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#player1 Sam_Kantimathi Sam Kantimathi
#player2 Hime Hime
>Sam_Kantimathi: ?AHOOWY -?AHOOW +0 0
>Hime: CNRRSTY 8F CRY +16 16
#note I picked the best opening move, if not the best positioning. Of course, with the leave it presents, it's sort of obvious.
>Sam_Kantimathi: ACEI G7 A.EIC +9 9
>Hime: ?AENRST E5 ANESTRi +83 99
#note Now I'm 81.1% to win. Crazy, no? I give up 3 points by not double doubling through the C, but I don't think I was really in an 8-finding place back then.
>Sam_Kantimathi: DOYZ D2 DOZY +39 48
>Hime: AEIOSSU 10C OU. +3 102
#note This is where I start to go off the reservation. While this move does leave me with a win% of higher than 70, and in my amateur thinking, it left me with somewhere to hook a T, S, or D (or F), it also made no points. At the time, I was more leave obsessed than thinking about scoring double digits every move. You'll see more of that later.
>Sam_Kantimathi: EIJLRW C9 J.WLIER +50 98
>Hime: AEEEISS 15A EA. +9 111
#note I'm still a coinflip to win after this move. Another sub-10 point play that looks horrible two years down the line. When I'm this close to such a higher-rated player, I should be focusing on making high-scoring plays like AERIE or even AERIES (though I still favor keeping the S) to stay even, especially from a tourney perspective where spread is crucial. That said, it's the Dallas Open, I'm close to bottom seed, and it's sort of a reverse freeroll. I am EXTREMELY unlikely to cash in this tourney, so instead I should instead probably make the more likely to win play since I'm in it to steal ratings points from the higher players...
>Sam_Kantimathi: AGHN F2 HANG +23 121
>Hime: EEILSSV 3D .V.L +8 119
#note Down by 10 points. Quackle suggests two bingos, one of which (CLEVISES) I never would have found, and one of which (HIVELESS) I would have doubted intensely, if I could have even found it. If I find one of them, I'm over 70% to win (insane!). As it is, I'm about 42% after this inspired move. Ha. Sam must have thought my racks were awful (half right) or that I was stupid (also half right).
>Sam_Kantimathi: ALPU 11G .ULPA +18 139
>Hime: EEIPSSS H1 PISS +29 148
#note Another dropped bingo (SPEISES). I will probably never forget SEPSIS + E now, but it took Mike Early to find it immediately upon being told the rack. A 685 (or even 908) player is not going to spot that one. Still, for my level, I like my move on a defensive level. For once, I'm willing to muck up my leave a bit (leaving one S) and killing another triple word score. If they wre open, I wanted to kill them. i figured I couldn't stop obscure huge bingos, but I could certainly prevent him from making huge triple plays whenever possible. I'm back to a coinflip to win.
>Sam_Kantimathi: BEGNU 14B B.GUN +28 167
>Hime: EEEIIOS -EEIO +0 148
#note This rack sucks and is a real momentum killer for me, no two ways about it. Quackle has me at 36% to win and considers my exchange one of its top 3 moves. That's sort of comforting, but a basic understanding makes it an easy decision, I think.
>Sam_Kantimathi: ILNT H11 .NTIL +18 185
>Hime: EEIKMST 2B ME. +12 160
#note This move is shameful. Again, I need to focus on closing the gap, not drawing to a bingo. I'm about 32% to win. Best move I would have known (EEK/YE) would have me at 42%. Instead of keeping the K, I should have focused on scoring it. I also think I'm more likely to find a bingo with an M in it than I am to find one with a K, although I now have been looking at some of the -LIKE ones.
>Sam_Kantimathi: AOOTT 1H .OTATO +9 194
>Hime: EEIKOST 15H .EK +7 167
#note Another shameful move. I figured I was closing a bingo alley to another TWS and was at least getting rid of the K. The best move I could have found (KILO) would have put me at 40% win instead of the abysmal 25-26% I end up at here.
>Sam_Kantimathi: DEO B10 DOE +24 218
>Hime: EEIOQST K10 Q.T +12 179
#note Quackle's top two moves are exchanges and have me at 15-17% to win. The one it favors most leaves me with EIST - a ridiculously simple rack for someone at my level. Instead, I spaz out and ditch the Q and the T for no points. I'm 9% to win. This may alter my thinking about plays with the Q when there's still a decent number of tiles left in the bag. It's also the first time Quackle suggests making use of the ES I have to make POTATOES for 30 points. Spotting it instantly when I start messing with this game and NOT seeing it at the time (apparently) really pains me.
>Sam_Kantimathi: AAEGRWX -AAEG +0 218
>Hime: EEINORS 1A OE +10 189
#note "I sure can't beat this guy, but I can take away all the triple word scores! Maybe he'll go on tilt!" Quackle doesn't hate this move - it's on the list and I'm somehow up to 28.6% to win! Of course, a bingo with EMERSION would have put me back in coinflip territory...
>Sam_Kantimathi: EFI L9 FIE +27 245
>Hime: EFINRSW 11A W.. +9 198
#note Another move where I overfished instead of scoring. 16% to win. Quackle's best move puts me at 22% (WIFE in the upper right corner). At least with this move, I am drawing live to a D or T for SNIFTER or FRIENDS/REDFINS/FINDERS. I know that now, but I missed SNIFTER at a later tournament (thanks Orry!).
>Sam_Kantimathi: HM 2M HM +19 264
>Hime: EFIINRS 7C FI. +10 208
#note A dropped bingo here (MISINFER, one I will endeavor to remember). My move is on the Quackle list, but I am just south of 19% to win. I need a 5-sided coin.
>Sam_Kantimathi: BI 4B BI. +14 278
>Hime: AEINRRS N2 .ARINERS +62 270
#note Huzzah! All that careful managing of leaves FINALLY pays off. High variance Scrabble at its finest, and I hesitate for a moment to make sure MARINERS is actually a word and not just a sports team. I'm down by 70, worth the risk. TRAINERS off the T puts me slightly more likely to win, at 27.8% instead of 25.8%. When I follow that chain of logic, I found that I lost by 29 points, so clearly there's wiggle room for me as a player. Assuming Sam still bingos, I can at least score a lot of points with the TWS and the X I drew. I opted for the wide open bingo instead of pausing to think about defensive considerations. Perhaps I was resigned to losing and just happy to find any bingo. Perhaps my brain was shut to TRAINERS. Looking at the sheet, I know my tracking wasn't kept up, so I didn't really have a fix on what he could have.
>Sam_Kantimathi: ?AEGIRT O9 InGRATE +76 354
#note This rack demands a bingo, but this is not Quack's favorite - TREADING through the N in MARINERS is. Of course, it is the highest scoring play. Sam is probably not concerned about losing but is instead padding his spread for later games to come. Against a player at my level at this point, he has to figure he's just cashing in. Maybe he can tell us at some point.
>Hime: ADENOVX M4 OXEN +28 298
#note I make what I think is a nice parallel play here, getting rid of one of my bricks and scoring it as much as I can to lower the spread. Of course, given plenty of time, you can see VOW on the left side and build it out to AVOWED for 50+ points. You still lose. Blah blah spread/wins. Maybe I would have done better in the DO if I found that, though it still would have been for not much.
>Sam_Kantimathi: DOU 6A UDO +13 367
#note This is of course the best out play according to Quack. No surprise there. Sam is a great player, and still has me thinking two years later. Thanks to: Sam Kantimathi, Mike Early, Orry Swift, and them Quackle boys.
>Sam_Kantimathi: (ADV) +14 381
#note In the end, I drew all the S's's's. I got 1 blank. I drew the Q and X. And still lost.
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