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#player1 Sam_Dick-Onuoha Sam Dick-Onuoha
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: ?AIORUX 8C UXORIAl +92 92
>Jim_Burlant: ?EGMNRT H8 .RGuMENT +89 89
#note Bingo options all over the place, but this is best. Other bingos available include ARGENTUM, METRING, REGIMENT, RETIMING, EMIGRANT.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: JMOOSS 7C MOJOS +48 140
>Jim_Burlant: BBDEHLW 11G H.BBED +26 115
#note Whoops - best play is JOBBED, which I didn't see; probably brain overload from all the clunk. MOJOS really hurt in that it took away the O for WOBBLED. This wasn't so much as held. JOBBED is 32% to win, this is 28.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: DEHIOST 9C DOT +34 174
#note Shocked that Sam didn't even hold HUBBED*, considering that this blocked his intended bingo of ETHMOIDS. If he's not confusing racks, HEDONIST plays on row 14 for 68.
>Jim_Burlant: LQTTUVW -LTVW +0 115
#note Between his play of DOT and my 5-tile phony leading to this swill, I was getting to get a bad feeling about this game. I saw WELT and my decision to exchange was about keeping the board alive. I've played Sam often enough to know that if I play WELT for 12 on row 13, he'll underlap HUBBED and the only thing I'll have to work with is row 15 - not exactly promising with QUVT in my rack. I figured that I should try drawing 4 to QTU and see if I could draw into a good Q play. Q agrees: this sims best, and it wins not quite 18%.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: EHIS G13 HIE +23 197
>Jim_Burlant: NPQRTUY 14F P..NY +24 139
#note Best, and I'm still only winning 17%.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: AIOU L9 AU.IO +12 209
>Jim_Burlant: AKQRTTU K5 QUARK +42 181
#note Best. Considered QUART for better rack balance but it gave up a little bit too much on the scoreboard. Besides - lots of AEI unseen - surely I can start landing some vowels, right? I'm back up to 22%.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: FOT M8 OFT +26 235
>Jim_Burlant: EPSTTTV 4I PEST +31 212
#note Hmmm. Staying in the game and keeping the board alive was the first priority. That's why I chose this instead of VEST; VEST kills the northwest end of the board and makes it too easy for him to defend while this not only has the O/S back hooks to PEST, it also has the A/E/I underlaps and O overlap. The V had to wait. Quackle doesn't like this at all, preferring that I just fish with TAV 7J, which is 23% to win, this is not even 20. Also - Sam overdrew on his last turn; turning over AIL on the overdraw procedure, I threw the A back into the bag. Too bad for me, as you'll see in a second.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: AEILLSW N2 WALLIES +76 311
#note Against my rack of FINTTVW, Sam is 97% to win. This is looking bleak, and I don't help myself either.
>Jim_Burlant: FINTTVW - +0 212
#note When I started playing in club 5 years ago, one of the experts snuck WALDOES* past me. As regular readers of this space may remember, Sam is well known for his phonies. I saw this, had the flashback to WALDOES*, and because I was playing Sam, instachallenged. As we walked to the adjudicator, I'd realized my mistake and knew this would come back good. Best play here doesn't even win 4%, and it does nothing to stop his next play.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: ADENRY O7 DENARY +54 365
>Jim_Burlant: FINTTVW - +0 212
#note Desperation challenge. If this is good, the game's over.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: CGO O1 COG +26 391
>Jim_Burlant: FINTTVW 13K V.W +18 230
#note Just moving tiles to end the game at this point - it's over but for the final score.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: ILR 7J R.IL.. +16 407
>Jim_Burlant: EFINNTT 14M EFT +17 247
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: AR J11 .RA. +19 426
>Jim_Burlant: EIINNTV 5F VINE +11 258
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: CE J2 CE. +11 437
>Jim_Burlant: AAEEINT 15K TINEA +35 293
#note I debated whether to fish for the face-saving out bingo with ACE 2I. Looking at the pool, I figured that, the way this game had gone, had I done that, he'd come back with LEZ 1G, so I decided to play for points.
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: LU 10F LU. +11 448
>Jim_Burlant: ADENOSZ E3 AZO +40 333
>Sam_Dick-Onuoha: AEGII L1 GAI. +7 455
>Jim_Burlant: DENS 3C DE.NS +14 347
#note Missing the S front hook to PINNY. Outside of HUBBED* and PEST, I'd made the right play on every turn until he put down WALLIES. My play of PEST outscored Quackle's suggested play by 25 points, and the draw I had after PEST meant that I was much further ahead than Quackle would have had me. Obviously the lost challenges threw gasoline on the fire, but this one was pretty much a lost cause no matter what. I can only think of one other opening round in which I've been bagged this badly.
>Jim_Burlant: (EI) +4 351
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