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#player1 Mina Mina
#player2 Ayotunde_Adeyeri Ayotunde Adeyeri
>Mina: ADEGLLN 8D GALLED +20 20
#note So I finally won a tournament for the first time in 7.5 years! But it was just a 4-person division against a 1600, a 900, and a VERY underrated 1100. I went 6-2, and both of my losses were to this very underrated 1100 person (Ayo Adeyeri), so I will hereby examine those games.
Very surprising result on the first sim. GALLED is only second-best -- and "should" have been played at 8G rather than 8D!! But the correct thing is to exchange L! I looked up the ADEGLN? sevens and I only knew about two-thirds of them. There are even more exotic findings among the eights. I did see that I would've had GLANDULE through a U.
Lesson: optimal strategy requires better word knowledge.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: GNRY E8 .NGRY +18 18
>Mina: EINTUWW D11 UNWIT +30 50
#note Easy move. I made the correct best play.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: ENV 15A VEN. +21 39
>Mina: AEERSSW 14B WE.RS +32 82
#note Oof, didn't know WARE(L)ESS, and would never have guessed it was a word! (It means unwary, not lacking in wares.)
Lacking the bingo, Quackle recommends 14B WA(I) or WA(I)S, which leave EERSS or EERS respectively. My play scores significantly more than either of those (32 as opposed to 24 or 26) and leaves AES. Now yes, I've recently learned that AES isn't as good a leave as I think. But intuitively I didn't like EERSS much. This is a move on which I just plain made a mistake because I'm still learning how to value leaves and weigh leave vs. score.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: GIJ C9 JIG +23 62
>Mina: AAAEEIS 7H AIA +10 92
#note And now I paaaaaay for having drawn to a two-vowel, one-consonant leave, by drawing FOUR VOWELS to it!
Aaaand now I learn that I made a mistake, by playing AIA in the spot that is more vulnerable to a Z-bomb. Simulation shows it's far preferable to play it at 9H where it's vulnerable to an X-bomb, and that makes sense in hindsight because the Z-bomb is easier to achieve. Shuckz!
Watch this come back to bite me very shortly thereafter. I always say "I refuse to play defense unless I'm ahead." I MIGHT JUST BE LEARNING OTHERWISE?
The correct move, per Quackle, was to exchange AAAEI leaving ES. I had sought to play through the rack out of a feeling that I exchanged too often, but here an exchange is... drumroll... more defensive.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: EIIIIIS -IIIII +0 62
>Mina: AEEIOSU -AEIOU +0 92
#note Quackle now surprises me again. First it said that I SHOULD have exchanged where I DIDN'T, and now it says that I should NOT have exchanged where I DID. It recommends F6 AU(L)OI for 16 leaving EES, which is hard to see, or 6J EUOI for 10 leaving AES, which has the virtue of preventing the Z-bomb.
Live... and... learrrrrn....
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: ITZ 6J ZIT +63 125
#note Z-bomb comes down. Maybe, just maybe, it's never too early for defense.
>Mina: CEEKSTT 5K KET +28 120
#note I played the correct move, per Quackle. A leave of CEST is quite attractive.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: ADEQRSU N2 SQUARED +96 221
#note Holy craaaaap, a 130-point bingo D(ET)RAQUES was available! Who would know or see that?!
Nope, his 96-point bingo is effective enough. Although it WOULD have scored one point more if slotted three squares lower, which is counterintuitive.
>Mina: ?CEOSTV 4I VEST +27 147
#note I saw both COVEnTS and COVErTS, but was unsure of either word. I failed to see OCTaVES or VECTOrS, which I do know. Best was OCTaVES at O8 for 104 points, which would have actually put me in the lead. WHAT A FATAL AND PAINFUL MISS. To make matters worse, I decided to throw away my S. :_^(
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: FLOO O7 LOOF +32 253
#note FOOL played for more in the same spot, but it matters not.
>Mina: ?CEEOOR N10 OE +11 158
#note Only four bingos were possible and I didn't know any of them: bORECO(L)E, EmOCORE, EmOCORE(S), and REChOO(S)E.
Lacking those bingos, Quackle points out that the best play was 13B EE(W) because it would have scored 24.
Failure begets failure....
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: ABIIM 15F IAMBI +29 282
#note I made a mental note of the -C hook.
>Mina: ?CEEIOR 2G COtERIE. +61 219
#note For shame! I missed the highest-scoring bingo, M9 COtERIE for 79. WHY MINA WHY. I think I had some passing notion that bingoing at the top kept the bingo lanes in the lower right quadrant more open for later. But eighteen points is a lot to throw away.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: BEILOP 1H BIPOLE +57 339
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: BEILOP -- -57 282
>Mina: ?AHIPUY 1H YUP +44 263
#note Rather than get punished for my snowballing mistakes, I undeservingly draw the second blank, and I'm lucky that Ayo happens to phony. Like a punk, though, I whiff on the correct play which is 1H HIYA for 53. Instead I score only 44. This was because I'd rather keep an A and I than a U. Now I'm learning I shouldn't think like that. Also, there's three A's unseen.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: BEILOP 14J BOP +23 305
>Mina: ?ADEHIO 15L ODAH +32 295
#note Only one bingo was available and I didn't know it: HAEmOID, which played at 6B. My play's not awful, as it sims in fourth place, but Quackle would have prefered M9 HOAED, which makes mincemeat of my leave, or 15L OHIA, which I should have had the brains to see is better because the leave is better.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: EFIL 14N FE +25 330
>Mina: ?EEISTU 10E .UErITES +62 357
#note The better-scoring bingo was EqUITES which I knew but didn't see. But mine isn't bad; it puts me up by 27 points despite playing like a rodent thus far.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: AILX 11J AXIL. +46 376
#note When he played AXILE, he emptied the bag, leaving him up 376-357 with me holding ADHNNRT and him drawing ACMNOOR.
>Mina: ADHNNRT 12G HAND +13 370
#note The game was now mathematically unwinnable for me. But I did kick myself later for not even bothering to play out in two, which would have cut down the spread. There's just no good reason I didn't look for an out-in-two. I guess I just psychologically gave up. Then at the end of the game I was like "SHOULD'VE PLAYED RAND --> NTH!!!" and wrote this on my scoresheet with three exclamation marks.
Hilariously suboptimal end to some seriously suboptimal playing.
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: ACMNOOR M7 CAM +25 401
>Mina: NRT J1 ..N. +6 376
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: NOOR G2 .ROON +8 409
>Ayotunde_Adeyeri: (RT) +4 413
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