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#player1 James James
#player2 Murray Murray
>James: EEIOSTU -EOU +0 0
#note Basically, exchanging is better than playing here. The EOS leave after ETUI isn't enough to justify even playing it in my mind, because it leaves a lot of lanes open to bingo (and actually creates some for a whopping 8 points). EIST has a great ability to form bingos in and of itself, so I threw in the others to see what would happen.
>Murray: BETU H7 TUBE +12 12
>James: AEIOPST 11B ATOPIES +75 75
#note And it happened! I kind of like ATOPIES more than OPIATES (the only two bingos on this rack and available at this time) in this position because it a) scores most between (as compared to the other ways one could play OPIATES/ATOPIES) and b) opens both triple letters. I'm assuming Murray will take one, leaving me to hopefull take the other.
>Murray: EGUV B10 V.GUE +34 46
>James: ?ADHKUY 10D YUK +45 120
#note Well, that's a good draw. Best play - good leave. KHEDA 10F scores 1 more but UY? is significantly worse a leave than ADH? (as an abstract rule, UY is only better than VU and UW as pairings)
>Murray: ADEGIRT 15A TRIAGED +90 136
>James: ?AADEHW 14F WArHEAD +89 209
#note Rats - I missed HEADWAY 14F for 95. Better points and the blank Y at the end means that most counterplays by Murray to the triple will score 2 less points, so I'm down a net 8 points to my best! Oh well, it's hard to be too sad.
>Murray: EQY 13A Q.EY +32 168
>James: ADEEEST 13G DEE +21 230
#note Best - there are so many open lanes still that it's not worth trying to close (and I can't really at this point anyway), and I keep a great leave (AEST) whilst scoring very respectively.
>Murray: EFIV 12I FIVE +29 197
>James: AEFPRST M9 PEARTS +47 277
#note I had a feeling when I played this that PEART was not pluralizable (it's an adverb - meaning lively) but this was just worth so many points. That being said, FARTS M10 works to the same level, just 6 less points and so I'd still be up a bingo and change on Murray. Quackle likes being greedy and playing KIF F10, since AEPRST is almost guaranteed to bingo on this board. That being said, I'd rather take the points now and see what Murray will do, since I had some faith that I could outstrip his word knowledge.
>Murray: JLO 10J JOL. +27 224
>James: AEFLLOT 8E AFO.L +8 285
#note Don't ask me what I was thinking here. I think I was trying to block bingo lanes and draw to a good leave but this isn't even the best way to do this. FLOTA I5 scores 20 and leaves me with EL instead of ELT. It blocks up the T more effectively and it's not like the F is going to be that used in bingos. Sure, there are plays to the triple from the F using the Z that could hurt, but the risk of playing FLOTA at this point is worth it since the game is nowhere near over.
>Murray: CDEINRU N4 UNCRIED +91 315
>Murray: CDEINRU -- -91 224
>James: AEIILNT I8 .I +8 293
#note Now that I know he has no bingo after UNCRIED (INDUCER is the only one and JOLER isn't good, for that matter neither UNCRIED nor JOLED are), I can go ahead in trying to set up the best play for myself within that parameter. Quackle likes playing ATILT 7D (which kills the T as well as almost any chance at bingoing along those lanes) but I thought of playing LI since that would block up the T as well and give me a fairly okay shot at bingoing (draw R for LATRINE, S for SALTINE, D for DENTALIA [which is most likely for him to unintentionally block as he fishes off tiles], G for ATINGLE, and of course the blank, so long as Murray doesn't do anything totally out of character. I'm not the best at planning through these situations but I thought it was good to do this because he would have to blow up his tiles to get any more decent lanes.
>Murray: CDEINRU F5 CUR. +11 235
>James: AEIILNT 5B LINA. +14 307
#note Strangely, I didn't think this would be favored that much but Quackle likes it most. Basically, I want to block him from the best bingo chance (the C, though along the N-column is fairly ripe but it would give me good countermoves in all likelihood) but I wasn't sure what else to play. The vowels aside from O are depleting, and I need to undouble my Is. There's a pile of Ns in the bag, too. As such, I guess LINAC does most of my job except that there is now an L and an I to bingo, but on the plus playing this instead of LAIC 5C means that any Z or X plays (TAXA or TAXI 4A, etc).
>Murray: DIMNO K5 DOMIN. +18 253
>James: EISTTWZ 6J Z.WIE +39 346
#note Quackle likes TEW a bit more than ZOWIE, which I guess makes some sense because it's going for the bingo or at least setting up ZIT I3 the next turn. ZOWIE, in my opinion, is a better play overall because it kills some lanes and causes problems along the N-column, and is not pluralizable, so if Murray tries to bingo and hook making ZOWIES in desperation I can get another turn.
>Murray: ENOX D1 XENO. +40 293
>James: CIRSSTT N8 CISTS +41 387
#note Quackle likes CREST 2B because it sets up best bingo tiles, again. However, if I would play up there I'd play STERIC to kill the lanes. I did end up playing CISTS, though, because the points were mostly enough to overcome any plays Murray would come up with (a bingo and a big X play are the only real ways to win for him and the chances of him getting both are slim, especially since he can't have an S as I am playing the last two).
Also of consideration is that STERIC is only 20. If Murray bingos along the E (or worse, somehow gets as far down as JOLES in a bingo) then the game is tied up with him having the advantage. So the question is: what is the more likely situation for him to go out and win?
>Murray: AHO 1A HOA. +42 335
>James: BNOORRT C1 .BO +18 405
#note So I got myself into a bit or a mess. My chances to win went significantly down since he got the first part of his bingo plans. Basically, I played ABO because any bingo he plays needs to be a nine and they're really not that hard to come up with, but BE- and ON aren't the greatest openings for a likely -ING attempt. All of the other plays Quackle proposes are about the same and play off two tiles as well, meaning that Murray will bingo out.
STERIC was definitely a better play to get rid of this headache.
>Murray: ?GIMNNR 1A ....INGs +54 389
#note Not good, but I didn't want to think about how to win (which I am sure I'd end up doing anyway given his leftover tiles) if I challenged and lost. As it is, I won and I was 9-1 and guaranteed a finals spot.
>James: ALNORRT L3 TRO. +17 422
>Murray: MNR M5 R.M +12 401
>James: ALNR A1 .ARL +8 430
>Murray: N F10 ..N +7 408
>Murray: (N) +2 410
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