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#player1 Bruce_D_Ambrosio Bruce D Ambrosio
#player2 Noah Noah
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: AQRTU 8D QUART +48 48
>Noah: AIJNORY I7 JOY +40 40
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: IM 9C MI +18 66
>Noah: AAIKMNR G2 RAINMA.K +71 111
>Noah: AAIKMNR -- -71 40
#note This seemed like a reasonable time to try a phony. Unfortunately the timing was rather bad. I am still happy with this choice. UMIAK looks right outside of this.
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: AEEISTY G1 YEASTIE. +63 129
#note Because he had this.
>Noah: AAIKMNR H1 AMNIA +50 90
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: ?DFOOPT B4 FOOTPaD +72 201
>Noah: BIKRSUZ 10F BRUSK +41 131
#note Some other interesting options here. The problem with this is the lack of S hook, though I think I might be able to fake BRUSKS if I need to. KBAR and KANZU are the other good looking plays here. KANZU offsets its lower score by being much more aggressive than BRUSK and KBAR. The problem with KBAR is the ugly UZ combination. This wouldn't be so bad if there were good Z spots, but there probably won't be, since the likely hood of column A being taken is quite high. I'd sooner take BRUSK, needing some luck anyway. The thing is, though BRUSK scores ten more than KANZU, it still puts me more than a bingo behind on a pretty defensive board. The aggressiveness of KANZU is powerful enough to be desirable over BRUSK.
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: AINNO A1 ANION +26 227
>Noah: EIIRSVZ K4 VIZIERS +100 231
#note Not much else to do here.
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: ACDEHR A10 ARCHED +48 275
>Noah: ?ACEIUW 13A .AW +18 249
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: GTU C2 GUT +14 289
>Noah: ?CEILNU 15A .ULCINEa +89 338
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: DEIOPST 14H TOPSIDE +83 372
>Noah: BDENRTX 8K .XERT +60 398
#note I thought about NEXT for awhile, but it isn't actually that great. Blocking TOPSIDER isn't awesome with only one R left, and it gives great parallels on row 13. This is fine.
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: EORW O12 WORE +44 416
>Noah: BDEILNN N2 BLINDE. +28 426
#note Bingo fishing doesn't look good here. It keeps Bruce up and gives him another chance to score, which he can do while also blocking plenty of lanes. The one fish I did think of was N, for BEMINGLED which is unlikely to be blocked, but 1/7 is simply not better than BLINDER. Despite this, something like NEB is not altogether out as an option because DEILN is a very sturdy leave going into the endgame. Another option is BLEND(E), not scoring as much but keeping IN for a bit of synergy. Two in the bag is certainly a better situation for me than one in the bag. Three in the bag could be better yet, but something like BLIN just isn't nearly as strong as BLENDE. What about five in the bag after NEB? A lot of the time after this he is going to leave few tiles in the bag, getting the bulk of its messiness while I save an excellent leave in DEILN. The pool is pretty crappy for him to score with, the main threats being stuff like LOVAGE or FLAGGER/FLOGGER/HAGGLER. What happens after NEB and one of these plays? LOVAGE is less dangerous, so let's look at FLOGGER first. I play for eleven, he gets 32, and now I'm down 49 points in the endgame. Can I overcome a fifty point lead with seven vs. six? Not likely. He just blocked the main scoring line, and I'm not going to do a whole lot to him unless I luck into something like DEVEINED or ANVILED. Even a forty point deficit after LOVAGE is going to be pretty hard to break through. Plus, BLENDE should be just fine versus short plays, so there's not a good reason for NEB. There's no reason for BINDLE because of all the Es left. Playing BLINDER leaves me with endgame timing and rack that are both a bit worse, so it looks like BLENDE is the right call here, though BLINDER is probably pretty close.
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: AHO O1 HAO +24 440
>Noah: EFGGLNV 13G VEG +20 446
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: AEELO 12C ALEE +13 453
>Noah: FGLN 6F F.L +22 468
#note I don't know if AMNIAL is a word. But it could be, and if he challenges and it is, game over for Bruce.
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: O 8A O. +12 465
>Bruce_D_Ambrosio: (GN) +6 471
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