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#player1 Harriette_Lakernick Harriette Lakernick
#player2 Tasha_Asberry Tasha Asberry
>Harriette_Lakernick: DIILORU -DIILOR +0 0
>Tasha_Asberry: ACIINRS 8D CAIRN +20 20
#note Best, surprisingly. I thought my play would sim badly as Quackle almost always prefers to exchange one tile with an opening rack like this (which is something I now almost never do). I learned very quickly that playing short with a rack like this is never a smart thing to do. A year ago, when I sucked more than I do now, I would have played 8H IN with 24:57 left on my clock.
>Harriette_Lakernick: EJLOS I4 JOLES +21 21
>Tasha_Asberry: FINOSVY J3 FOY +23 43
#note How did I miss JIVY? I must have thought it's only spelled with an E. ...yeah, that's it. This is probably my biggest mistake of the game.
>Harriette_Lakernick: DEWX E5 DEW.X +32 53
>Tasha_Asberry: IKNOSTV D8 .OVIN +29 72
#note Sims best. I didn't consider anything else.
>Harriette_Lakernick: EL 4I ..LE +22 75
>Tasha_Asberry: AEHKMST C11 HAKE +29 101
#note C11 KAME. I spent several minutes trying to decide if I should play KAME, HAKE, or F5 EH. I eventually disregarded EH because I dislike plays like that, especially if I have several high point tiles on my rack. I want to get rid of two of them. I decided on HAKE because I wasn't sure if KAME took an S. Those four letter K words are a weakness of mine. The first five plays are pretty close anyway; you can take your pick.
>Harriette_Lakernick: AOR 3J .ARO +18 93
>Tasha_Asberry: EMSSTTY 15A TESTY +39 140
#note E11 MY. I considered it, but passed it up pretty quickly. With THIS rack, MY is sure to result in something nasty. I didn't want to put myself in a position in which I have to pray not to pull a consonant out of the bag. Even if I get two vowels, it seems to me that I'm more likely to hit a low scoring 8 on column G or a bingo on column N that opens up a lot of comebacks for Harriette. MY just isn't worth the trouble. 15C SYSTEM is a close second. I actually saw SYSTEM, but only at 15A, not 15C. For some reason, I kept thinking that if I play at 15A, it opens up an S hook to the other triple. But it's actually a square over. My board vision is weird. Whatever. My play is better than 15A SYSTEM anyway. :)
>Harriette_Lakernick: U H8 .U +2 95
#note Ugh.
>Tasha_Asberry: ?DIIMOS F2 IDIOM +29 169
#note N1 DISOMIC. I don't feel bad about missing these words. These bingos are in the 16000 range in probability and I'm only up to the first 8000 sevens and eights so far. DAIMIOS is more my style but it doesn't play. Despite that I'm missing bingos, I'm not losing that many points. I think I lost a little more when I missed JIVY.
>Harriette_Lakernick: BDNO 2K BOND +24 119
#note WHAT??? I was expecting a bingo!
>Tasha_Asberry: ??DIOQS 10F QIS +35 204
#note Sims best. Even better than the bingo, which I didn't know. I considered E2 QI, but thought that was stupid considering Harriette's last two plays. It's obvious that I should be taking the points and taking out a lane. If she doesn't bingo on column O (which I fully expect), then it has to be chump change on row 2 or 3 that leaves goodies for me.
>Harriette_Lakernick: AEELRRT 2B RETA.LER +66 185
#note Ha, my last play blocked a bingo on row 10. I was mildly surprised that she bingoed S-less. I'm not complaining, though.
>Tasha_Asberry: ??ADEOT 1G ADO +25 229
#note IL DOAT. When I first started using Quackle I didn't get the idea that a lower scoring play could be better than a bingo, but here you go. I passed up all the bingos and any plays on 1L because I'm going to need that lane when I decide to bingo later on. And I thought that perhaps I should take out a hot spot. After all, if I choose to bingo, it's going to be annoying if Harriette plays something like 1H FEZ. Since I decided not to bingo, it's going to be even more annoying if she plays L1 WOES.
>Harriette_Lakernick: FGU D4 FUG +24 209
#note Okay, good.
>Tasha_Asberry: ??AEEIT E11 TIE +21 250
#note A8 MEATIEST. Again, I'm passing up the bingos on purpose. My play is less than a point away from the bingos. I like this play because it's sneaky about giving me another lane, takes out another scoring spot, and eliminates row 14. Playing like this is great psychologically too. Let my opponent get close and then...BOOYA!!!! But if she plays 1L MOIL, I'm going to have to throw my tiles in her face.
>Harriette_Lakernick: AHW 1A HAW +34 243
#note Okay, good. Excellent. There goes the W. I hope she didn't pull the O of the bag.
>Tasha_Asberry: ??AAAEE -AAE +0 250
#note The hell kind of rack is THIS??? O1 AsEA sims best. You mean to tell me exchanging AAE isn't the top play? I seriously considered 3B AE, but thought better of it for obvious reasons. Another thing I've learned is that if you hold two blanks, it's perfectly okay to burn one for a decent amount of points and use the other to bingo. I saw a top expert do this is an annotated game once. However, I just didn't think it was right in this case. I'm almost guaranteed an 80 point bingo next turn. Unless something goes terribly awry. Like drawing VUU or Harriette playing 1L COIL.
>Harriette_Lakernick: GIPR A11 GRIP. +9 252
#note Okay, good.
>Tasha_Asberry: ??ACENT O2 sTANCEs +81 331
#note Much better draw. O2 SECANTS. I missed it. And I looked for a play that put the C on the 2LS, but I just didn't find it. SECANTS is in the 9000s, but I still knew the word for some reason. Why I didn't play the more defensive ASCENTS is beyond me. I remember thinking that was the word I was going to play (I even wrote it on my score sheet) while Harriette was thinking of her move. Must have forgot. Totally normal for me.
>Harriette_Lakernick: BGNU N7 BUNG +16 268
>Tasha_Asberry: EEIIMNO 3A EME +27 358
#note IM OI. I almost played that but didn't for two reasons: 1) Greediness 2) EME leaves one in the bag, and I want her to empty it.
>Harriette_Lakernick: U 9M U. +3 271
#note The unseen pool on my side looked like AEPRSUVZ. The Z had to have been the last tile in the bag because I sure as hell don't know what she could have been fishing for with a Z already on her rack. I only saw PARVISE/PAVISER, but already have the last two I's so no worries. But if Harriette isn't fishing, then this play is actually kind of bad ass when considering how the game would have went had I responded normally. ....Nahhhh, I know Harriette. She was definitely fishing.
>Tasha_Asberry: AIILNOT A3 .LATION +24 382
#note 10J ALONG sims best but this is just wrong. In the future, I'll start practicing the concept of thinking ahead in endgame (I can do this, I was a member of my high school chess club :D ) and winning by larger amounts. Just to see if I'll learn anything, I simmed the ALONG sequence. Using sim's top plays on both sides, I win by 108 instead of 90. However, that's only if Harriette plays 11I AR. I played her dozens of times and she wouldn't have played that in a million years. She definitely would have played 9J ZA. And why wouldn't she? ZA forces me to find a play that doesn't give her an out while not giving up the points on row 11. I simmed this more human sequence with no peeking on my part: ALONG-ZA-ALIT-VERTS-AI) and I win by 68. I also tried other moves and all of them have me winning by much less than the 90 I won by. I like ELATION. At the time, I was more concerned with going out in two than blocking any of her plays.
>Harriette_Lakernick: APSZ 11K ZAPS +38 309
#note I half expected SPARVEZ* or something similarily desperate.
>Tasha_Asberry: I E2 .I +5 387
#note Best. Well, of course it is.
>Tasha_Asberry: (ERV) +12 399
#note Final score recorded as 311-404. I posted this game to publicly remind myself that despite my embarrasing and mediocre performances at tournaments, I AM improving. Harriette's a tough cookie and I have little doubt that had I played this game a year ago with the exact same racks on both sides, I would have lost.
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