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#player1 trying71 trying71
#player2 Daniel_O'Dowd Daniel O'Dowd
>trying71: AAIMRSY 8F YAM +16 16
#note trying71 is rated 856 at the time of this game - I'm rated 1065.
This is a nice opening rack, though the duplicate A, and the Y are slight annoyances. This sort of rack, I might struggle knowing on a deeper strategic level how many tiles to play off. I wouldn't worry overly about duplicate I's because we're early in the game anyways, and keeping AI is better than keeping AA on a static level.
I'd be very tempted to play H7 YA (10), leaving AIMRS, because it's so simple to do that and leave the problems to the opponent! No hooks, no hotspots, no straddles. A word like MAY in the same orientation is a slight risk: M is a very slutty consonant, and playing it with A below the 2LS is of course a weak error.
He played YAM, and I was immediately suspicious that he was hanging the A open for a setup, so I strove to stop this. Nothing wrong with the word though, and he may well have felt that an open A was a lesser crime than an open M that could find itself joined to an H or M.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: ADGILLR 9G GILL +17 17
#note So, suspicious of a setup, I strove to block the 2LS above all else. GILL jumped out as being a good move for rack leave (ADR), and somehow I forgot that JAG, ZAG are both possible hooks...bad move. DILL instead would leave AGR which is serviceable.
>trying71: AIIINRS 7G RAIN +16 32
#note Awkward. Since he'll have to use an A to play INIA/ILIA, he might well avoid a heavy rack by playing 11F RAISIN/GILLS (18). J4 INIA/AGA (10) is also a candidate: IRS is a fine leave with better synergy than a lone I.
RAIN by contrast removes all hope. IIS is prone to picking up more duplicates, though clearly the move looks like it stops too many high scoring moves back.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: AADEJPR 10F JAR +37 54
#note I saw a chance to play my J for a good score immediately on the preceding move, but RAIN blocked it. Nevertheless, the lanes are still open, and JAR scores highly while blocking the bottom of the board with a slightly clunky tile. ADEP isn't a super leave, but the difference in score makes it worthwhile.
>trying71: EIIIPSS 6I PIE +15 47
#note Now with no obvious dumps he's in trouble.
I think I'd be changing here - keep EIPS or ES.
PIE is like living in denial - duplicates are not the road to bingos or high scores.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: ADEMPWW E9 PAWED +33 87
#note And I've now got a chance for a beefy score while making a consonant dump. Because I can score 25+, the rack leave isn't as important. MW felt slightly better to keep than PW, and I decided on this as opposed to PAW because I want to keep the game open.
>trying71: FGIISST L2 GIFTS +24 71
#note 4L FIGS (31) would leave IST. An S in the triple lane looks disturbing but if the leave is good, you are just as likely to get a bingo as the other person. GIFTS as played strings the board wide open too but leaves parallel plays possible. Both are perfectly playable though I still prefer FIGS because IS is a bit more vulnerable to crap on the rack.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: GMNORUW 3I MOW.NG +30 117
#note Full of difficult tiles still, and I had some decisions to make here.
C9 MOWING (30) leapt out as a high scoring consonant dump. RU is then a reasonable leave because of the open G, E, and D.
I've just seen 4L WORM (37) which would leave GNU - that's also not bad at all, though it does close the only E. I guess MOWING is fine, though it does leave a hotspot. I was quite loose on that front this game!
>trying71: BFHIOST O1 FIST +37 108
#note At least there being two open hotspot areas for clunky tiles, I can't be at too much risk of going behind.
4L BOTH (37) and B8 FOH (34) leap out. The latter looks risky since I might hook into the triple lane and cancel out his score. Still, BIST is a nice leave with the open letters.
By contrast I don't like FIST/MOWINGS. If he knows such an obscure back hook he should save it for a bingo, and there are more O's left than I's. Keeping two of the BHF cluster is also risky - one bingo is all he needs to be right back in this tight game.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: BDEIRUZ 2H REZ +67 184
#note This is a case where score outweighs rack leave. We have to get rid of Z above all else, and REZ leaves BDIU (which is still at least vowel/consonant harmonious) while scoring enough to put me safe even from a bingo next turn. I was unsure on BEZ but I see it's playable now, so I'll remember it. (It's also a word in Russian - polyglot Scrabble players have often a disadvantage that way haha.)
>trying71: BHOOOTU 1G BOH +38 146
#note A very ugly rack - he must have been a bit worried now. Given his predicament I can't blame him for blocking the triple line and taking some points - it's hard to find another move. Maybe A5 HOBO (33) is worth the 5 pt differential to leave just OUT, while threatening to string the top quadrant open.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: BDDIKOU 13C KI.DO +24 208
#note I had seen KIDDO on the earlier move but was denied the chance to play it in the top row, so I thought about playing it through the D on the board, leaving BDU. This looks a bit ugly, but my alternative move was 4L BOK (29), which I knew would be hookable to BOKE. Had I seen 4L BOUK (41) though I could have contemplated that instead, though I still think it inferior since DDI does not look promising with a closed board, especially if he can hook my naked K to a TWS.
M3 KIDDO only scores 24 though, so probably BOUK would sufficiently compensate the difference were I not already 38 ahead before my turn. In this case I prefer my move still - it makes an extra opening for a bingo, and I'm just as likely as him to get one. One more bingo in fact with a closed-ish board might kill this off.
>trying71: EENOOTU 4J OO. +23 169
#note Finally some E are flowing. There are quite few strong consonants relative to vowels - there are more A+Es together floating about than NRST put together.
D10 OOF is a good find, though I'd still be worried and try to find another move because of the potential for E accumulation. I'd be very hard pressed to find one though, and keeping NT is vital to play.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: ?BDLNNU D12 B.ND +26 234
#note I saw a few possibilities here: UNBLEND, and UNBLIND would be very difficult to justify risking in this game since my lead is good and I have a blank to keep, with lots of places to play bingos. BIND looked counterintuitive but it kept the scoring pressure on - and if the opponent has just played off [OO], he can't have a super rack since with over 20 minutes (!) still left, he'd have searched for a bingo. Meanwhile I still have 13:41 before this move, which was very pleasing - though partly a function of moderately unflexible racks.
BIND puts a D in the triple lane, but it's better to put a letter there than to leave a float - and LNU? seemed quite synergetic. I do also quell my rack constipation. Zyzzyva tells me UNBLIND is a valid word - I should look at some UN- 7/8s.
>trying71: EEEINTU 15A TEN. +15 184
#note The bad luck continues. N6 ETUI (13) would be a last resort, hoping to bingo first with an EEN leave. As it was, he spent barely any time again, and boshed out TEND - digging his own grave in the process.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: ??LNOTU 12G TOLUeNe +64 298
#note Some players say they have the most difficulty in finding bingos with 2 blanks on their rack. ISC allows you to show the blanks with letters, which certainly makes this easier because you aren't visualising, though I imagine in real life you'd also shuffle the tiles on the rack to alphagram concept order. Anyways, I saw TOLUENE fairly quickly, and spent a minute or two trying to find another word, preferably one that hooked to the T in the bottom left. But I found no such word, and knew that having a bingo on the board made it open enough that if I only kept playing aggressively, the odds were in my favour.
>trying71: AEEITUU 14B TI. +17 201
#note A nightmare rack. The presence of blanks over the 2WS area makes parallel plays worthless too.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: AACCLTY M8 CYCL. +15 313
#note I wanted to play N7 CLAY/TOC but was unsure of TOC - not got that far in 3's revision yet. When I saw CYCL(E) I jumped on it - AAT is a fine leave in the circumstances with all the E's in the bag, and if he hooks to the Triple lane he risks my tiles' wrath.
>trying71: AEEEOUU 8M .UE +15 216
#note He would have to play TOE/EUOUAE to have any chance now.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: AAAADOT N2 A.A +14 327
#note I had nearly 6 minutes left but I was calm in this position because it would take something quite special to jeopardise my win if I score consistently.
>trying71: AEEEOSU -EOU +0 216
#note M10 EASE would give me a scare. CYCLE should be considered poor therefore; since I didn't immediately recognise the setup threat nor use it myself.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: AADENOT 13L ODA +36 363
#note Mercifully I now seized said opportunity.
>trying71: AEORSVX O13 SAX +35 251
#note SAX is the highest-scoring move available; so logically it has to be respected. Still, perhaps N10 VOX (31) would give the hope of a miracle play and since I have just a few minutes left; who knows? I might botch the endgame.
>Daniel_O'Dowd: AENQRST 14J QAT +35 398
#note Getting the Q enabled me to close the game completely while also keeping hopes of an unlikely bingo down the 4th column. The fact that he can possibly score highly against my play, is not as important as the fact that I myself am scoring highly.
>trying71: EEEIORV 15I VIE +19 270
>Daniel_O'Dowd: EEINRSV N12 S.NE +27 425
#note With no O's to hook to the P the game is totally closed, so I just try to maximise my score over the last few moves while not going over the time limit.
>trying71: EEEHORU 10L E.HO +17 287
>Daniel_O'Dowd: EEIRRUV 14F EVE +19 444
>Daniel_O'Dowd: EEIRRUV -- -19 425
>trying71: EERU 14F EE +12 299
>Daniel_O'Dowd: EEIRRUV O8 .V.E +7 432
>trying71: RU 15M R.. +10 309
>Daniel_O'Dowd: EIRRU F13 ..E +4 436
>trying71: U 9D U. +4 313
>trying71: (IRRU) +8 321
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