Midgame rack of EEIRUUX

[whatnoloan]

Here's a position in a game Scott Jackson posted on cross-tables: http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=8008#5


I disagree with XU. Here's why. First of all, XU is often really devastating for you. It leaves nice juicy row 4 overlap spots for your opponent to take...and often not leave you much of anything. A lot of the time, your going to be down 30+ with EEIRU on a closed board...blech. (F)IXURE is probably better than XU, but I am not sure how good it is. FIXURE is really volatile, leaving some big scoring spots on the board, which could put you at a serious disadvantage. I'm not sure though, I think it's a better bet than XU. So I guess I'm on the fence about FIXURE. I would also consider (F)EU, setting up a XU/XI possibility. I don't know how likely XU is next turn, though, but I feel like he'd play in the top right a lot, so I think it's pretty likely, and he might often give you a good X play even if he does block it. And of course there is exchanging. I don't see many reasons to keep an X on this exchange, simply because it seems pretty bad on this board, and will still be if there is overlap on row 4. I would most likely keep ER. I think I'd rather do FEU or FIXURE than that, though.

Discuss.

[TheLamb]

I wonder what the sim details show... but I'd be willing to bet that "Oppo next turn" in XU vs. FIXURE is not that different. XU opens the door for the big parallel, and it is not dependent on the opponent having a specific tile (the S). And it seems like even the good draws after XU (two consonants) aren't likely to have much after a parallel play on row four. So yeah, I think I also prefer FIXURE.

That said, I am really liking your suggestion of FEU. I figure even if it goes wrong, you're likely to have something with the X next turn. I mean, if you can't score on the only decent spot (row 4), you might as well open another spot so you'll have something next turn.

[sjackson12]

Hi, this is Scott.

I was not thrilled about XU, but didn't like FIXURE for the same reasons Noah mentioned - giving both the X open to score with and the S hook on the triple lane. CP results are below. You are right that XU leaves a nice overlap lane, which I noticed but went with anyway as I didn't think there was any good alternative. If I were to exchange I would never throw back the X, it's just too valuable a tile (and even though it's not that great in this specific board position, it's very possible it will be a few moves later).

I didn't think of FEU at the time, but that seems like a decent play. As it turns out though it rates below mine:

F9 FIXURE 36.1%
exch. EIRUU 33.1%
exch. EUUX 32.8% (huh)
10D RUE 32.8%
exch. EIUUX 32.7%
exch. IUU 32.7%
6M XU 32.6%
exch. EIUU 32.6%
exch. EUU 32.6%
exch. UU 32.3%
F9 FEU 31.7%

[kunjoos]

That said, I am really liking your suggestion of FEU. I figure even if it goes wrong, you're likely to have something with the X next turn. I mean, if you can't score on the only decent spot (row 4), you might as well open another spot so you'll have something next turn.

I think you'll magically gain 50 rating points if you take the word "something" out of your vocabulary. Hope that doesn't across as mean. If you want to talk more about it, feel free to email me (ask one of the west coast kids if you want my email)

Kenji

[millcake16]

That said, I am really liking your suggestion of FEU. I figure even if it goes wrong, you're likely to have something with the X next turn. I mean, if you can't score on the only decent spot (row 4), you might as well open another spot so you'll have something next turn.

I think you'll magically gain 50 rating points if you take the word "something" out of your vocabulary. Hope that doesn't across as mean. If you want to talk more about it, feel free to email me (ask one of the west coast kids if you want my email)

Kenji

What if he has EGHINST on his rack and the only place to bingo is through OM?

[joshcalomel]

I think you'll magically gain 50 rating points if you take the word "something" out of your vocabulary. Hope that doesn't across as mean. If you want to talk more about it, feel free to email me (ask one of the west coast kids if you want my email)

Kenji

What if he has EGHINST on his rack and the only place to bingo is through OM?

What if OM is near the right (or bottom, if vertical) side of the board, making SOMETHING unplayable?