| Player 1 |
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#player1 Joshua_Sokol Joshua Sokol
#player2 Bernard Bernard
>Joshua_Sokol: ?AMRSUV H7 VUM +16 16
>Bernard: AGUY 7F GU. +8 8
#note first I9 YA, then this.
>Joshua_Sokol: ?AAORSW 9H .AW +9 25
#note with the YA inference I'll happily be slightly aggressive here, but not too much.
>Bernard: ARY F7 .RAY +16 24
>Joshua_Sokol: ?ACORSV K3 CAVORtS +81 106
>Bernard: CFRT 4I CR.FT +20 44
>Joshua_Sokol: DEEIMNO E8 EMODINE +81 187
>Joshua_Sokol: DEEIMNO -- -81 106
#note always think this is valid! When I laid it down I knew it was phony though. Just play EMODIN Josh :#
>Bernard: DEGGI 8A DIGGE. +33 77
>Joshua_Sokol: DEEIMNO J6 MO +22 128
>Bernard: EENOSTU 11C OUTSEEN +73 150
>Joshua_Sokol: DEEINTW 8K .WINE +33 161
#note really regretted not playing TWEED instead. Didn't come to mind until my clock was hit. INT is better than DET here.
>Bernard: APTX H11 .XPAT +66 216
#note this seemed to be the beginning of the end for me.
>Joshua_Sokol: BDDEEOT 7M BED +21 182
#note would have bingo-ed after TWEED. But then again I would have bingo-ed after TWINE if I knew BEDOTTED. This was definitely the beginning of the end for me.
>Bernard: ?HINRST D1 SHoRTIN. +74 290
>Joshua_Sokol: DEEOOST 3K .OED +23 205
#note 2B OO(H)ED stands out here as an alternative. But this at least will probably cause him to sacrifice a lot to block the S.
>Bernard: EIL 1A LIE. +12 302
#note I really expected him to do this. It's the truth! Believe me!
>Joshua_Sokol: AEOORST 2D .OO +8 213
#note Hoped he didn't draw anything substantial, but I really misread his reaction after his draw.
>Bernard: ITZ 1F TIZ +38 340
#note ouchies
>Joshua_Sokol: AAERSTU 15H .UATERAS +77 290
>Bernard: EEQR D10 Q.EER +28 368
>Joshua_Sokol: AEFJLOP 14L FOP +31 321
#note Alright, so here I was. Normally in this position I am trying to draw into a bingo next turn or the turn after, but my bingo prospects look extremely poor with the F and the J especially. So naturally one would consider playing JEFE somewhere, but still, chances of a bingo after that are very scarce. The best spot for JEFE is 13C, and I still run the risk of being outrun after that and a bingo. So I was much more inclined to look for ways to win without a bingo. There is some stuff in the pool that Bernard might have, such as the triplicate N's and the quadruplicate I's, that will not allow him to score more than 20 points next turn. That puts me around 100 points behind him and two turns to turn that around, so how could I possibly come back? Well, after a quick check, I realized that after a 3-tile play this turn, there were 8 tiles left in the bag. After a 3-tile or 2-tile play by Bernard, I will be able to make another short play, to give myself tempo in the endgame. My perfect scenario was scoring 70 in two turns, him scoring 30, and managing to eke out a win in the endgame. For that I definitely needed to take out the biggest scoring spot on the board, row 14. I was tempted to play the J now, but I cannot withstand anything more than 30 points within the next two turns, and if Bernard has the B, H, K or Y, there is his way to score that much. I scored as much as I could with the clunky combo of FP, while keeping my J for the two big hotspots on the board (C3 and 2M), and waited.
>Bernard: KN B8 .NK +17 385
#note Bernard is still trying to block bingos. Little does he know I've given up on that idea. He has no reason to think he is in any sort of trouble after this play. It's perhaps important to state at this point that what was described as my thought process last turn was more of a revised version of everything that was going on in my head, and an attempt to explain a certain logic that is best described over the board. I assumed Bernard was going to try to block bingos next turn, even if he had scoring plays elsewhere. This is no exception. But had I left the P open, he would have been able to fearlessly make a play on row 14, since those plays score and block the P at the same time.14J KINA was going to come down. Bernard first laid down LINK, then took off the L.
>Joshua_Sokol: ADEIJLY C3 JAIL +44 365
#note Fabulous. Now to lay down the law. This turn I did not consider retaining the J. My strategy for last turn was strong, but I did not follow through, it would seem. Bernard doesn't seem to have the B or the H here, otherwise BLINK would have come down, or something else with the H. I can exploit that in many ways. The easiest way is to just play JAIL and try and draw one of them for the endgame. That's the obvious one. But if I play N1 DI(D)Y, not only am I setting up JA(D)E, I'm also delaying one more turn what I was trying to do last turn with FOP. I'm retaining the J for scoring power while scoring elsewhere. Bernard will see JA(D)E, most likely, and block it, but I will still draw into C3 JAIL a huge proportion of the time next turn, which should propel me into a victory in the endgame. I completely missed that, and I really needed to see that. I had around 6 minutes left, which is enough to work it all out. The other interesting option here is 14B EA(R)LY, which handily wins championship player's simulation. I'm unsure as to why, since N(EARLY) is a very easy way for Bernard to score, and that also blocks JADE. I'm pretty sure he has another N, so drawing into JINN or JANNY is not going to happen. I also could run into a lot of clunk in the endgame if I keep JID. So I really like DI(D)Y. I think it's a masterful play that I need to see if I would like to improve as a player, and I hope I would see it in similar situations in the future.
>Bernard: AIIL A4 ILIA. +7 392
#note Luckily, with a bit of help from Bernard not really thinking about his last plays, I manage to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.
>Joshua_Sokol: ADEHLOY 14B HA.DY +40 405
>Bernard: BEINN 15A NIB +24 416
>Joshua_Sokol: ELO 2L OLE +21 426
>Joshua_Sokol: (EN) +4 430
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