausible word, which is actually shocking that it's not good in TWL -- what else does a GOSPELER do?? how can GOSPELER / GOSPELLER be good but not GOSPELLED? a GOSPELER GOSPELS right? this game drives me crazy. #knowledgelarge
I didn't like 13L DOJO with what that gives back. Out of all options that keep the J, which seemed like the right idea, 11K MHO is just as reasonable and is 6 more. #findingsmall
Yea, I wasn't a fan of K11 J(A)VA here. I'm not sure why it sims better than my play if I get to keep my only vowel. Maybe K9 JAV(A) is fine because the 10J spot is not that dangerous after that play and I have a vowel at the bottom and top of the board to bail me out with a play like 2F WR(O)NG if I pick more consonants. K9 JAVA does look to be a bit stronger with respect to the leave and it giving a lot less back than K11 JAVA. #strategymedium
LOL this is phony! jeez... i remember thinking it looked a little funny, but i was pretty dejected by my record, lol. but even now i thought it was fine. #knowledgelarge
not sure what happened here. If I missed VIEW, if I didn't think it scored anything, what. It's a ton better. I played this whole game like Cesar, especially starting here. #findingmedium
W: I need to do KITE and get lucky; I felt there was a chance of outscoring after SICKED, but I still have that chance after KITE and I get way more bingos down. #strategymedium
perhaps L2 OVULE instead? This was a stylistic choice to try and limit the left side as much as possible. After a play comes down at 12A though, who knows if I can keep it up. #tacticssmall`
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
The listing of all of the player's mistakes. For more information about mistakes, check the 'Mistakes' section of the about page.
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