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#player1 Joey Joey
#player2 Joshua Joshua
>Joey: ?EEFIJR 8E JEFE +28 28
>Joshua: AKORSTU E8 .OUK +30 30
#note very fortunate he played that placement of JEFE. I don't know a lot of 2000-rated players that would open up the double word from a J, especially with a blank
>Joey: ?EEFIIR I2 REIFIEs +75 103
>Joshua: ALLRSTT F10 TALL +16 46
#note The S is not worth 12 points on this board. I should play 12A TALLS, but if I really want to hold the S I could play H1 TART. I didn't like that this gave back a huge Y hook, and that's more the reason not to play it.
>Joey: ?AEIMOV D10 MOVE +30 133
#note Amazed I didn't miss anything here. I thought about MOVIE, but I only had a pseudo S hook.
>Joshua: DIORSTW 3D WORDI.ST +64 110
#note I chose WORDIEST over ROWDIEST because I thought CROWDIEST* was a word! It's only CROWDY and CROWDIES!
>Joey: ?AACEIO 4A CIAO +28 161
#note Josh: I was happy to see that not playing ROWDIEST paid dividends, but my bliss was completely fabricated, as ROWDIEST does not take any hooks!
>Joshua: AELORVZ 6D VALOR.ZE +92 202
#note I was starting to feel lucky
>Joey: ?AAEIIY 14E AYE +30 191
>Joshua: DGORSTY 15A GRODY +41 243
#note many options here, this seemed like the right dose of scoring, leaving well and getting rid of a big spot. DORTY 14B would have been especially nice though, but Joey drew his own Y just in time.
>Joey: ?AEIITU A3 A.UITIEs +77 268
#note Glad I created hotspots elsewhere, since Plan B was way worse than this.
>Joshua: ABEPSTT H1 BA.T +26 269
#note I only realized around 3 turns later that I could have just added the E for 11 points. That seems like a whole lot, but vowels are running very low, with only 13 out of 38 vowels left! Quackle claims this only accounts for 10 points. Another play I considered, 5E BAP, also simulates very highly. STET as a leave bingos more than STEP ever so slightly, and there are many scoring tiles to come.
>Joey: CEIMNNR 15G MINCER +37 305
>Joshua: AEHPSST L6 STAPHES +97 366
#note Only SPATHES. And I work in health information management, though STAPHS could very well have a variant, and I don't mean STAFFS of course.
Josh: It's a STAPHE* infection! Something has infected my mind to assure me with 98% confidence that STAPHES* was a word! The only thing that prevented Joey from holding and successfully challenging this was my abnormal confidence.
To make matters worse I under-added this by 10 on my scoresheet, which is where Joey got his 10 extra spread points from.
>Joey: LNNORSU K8 NOUN +23 328
#note I could have played this on the other side to open up things a little more, but the game didn't feel far enough out of reach yet.
>Joshua: AGIINNP 5E PAN +22 388
#note As he started to lay NOUN down, N first, and then O, I was thinking "stop! stop!" as it would have given me a spot for PAINING, until U(H) was played. No home for my lucky draw, and it's good that Joey did not play this on the other side like he considered. It came down to this, J3 (S)PA(Z) and 4K APING. With Joey's last play the pool once again looks very vowel-deserted, so I discounted APING since it also gave him lanes to come back with. At this point my biggest worry seemed to be getting Q-stuck and/or having Joey come down with a huge H play starting at B10. Now he obviously didn't have the Q last turn, so I wanted to minimize the amount of letters I played. But APING does great in that if I draw the Q I have a new great spot for it. Still, Joey might think to block and leave me spotless. I decided to get rid of another consonant here for 3 fewer points with PAN, since it also blocked a scoring spot he could use. Quackle vehemently disagrees with this decision, reminding me that I could play K3 (T)IN(E) here for 24 at a bare minimum after SPAZ. My double N's are definitely not an issue here, and neither is not playing an extra consonant since I have more than enough vowellage* to go around. Always play the self-deprecating word or karma will make it a better play that you didn't make.
>Joey: EGLNORS 14L ENG +10 338
#note This is a real noodle scratcher. I also considered ORG, but another N looms. At least this is hard to block effectively.
>Joshua: ABGIINW C13 BI. +18 406
#note Once again I worry about the big H plays. I miss 8K (NA)WAB, which outruns those H-plays a lot of the time, and blocks the hook he has just set up. Definitely my play there.
>Joey: DDLORSU 8K ..RD +5 343
#note Maybe I'll draw QUODS...
>Joshua: AGINTWX 4K AXING +32 438
#note As I retracked, I realized that he must have been setting up QUODS for 100. I must block that, and WT seems better than XT for endgame flexibility so I should playing AXING. Boy was I shook when I pulled the Q out of the bag!
>Joey: DEHLOSU M3 L. +4 347
#note The L scores 12 points at 13D so maybe OI is a better block. I can nickel and dime pretty effectively, but the deficit is too much.
>Joshua: QTW 11K ..W +6 444
#note I need to play one tile here, as Joey cannot go out next turn. It's important to hold off from playing two tiles in these situations when you are stuck with something unplayable, unless your opponent can go out next turn and maximize the damage. Why? Because you can score more points over two turns with two individual plays. The best place to play my W is 9J W(OP), but that gives Joey 4 more points for HO, which I was sure he was ready to play at J10. Did not want to give him W(HO) for 37, let alone for 33, so I blocked the spot. Joey can score more with HO than he can with each individual letter, which is why he would play two tiles at once rather than one. This is the best play for me.
>Joey: DEHOSU M13 U. +4 351
>Joshua: QT K3 ..T. +8 452
#note I can block his outplay of SHOED O8 with 11K (NEW)T, but his best sequence of moves either way is not to play out next turn, so taking the extra point for TATE was correct.
>Joey: DEHOS 14B O. +8 359
>Joshua: Q - +0 452
>Joey: DEHS 8K ....S +18 377
>Joshua: Q - +0 452
>Joey: DEH 10J H.. +17 394
>Joshua: Q - +0 452
>Joey: DE 10D ...E +6 400
#note DE B6 is better all at once. I somehow gained 10 points of spread somewhere, but still well short.
>Joshua: Q - +0 452
>Joey: D 10D ....D +8 408
>Joey: (Q) +20 428
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