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#character-encoding UTF-8
#player1 JJB John J. Bulten
#player2 SG Steve Gawtry
>JJB: BCCINSV -BCCINV +0 0
#note ~0:30 [~24:30] (exchange BCV +6.9) The late bird begins with a poll by Andy Hoang to determine who wants to play 5 games instead of 4: it's unanimously agreed to play the extra game. JJB and SG, third and fourth seeds, get the first pairing and JJB correctly intuits that vin 12 is about 10 points behind trading, but he doesn't keep the synergy of CINS +18.4 in the opening.
>SG: EIOWY 8D YOWIE +30 30
#note 1:06 [23:54] SG makes good use of the vowels for his part.
>JJB: ?DORRSU 7G ORDUReS +66 66
#note ~1:24 [23:06] (ardours i2 71 +5) It doesn't occur to JJB to pluralize yowies, but they are ewes, not just interjections. He also doesn't spot ardours and is happy with ordures. Several other cheap bingos are available; good draw!
>SG: AEH 8M HAE +23 53
#note 1:12 [22:42] SG uses the triple to keep the score close.
>JJB: AAENPRV 9C VAPE +27 93
#note 1:39 [21:27] JJB works out the correct parallel. Pavane for the same score in the same place is cuter and opener but 3 behind on leave.
>SG: EGIOV 9I VOGIE +21 74
#note 1:54 [20:48] SG has kept up but has not yet played a 1-point consonant.
>JJB: ACDINPR 10D PAD +34 127
#note 1:33 [19:54] No 7s or 8s, and no quadruple in this rack, but JJB notes it's one letter away from panoptic or canopic. This makes another cheap-looking parallel the best play; padri/padi are next in line.
>SG: FNO 10J FON +32 106
#note 0:30 [20:18]
>JJB: CILNRTY E7 C...Y +24 151
#note 1:36 [18:18] (opacity e8 28 +1.6) JJB finally sees the extension (the first vertical to be played on the board), but there's a better one.
>SG: Z -4 +0 106
#note 2:26 [17:52] SG continues to fiddle with a rack of unpromising letters and takes his time to decide to trade; his score is falling behind but he knows how to build to a bingo.
>JJB: ILLNNRT O4 LINT.L +7 158
#note 0:27 [17:51] (noir g6 16 +.9) The hard-to-find points are with vape/r, which allows noir 16; but the leave is not even a point better than dumping 5 with lentil/lintel.
>SG: ADQ 5L QAD. +14 120
#note 1:07 [16:45] Meanwhile SG has drawn the Q with unhelpful tiles and JJB's opening is just what he needs.
>JJB: AFLLNRZ 11J FAN +32 190
#note 3:37 [14:14] The parallel theme continues to produce thirties. Extensions of note: infall 18, golf 16, runoff 14, and noir 16 is still there. Zarf/off 25 plays but is too cheap when the Z can be saved.
>SG: EINW I3 WINE. +13 133
#note 2:38 [14:07] (wined n1 20 +7) SG has given up 7 points not to open a risky triple at n1 (easy 30), but accepts a placement that opens a risky triple in another way, namely the octuple power of 4h (bingo equivalent). Better to take the 7 extra and be wide open.
>JJB: AAGLLRZ 12G GAZAL +31 221
#note 2:00 [12:14] (gazar m11 38 +2.1) JJB is mighty proud of his next parallel play, passing on zag/aw/gi 25, but he has misremembered. A gazar is a fabric, and a ghazal is a poem, but there is no gazal*. And gazar is in the rack and goes down double with fang, making it more valuable than his play. Big risk.
>SG: X J6 X. +50 183
#note 0:22 [13:45] (challenge +31) SG is starting to watch his time more closely and has his 50 ready, with a bingo rack but no bingo. He passes the phony, probably making the same mental category error, which he realizes later is a big missed opportunity.
>JJB: ADELNRT 13H DAL +31 252
#note 3:06 [9:08] JJB is rewarded with a bingo rack that he knows plays through EUY, but he doesn't have to take time to run the list after verifying the I is no bingo. There's another perfectly fine overlap here, which also causes offal to have been built one letter at a time. He correctly rates this as best above drat and deal, both 26 at h1. He overscores by 1, but this is corrected during a recount.
>SG: CEIMRSU 14B MURICES +88 271
#note 0:59 [12:46] This is the hook SG needed to take the lead. JJB could have made closing plays rather than run for points (he was ahead by 88), but now it will come down to endgame draws and play.
>JJB: EIINNRT 3H T.INIER +20 272
#note 1:49 [7:19] (tinnier 2i 78 +57.8; tinier 2i 26 +6) JJB has drawn another bingo rack, but this time hasn't studied it and doesn't recognize it as tinnier, which plays for 78. He comes one letter away from playing it, and even misses tinier/twined 26, easily formed from his play: major errors, but he regains the lead and so far has outdrawn SG.
>SG: HTU 15A HUT +24 295
#note 3:18 [9:28] (hut 2j 31 +7) SG considers carefully but the triple overlap draws his attention. Yet the triple-letter in two directions (sextuple) gives him a better score by 7 at 2j. And hadst 27 is also available just behind, using a triple that appears inaccessible! If he is holding the G for g/hi, hut 31 is closely indicated.
>JJB: ?BEKNST 12G .....S +40 312
#note 1:14 [6:05] Now an amazing overlap is available, beknot 2j plus five words, scoring 56 with a nonuple B and triple K, while leaving S on the rack. JJB is busied looking for bingos and equivalents, but beknot is the only playable one. However, JJB thinks he has better use for the S by getting 40 on the "obvious" plural corner. This is better by 7.1 static leave, unless SG avails himself of a second opportunity to challenge given gazals*. (For those keeping score at home, this makes 21 connected tiles that are 2-way keyed; in the end there will be another section of 17 and another of 12.)
>SG: EORTU 2J OUTRE +28 323
#note 1:33 [7:55] (challenge +40) SG doesn't see the opportunity to challenge, a big opportunity cost. He does see the 5-overlap and uses it, getting 28 with all 1-point tiles throughout; but JJB holds the K, and SG will not draw the M or the blank for an easy row 1 play.
>JJB: ?BEKNOT 1G BONK +37 349
#note 0:26 [5:39] (netbook 1d 96 +37.3) Now JJB can see beknot: it's its own alphagram so he already has it when he writes out the rack, but it doesn't go down. He does see the best play if there is no bingo, and bonks it down rapidly, pressing on his lead. The J is still out but he hopes to bingo next turn. But if he had taken time to rearrange, he could have found the new bingo and sealed the game up this turn: netbook 96, with almost 100% win ratio compared to 77%.
>SG: BEIOOT 2B BOOTIE +24 347
#note 2:57 [4:58] (boo 13c 24 +8.5) But SG has no bingo and probably no J (or he would have seen job 50 with jut). He can still hope for the blank (against the likelihood that JJB already has it) and for the open row 5, and there are other ways to win. By using row 13 now with boo 24 and retaining EIT for row 2 later, he increases his win chances from about 20% to about 25%. Quackle also likes making the undirected hook of boon 5f 6, for which the owner of the blank or A will get a big score, but this is contraindicated by rack inference, which it doesn't use. Because SG empties the bag, it will come down to which tiles remain for him, which as a rule of thumb are on average the worse ones from the unseen.
>JJB: ?AEEMRT 13A REMET +33 382
#note 4:45 [0:54] (watermen 68+26 +84) JJB now has the power to win, but he wants to seal up the game with a bingo and searches long. He determines that meter man is two words, and knows tradesman requires an S, but SG finds a bingo in the postmortem: earthmen 68; the alternative is watermen 68. After a few minutes JJB switches gears and works out the highest static play, remet 33, but this allows jogs 40, ais 4h 13+4, netting only 10 to him; opponent also threatens jigs/copays 37, so blocking is ineffective if one doesn't see a bingo. But why not just take the extra 84 points? That would even be worth going several minutes overtime! And it's possible to calculate before overtime that going into overtime would be worthwhile if a bingo exists; however, if there is no bingo then only one minute of overtime can be spared without losing the game (i.e. best play wins by 12 ordinarily). After one minute it would become a game gamble and not just a points gamble, which is unnecessary.
>SG: EGIJS D1 J.GS +40 387
#note 1:48 [3:10] Indicated, and SG will just have to accept any winning play from opponent.
>JJB: ?A 1A hA +7 389
#note ~0:24 [~0:30] (ais 4h 13 +6) There was time to look harder to pluralize koi or lintel or pad, or to use 11g-h.
>JJB: (EI) +4 393
#note A nailbiter comes down to JJB's better draws in the end and overall, though he had more clear opportunities missed. After a capable first half, he left the bingos tinnier, netbook, and earthmen/watermen unplayed, while SG's biggest errors were not to challenge twice. In the end SG's plays of 24-28 were not enough to overcome JJB's easier racks. Known points available: SG 85, JJB 101. Overall points available: SG 90.5+, JJB 201.6.
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