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#player1 Geoff_Thevenot Geoff Thevenot
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Geoff_Thevenot: AFLOU 8D AFOUL +18 18
>Jim_Burlant: ACEIQSX 9C QI +23 23
#note I took a LONG time here, considering QUAI/QUA G7 as well. I rejected both of them because I thought it would be too easy for him to snuff out the X setup. I chose this as it didn't open too much up. As I looked at my scoresheet before entering this rack into Quackle, I noticed another option that I'd missed at the time: CAIQUE G4. And the more I see CAIQUE, the more I like it: while it doesn't look like anything more than a rack dump, it sets up the X, and it doesn't give much back unless he needs one of the floaters for a bingo. And depending on what he plays, I might not even need to draw a vowel for a huge X play. Quackle confirms there's nothing wrong with this choice, but CAIQUE would have been a hair better.
>Geoff_Thevenot: BDGGPRY -BDG +0 18
>Jim_Burlant: ACEEOSX F7 C.AX +29 52
#note The pure rack balancers like G6 EAUX and AXE 7H/9H give up a hair too much on the scoreboard for my taste, and I don't like AXE because of the defensive liability, even if I do have an S. Quackle agrees. This is best by a hair over either placement of AXE.
>Geoff_Thevenot: AIR E10 AIR +15 33
>Jim_Burlant: CEELOSY 13C COY +23 75
#note Q prefers that I dump the S and play for points with COSEY 13C by a hair. This isn't bad though - COSEY wins 68%, and this play sims second best, winning 1% less often and less than 3 points down. Other options worth considering are D11 LEY , 13B COLY/COY.
>Geoff_Thevenot: HI 9F .HI +21 54
>Jim_Burlant: EEILNOS -E +0 75
#note Well, that certainly gums up the works. He's just blocked my my impending bingo of OLEINES H9, and at the time I thought this was double jeopardy. I thought his exchange went mostly well, he was probably pretty close to something and was playing short so as to maneuver me into opening up. I wanted to keep the LESION stem together, and I didn't like any of the available fishing plays; I thought RE 12E would impede me more than help me, and I thought it too likely that (LI)E H8 would backfire. And I didn't even consider OE D13, which Quackle likes but I think is reckless, even if I do have an S. So I opted to exchange 1 and see how he reacted. Q likes the slightly unbalanced leave of EEINS if I play D11 (LO)O. I don't, and I don't think it's worth 12 points to break this up to keep EEINS. Whether or not you agree with my choice, this set the wheels in motion.
>Geoff_Thevenot: RT D8 ..RT +16 70
#note After my one-tile exchange Geoff was audibly concerned. While I can't remember what Geoff told me his rack was post-mortem, he seriously second-guessed this play and said he should have exchanged.
>Jim_Burlant: BEILNOS H8 ..B +5 80
#note The first time I ever played Geoff, I recall that right after I hit the clock upon putting down my opening move, I knew I'd misplayed my rack, and the subsequent draw rapidly turned the game into a blowout win for him. His comment about his last play brings that to mind, because his choice not to exchange went a long way towards turning this into the one-sided affair it became. Had he exchanged as he said he should have, I wouldn't have thought twice about breaking this rack apart with BROIL 12D, and who knows what I'd have drawn had I done that? Instead, my best option is to fish. While I didn't like LIE on my previous turn, I do like this as there are only 5 tiles (3 S's and 2 blanks unseen) that can hook it. Q agrees with me - this is clearly best, and I'm 62% to win.
>Geoff_Thevenot: ?ABEFIL -?AB +0 70
>Jim_Burlant: EIILNOS 11G ISOLINE +70 150
#note Only bingo.
>Geoff_Thevenot: LTU L9 LU.T +8 78
>Jim_Burlant: DELMPSZ 10K L.MP +20 170
#note Best - clears the consonant overload and sets up a 51-point ZEDS on the odd chance that he doesn't have a 4-letter B word to play on his next turn.
>Geoff_Thevenot: ABDN 8L BAND +40 118
#note This was about the only thing that went right for Geoff this game. He told me post-mortem he didn't have the B when he played LUNT on his previous turn.
>Jim_Burlant: DEERSVZ 7M ZEE +48 218
#note If Quackle is to be believed, I'd be better SERVED by playing at O10 with...uh...SERVED. :-) I dunno - I saw this and saw that it took away the easy bingo lines and scored 48. What's not to like? 90% to win.
>Geoff_Thevenot: EINR O3 REIN.. +8 126
#note When I saw this come down I was absolutely delighted - the board is so gummed up that if he doesn't have an S, he can't do anything, and he has to burn his bingo tiles for chump change.
>Jim_Burlant: ?DORSVY N2 YOD +19 237
#note The 7 doesn't play, and given my lead, I was most concerned about defending; it didn't even occur to me to score with SaVORY down the O column. Despite the points given up to O10 SaVORY, the sim indicates this is a solid choice: looking at all the options it's easily the best pure defensive choice I have, as he now has to either find 9's on rows 3 or 4 and his only other bingo line if he doesn't have an S is row 2. And this only wins 1/3% less often and only concedes 1 equity to O10 SAVORY. Better yet, an extremely favorable draw allows me to hit O10 in style on my next turn.
>Geoff_Thevenot: ADGKNOW -ADG +0 126
>Jim_Burlant: ?AJRSVW O10 SVARaJ +57 294
#note Almost played the pedestrian 13I JAWS for 30 when I saw this. Stricly valuing the blank at 27 or 28 points the position was a wash. I decided to burn the blank because I figured that, against a vastly superior player, I'd take the extra 27 points and two tiles turnd since, on this board, this play's 57 points make it a bingo equivalent. And it gives absolutely nothing back. While Q says this is best, I think I should have played SWARaJ and kept the V for blocking purposes. Regardless, I like this play a lot.
>Geoff_Thevenot: AFK M1 KAF +37 163
>Jim_Burlant: ENORSTW 13I WORST +32 326
#note I don't like the equity play here. While NETWORK on row 1 scores 45 to this play's 32, it creates a line for an easy 7 on row 2. I'd rather limit him to having to find something on row 1 to that K. This play still scores well and is much more defensive. I'm fine with it, even if Quackle docks me a bunch of equity.
>Geoff_Thevenot: ENRTU 14F TUNER +18 181
>Jim_Burlant: EIIMN 15D IMINE +34 360
#note Didn't write this rack down in its entirety.
>Geoff_Thevenot: ADW 1J DAW. +16 197
>Jim_Burlant: EEEGNTU 2I GEN +13 373
#note While, for all intents and purposes, this game has been over since I put down SVARaJ (or maybe even ZEE), I still want to preserve spread. I'd normally play GEE for better rack balance, but there are 2 A's unseen which would give him an easy H1 play if I did that. Q says I had the right idea, with the wrong execution: TEE 2I does the same thing and keeps a more balanced leave.
>Geoff_Thevenot: V J1 ..V +7 204
>Jim_Burlant: AEEEOTU 4I EAU +11 384
#note Oh well - I had to concede the bingo some time, I suppose. That said, I really should have just exchanged here so he got caught with all the dreck. At least this play reduced his bingo's score by 6 points.
>Geoff_Thevenot: ?EGIOPS 5C EPIlOGS +70 274
>Jim_Burlant: AEEGOOT 4B GOO +18 402
>Geoff_Thevenot: DEHT 3C THE +26 300
>Jim_Burlant: AEET 6B TAE +18 420
#note One has to wonder - how different would this game have been had he exchanged instead of playing AIRT, with me subsequently breaking up my BEILNOS rack for 24?
>Geoff_Thevenot: D G11 .D +3 303
>Geoff_Thevenot: (E) +2 305
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