| Player 1 |
|
#player1 Heather_Steffy Heather Steffy
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Heather_Steffy: AQT 8G QAT +24 24
>Jim_Burlant: BIILMVV H5 VIV. +10 10
#note Hmmm. Not sure I've written this rack down correctly - don't recall if I had an N or an M. In either case I was really blinded by the presence of both V's to the point where I brain locked. If the 7th tile is the N, Q says BLINI 9E was the play; if it's an M, Q likes VIM 9F. Q may be right. This has the redeeming feature of unloading both V's, but it gives up too much in either score and/or turnover to the other choices.
>Heather_Steffy: ?AEHNNW 6C WHEAN.Ng +65 89
>Jim_Burlant: BILMNNU 5D UM +21 31
#note I had held WHEANING* for a couple of minutes before electing to accept it. The flimsy logic I used at the time was that (a) I didn't want to risk being stuck with this crappy rack for 2 turns, (b) I wasn't sure about the word and I thought I'd seen it (or something similiar, I couldn't remember which) before, and (c) I also thought that if all she got for EANNWH? was 65 points, that was cheap and I might as well let this go. I really had no idea what to do here. Couldn't think of any good choices and once again my brain locked at the awkwardness of this rack. This is the highest scoring option I have, and it's one of three plays that sims within 0.1% winning chances and 1 equity of D4 BUHL.
>Heather_Steffy: ADELORU -ADELO +0 89
>Jim_Burlant: ABILLNN -BLN +0 31
#note Not one of the original kibbitzer options, this sims respectably. Best is a play I whiffed on again, D4 BUHL for 18. This is 4th best, at a bit of an equity loss. Other options are D5 MELANIN and 9F LI. BUHL and MELANIN look like the only plays worth making. BUHL wins 26%; this wins not quite 22.
>Heather_Steffy: DEO 4C ODE +27 116
>Jim_Burlant: ADILNRT 5J ALT +7 38
#note Another miss. Couldn't find VIAND, didn't see D(EME)NTIAL (how many of you out there would have seen that?) and once again I have no good optoins. In the absence of seeing anything good, I figured I'd try to open up the board. Best play per the sim is apparently 9F LI 15. That wins 16%, this wins 13.
>Heather_Steffy: EIMORTT 9I OMITTER +64 180
>Jim_Burlant: ADIJNRU 3A RAJ +38 76
#note To this point I've dug a pretty deep hole for myself, but this is where I turn things around. Q wants me to play L1 JAUNT or L1 JURAT and it prefers O7 JURA to this. Yes, I'd like to unload the U, but I need maximum volatility at this point, and that means 3x3's. The J is not likely to lead to a 3x3. Question this chioce if you like, but watch how this turns things around.
>Heather_Steffy: DKO A1 DO.K +42 222
>Jim_Burlant: DEILNOU L7 OU.LINED +70 146
#note Best bingo, given slight preference over the M7 placement - again, I need volatility if I'm going to get back into the game.
>Heather_Steffy: EEEINRT 10C TEENIER +62 284
#note Heather is winning 97%, but not for long. Heather had a better choice available that would have prevented my big comeback: whle 12H RETINENE only scores 60, it sims a couple of points better than this choice. This minor equity slip undoubtedly cost Heather the game, as you'll soon see.
>Jim_Burlant: ADELOPS O8 P.ELOADS +158 304
#note While this is an incredibly lucky draw, that the O column is open is as much due to my having made my own luck by playing RAJ a few turns back as it was due to her not finding RETINENE on the previous turn. If I make any other play, best case I'm playing DEPOSAL on row 3 for 70 and barely winning 6%. This wins 50, and the momentum shift has to be seen to be believed.
>Heather_Steffy: F 10N F. +26 310
>Jim_Burlant: EOPRSSY M3 PROSY +41 345
#note Best, play incorrectly scored as 37. Forgot to add the 4 points for ALTO. Back from the dead, winning 70%.
>Heather_Steffy: CLRU 13I CRU.L +20 330
#note Heather told me she had CURLING on this rack, but I don't know whether it was a natural.
>Jim_Burlant: BEHNSXZ N5 SH +31 376
#note Hmmm. I wanted to see if I could skip the X and/or Z for a turn to see if I could land a better play. I didn't think the S was really worth all that much on this board, so I didn't mind parting with it. Q wanted me to play BIZ for 28 right now. I get it on the next turn. BIZ is 81% to win, this is 77.
>Heather_Steffy: WY J12 W.Y +17 347
>Jim_Burlant: BBEENXZ 11K B.Z +28 404
#note Now that she was obviously fishing, I felt the best option was to maximize score so that, when her bingo did eventually come down, I'd have built enough spread to withstand it. My decision was based on the tile pool with AAAAIIIII unseen. I figured that if she kept fishing, she was going to grind through rack after rack of duplicated vowels while I outran her by milking my counters. Q prefers IBEX G10. This is the highest scoring option I have.
>Heather_Steffy: IO N14 OI +12 359
>Jim_Burlant: ABEENRX 4J BEA. +22 426
#note I wanted to take away easy 7's on row 3, which this does. And while EXTERN C8 scores 42, this is actually best, as EXTERN upens up the triple for easy hooks. The duck says I'm 91% to win.
>Heather_Steffy: C 7K C.. +8 367
>Jim_Burlant: EGNORUX 11E XU +38 464
#note I'm now 95% to win - hard to believe this is the case given how poorly I played the early game.
>Heather_Steffy: GI 3M .IG +6 373
>Jim_Burlant: AEEGNOR 1A .OE +4 468
#note Now that I'm leading by almost 100, I don't mind getting cheap with the defense since any bingo she does get will not score more than 70 points. This isn't one of the original kibbitzer choices, but the sim says it wins more often than anything except F2 GOA. I'd rather limit her to an 8 at C8, which makes F2 GOA seem stupid: why open any lines at all, even if they're airballs on row 2?
>Heather_Steffy: ?AIINST 15E pIANIST +78 451
#note Heather's legitimate bingos are OSTINATI, TITANIAS, and TITANISM C8.
>Jim_Burlant: AAEGGNR 9B GEAR +21 489
#note I held her last play, as I was 99% certain that the S back-hook on WRY was bogus. But she's emptied the bag, and if I lose a challenge, she can go out with FIE 3E for 16 and win. Since I can put down GEAR 9B to guarantee the win, I don't have to risk losing the game if I'm not 100% certain that WRYS* is bad. Best here is O1 RAGG, which saves one more spread point.
>Heather_Steffy: EFI 3E FIE +16 467
#note Final score recorded as 485 - 475. That was one crazy game.
>Heather_Steffy: (AGN) +8 475
|
