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#player1 Ed_Stewart Ed Stewart
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Ed_Stewart: ABL 8G BAL +10 10
>Jim_Burlant: CCEEPQW -CEPQW +0 0
#note I don't care if WEEP scores 23 or CLEW gets rid of the W and one of my C's. Neither play scores enough to justify keeping a Q without an I or a U. The duck thinks I had more or less the right idea, but that I should have also kept the P.
>Ed_Stewart: AY 9G YA +22 32
>Jim_Burlant: CEEGINT J5 GENETIC +70 70
#note Both placements have their pitfalls, but J7 scores 68 and J5 scores 70. When in doubt, take the points. A sim agrees. 59% to win.
>Ed_Stewart: ENORSTU 12G TONSURE +77 109
#note Fortunately for me, he's not finding his best plays. TROUNCES scores 90 on row 11 and TENOURS on row 12 doesn't give back all the easy hooks.
>Jim_Burlant: DFHLOOW K2 WHOOF +39 109
#note Then again, neither am I. :-) WHOOFED M7 scores 44 and adds interference to all the easy TONSURE back hooks. I take out the TONSURE back hooks on the next turn.
>Ed_Stewart: AKR H12 .KRA +24 133
>Jim_Burlant: DDDELRY N10 REDDY +33 142
#note At this point I was a touch concerned about the odd draws. Yes, they were playable and yes, I could score. But my experience is that usually the clunk changes from stuff you can score with to stuff that doesn't score while your opponent bingoes and you lose an unwinnable game. At any rate - this is strong, but apparently, not best. Q prefers 4K ODDLY by a good bit - makes sense to some degree. Though ODDLY gives up 5 scoreboard points to REDDY and slots the triple, it saves a D for TONSURE back hooks and keeps DER instead of DL. This isn't bad by any stretch; ODDLY is just a smidge better. 44% to win.
>Ed_Stewart: EJOS L1 JOES +52 185
>Jim_Burlant: DEEHILM M2 EH +34 176
#note I debated between two plays: this and HEILED O6. This play's strengths are that it scores well, keeps a potent combination, and shuts down easy J plays to O1. To me, this made it far better than HEILED (or HELMED, which I didn't see). I figured he'd take out O8 and hopefully a good draw to DEILM would yield a bingo to put me up a notch. The duck agrees; this tops a sim at just over 40%.
>Ed_Stewart: AAEINPT O4 PATINAE +88 273
#note Well, he certainly covered O8, didn't he? Consolation: he has bingoes at 10A and 11A if I had taken out O8. And I'm in trouble now. He's 89% to win.
>Jim_Burlant: DEFILMU N5 FUME +26 202
#note The problem I saw with plays like FLUME 10C (or 11C) was that it would be too easy for him to play downward from those and negate my openings. This outscores anything else that unloads the F and U, and it does so while not interfering with lines I need to stay open. This is a solid choice but I'm in deep yogurt no matter how I slice it: 6.8% to win. The sim winner, FWIW, is L6 FILUM.
>Ed_Stewart: CEIIMN 14B MINCIE. +26 299
#note Telltale sign #267 that you're being outdrawn: your opponent repeatedly plays off 6 and 7 tiles and is always drawing into balanced racks.
>Jim_Burlant: ADEILRT 13A DAL +16 218
#note Groan - the 7's don't play and he just blocked my impending LARIATED air ball. The problem with the equity plays (e.g.: DITA 15A) is that they defend the board for him and I'm still trailing by 70 afterwards. I put this down strictly to open a line he wouldn't be able to shut down without opening something else up.
>Ed_Stewart: AZ 15A ZA +38 337
>Jim_Burlant: EIILRTW A7 TWIRLE. +36 254
#note Or WILTED. Looking bleak. 2.1% to win.
>Ed_Stewart: AOR O13 OAR +17 354
>Jim_Burlant: DIIIIQS B6 QI +33 287
#note What kind of a draw is this? Seriously? The only reason I played through: I have all the I's so he can't hit me with anything painful down the C column. This is best but I'm treading water. Still 2.2% to win. Where are the blanks?
>Ed_Stewart: LOO C7 LOO +9 363
>Jim_Burlant: ADGIIIS 11D GADI +14 301
#note I was fixated with unloading the G. I also thought he might make a mistake and play something down the G column that would give me another lane to play in. Lastly I didn't want to shut down the L column. The duck thinks this word would have been best at M6. As you'll see later, hindsight says it's a good thing I didn't go for equity. Up to 4.7% winning chances. Woo hoo.
>Ed_Stewart: BERU D4 RUBE +16 379
>Jim_Burlant: GIINSVX E8 VIG. +8 309
#note Seeing the X and V in my rack was the last straw; I've more or less thrown in the towel and am just moving tiles to end the game now.
>Ed_Stewart: ?NOPSUV 4A UNP.OVeS +64 443
>Ed_Stewart: ?NOPSUV -- -64 379
>Jim_Burlant: ?INSTTX F14 .T +2 311
#note Challenging his phony woke me up and got me out of self-pity mode. I checked the bag and realized there was only 1 tile left. With knowledge of his rack, I could figure out whether there was anything left to play for? Once I redid the tracking, I determined that the last tile in the bag was an E, and that I could fish off a T and bingo out with INTE(R)SeX for the win. So all I was doing here was fishing off the T somewhere out of the way. There are a few places that score more. The only question: would he be wise to what I was doing?
>Ed_Stewart: ?NOPSUV 4A OVe.SPUN +64 443
>Ed_Stewart: ?NOPSUV -- -64 379
#note And I catch yet another miraculous break. He initially put down P(R)OVe L11, which would have clinched the win. He then pulled it up, admitted he knew he didn't need this to win but felt it was worth the risk:
>Jim_Burlant: ?EINSTX L8 INTe.SEX +73 384
#note OMG - I *won* this game?!?!?!?!?
>Jim_Burlant: (NOPSUV?) +22 406
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