| Player 1 |
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#player1 TR Tracy Ruhlman
#player2 JJB John J. Bulten
>TR: EJT 8G JET +20 20
#note 0:24 [24:36] TR and JJB met at another word game tournament and are excited to play each other as first and second seed. There are risks for both!
>JJB: EGGNNVZ J7 ZEN +23 23
#note 0:58 [24:02] Immediately after lunch JJB misses the opportunity to dump consonants with the palatable venge 13, an improvement of 8.9 over his leave. Veg and eng rate better than zen in column J, and trading to ENZ is also an improvement at value 7.8.
>TR: IP 7J .IP +14 34
#note 0:53 [23:43]
>JJB: GGINNRV H7 V.G +7 30
#note 1:20 [22:42] Now veg 7 is correct, but venging 13 is right behind and is a close temptation.
>TR: IQU L4 QUI. +30 64
#note 0:34 [23:09]
>JJB: GHINNNR 5K H.NG +16 46
#note 0:47 [21:55] So far this grid looks like very low-level gameplay. Holding the G with the IN (hun 12) actually rates a surprising 5.9 better.
>TR: IW M3 WI. +23 87
#note 0:51 [22:18] TR puts out a subliminal message to herself.
>JJB: AACINNR G8 .ARINA +19 65
#note 2:28 [19:27] Jarina actually rates above jar, although JJB doubted this play when he saw how few vowels would be forthcoming. 2.0 better is just zenana 17.
>TR: EELY H12 EELY +29 116
#note 1:09 [21:09] TR knows how to capitalize on opponents' openings.
>JJB: CDKLNTU 15D DUCK. +17 82
#note 3:29 [15:58] JJB rates cult 2j over culti 11c, then compares cult and duct against the liquidating ducky 17. Best though was dunt by 2.3 due to its CK retention.
>TR: FOO F9 FOO +21 137
#note 1:18 [19:51]
>JJB: LLNOSTV 2J VOLTS +39 121
#note 0:30 [15:28] Quick S usage gets JJB back into the game.
>TR: AA 1N AA +8 145
#note 1:25 [18:26] JJB is confident TR is working on the bingo but his own rack has not improved to be able to attack it.
>JJB: ?DLMNOR E11 MOD +22 143
#note 1:41 [13:47] Several plays here evaluate closely, but mol 20 is better by 1.0 due to synergy.
>TR: DEENORT K9 ERODENT +68 213
#note 0:24 [18:02] TR is off to the races with plenty of time to spare.
>JJB: ?FGLNRS 13J F.RN +14 157
#note 2:03 [11:44] Time to spot the consonantal dump flong 9 (better by 1.8).
>TR: EIT M11 TI.E +4 217
#note 2:11 [15:51] Rather than play tied 17 for 13 more, TR begins a methodical series of plays designed to shut down both bingo lines and hopes of opening new bingo lines, while soon obtaining the other blank herself.
>JJB: ?AGLSSW 15M AWL +23 180
#note 1:24 [10:20] Now is the time for the 8l hook, but JJB, having waited so long for it, forgets it and takes an ineffective hook instead. Swag scores an amazing 44+37.8, 28.9 better than his play.
>TR: IOX 13B OXI. +24 241
#note 1:29 [14:22] This play looks like an opener but has the virtue of being excessively easy to shut down, as TR is about to demonstrate.
>JJB: ?GIRSST 8L STIR +32 212
#note 4:16 [6:04] JJB writes down strigose (70, the best play) and then bypasses it as insufficiently certain. He also sees the spots for tigress 70 and ringtoss 66. Even sigs is better than stir. The diff is only 5.0 among all these plays but with the shutdown about to occur the timing is everything.
>TR: EIR 14A REI +19 260
#note 1:24 [12:58] TR is unworried about protecting her lead when so few lines remain.
>JJB: ?EGIMOS J2 .OG +7 219
#note 3:06 [2:58] Here JJB knows in his gut there's something in egoisms, but just doesn't piece together ogreisms 63. The opener will be fine if an -ing comes together unblocked, and is only 13.5 behind the bingo in value; but gi/go 12 gains points with similar bingo odds, and go n10 9 is 2 better if bingo value is not considered.
>TR: ?DEEHPR O6 Ha.PERED +64 324
>TR: ?DEEHPR -- -64 260
#note 1:26 [11:32] TR is now ready to reveal her rack, even as JJB wonders aloud what kind of a word that is, eating up seconds. The play does not stand, and hi/ho 20 is valued 28.2 better, but that is no consolation to either player.
>JJB: ?EIMSSY 12D M. +16 235
#note 1:57 [1:01] The same spot as mo/mi 16 is no longer indicated; it's 18.9 behind sty 27, which also keeps the bingo line open.
>TR: ?DEEHPR K1 H.P +12 272
#note ~1:02 [~10:30] Tinkering with opponent's bingo lines also takes concentration away. TR skips poh or hop 3i for 4 more presumably because she hopes to shut the whole line down more completely.
>JJB: ?EISSTY N10 YES +18 253
#note 0:10 [0:51] Another missed bingo, serosity 61, yet sty 27 rates even better while lines are open: 12.6 over yes, which assists the shutdown.
>TR: ?BDEELR I3 BaL +19 291
#note ~2:30 [~8:00] This play rates 25.8 behind fe j13 11, but the line does not favor TR and, after agonizing, she shuts it down tighter. She admitted later there was no certainty to it, but it was a calculated risk.
>JJB: ?BEISTU O6 BU. +5 258
#note 0:29 [0:22] This rack works great with the now-blocked R, but not with the L. Bur is not the worst play, only 4.2 behind feu j13 14, but JJB's last-minute clock management is about to become its own issue.
>TR: CDEER 5G CE. +5 296
#note TR draws the C, just what is needed to shut down the last line; she even holds creel 14, which empties the bag without opening a line.
>JJB: ?AAEIST 15A ES +15 273
#note ~0:37 [~-0:15] JJB is so fixated on bingos that he has only time to calculate that no one-tile play will open a line. He throws away his S to have hope of staying only one minute overtime. Tafia j11 21 would overlap nicely and hold usable tiles for going out, with 19.1 better value.
>TR: AADENRU L12 A.E +19 315
#note TR makes a nice insertion, only 4.3 behind burred and burned (cf. burden), but those all allow tafia 21, which favors JJB's score and outplay. TR has no outplay pair, only undoes 9 with areca 8, or adunc 9 with are 6; the first three allow JJB to go out, while are 6 allows azoic 7 blocking all TR's outs. On these grounds TR's actual play seems optimal.
>JJB: ?AAIOT G3 TA.O +7 280
#note ~0:35 [-0:50] Taco yields only 8 net points even though it allows two outs. Much better is an unblockable out, and a first play that does not set up the opponent: triac 7, to which the best is orad 13, then loanee 15+6 nets 15 points.
>TR: ADNRU F2 DUN +12 327
#note [3:45] Dun 12 allows burial 14+4, with net of -6. The play that blocks it is instead ad/ya/ted 12, yielding aid/it/da 7+6, net of -1, or 5 better.
>JJB: ?AI E3 rAI +9 289
#note 0:05 [-0:55] JJB throws the outplay together, then, seconds late, notices burial 14 would net 5 more. At any rate the win had to be in before cel was played.
>JJB: (AR) +4 293
>JJB: ?AI (time) -10 283
#note TR's blocking methods will often work, and succeeded here, even the blank "throwaway" being suitable against JJB's non-go rack once C was drawn. TR dropped one phony, but JJB made only two optimal plays, missed swag 44, and lost primarily on missing all of strigose, tigress, ringtoss, ogreisms, and serosity, yielding his highest improvability rating in a long while. Points improvable based on tiles played: JJB 14, TR 22. Points improvable based on values: JJB 136.1.
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