| Player 1 |
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#player1 Will Will
#player2 Jesse Jesse
>Will: CILLMOR 8G MOLL +12 12
#note MICRO is just too many more points. I saw it, but overvalued CIR.
>Jesse: ABCGTUX 9F TUX +25 25
#note I didn't see a lot of value in holding the X, but playing BUG here offloads my 3 worst tiles and avoids giving back cheap OX overlaps.
>Will: ACEIORU J6 AU.IC +15 27
#note Really hard play here, and I can't give great reasoning for why I played AULIC. 7G ACE scores nicely, but leaves me in dreadful shape for next turn without an A for COXA or any hooks for MOLL. The sim winning 10H OURIE at least turns a bunch of tiles for those valuable hooks and scores an acceptable number of points without opening any big new spots.
>Jesse: ABCGGTY K2 BAGGY +29 54
#note interesting tension between cleaning up the rack with BAGGY, or blocking a big scoring spot with CAGY at the cost of an atrocious leave. The sim is dead even on 2-ply, but BGT seems like it has too much disaster potential over the next few moves.
>Will: EEIMORS 10F EMO +28 55
>Jesse: CELOPTV L1 VETO +34 88
>Will: EINNRRS I4 RIN +9 64
#note Another play that baffled me. I laid down M3 ERN and picked it up, but it does score quite well and INRS is pretty good despite the lack of an E. The main benefit of the play I picked is that it preserves the column M and row 11 bingo lines, but it gives up such an easy scoring spot that it can't be right. Definitely a mistake here - I'm liking ERN better now.
>Jesse: CDLOPRT M3 TORC +22 110
#note after will has just flashed an E and a strong bingo leave, blocking this spot was top priority. TORC is most defensive, but playing the C also weakens my leave. Best simmer is TOLD, which I strongly considered - Q thinks it would score about 4 points more per turn next turn.
>Will: ?EINORS 4B INdORSE. +66 130
#note Sacrificing points to not open a triple - maybe too many points?
>Jesse: BDHLNOP B2 BL.ND +24 134
#note I didn't want to play HOLD here because of the possibility of getting crushed by a cheap power tile play on row 12 in response. A sim suggests that that's a reasonable concern, but that HOLP is just too many points. An interesting thing to note is that plays like HOPE at H1 or PHO/TORCH perform unusually well due to the high proportion of As, Es and Is remaining. PHO would've forced ASEA from will in response, although it can obviously lead to frequent disaster as well.
>Will: AAAEEES 3A A.AE +13 143
#note Close with F3 AREAE.
>Jesse: HLOOPRU A6 OUPH +30 164
>Will: AEEEHRS 7L EH +23 166
#note Playing these two letters looks like it's going to be the best play, but where? Only 5D HE looks completely safe from big comeback plays that didn't previously exist on the board.
>Jesse: EIILOOR B9 OILIER +21 185
>Will: AEEFGRS 13A R.EFAGES +76 242
#note I have mistakenly thought that this was a word before, so I went for it. Jesse held for a bit before releasing. C13 FE looks reasonable, but most of my other good equity plays are parallels in the lower left that close the board.
>Jesse: IINOPTW A12 P.OW +45 230
#note *vomit* I didn't know Will had it in him. I gave him too much credit on a word that felt shaky, and attributed it to my lack of study instead. Will know better next time (horrendous pun intended).
>Will: EENSVWZ 5E WE +22 264
#note A pretty transparent setup but at least it forces Jesse to respond.
>Jesse: AADIINT F2 AI..D +12 242
#note will decided to channel his inner nigel on his last play. I've seen enough of will's game that his last move can never be anything but a deliberate Z setup. there are partial blocks like ADIT at C6 (he often won't have the A for REZ/ZA) but this seemed strong enough. The only stronger alternative presented is AID at 3F, which also blocks Z plays at H1-H4. didn't see that one.
>Will: AENSSVZ H1 VAN.S +26 290
>Jesse: AAINQTY C7 QAT +30 272
>Will: DEEKSTZ H13 .EZ +36 326
#note Didn't think of 11D ZEDS here, which looks nice - my play of SEZ blocks some bingos, but probably gives back a bunch through the E I'm playing at H14 as well.
>Jesse: AIINRTY 1L .INY +30 302
#note I realized about 20 seconds after hitting my block that I had TORCHY available, which is vastly better since it creates a gorgeous lane on column O, which he quite likely cannot block without leaving row 14 open!! I even get to play TYIN to give me 1 extra shot at the blank. A game-losing play, it felt like at the time. TYIN even scores enough that Will would probably not be able to afford to block, for fear that I could outrun him.
>Will: DEFIKST 14G F.TID +16 342
#note Huge, huge break to not see TORCHY there. FETID looks pretty nice to make bingoing nearly impossible and keeping the nice SK to score in the endgame.
>Jesse: ?ADINRT E10 DIN.R +19 321
#note Jesse has one play that wins by one point here. JD: I remember having a couple of minutes here, but unfortunately this stroke of genius didn't come to mind. All in all, Will and I both struggled through some challenging positions. I was still pretty happy to be able to hold my own against the strongest player in the field given the ample rust on my game, but Will undoubtedly deserved this one.
>Will: EEJKSU K11 JEE. +24 366
#note Best for me
>Jesse: ?AT D11 Tu.A +18 339
#note Best for Jesse here, but if he plays 12A PINETA, following with D6 RID, he squeaks it out. The first of many games where I got some extremely unlikely good fortune.
>Jesse: (KSU) +14 353
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