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#player1 Joshua_Sokol Joshua Sokol
#player2 Jackson_Smylie Jackson Smylie
>Joshua_Sokol: ?DELQRR -QR +0 0
#note keeping RED? sims a point better. I think I agree with that result. It's less of an alarm bell for Jackson, so he's less likely to exchange and leave me without a bingo. A few double-consonant draws leave me homeless.
>Jackson_Smylie: ?GLOOWY H8 GLOWY +32 32
>Jackson_Smylie: ?GLOOWY -- -32 0
#note This was awesome. Jackson played this on purpose, but he missed WOOLY which is obviously the sensible play. But this was quite the gambit, either hoping I space out or think this is a word, or that I challenge and give him a specific letter to play through!
>Joshua_Sokol: ?DEEFLR H4 FERuLED +78 78
#note I almost passed. I should have! I figured something was up unless Jackson just completely spazzed, or really took me for a fool because of all of the turns I had previously lost against him in this series. I looked for a while but only saw DEERFLY right after I made my play. But that would have worked out worse for me, and I just give him YOW for 29. DEERFLy with the D on the double is probably the best play, even though it scores 4 fewer. I doesn't give back YOW or YOWL for 25+ and creates a pretty nice board to have a lead on.
>Jackson_Smylie: ?GLOOWY 8E gOL.YWOG +66 66
#note Beautiful. I thought he was going to make the blank a P, but this works too. Or it was another ridiculous phony like HANDYCAP*. I hoped not!
>Joshua_Sokol: EEIIOOP 6F OO.IE +9 87
#note J8 WOOPIE is more aggressive, but is also 4 points. It's going to be hard to make anything happen on this board without an S, so I think that's a sensible alternative. G8 (L)OOIE scored 3 more, but gave too much back.
>Jackson_Smylie: ABBINN L2 NABBIN. +24 90
#note Jackson almost played 5E ABB(E) here if I remember correctly.
>Joshua_Sokol: CEEHIPT 2J PI.CH +36 123
#note I first saw HE(N)CE, then THE(N)CE to give a bit less back, but PI(N)CH scored just as well and gave much less back on the row 1 triple. The game is close so I want to prevent Jackson from getting easy scores. I didn't think PINCHY* was good and was ready to challenge in most cases if he tried it. PITCHY is good. But I missed a really cool tupik or 3 at 5H, EPHEBE, EPHEBI and EPHEBIC all play there. EPHEBI sets up my C but scores 6 fewer, making it very similar in value to EPHEBIC. I think I might play EPHEBI just because I don't like throwing C's out there for my opponent to hit easy bingos from.
>Jackson_Smylie: GOTU 1H GOUT +21 111
#note unfortunately I do give him a spot to unload. Definitely feeling the backlash of opening up a triple when I had a better way to score. Yet I'm still ahead.
>Joshua_Sokol: AEEERTT M2 .REATE +35 158
#note and he didn't block my only way to score! at least I saw this tupik
>Jackson_Smylie: ELM N2 .ELM +24 135
#note overlaps!
>Joshua_Sokol: AEIOOTV 10F VI.EO +19 177
#note I was going to play OAT or OOT at 1M, now I'm suddenly in a very iffy position. I'm probably fine, but he might have an S. He probably does just based on probability alone, no need to assume he is setting it up with HELM. I don't, and I'm not far ahead enough that I can withstand a bingo, perhaps not even two big scores. Hopefully I can address the threat next turn or the turn after, but just in case, I don't want to totally close the board. VIDEO seemed counterproductive not to leave myself with any way back from a bingo scenario, but I can keep the board open for a comeback if that happens. The other three quadrants are still accessible with forking plays. A(g)A(V)E could happen if I draw an AE, and if I don't at least I have (g)A(V)OT guaranteed to set up a lane for myself. So I think taking the score and the mediocre leave is OK, AOT has a lot of room to improve, although lots of A's are left to come. No good plays get rid of AO unfortunately.
>Jackson_Smylie: DENZ F2 ZEND. +35 170
>Joshua_Sokol: AAOSTUY O5 SATAY +32 209
#note only ways to score were 2B SOYU(Z), this or O5 SOYA. The T helped the two-vowel leave of SOYA, but there are still many A's and I's to come to ruin any chance of a balanced rack, so I think taking the 3 points is worth it here. I don't want to spend my S on SOYU(Z) and bank on drawing another one. The score is close, I'm not very likely to run away with this game.
>Jackson_Smylie: CRW 3D CR.W +13 183
#note but he can still benefit from my playing my S. I should have put more thought into keeping it and playing YAU(D) 5D.
>Joshua_Sokol: AAFIKOU D1 FU.K +34 243
#note I did say this word as soon as he made the S-setup, so I was sort of forced to play it, especially since it totally blocks plays downwards. Problem is he has other spots to play a bingo and if he does I might be in trouble with the letters I am keeping.
>Jackson_Smylie: EEIMNRS 11I REMINES +72 255
#note I looked at this funny and then didn't hold. Why do I still fall victim to this? If I think a word looks at all funny I need to hold it. I saw ERMINES in this and thought it played in the same spot. It does, but only in Collins, as Andy Saunders obscurely pointed out. I need to stop making my fears materialize when they don't have to materialize. I did worry he would get a bingo down at this exact moment, but that's because it was getting dire.
>Joshua_Sokol: AAEIOUV O11 .UAVE +27 270
>Jackson_Smylie: AQT 10L QAT +31 286
>Joshua_Sokol: AEIINOO 2F .OO +20 290
#note My options sucked here, but at least the remaining tiles were very heavily consonants. I decided between this and E3 (R)IA that although it was beneficial for me to create another bingo lane at 4C being down, I could do that next turn. I felt the AINIE leave was better for getting a bingo, and I could also potentially outscore Jackson with NAI(F) next turn or NEI(F) at 1A. But actually, EINOO is a better leave for bingos than AEIIN is. Very interesting result.
>Jackson_Smylie: SU 12K US +32 318
>Joshua_Sokol: AEIIINP 13M PI. +10 300
#note The extra 11 points for NAI(F) are now sort of useless, as Jackson has increased his lead up to 28 points. He will probably have tempo in the endgame with there being 9 left in the bag, and EIIP is just not at all appealing unless he has only consonants. 4A PAI(K) is interesting, to create a distraction and possibly muster something up, but I think this line makes the most sense. I need a second bingo lane, and Jackson will probably over-worry about the E in SUAV(E) which I basically can never hit.
>Jackson_Smylie: DGIR 13H GIRD +13 331
>Joshua_Sokol: AAEINTX I3 TAX. +26 326
#note This position was very interesting for me! There are three tiles in the bag, and it looks very difficult for me to hit a bingo. I can draw into one, but it will get blocked almost all of the time. Given that, it seemed useless to play off AX here, as I am hoping for two consonants, which makes it very likely that Jackson has the last two remaning vowels and can easily rid the board of my bingo threat. I cannot win the game without a bingo if I play off AX. So I saw XENIA at 12D, but his responses score way too much, and I'm giving him an E to play through if he doesn't have both vowels. I can play NAI(F) here and set up my X, but that will prrobably not even be enough, since he can just go out in three and outscore me pretty easily, or just block the X-bomb. So I saw TAX(I), and it looked pretty good for what I could hope for. I can draw into a bingo and he will have to block, which might give me the necessary wiggle room to outscore him in the endgame. I might draw the J and be able to score well with it or at least threaten to score well. TAXI also seems to maximize my flexibility for the endgame, despite emptying the bag, as AINE is pretty good for the pool at hand, even if I don't hit something. But I'm basically hoping to hit something or to draw one of the two vowels, making it impossible for Jackson to go out in two. And given his last play, he might have left 3 consonants. It's actually pretty likely he did.
But ONCE AGAIN, that first E in FERULED fools me. What a great E it was indeed. EPHEBI and EPHEBIC played from it, and I have a massive play through it this turn that I didn't even come close to seeing. Board vision and playfinding are usually a strong suit of mine, but in this case I just massively failed. At least this is probably the second best play and probably wins over half of the time.
>Jackson_Smylie: ADILNRT 1A DRA.T +27 358
#note ooh, AIR(CREW) is good, but definitely not the play. This is Jackson's best play and wins handily.
>Joshua_Sokol: AEHIJNS 14E HAJIS +22 348
>Jackson_Smylie: ILN 15D NIL +11 369
>Jackson_Smylie: (EN) +4 373
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