| Player 1 |
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#player1 hector hector
#player2 cape_fyr cape fyr
>hector: BILSTYZ 8H BLITZ +52 52
#note Pretty lucky pull to start, and I've already got a big part of an extension. Sometimes that's a gift, sometimes that's a curse.
>cape_fyr: EORS L8 .EROS +28 28
#note Hmm . . . I guess she's deciding to rush three and drop eight into coverage.
>hector: AAFISSY K11 YA +22 74
#note A handful of options jostle for top position here; SAY K11, FRAY 10K and my play. I don't like FRAY because it might encourage her to place a tile at M9 that kills the advantage of my leave. Mind you, YA only turns two tiles over and I don't like that, especially now when I'm eager to get into the bag and claim my prize at O8.
>cape_fyr: OPU K5 POU. +12 40
>hector: AAFIISV L2 FAVA +24 98
#note On a lot of days I'd play VIA 9G - holding multiple Is in my leave just aint' my thing. But here I thought, okay, take the points, draw four tiles instead of three, get your 57 points next turn, and conquer the world before lunch. The Duck has FAVA and VIA pretty much in a dead heat, with FAVA J12 (!) not too far behind - I guess it figures every so often, you'll get a nine-timer.
>cape_fyr: ?AEITUX 9B bAUXITE +69 109
#note I don't want to be too hard on her, because we've *all* made mistakes like this before. Wow, another gift. If you don't see what I'm talking about, look at the center star again.
>hector: AIIS E8 I.IA +22 120
#note I forgot to mention on my last rack that I had an overdraw and lost my second S. I overdraw in a tournament about once every 2.5 years. I offered "don't worry, I don't have anything good" but her odds of plucking at least one of the esses is pretty good, and she did. Anyway, I didn't write down my rack for the IXIA play, but it was one of those turns where the first candidate move looks like a slam dunk - I may have had three Is, I don't recall for sure.
>cape_fyr: ?CCEEHR 13E CHECkER +70 179
#note This completes the blank portion of Cape Fyr - Arden. Ooooh ooo-hoo Jackie Blue 4, Hector 0. I will now go jump into the shallow end of the pool. (Okay, stop your sobbing. Good players win without blanks.)
>hector: BGISTUW H13 .UB +21 141
#note I'm not sure I have this rack correct either. I *hate* making another short play, but at least it keeps the board open, scores something, and ditches the U. Better, assuming this is my actual rack, is WEB J12.
>cape_fyr: AGM 8A GAM +23 202
>hector: FGIISTW J12 W.FT +24 165
#note Here's one of several plays this game where I made the second or third-best play. WAIF 3K is clearly best, though I'm not sure why the Duck likes M5 WIG so much. Note that my winning percentage for all of these is in the low 20s.
>cape_fyr: EEMS 14J .EMES +27 229
>hector: GIILPRS 15M LIP +19 184
#note I grabbed this pretty quickly and thought surely it had to be the best play - score something, save GIRS with five Es and *six* Ns unseen. Duck likes a couple of plays a tiny bit more (PIG 13M, which I'm not a huge fan of; PIER M1, which keeps the ING extension open and gives me a new S lane, and MAGLIP C8 which I didn't see.)
>cape_fyr: ADLLNOS - +0 229
#note A big break for me, obviously - she's passing five. Quackle makes up a rack here - I have no idea what her actual tiles were.
>hector: GIOORSY 10A OY +26 210
#note Best. What's the street value on an N or E pick? There's only 11 to choose from.
>cape_fyr: DINT 10D N.TID +22 251
#note Don't tease me with that N play.
>hector: AGIORSS I6 GA.S +22 232
#note Here's where a good player takes control of the game - GIRASOLS I2 for 77. GOALS or GAOLS in the same spot I played is better than GALS. I'm embarrassed to say I put GALS down in part because I wanted the board to have an E hook, but EGAL-S* will get you nowhere in this game.
>cape_fyr: GJ 3K J.G +22 273
#note Balloons were released, a Mariachi Band starting playing, I've drawn my E. But that's no excuse to stop thinking . . .
>hector: EIOORRS 8H .....ERS +57 289
#note I took a quick turn and got a long hold from Fyrless (in her defense, BLITZER is a "new" word). But when I was Quackling the game, it occurred to me pre-sim - why not BLITZER? I've got the case S and it's going to be pretty hard for her to influence the spot. Then I went into the numbers and wow, the sim says I gain 27 winning percentage points and 34 equity points by *not* putting the S down yet. Is it really that much of a difference? Discuss.
>cape_fyr: DTUV M5 DUV.T +23 296
>hector: AEILOOR F12 O.O +8 297
#note Best, by far, not that I was in love with it by any means.
>cape_fyr: DEILNN 6C LENDIN. +13 309
#note As she was laying this down, she looked at me and said "don't worry, it's not a bingo." I calmly said "I'm not worried." Yes, Virginia, I'm 0-2 against this woman.
>hector: AEEILOR 5E OE +11 308
#note One of my longest turns of the game. Championship player doesn’t list my play, IIRC, but when I sim it manually it checks in second after AREOLE 5C. I never felt good about anything I saw here. I was also very cognizant of the Q situation in the game.
>cape_fyr: ADHOR H1 HADRO. +33 342
#note Keep drawing those tiles, Jackie Brown. When I saw her play and my fortunate draw, I felt pretty good this would be my game.
>hector: AEILNRT A1 ALTERIN. +80 388
#note Okay, three in the bag, Q a problemo. Do any of the O-column bingos give a Q bailout? Nope; granted, they could be easily blocked anyway. It occurred to me post game that what I could have done is passed, or played a silly phoney, encouraging her to empty the bag or drain it further. I've got two unique spots for my decent-scoring bingo, and she's vacant enough to maybe go for it (this would *never* work against a player with any strategic fiber). After a few minutes I said "fuck it, 70 percent chance I'm good, right?" and played to the G.
>cape_fyr: EIKNNOW 4A .NOKI +21 363
#note I did a recount on my time, score held up. She did make a boatload of scoring mistakes in-game, but apparently I had already caught all of them. I was almost tempted to ask for my extra 60 seconds, natch.
>hector: EQR 11A RE +10 398
#note JAGER is worth a couple of extra points. I half-expected her to put down WEAN and go out even as she can milk me, but she strung it out, as she should. I get the idea ENOKI wasn't her best play given how she has run of the board, but that's her problem, not mine.
>cape_fyr: ENW 3A .EW +24 387
>hector: Q - +0 398
>cape_fyr: N 6M .N +4 391
#note Not everyone can see YO-N, I guess.
>cape_fyr: (Q) +20 411
#note Bottom line, a better player than I gets a win here. I got some breaks. I missed one key bingo. Maybe BLITZER was the way to go. At the end of the day, I need to get a whole lot better. One other random thougth - look at the bottom left corner of this page and all of my words from this game. Geesh. I hate playing that way, all those short, tiny plays. Don't it make my brown hair . . . blue. |
