| Player 1 |
|
#player1 Chris_Guilbert Chris Guilbert
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Chris_Guilbert: CEE 8G CEE +10 10
>Jim_Burlant: AIINORX 9I XI +34 34
>Chris_Guilbert: ?EIINSV K4 VINIESt +78 88
#note Or K7 VISEINg. K3 placements score more but slot the 3x3. My last play suggests I may be close to something, so he's defintely better off with this.
>Jim_Burlant: AAINORR 7I RA. +15 49
#note Without an open S for ROSARIAN, there's not much to do. It's either this or RAIA in the same location and at 1000 iterations the sim is still toggling back and forth between those options. 28% to win.
>Chris_Guilbert: AEU 4J U.EA +14 102
>Jim_Burlant: ADEINOR 8K .RODE +21 70
#note No bingoes play, and I disagree with Quackle. The duck thinks I should just fish off an O by playing NO 6K. I felt that if the fishing trip came up empty he was going to play for 24 - 30 at 8K and my deficit was going to be large enough that even a bingo would have still left me in the hole. I don't have any great options and this choice outscores anything that shows up in Quackle's kibbitzer. I'd make this play again.
>Chris_Guilbert: EIILOR O4 OILI.R +7 109
#note He initially put down RILE N2 before pulling it up and settling on this.
>Jim_Burlant: AEILNNO G6 AN.ON +9 79
#note In my previous game, my first two bingo racks didn't play and it took me 10 turns to hit my only bingo. And this game wasn't looking much better. My last 3 racks have yielded two no-go 8's, a no-go 7, and only one tile worth more than 1 point. And my best options here score 8 - 10 points while I trail by 39. I wanted to make sure the board didn't shut down before I could hit, why is why I ruled out NOR 9M or DON N8. I also didn't like 3L plays like ON or ONE. All that said - while I don't see anything wrong with forking the board here, ANCON is a horrendous play; I don't need a sim to tell me how reckless it is. ANCON opens up an E hook on row 11, gives up F6 plays and maybe 6's from H1. If I had this turn to do again, I'd play ICON G7 (which I somehow never saw). ICON keeps the left side of the board open, preserves AELN instead of EIL, and doesn't give back as many easy scoring opportunities as ANCON. The only thing impressive about ANCON is how awful it is.
>Chris_Guilbert: ELTW 11F WELT +15 124
>Jim_Burlant: EGHILNZ F4 LEZ +63 142
#note If there were justice, Chris would have been sitting on the Z and I'd have received my just desserts. Then again, this is Scrabble, and I'd rather be lucky than good. I've gone from 27% winning chances to 57.
>Chris_Guilbert: PU H5 UP +18 142
>Jim_Burlant: EGHINWY 3L WHY +39 181
#note Any number of strong choices available (E2 WHEY, 12A WHINGE, H11 LYING). However - WHEY opens up an easy bingo line for no reason and parts with an E (the bag is down to 4 E's, so they're almost as rare as S's at this point), WHINGE keeps a Y and needlessly strings the board open, and LYING keeps the H and W. This is best.
>Chris_Guilbert: ABM E3 BAM +24 166
>Jim_Burlant: EGGINNS D4 GEN +21 202
#note No bingoes play. I saw this, saw 21 points and that was that. Q says this is a very strong choice but that my best play is to simply fish the G wth GAL 4D. Really? 71% to win.
>Chris_Guilbert: AFJNOST -AF +0 166
>Jim_Burlant: AGILNST C5 SALTING +68 270
#note I started overthinking this and convinced myself that the legitimate SOLATING was phony. Being 100% sure of SALTING, I took no chances. SOLATING is best, but I'm still in excellent shape here - just shy of 94% to win.
>Chris_Guilbert: IMT 8A MI.T +21 187
>Jim_Burlant: AHOOPRU 12I OUPH +20 290
#note This is a so-so position - none of my available options can lock things down defensively, nothing scores above low 20's, and I can't really get a juicy leave combination. Best apparently would have been 2J PROA for 24. That said, this is a top tier play, as it percolates up towards the top of a sim won by PROA. 94% to win.
>Chris_Guilbert: ?CEERST M7 C.vETERS +84 271
#note Punishment for talking myself out of SOLATING a couple of turns ago. It's either TROCHEES M6 or this. Either way, it's a very nice fit. And my next set of racks are about to make this game very interesting.
>Jim_Burlant: AADOOOV 12D AVO +17 307
#note As hideous as this rack is, there's no need to exchange. I don't know why I never recognized the D front hook on WELT, which is why ODA/ADO E10 top a sim. That said, AVO is a decent consolation prize since it puts me up 36 while it kills 7's on row 13. 58% to win.
>Chris_Guilbert: AQT 14J QAT. +33 304
>Jim_Burlant: ABDOORS N8 .ADOS +33 340
#note I initially debated a cheap play on row 15 to take out words underlapping QAT, but with the game as close as it was, BO 15K just didn't score enough for me to feel good about playing it. Q agrees that I needed to score and not defend on the cheap. That said, 2M ABO may be a bit better here, but this is still a strong choice.
>Chris_Guilbert: EFFIKR 15F KEFFIR +61 365
>Chris_Guilbert: EFFIKR -- -61 304
#note Chris initially put down KEFIR, then switched it to this (thankfully!). The word Chris was thinking of was KAFFIR. While I'd never seen KEFFIR* before, I wasn't entirely sure it was bad. So my thought process prior to challenging was as follows: If I accepted the play I would be sitting on BDGNORT, trailing by 25 on a dead board. (And something I didn't consider at the time that also supports my decision: with the bag down to 7 and him drawing 6 tiles, he's 83% to draw the J if he doesn't already have it.) Given all that, I felt the game was lost if I let it stick, so I had only spread to lose by challenging.
>Jim_Burlant: BDGNORT 15K BO +12 352
#note Now that I know he's got KEFIR, I obviously have to make sure he can't play it. Against a rack fragment of EFFIKR, this immediately shoots to the top of a sim.
>Chris_Guilbert: DEFFIKR 13F KIF +21 325
>Jim_Burlant: DGJNRTU 13B JUG +25 377
>Chris_Guilbert: ADEFIOR A4 FORA.IDE +68 393
>Chris_Guilbert: ADEFIOR -- -68 325
>Jim_Burlant: DENRTY H13 .RY +27 404
>Chris_Guilbert: ADEFIOR C3 DE....... +27 352
#note Annotation stops here - final score 424 - 365 (Chris lost time due to time penalty).
#rack2 DENT
|
