| Player 1 |
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#player1 BJ BJ
#player2 Joel_W Joel W
>BJ: DFMNSVW -DFMNVW +0 0
#note OMG I'm playing Joel Wapnick! Sure I'm intimidated, but what have I got to lose. We start with some friendly conversation and that puts me at ease a bit. My opening draw isn't so good. I decided to keep just the S. A couple of other exchanges have better leave valuations. I should probably work on being able to evaluate those a bit better myself.
>Joel_W: EJUX 8G JEUX +36 36
>BJ: ADIKOPS J6 PO. +18 18
#note Dang, I looked for underlaps but missed 9F KOAP, a word I did certainly know. A few other things simmed better, but I don't feel to bad about POX.
>Joel_W: OUY K5 YOU +18 54
>BJ: ADIKSTT L4 KAT +24 42
#note Oy, I don't think I even looked for a bingo here. If I had I think I could have found DIKTATS. Well, KAT scores reasonably with a decent leave that includes the front-hook I, so why not. I considered adding the -TI for KATTI in that spot, then had a moment of doubt over its validity (it's good). A few things sim better, the one that surprises me is L4 KAID, with the leave of STT. I guess despite the vowellessness and repeat, they still have great synergy.
>Joel_W: EIMNRU 3I MURINE +30 84
#note Joel also had an I, oh well.
>BJ: ADINSTT O1 DISTANT +86 128
#note Was ready to play this at 9C until MURINE was played. I'm glad DISTANT doesn't take an S, and only later did I think of the -LY possibility. (-NESS and -NESSES are the only others.) Hey look I'm not losing! :)
>Joel_W: AOZ N5 ZOA +31 115
>BJ: DEEIRSW M7 SWEIRED +80 208
#note I had decided that I was going to play SWEIRED even though I wasn't 100% on it. Liked it, didn't want to regret passing up a bingo later. Joel blocked my two spots, but opened up another, so I went for it. He held briefly before accepting. Woohoo!
>Joel_W: ?HILORY L9 HOaRILY +97 212
#note Joel found the best play here. I know HOARY but have never seen HOARILY. I decided quickly it was good (since so many -ILY words are) and that Joel probably wouldn't phony when there were likely other valid plays with that rack too (4C HORSILY & HORNILY, 12F RHYOLITE, 13H HORRIDLY, according to Quackle). So I didn't even hold. At some point I did wonder if he'd considered DISTANTLY on his previous turn, or if he'd not had the LY then.
>BJ: ABEFNOV K11 FOVEA +49 257
#note I pondered what I might play with the F on K11, and FOVEA appeared nicely. Not the best leave but worth the equity. Sims best.
>Joel_W: CDGINOR H7 R.CODING +63 275
#note Uh oh. Does this take an S? Oh gawd, now I have to worry about this potentially game-changing spot. I'm thinking it doesn't take an S, but it was probably the only place for his bingo so he had no choice. Does he know it doesn't take an S? Does he know that it does? Easy for me to overthink this situation ...
>BJ: BEEINNS 4D BENNIES +76 333
#note I see BENNIES immediately, and spend a bit of time deciding whether to get crazy and play it at 15B or be safe at 4D. If I do take the risk and it's good, wow, 119 points! But if not I lose a turn, he knows my rack and blocks the 4D lane, I'm dealt a big psychological blow. I opt for the safe route.
>Joel_W: AGV J10 VAG +26 301
>BJ: AFLLMRS 15D FLAMS +81 414
>BJ: AFLLMRS -- -81 333
#note OK now I've got the last S, but the other blank is still unseen. Is "recodings" valid or not? It keeps haunting me. I talk myself into taking the chance this time with 15E FLAMS for 81. If it's good, I go into the late game with a nice lead. If not, I've got two other good spots for FLAM on my next turn 5B and 2G and there's a reasonably good chance I can still recover. Collins has a lot of gerunds (-ING words) that very unintuitively take the S ... though on the other hand this is a RE- word, so it's less likely. I go for it after all, draw the immediate challenge, and lose. S'OK, I had a plan for that, damage (hopefully) minimized. After the game we check and CODINGS, DECODINGS, and ENCODINGS are all good. So close. Joel also points out (afterward) that there are some valid RE--INGS words, such as RETAKINGS. PRECODING is also good but doesn't take an S.
>Joel_W: AEINPRT E2 AP.RIENT +70 371
#note Only other choices for Joel here were at 14A. His play seems safest.
>BJ: AFLLMRS 2G FLAM +31 364
#note As planned, I go with FLAM. I figure he's unlikely to score a ton up there so there's not much risk. It sims best. Joel opened a couple of places for me but neither helped me.
>Joel_W: AEHT 1F HEAT +38 409
>BJ: ?AEELRS D7 REALiSE +71 435
#note Oh boy oh boy oh boy. I end up with a great rack and just have to pick my bingo wisely. I considered D6 LEASURE which I liked for keeping vowels away from DWS's at 11F and 13C but the teensy bit of doubt I had about its validity made me go with the safer REALISE instead. I forgot to consider putting the S in square 9D ... the unintuitive 2-letter word ST ... I still mentally forget about that one way too often. A bunch of other choices here, and mine was below a bunch of them, oh well. Championship Player definitely doesn't like it. D6 LEASERs is her best pick. Other interesting choice: N10 LASE for 32. I had forgotten about the word AFARA.
>Joel_W: BILQ 2A QIBL. +32 441
>BJ: CDIOTUW 14B TUDIC +36 471
>BJ: CDIOTUW -- -36 435
#note QIBLA goes on the board and the search is on. I do a quick estimation based on him playing 1B GOE and know that I need at *least* 21 to tie, probably more if there's a better outplay for him, which I will assume there is until I at least find a play that gives me 22 points after subtracting my leave*2. I search for minutes, wanting to get rid of both the C and W if possible, but my last draw was pretty ugly and that seems unlikely. I see C11 DOW pretty quickly which is 28 minus 12 for my leave (CITU) so only 16 total, not nearly enough. I later remember that I can extend that to DOWT which brings me up to 20. So close! Searching and searching after that, and the best I can find is the guess 14B TUDIC for 36. Pertaining to the Tudors? Or maybe I was just thinking of actor Alan Tudyk. It seemed like a stretch, but it would only cost me 10 for my leave and give me a net of 26 points, quite possibly enough to win. It was my only hope. My time was just about out so I didn't do any further calculations of his outplays and just went for it, figuring I'd really regret it if I didn't play it and it was valid. But, it was phony and came off.
>Joel_W: EGO C7 EGO +18 459
#note Joel goes out and the final difference is 50. Had I gone with DOWT I would have lost only by 4 if he'd played EGO, though DOWT opened up B12 GOE ... oh that's only 18 too, so either way it would've been a 4-point game. I'm gonna go ahead and just call this a 4-point loss to a former world champ, that sounds pretty good to me. :) Joel and I had a good discussion afterward about the endgame, though we both had pretty much figured it all out identically so there wasn't too much to add. He hadn't seen DOWT, only DOW, so that gave me a modicum of pride. :) He had kind words for me and this is about the happiest I've ever been after losing a game. My confidence was boosted for the rest of the tournament, which I needed because I faced a host of superb players who are certainly better than me on any given day. Thanks Joel!
>Joel_W: (CDIOTUW) +26 485
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