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#player1 Sid_Murrali Sid Murrali
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Sid_Murrali: AEX 8F AXE +20 20
>Jim_Burlant: JLNOOST I6 JOLT +24 24
>Sid_Murrali: GOSV 10F VOGS +28 48
>Jim_Burlant: BENORSS J6 ONS +30 54
#note With BARONESS blocked, not much else to do. Definitely worth it here to burn one of the S's for 13 extra points to score 30.
>Sid_Murrali: AL 7F LA +15 63
>Jim_Burlant: BEEPRSU K4 RUBE +27 81
#note For those who don't know me, my main interest outside of Scrabble is road cycling. Back in the day, there was a component group made by Suntour called "Superbe Pro", which was why the only thing I could see in this rack was SUPERBE*, which I was 90% sure was bogus. Sad thing is that I didn't know there was a new bingo, BURPEES, in this rack. (Another word nearly 4000 past any probability range I've ever studied). So I put this down to take the sure 27. If I knew then what I know now about his next rack, I should have put SUPERBE* down; I suspect it might have stuck:
>Sid_Murrali: AAENRRT 4D NARRATE. +68 131
>Jim_Burlant: EEGPSUU - +0 81
#note I couldn't be sure if I'd seen this in study (I had, once or twice, as it turns out)...but that spelling just looked wrong. The thing that bugged me was a double-edged sword: could I afford to lose a turn challenging after this awful draw? Just the same, if I challenged and it came off, then I could have a free turn. I opted for the latter, with horrible results, as NARRATER is good.
>Sid_Murrali: AEOT 3E TOEA +14 145
>Jim_Burlant: EEGPSUU -EGPUU +0 81
#note No need to exchange, as ugly as this is. 5C PUG was the play. But watch what happens:
>Sid_Murrali: EIVW 5B VIEW +34 179
>Jim_Burlant: ?EEIRST L7 STERIlE +68 149
#note Q likes a bunch of B column plays that, honestly, I didin't look too hard to find. Best are apparently SIRVEnTE and REInVEST for 74.
>Sid_Murrali: ACDEH H10 .ACHED +48 227
>Jim_Burlant: ?FGINPT M13 FIG +24 173
#note I put this down simply to unload the F, score 24, and create a line for a 7. Q prefers I simply fish with 11K GIF for 14 or PAX for 12. I'm fine with this - 24% to win.
>Sid_Murrali: DEGIW 15J WIG.ED +42 269
>Jim_Burlant: ?EHNPTU 11K H.P +16 189
#note I spent a long time here. After not being able to find any bingoes (Zyzzyva confirms this rack doesn't make an 8 with anything in the alphabet), I considered HEP K9, but the tile pool concerned me. Only 2 E's were unseen and I assumed at least one was in Sid's rack, which meant I viewed mine as an endangered species and I did NOT want to play mine off for anything under 40 points. This takes a hit in the sim, but it worked out.
>Sid_Murrali: EKR 8L .REK +24 293
>Jim_Burlant: ?EILNTU 15A UNtITLE. +77 266
#note Or UNTILLED, UNTILTED, UNLISTED, or INSULTED. All score 77.
>Sid_Murrali: AACINR N2 ACARIN. +22 315
>Jim_Burlant: AFINPSY L1 FAYS +46 312
#note I saw this and didn't look for anything else. Interestingly, FINS in the same location is almost as strong - presumably because of the possibility of plays ending in VY down the B column on he next turn - something I failed to consider. I just saw 46 points for this and that was that. Back to 29% to win.
>Sid_Murrali: MY 2F MY +30 345
>Jim_Burlant: IIMNOOP B10 PINIO. +28 340
#note Took forever to find this - at forst all I saw was 14A MOI, but that didn't keep me in the game. This kept an O for 1G plays, but the danger is obvious: if he's got QUOTE in his rack, I'm dead. OPINION still gives back QUIT for fewer points, but sacrifices OYER plays on the next turn.
>Sid_Murrali: ILOO A10 OLIO +16 361
#note Sid has thoroughly outplayed me to this point, but I could tell that (courtesy of my luckbox drawing) my keeping the pressure on was making him nervous. He had burned his time down well under 1 minute on this turn and it was clear from the amount of time he spent on this turn he did not have the Q or Z. Post-mortem he realized that this turn was where he lost the game. Normally, he'd want to play off as much of his rack as he can. His rack (I think) was EILNOOU - he mentioned keeping the U as Q insurance. But playing off his I was his undoing. LOO A9 keeping the I and threatening QUINT E11 would have won the game. Since I'm addled with the Z, I can't take time out to block the Q play, and the points he would have gotten there would have been the difference:
>Jim_Burlant: BDDMOUZ 2J ZO. +32 372
#note Missing ZOMBI D11 - ZOA was autopilot since Sid was low on time and I wanted to rush him. ZOA also wins 100% per championship player, but ZOMBI wins by 7 more as it sets up a DUD out at 1G while he unloads the Q.
>Sid_Murrali: ENQTU K14 Q. +11 372
>Jim_Burlant: BDDMU 1G DUB +26 398
#note And after roughly a minute, I finally recognize the D hook. I had been obsessing about OYER hooks and forgotten about the D hook.
>Sid_Murrali: ENTU C7 TUNE +11 383
>Sid_Murrali: (DM) +10 393
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