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#player1 Mike_Early Mike Early
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Mike_Early: EVX 8G VEX +26 26
>Jim_Burlant: ACDEEIS 9H DICE +21 21
#note Why this? It just never occurred to me to play short for reasons I can't put a finger on. The points with this choice are reasonable but there's no reason to play long with this rack, and certainly no reason to float an E for Mike to play through or give him an easy back hook. This is my highest scoring option but it's definitely not best. Best looks to be DIE in the same location due to the better rack balance.
>Mike_Early: ?CDNOUV K3 UNVOiC.D +76 102
#note Only bingo for Mike.
>Jim_Burlant: ?AAESTT 4E ASTATi.E +66 87
#note Equity wise, the sim gives slim preference to 4H TANNATES and 4G STAGNATE. I don't see that at all - Yes, I do realize that the A sits on top of the double-word, but I still think that's an awful lot less risky than slotting the 3x3 or giving up easy S and D hooks down that triple line. 34.2% to win.
>Mike_Early: EFFKOT E3 T.KEOFF +34 136
>Jim_Burlant: ELNORRT L9 ROTL +19 106
#note Talked myself out of CRONE, didn't like the RRT leave of CLONE, couldn't think of CEORL. This isn't terrible but it gives up a hair too much on the scoreboard for Quackle's - and my - tastes. 27% to win. Best is CEORL or 8K CORER. This is in the second tier of plays.
>Mike_Early: ABO F9 ABO +16 152
>Jim_Burlant: EELNPRT 11B PETR.NEL +70 176
#note This is clearly best and I'm back in the game, winning 53% in a short sim. The 6G placement wins 50.
>Mike_Early: GLO 6J L.GO +7 159
>Jim_Burlant: EHIRSUU F6 HI +28 204
#note I whiffed on everything here. All I saw was HOURS M5 and I couldn't wrap my arms around the idea of burning my S so cheap with row 13 open. 12G UH is the sim's favorite, though that could backfire if he's got DEWY or DEEP or, worse yet, DITZ or DOJO in his rack. Q also likes 12K ULU for 3. While ULU gets rid of the clunk, at the time I just couldn't justify fishing for only 3 points in my own mind. I figured that I should just take 28 and hope for a better draw. I really needed to view the 28 for HI as fool's gold and view this position as a loss, which meant that the best thing to do would be to groom the rack. If I had it to do again, I'd probably just fish with ULU. Of note: J9 CUSHIER 33.
>Mike_Early: IMRZ H1 ZIR.M +48 207
>Jim_Burlant: BERSUUU N2 RUBUS +26 230
#note While it is my fault for keeping 2 U's on my last rack, this is also the most absurd, low-probability worst-case scenario kicking in. 6A's, 5E's, 6I's unseen...and I draw the case U on a two-tile pick? Ridiculous! But, if I'd have fished like I probably should have, I'd be playing BUSHIER N2 for 86. Again, Q thinks I should just fish off the U's and/or exchange and not bother to put points on the board. I felt like I just had to unload the U's and turn some tiles and hit the reset button.
>Mike_Early: AGIJN B9 JA.ING +36 243
>Jim_Burlant: ADELSUY A14 AY +18 248
#note I didn't like 14A GAUDY since it just gave up way too many easy plays on row 15, and I thought YUK was a little too cheap and didn't defend. I put this down to prevent something like HEAP at A12. Q indicates that this is strong, but not best. Best is a word I didn't know, 13B NUDELY. Surprisingly, 5C YUK for 10 is also one of the duck's favorites. I didn't mind keeping the U given that it was the last one and that Q was unseen.
>Mike_Early: INOW C6 WINO +19 262
>Jim_Burlant: DEGLMSU O1 GEM +24 272
#note I saw the pool, saw the 5 unseen E's, and figured I could chance parting with mine to take out O1. Yet again, Q thinks I should trade leave for 10 or more scoreboard points, this time with 13A GNU. This wins 6% less often than 13A GNU and 10F BUG and sims nearly 8 points down.
>Mike_Early: EE 3G E.E +11 273
>Jim_Burlant: ADDLSUW 2G W.LD +21 293
#note I figured that I would block potential IZE bingos like SANITIZE and unload the W for good points while I was at it. Q says I should play 3B DAWT, which doesn't accomplish much of anything as far as I'm concerned.
>Mike_Early: IQS M1 QIS +37 310
>Jim_Burlant: ADHNRSU D11 .HUD +16 309
#note The old adage kicks in: you gotta know it to play it. I'm pretty solid in 7's to a probability range of 10300, and unfortunately for me, the 10500-range DHURNAS is a word I've never studied nor seen played anywhere. If I find the bingo, the game's over but for the final score. If you don't know DHURNAS or its singular, this is the best play you can make.
>Mike_Early: IOP E13 POI +12 322
>Jim_Burlant: AAENNRS 15E .NSNARE +21 330
#note What to do? Fish for a bingo that might not come? Or take my chances in the end game? I thought the game was close enough that I didn't need to put all my eggs in the bingo basket so I opted for the end game. As for this choice - SIREN 15D scores 7 more but leaves me AAN, where this leaves me nothing but an A. My thinking was that, by emptying more of the rack, I had a better chance of being able to go out in 1 and sneak out with the win that way. Statically this is terrible but it does percolate to the top of the sim. In reality, given what was left in the bag, I don't have a win.
>Mike_Early: AAEEIRT 14J ARETE +20 342
#note This is Mike's best play.
>Jim_Burlant: AIOY 13M AY +19 349
#note And with all the unseen consonants (except the Y) in Mike's rack, I'm hosed.
>Mike_Early: AI 15N AI +12 354
>Mike_Early: (IO) +4 358
#note This was a very difficult game that's typical of the kind of game I'll struggle with - lots of clunk overloaded racks, where the tradeoffs between scoring and balancing my racks require way too much to be given up either in score and/or board position. And when I did make some very questionable plays, the draw that followed was the worst-case, lowest-probability scenario that could pan out. And despite all that, I was still in with a shot...except that I didn't know the bingo in the 10500 range that showed up in my rack. Sigh.
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