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#player1 Alan_Stern Alan Stern
#player2 Kevin_Leeds Kevin Leeds
>Alan_Stern: BEINOR 8D BONIER +22 22
#note The first time I've played against Alan Stern, though we've spoken before. By superior tiles and luck I will prevail in this one, and I don't have my racks, so most of the struggle is invisible. This game features no phonies and no scoring mistakes! Mostly not worth serious analysis, but I think still interesting Scrabble.
>Kevin_Leeds: ?IOPSUY F6 YI. +14 14
#note The rack might have been IIOSUY? in which case exchanging might've been more intelligent - this blocks the 2x2 lane (and the I somewhat, and the N definitely) but opens up another 2x2 lane for an A hook! There's a tiny chance my blank could be an A there, but that's so small as to be insignificant. It might have been IOPSUY?, I think I might remember seeing PIOUSLY in it and then giving up on 8s. That has PY(R)ITOUS, a very useful 8 to know (no 7s in it). If my rack was actually IOPSUY? then it looks like I should have taken more points for a parellel play like YIP or YUP, or POYOU ...
>Alan_Stern: IIIRUUU -IIIUUU +0 22
>Kevin_Leeds: ?GIOPSU H8 .PIGeOUS +80 94
#note From this rack I had lots of possibilities - (E)PIGONUS is 83 instead of 80. PISHOGU(E) starts at the opposite end of the board for 80. The P can hook YIN to make PYIN with PIGOUTS (bouts of overeating) or SOUPING (improving the power and speed of a car is how I think of it. Or "it's a verb".) I remember words better if I know what they mean - I get it some by trying to drill, but I love it much better if I know what they mean. I didn't notice the P hook; this is definitely a weak part of my game, to know all the hooks and see them during the game.
>Alan_Stern: AADLORT 15D LOAD.TAR +60 82
>Kevin_Leeds: FOP 14J FOP +31 125
#note I remember I took a while to decide this. It seems I had an S here. What happens in the next few turns is: I have a V and not enough vowels; then I get a rack with too many vowels; then I get a rack with two Ss that I can't bingo with either, so I set up a hook for ES(S), gambling that Alan won't score an 80+ point bingo using it. Then he will block that lane I have set up, and then I will draw the Z and X, through dumb luck getting a good X play, and get a good lead; then he will be forced to open a bingo lane to try to catch up; then I will luck out and get to use my S in a bingo right away there.
>Alan_Stern: EKL 14D ELK +37 119
>Kevin_Leeds: ELNVY 12H .VENLY +22 147
#note I didn't see the Y+ELK hook I could have used. I would have played ENVY for 31. Noun: "The yellow portion of an egg". (It means a chicken egg, not an ovum from an ovary - I don't think that has a yolk or a yellow part.)
>Alan_Stern: EFIR D8 .RIEF +20 139
>Kevin_Leeds: EHI 11J HIE +23 170
#note Too many vowels probably
>Alan_Stern: CCEL 6E C.CLE +12 151
>Kevin_Leeds: ES 13M ES +14 184
#note Cleverly sacrificing 7 points to gamble on an S bingo, putting pressure on the other player. In some situations this is a great tactic - not sure whether it was really good strategy here (hard to determine not knowing my rack. eeeiss something or eeiss something.)
>Alan_Stern: DGIU 10L GUID +12 163
>Kevin_Leeds: EENTV O5 VENTE. +30 214
>Alan_Stern: AJORW J2 JOWAR +48 211
#note I held (to not let him take his tiles until I decided whether to challenge - though if I do that for over 1 minute, he may take courtesy tiles, and I still may challenge the play) - because 'cycler' is kind of weird to me and I hate when I get burned by phony hooks! I know there is CYCLIST. A CYCLER could be a bike rider, or part of an electric clothes dryer, or whatever. I know the J fives just great; the J still gives me trouble. I noticed in one of Jason Keller's games on board 1 he played (J)IVY missing all bonus squares but blocking a really juicy J line on the triples, which I wouldn't have thought of doing since you are usually supposed to try to hit the triples, not stop one square short of them.
>Kevin_Leeds: DOZ 6L DOZ. +34 248
>Alan_Stern: ANQU 11B QU.AN +28 239
>Kevin_Leeds: BNUX M3 UNB.X +44 292
#note This was somewhat dumb luck; I failed to consider playing DOZ(E) parallel to JOWA(R) to make DO, OW, ZA. I had hoped the open O wouldn't hurt me, and actually it worked to my advantage.
>Alan_Stern: MT 5I M.T +14 253
>Kevin_Leeds: OT L6 .OT +14 306
>Alan_Stern: O 9C O. +3 256
>Kevin_Leeds: AAINRST B3 ARTISAN +62 368
>Alan_Stern: ?AAERST 2A AbATERS +80 336
#note BARTISAN, noun (-s): 1. A word formed by adding a B on the front of ARTISAN 2. A BARTIZAN - wow, that's a word! - it means a turret, or small tower.
>Kevin_Leeds: AEEHIMW A6 HIM +43 411
>Alan_Stern: DGI 4A G.ID +16 352
#note Unclear what happened; my scoresheet says DIG for 16. There's GID, GOX, IT for 18.
>Alan_Stern: (AEEW) +14 366
#note My record now is 2-1. Thanks for a good game.
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