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#player1 JJB John J. Bulten
#player2 JT Jennifer Tomlinson
>JJB: AEISTTT 8G TATTIES +66 66
#note ~1:00 [~24:00] JJB thinks he recalls this rack correctly, but Quackle rates etatist 8b 66 with .2 higher value. JJB prefers leaving the T hook open. Tatties are potatoes: who knew?
>JT: CEEFORS L4 FORC. +20 20
#note ~3:00 [~22:00] JT comments how easy it looks for JJB, and indeed her own bingo rack is somewhat harder to find: it's frescoes 78/67. Instead, she opts to keep EES (+6.4), which rates 51.6 behind the bingo. Among non-bingos, forces m3 24 would be better on balance considerations (ES +10.4), and fe 7l 14 and its ilk are even better for fishing (CEORS +23.5).
>JJB: BFIKLUU 7F KUFI +24 90
#note ~3:00 [~21:00] JJB correctly prefers the well-balanced kufi to fib 29, krubi 17, and the weak fibula 12 (kubie and kufis were blocked). It would be nice to see kuru, tubful, burfi, or kulfi over the board also, but they do not improve on kufi if the latter is eked out.
>JT: EEEOSST K3 OE +7 27
#note ~2:00 [~20:00] JT walks into the rest of an imbalance, but as compensation she has racked two Ss. Leaves are thus still highly positive, and oe m3 9 (not k3 7) is worth considering. It's ok to use an S for ose k4 17 (6.1 difference in static evaluation) or certainly testee j5 22.
>JJB: ABJLTUW 2K JUBA +36 126
#note ~1:00 [~20:00] JJB finds a way to count the J thrice and keep a decent leave. If he had written down tattiest to jog his memory, he might have found how to keep a vowel and still triple the J, with jut n6 34 (.9 better). Another triple J, much weaker, is jurat 6j 30.
>JT: EEMPSST 1N ME +16 43
#note ~1:14 [18:46] JT is so close to the bingo but all those Ts are probably appearing to conflict with the one on her rack, so she misses the opportunity to play tempests j8 70. She also wants both Ss instead of cashing one with some/joes 5k 34 (only 19.2 behind the bingo) or even mesteso 40 there (worse, breaking up the leave). As often, the triple has a magnetic call: me n1 is 4 behind em 3m, and 35.8 behind tempests.
>JJB: DLNTWYZ 5K Y.WL +52 178
#note ~0:07 [19:53] JJB has walked into a technical vowelless rack but has a saving vowel on the board, conveniently located too. He announces he has drawn the Y and makes the top play (yond is noted in second); he also accidentally credits himself 4 extra points, which can be added to JT's opportunity cost because she did not get to correct the total. (Way behind yowl 48, but the best play to dump 4 tiles, is unforcedly 21.)
>JT: EEPRSST O3 PESTERS +91 134
#note 0:33 [18:13] JT is now bingo-ready and happy to be given a big improvement on pesters/presets 9c 78.
>JJB: ADNOOTZ N9 AZON +35 213
#note 2:10 [17:43] JJB takes the extra point and tile over azo, primarily to make column O trickier; Quackle declines, citing a loss of just .5.
>JT: EIMR O12 EMIR +24 158
#note 0:58 [17:15] JT suspects this is a mistaken use of resources. Based on partial rack it lags only behind imp 3m 29 (8.9+ diff), but if she is trying to ditch the V she is also holding the improvements vermin and vimen.
>JJB: CDIOSTW M11 WOT +20 233
#note 3:08 [14:35] Right region, probably too much time. Dow m11 20 is 4.3 ahead and dwine 12k 18 is almost even, but they go unnoted; wick 19 is close but no cigar.
>JT: EIV 15L VIE. +11 169
#note 2:34 [14:41]
>JJB: ?BCDEIS 9B SCrIBED +76 309
#note 0:54 [13:41] JJB finds sickbed and cebids (neglecting the playable bodices/ceboids), but is relieved that scribed plays for 76, which is maximal. Again he fails to consider both parallel and hook opportunities for opponent.
>JT: AEHINNP L12 PI +22 191
#note 2:36 [12:05] Everything comes together if the word pennia (a4 45) can be played (assuming this rack is transcribed correctly). The top plays all use columns A and B. Keeping the double N comes 25.9 behind (even app 3m 29 is better).
>JJB: EGGINUX 8A XU +29 338
#note 1:42 [11:59] No improvement can be had on the obvious; sexing 32 is noted way behind.
>JT: AEHLNNO 7A ANON +17 208
#note 0:42 [11:23] With characteristic lackadaisicalness, Quackle rates the risky chalone/channel 24 as up to 4.2 higher value, and the risk may be what JT wants by now. Anon 7a is a very closing play.
>JJB: ?EGGGIN E9 .GG +10 348
#note 3:00 [8:59] Egging takes BKLPV in front and no other anagram hooks; but three minutes of search yields no improvement on igg. Egg/fade 17 (5.5 diff) might be better enough to take a look at. JJB still hopes he can slot or hook the G in igg.
>JT: EHLRRRU 7L .UR. +10 218
#note 0:15 [11:08] Putting time pressure on, JT makes a play as if the board is totally closed. Nothing wrong with churr/churl 20, worth up to 20.6 more points, especially with opponent signaling a fish.
>JJB: ?EGILNY 11B GIN.ELlY +62 410
#note 2:04 [6:55] JJB spends too much time deliberating over which bingo (but does slot the blank in column H again). This is the highest-scoring play (blank can also be E), but, in the lucrative corner, yep 3m 35 is rated 12.1 higher because Quackle recognizes that the bingo can still be used well later.
>JT: ADELNRR 6A LADEN +29 247
#note 0:47 [9:21] Author Ring Lardner has no anagrams or anagram hooks. JT finds a pretty overlap spot before JJB can use it (lader 6a is quite better, and ran 6a 23 is 5.2 better for keeping E).
>JJB: ADEIOOO 5E ODEA +14 424
#note 2:44 [4:11] With 8 in bag, Quackle would exchange all, slightly preferable to looie h11 15 (which JJB missed, along with looed 18), and 14.0 ahead of the misguided odea 5e/10i 14.
>JT: AIQ F2 QAI. +34 281
#note 0:21 [9:00]
>JJB: AEILOOV H1 VIOL. +27 451
#note 1:57 [2:14] Missing laevo 24 (3.0 better statically) and voila 27, JJB is starting to show time trouble again. Simulation upholds his intuition that AEO plays well with the bag contents, often threatening an outplay (supposedly better than ILO, but this may be Quackle skewing), so there is no definitive preference for any of the three without in-depth analysis.
>JT: AHHNRRT 2B TRAN. +28 309
#note 0:12 [8:48] The highest static net is haha 3c 20, but this allows a stronger opponent response, so JT's tranq 28 ties with thirl 4d 24 for best score assuming the outplay odea 10i 14+18 (or +14; net of -4 to JT). But JJB has only one out, which JT has time to find and block easily with ah 10i 18; that leads to ode 12b 18, thirl 24, lar 9+4, net of 11. So blocking is worth 15 points here.
>JJB: ADEO 12B ODE +18 469
#note 2:08 [0:06] JJB has allowed a little time to look, but does not find odea/oy 14+18 in the last two minutes and settles for next best, ode 18, leading to hi/it 20 (not hah 13), lar 9+10, net of 17 (15 behind, same drop as JT's previous play).
>JT: HHR D1 H.H +13 322
#note 0:19 [8:29] Now hah 13 seems obvious but allows haha 20+2 in response (net -9). Instead go for hi 20, lar 9+10 (net 1).
>JJB: A M2 .A +8 477
#note 0:04 [0:02] JJB rightly spends 3 of the last 6 seconds staring at JT's play but does not spot haha 20 and also has not found lar 9, so he plays ba 8 as (mis)planned. He promptly notes haha during the final score calculations, to his chagrin. Sharply played endgames require not only intuition that a better play or set is available (which can arise from studies like this), but also strong time management (which must be separately cultivated): tourney director John Dalida notes that experts realize sometimes 10-15 minutes are an appropriate allocation for the endgame, and they make such availability a routine.
>JJB: (R) +2 479
#note The score difference largely comes down to JJB's two extra bingos thanks to blanks and his 48-point draw of the Y (misscored as 52); it would be much tighter if frescoes or tempests goes down early. Though JJB's first half is near-optimal, he gets bogged down by neglecting playing the second Y at 3m (a rare case where not bingoing is a much better play) or exchanging 6 vowels with 8 in bag. JJB also misses the hook tattiest while JT misses ascribed, and both leave points on the table in the endgame when JT fails to block and JJB fails to go out. So despite the number of well-fitting plays the opportunity costs are instructive. Though JJB is having unprecedented spread points, 4 players (out of 10) are still undefeated at this point, so competition is hectic. Known points available: JJB 27, JT 35. Overall points available: JJB 67.5, JT 187.3+.
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