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#player1 Chris_Cree Chris Cree
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Chris_Cree: ABGNO 8D BOGAN +22 22
>Jim_Burlant: ?CCKLTV G6 CL.CK +17 17
#note Yuck. Regardless of how negative the V is as a tile, I felt my first priority was to clear as much of this as possible so I could draw something like AE or EI. Q thinks TCKL? has good synergy and says I should only play VAC. Really?
>Chris_Cree: LMOSTU 11B MOULTS +30 52
>Jim_Burlant: ?BDETTV C10 V.TED +18 35
#note Not a whole lot to choose from. There are 4 plays that sim within 0.1% and 1/4 point of each other: this, D10 DUVET, D10 BUTTED, or D10 BUTT. I don't care if I do have an E, BUTT seems like it's giving him easy points back since he probably has an E. DUVET scores identically to this, but it opens up an S hook that may backfire, even if I do have the blank. I like this just fine. 46% to win.
>Chris_Cree: AGI 14A GA.I +12 64
>Jim_Burlant: ?BIIORT 15A OI +17 52
#note Burned several minutes here and gave up when I couldn't find a playable bingo. Good thing I did - none play. As for this - I couldn't think of TORII, and debated between this and 12A BITT. I figured that BIRT? was the best combo I could leave myself from this rack, and the worst case I figured was that if he hit row 15 I'd still have 12A BITT as a fallback option. Q prefers that I play 12A BITT, saying it wins 53%. This is second best, winning 50, simming 6 points down. Regardless, this worked out.
>Chris_Cree: EHT 12A TE.H +30 94
>Jim_Burlant: ?BINRTU 15D TURBINe +80 132
#note Q gives marginal preference to TRIBUNe over this; I'm guessing that, since I have to place the blank E at J14, it wants me to place the I at 15F to create a counter-balancing spot? The only other bingo is I3 INBURsT, which scores 69 and wins 4% less often in a short sim.
>Chris_Cree: AIISX K11 IXIAS +33 127
>Jim_Burlant: ADEIQRW L9 QADI +49 181
#note I saw the 14J threat, but 49 points for the Q made this the clear choice; if I took out 14J with WARED or WAIRED, my having played TURBINE instead of TRIBUNE meant that I might not be able to play the Q for points on the next turn. Quackle agrees - this is best, winning 70% in a short sim. The next best plays (WAIRED, WARED, WADER, etc.) score pretty close but win 8 - 9% less often and sim over 12 points down on this.
>Chris_Cree: AEFN 14J F.ENA +44 171
>Jim_Burlant: EEIJRWY 15N WE +20 201
#note Wasn't sure what to do here - in the absence of that, make sure that I could some token resistance to the O column while unloading the W. Q says I shouldn't worry about defending and should play M7 WEIR for 26.
>Chris_Cree: NOO 13M ONO +16 187
>Jim_Burlant: AEGIJOY J8 JOEY +23 224
#note Trading points for defense. Given my history with Chris - who, against me, has an uncanny ability to draw bingos with ERST? in them - I wanted to make sure that his easy S hook down the I column wasn't there. He also told me post-mortem that he'd been looking for words ending in ER or ED down the J column, which this also blocks. This play doesn't do well statically, but by the time 1000 2-ply iterations have been run, it becomes clear this is a VERY strong choice and every bit as good as JAY 7C despite giving up 7 scoreboard points to it. Quackle likes M6 YOGI. This sims 1-1/2 points down and wins 61-1/2% at 1000+ iterations.
>Chris_Cree: EORZ 6G .ROZE +36 223
>Jim_Burlant: EEGIMRV H1 VERGE. +36 260
#note I knew CROZE took the S, but did not know at the time that it also takes a back R. Knowing that, - the star play is obviously GIVER L2. While it scores only 1 point less than this, its main appeal is its better board position, as the only floaters are a G, I, and V. However, within the limitations of what I knew, I didn't have much choice but to play at H1. While I wasn't too concerned about the leave - this is a very balanced pool with lots of AEINR still available and only a handful of rack killers (FUWY) in it - the board position concerned me, as I really didn't want to float the E. The sequence that followed was par for the course with the kind of day I was having. And, as I'll explain later, the consolation I can take: even if I found GIVER, it wouldn't have mattered.
>Chris_Cree: ADLNPRU 2G P.NDULAR +80 303
>Jim_Burlant: AEIMRSS 4H .ISARMES +74 334
#note Only bingo. 60% to win. However, his next rack reduces that to zero.
>Chris_Cree: ?DEHLNO 3A iNHOLDE. +79 382
#note The second straight opponent to follow a mid-game bingo with another right out of the bag.
>Jim_Burlant: AEIIUWY 1M YAW +34 368
#note Sigh. Any number of better options available, but this one's a moot point - I'm toast. I was too stunned to play the end game right, so I didn't find his out-in-two. Not that it matters, except for a few points of spread (which, given how the day went, wouldn't have mattered one iota).
>Chris_Cree: AEFPRTT D2 F.RT +14 396
>Jim_Burlant: EIIU 5C E.UI +8 376
>Chris_Cree: AEPT 5K PEAT +30 426
#note Surprisingly, replaying the game in Quackle reveals there was nothing I could do about this one. Even if I play the superior GIVER instead of VERGER, I doubt Chris misses PAULDRON D3. GIVER would have resulted in my having a rack of AEEMRSS, with which my comeback would have been MEAS(U)RES through the U in PAULDRON. His post-bingo rack of DEHLNO? would have yielded a bingo-bango of HOMELAND down the A column, and I'd still be sitting on AEIIUWY and trailing by 6 more points than I did here. When it's not your day, it really isn't your day.
>Chris_Cree: (I) +2 428
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