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#player1 Jason Jason
#player2 Alex_Fiszbein Alex Fiszbein
>Jason: DFHLNSW -DFHLW +0 0
#note Tough decision on what to keep here, but Q agrees. P.S. S, bring some of your vowel friends with you next time, hm?
>Alex_Fiszbein: DLMO 8E MOLD +14 14
#note Put it at 8G first, made his "I'm going to choose the wrong one regardless" speech, and moved it.
>Jason: AGGGNST F7 G.NG +10 10
#note What're the odds of pulling all three G's on a five-tile pick? It's rhetorical; I could figure it out myself but I'm too lazy. Q's margin between NOGG (superior) and this surprises me.
>Alex_Fiszbein: AEJ 9C JEA. +23 37
>Jason: AEGIRST 11F STAGIER +73 83
#note Alex hade his patented "nice find" comment. Again, larger-than-expected difference between the better SEAGIRT and this. Can't remember why I chose one over the other.
>Alex_Fiszbein: ??HINNO L7 HONo.INg +70 107
#note Asked aloud if he should play "the interesting one" (tHIONiN(E), he said later) or "the boring one" and decided on the boring one. Then he reached for the blank slip and filled them both out. "Both of them?!" I exclaimed. "Yeah, what a waste!" he said. "Cry me a frickin' river!" I retorted. "Well, I hate getting them both at once," he said. "...he says to the person double-blanked for the sixth time in ten games," I said. That shut him up! :)
>Jason: ABCEEIT H11 .BACI +36 119
#note Then he verbally designated the blanks: "OG, as in original gangster." I had to laugh at that. At times during this game, we should've been playing in the New York tourney; have some cheese with our whines. (rim shot) And the only cool five I know is clearly best here.
>Alex_Fiszbein: ILWY I5 WILY +22 129
#note At about this point during the recount (nothing changed), Alex pointed out that, in the game next door between his dad and Elaine Glowniak VIATOR was at N2 and neither player A- front hooked it, even though Jeff could've played QAT there and Elaine had CLAY for hella points. After that was finished, I said "We now return you to your regularly scheduled recount, already in progress."
>Jason: EEISTUZ 13J ZI.E +26 145
#note Thus begins the "Was this a mistake? I dunno." phase of the game. I liked it better than, say ZI(g), but Q ranked this fifth, putting the interesting seven-point (H)UE best and ZI(g) second. Especially considering how badly this play would come back to bite me ... was this a mistake? I dunno.
>Alex_Fiszbein: HMPU M5 HUMP +28 157
#note Nice. Scores, blocks the lane I opened, clears dreck.
>Jason: ELNSTTU 4K NUT +18 163
#note LUTEN(I)ST is a word that will be in my arsenal by the end of the year, if not sooner. In other news, I consider my strategy the strongest part of my game, but it went missing this game. Yeah, the LEST leave is good for bingos ... where? Row 3 bingos hit nothing and bingos through the I hit nothing. To bingo off ZINE, I need the S fifth, esp. hard without a blank. So, naturally, I play for bingos.
>Alex_Fiszbein: Q J10 Q. +31 188
>Jason: AEFLSST 15D SEAL.FTS +62 225
#note Ooh, if I'd bingoed with LUTENIST and pulled FAS to start a new rack ... I so could've taken control there. Still, on this board 62 isn't bad.
>Alex_Fiszbein: AIO C9 .IAO +11 199
>Jason: AENRTTV H4 VAT +17 242
#note As Dunlop might say: "This was my losing play." I debated between this and TAV at B12, but decided to take the three more points and really play some defense. Even though it's ninth-best (TAVERN at 14A, AVERT at 14B top the list), my win chance is at 71%, Q says. Another play that will bite me in the rear. Was this a mistake? I dunno.
>Alex_Fiszbein: BERV N10 VERB +33 232
#note Yeah, I was kind of hoping I'd get to that first. Now we're racing to the S.
>Jason: EKNORTT K6 TOKE +27 269
#note Frustrating that there's nothing along Row 14 maximizing the K. The unseen pool is 18 vowels, 15 consonants, perfect for an NRT leave. I'm hoping either Alex gets bogged down with the vowels and/or I can keep drawing into leaves ready for vowels. I probably don't play this if the J is out for fear of (KOP)JE. For whatever reason, Q likes the cute O(VERB)ET, perhaps to kill the S spot since I don't have it.
>Alex_Fiszbein: AEX D11 AXE +40 272
#note Yeah, I never considered him playing off two vowels and a consonant for 40.
>Jason: DINORTU 5C OUTDR.. +22 291
#note I figure the S will come out as soon as it's drawn, so I'm trying to race for it (in vain, as it turns out; he picked it up after VERB, I believe he said). Q says OUTDR(AW)N's slightly better; I disagree. Somehow, O(VERB)ID isn't better than both (which I think it should be). Alex asked if I was making a statement with this play.
>Alex_Fiszbein: OY 14E OY +28 300
>Jason: AAEFINP B12 FAIN +27 318
#note Setting up APE next turn at a minimum. Hoping to draw consonants. Kicked myself when the top choices came up that I didn't know (KOP)PA, but this ranks ahead of it.
>Alex_Fiszbein: EINRS O11 RESIN +40 340
#note Dammit, how did this punk go for 33, 40, 28, 40 on this mess of a board? I figured all I had to do was play defense, score decently, hope he'd score too little opening. Stinker!
>Jason: ACEEIPU A14 PE +22 340
#note OK, NOW I can kick myself over KOPPA. (Stupid fives.) Still, that only wins about 1/3 of the time. Q says (D)U(GONGS) wins about 1/2 the time. This wins about 1/5 of the time. Hated going here (no urgency given the pool) but I didn't see another decent play that left one in the bag.
>Alex_Fiszbein: DEELRRW C2 REW.RD +24 364
#note At first I thought this couldn't be his best play, but Q says it wins no matter what he draws.
>Jason: ACEIOOU 2B U.EIC +26 366
#note So much for "maybe Alex will get bogged down with vowels." This took me way longer to find than it should've, considering it's the obvious play. Down to about 45 seconds after this. I had a couple fleeting moments where I thought he couldn't get enough out of DEL to win, but he can in numerous ways.
>Alex_Fiszbein: DEL D1 D.L +8 372
#note I didn't think it was worth it for him to block A(B)O, but it is. Playing the L at 13G is best.
>Jason: AOO 12G A.O +10 376
#note I pulled OO, leaving the D for Alex. I had thought after the fact that if I pick DO and leave ODA here, that I win, but that leaves him with OLE at 3I to go out. Apologies to all I told that "if I just pull the D, then I win." I don't know what I'm talking about and it's probably best for all concerned if you ignore me from now on.
>Alex_Fiszbein: E 5M .E +5 377
>Alex_Fiszbein: (O) +2 379
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