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#player1 Mary_Logullo Mary Logullo
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Mary_Logullo: LOO 8G LOO +6 6
#note Houston, Round 1. As she was looking at her rack, she commented how bad it looked.
>Jim_Burlant: ADENSXZ I7 D.ZEN +27 27
#note Mary's rating has climbed from the 600's to 1000 in not quite a year. Her ability to find bingoes has rapidly outpaced the development of the rest of her game, and this factored into my play selection. As for this position: normally I'd play ZAX 9F in the hope of a good draw to DENS and a quick bingo. However, I didn't want the board to quickly deteriorate into a staircase if I had one or two bad draws. I considered ZAXES and DAZES down the J column, but didn't like burning most or all of the ammo at once and the fact that they created easy scoring opportunities for her. Also - against Mary I thought it might have more shock value if I hit the Z this turn, the X the next, an S one or two turns later, etc. This still outscored her by 21, set up the cheap X bomb, and left the S hook. Against a stronger opponent I'd play ZAX on row 9. I'd make this play again against this opponent.
>Mary_Logullo: ?AEILOS J2 gOALIES +65 71
#note Her best play is obviously something on row 12 (ISOLEAD, ISOLATE, GOALIES, etc.). But this worked well for her.
>Jim_Burlant: AHIORSX J10 HOAX +37 64
#note Mistake #1. Obviously, I hadn't woken up yet, becasue my best play should have been quite obvious. I was so mesmerized by tripling the H both ways that I just plain missed the obvious play. This is the second best choice I have, but there's no excuse for missing IXORA 11H for 62. This is awful!
>Mary_Logullo: ABHT 4I B.TH +18 89
>Jim_Burlant: EEEIIRS M3 EERIE +22 86
#note Mistake #2. Before she put BATH down I'd been weighing options and rejected EELIER 5H because it only scored 12 and burned all my E's and I's. And I was considering exchanging EEI if a better scoring option didn't materialize. When I saw the E back hook to BATH, I autopiloted this. Too bad I didn't reexamine row 5, as EELIER 5H would have now scored 25 and not given back what this play does. This is decent (not that I have many good options), but playing at 5H would have been much better. I definitely needed to pay more attention to the board.
>Mary_Logullo: DENP N1 PEND +28 117
>Jim_Burlant: DDFIISS O1 IFS +38 124
#note I finally got a play right! I hated keeping duplicated D's, but there are none left in the pool, and this play's 38 points make this the clear winner.
>Mary_Logullo: AJR 8M RAJ +36 153
>Jim_Burlant: DDIKSTW G6 WI.D +11 135
#note 12H Mistake #3. TSADDIK is best, but I just brain-locked on this rack and whiffed on everthing, including DAWK. I figured that, not seeing anything good, I'd set up an S hook to WILD that she probably didn't know (which she didn't, it turns out). If you don't know TSADDIK (I didn't), N7 DAWK is the play. Like I said, this does set up the S hook, but I should have at least found DAWK. Pathetic.
>Mary_Logullo: AGU O8 .UGA +12 165
>Jim_Burlant: DFIKSTU N11 KUFI +28 163
#note At least I got this one right. 44% to win.
>Mary_Logullo: BIINTTU - +0 165
#note Lost challenge.
>Jim_Burlant: DNNOSTW 15L WOST +45 208
#note The lost challenge was the break I'd been looking for. This is best - 61% to win. At this point I finally felt like I'd turned the corner and could finally get some tiles turning and hopefully start to get some momentum.
>Mary_Logullo: MV 6L V.M +14 179
>Jim_Burlant: DEEGNNY 13L DE.Y +22 230
#note Strong choice but not best. I was blind to K7 all game, and in retrospect I can see why I never looked there: there's no premium space there. I might see it in an end game, but not at this stage. Anyway, K7 YEN looks a hair better to balance the rack, though her next rack and mine rendered what I did here a moot point. Still in the driver's seat at 71% to win.
>Mary_Logullo: ABCEIRS 2E RIBCA.ES +63 242
>Mary_Logullo: ABCEIRS -- -63 179
>Jim_Burlant: AAEGNNQ -AGNQ +0 230
#note What to do? I can't block ASCRIBE or CARIBES. But will she even find them if she tried RIBCAGES*? (Post-mortem, she said she saw CARIBES but wasn't sure of it, and she didn't know the WILD back hook. And she never saw ASCRIBE). Adding insult to injury, my "scoring" options all suck. Quackle confirms I have nothing available that scores more than 18 points, and the only Q play scores 11 and leaves me AAEGNN. I figured my best play was to concede the bingo and maximize my chances of having a good comeback by throwing the crap into the bag and maybe letting her have to dump the Q for 11. Quackle says I should play NEG K7. Pfft.
>Mary_Logullo: ABCEIRS L11 BI. +12 191
>Jim_Burlant: AEGNNPR F5 GAP +19 249
#note Against a random rack I'd normally play NAP F5 but, knowing she had the S, I didn't want to give her the hook. While NEAP N4 takes a front S, she wouldn't have known that hook and it would have done a better job balancing my rack. Too bad I didn't see it, as I was getting too protective of my E.
>Mary_Logullo: AACENRS 2E CARNA.ES +61 252
#note Only bingo.
>Jim_Burlant: ENNOORY 1F NOON +24 273
#note Quackle says I made one of my best available plays here, the other two being ONERY 11H and OY 1H. With only one O in the unseen pool and since she's not likely to play a 5 at H11 even if she does have an O, I felt the play here was to take away her easiest spot to score. Q agrees more or less that 1H was the play, but it prefers OY for the extra points and the fact that it unloads the Y. I turned 4 tiles because I wanted turnover with the blank unseen. All that said, I think I missed a good opportunity to unload the Y with a phony, YOON*, for 36. How likely would she have been to challenge, given that she'd already lost two turns on challenges?
>Mary_Logullo: U L1 U. +3 255
>Jim_Burlant: EEILLRY G6 ....LY +13 286
#note Just trying to make sure she doesn't have a line for an easy 7. Q likes F9 EERILY, presumably for both score (22 points to this play's 13) and turnover (6 tiles turned with the blank unseen). I was strictly playing defense here; in retrospect I'm wondering if EERILY would have been better.
>Mary_Logullo: EG 11E GE. +14 269
>Jim_Burlant: EILRRUV 5D VU. +14 300
#note As dismally as I've played to this point, this is where I sowed the seeds of my final demise. I considered VUG E9 to prevent any 8's, but saw QAT E4 coming back and I felt I had to stop that. Q agrees with me for the most part. I don't like its first chioce, VIRGULE E8, at all; this is my next best play in its eyes.
>Mary_Logullo: AE D4 A.E +12 281
>Jim_Burlant: EEILRRT D4 ...RTER +11 311
#note Uh oh...now I'm in trouble. She's given herself a clear run at the C column, and any block like RILED 9C or LIED gives back a 24 - 30-point 8A play. I had no clue what to do here. I put this down to maximize turnover and hopefully land the blank. I didn't like this at the time, and there were probably any number of better choices. Having said that, given both her rack and that the second tile I pulled was the Q, I was hosed no matter what I put down here.
>Mary_Logullo: ?AIMNRT C9 MARTINs +81 362
>Jim_Burlant: CEILQTT B13 QI +37 348
>Mary_Logullo: IO I13 OI +13 375
>Mary_Logullo: (CELTT) +14 389
#note While the draws after my HOAX misfire were hardly ideal, one has to wonder how different the outcome might have been had my brain not been MIA on turns 2, 3, and 5. Not to mention missing NEAP and not trying YOON*. Too many mistakes.
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