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#player1 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
#player2 Darrell_Day Darrell Day
>Jim_Burlant: BEGINPT 8D BEING +22 22
#note My decision here was whether to play short with BIG for 12 or play long. Q indicates I was correct to play long (ENPT isn't so strong that it's worth giving up 10 scoreboard points for it), but a slightly better choice may have been BINGE, as BINGE puts the I in the 2x2 instead of the E. Also, BINGE doesn't give up some of the easy front extensions this does - neither of those things occurred to me at the time.
>Darrell_Day: ADDEG D8 .ADGED +22 22
>Jim_Burlant: DLMPTUW E4 PLUM.D +25 47
#note Yikes! There's no preserving any remotely bingo prone fragment out of this rack, so the strategy is to clear as much of the rack as I can, score some points, and try again. This is best, as the other E4 plays (LUMPED, TUMPED)score identically to this, but both give up S front hooks that this does not.
>Darrell_Day: FLX 6C FL.X +30 52
>Jim_Burlant: AEMTTWW C12 WAW +29 76
#note At this point, I was already beginning to wonder if this was going to be a reprisal of my previous tournament. I've played off the correct tiles on both of my previous turns and I'm sitting on TTWW, which is going to take at least two more turns to bring into balance. Anyway - it was either this or WATT in the same location, and as much as I dislike keeping duplicated T's, I thought EMW was potentially worse. Q agrees with me - this is definitely my best play.
>Darrell_Day: ACEINOR 4C CA.ONIER +76 128
#note Good thing I didn't put down WATT - ACTIONER for 149 would have ended this game in a hurry. I certainly wished he'd played either of the other anagrams of this word; for this game, this was the best choice he could have made.
>Jim_Burlant: EMOTTTU B13 TOT +20 96
#note WOW. I knew the 8 TEETOTUM, which didn't play because he didn't float me the E. What I didn't know was that TETOTUM is another spelling of that same word. Too bad, as the 7 plays at 5I for 72. Not knowing the bingo, I should have been able to find 3I MOTTE or MOTET. I never saw any of them, and this, frankly, sucks.
>Darrell_Day: ?DEFGIS J2 FI.EDoGS +74 202
#note Only bingo for Darrell, and I'm in major trouble: he's 91% to win.
>Jim_Burlant: EILMNTU 8J .IMLET +36 132
#note Probably rushed this a bit - MU A14 preserves more of the rack. However, this outscores everything else and opens more lines up so it's not a blunder by any means. I'm 7% to win. Oh yeah - the fifth tile out of the bag when I drew my replacement tiles after this turn? The blank. Score one for tile turnover.
>Darrell_Day: AT A14 TA +18 220
>Jim_Burlant: ?AEINRU O8 .ENURIAl +74 206
#note The word I couldn't find here was (G)ERANIUm. That said, this wound up being a good miss. This opened things up more and forced him to guess where the threat might be, whereas GERANIUM on row 11 would have made it easier for him to control the board.
>Darrell_Day: AZ N14 ZA +45 265
>Jim_Burlant: AEHIKTY I3 K.Y +31 237
#note And after several minutes, I find it. This scores well, unloads the K and Y, keeps a nice combination, and I haven't shut the board down on myself. 25% to win.
>Darrell_Day: EIJV 12K JIVE. +30 295
#note Darrell told me post-mortem he was trying to guess what the threat was? The R? or the northeast quadrant? Regardless of what he put down here, I was going to bingo.
>Jim_Burlant: ACEHINT M1 ETHNICA. +78 315
#note Strong play but not best. ANTHEMIC L3 (I never recognized it) would have been better because it doesn't give back huge plays on row 1. Regardless, it's a crapshoot in Quackle's eyes. ANTHEMIC wins roughly 52.5%, and this wins just over 50. Back in the game.
>Darrell_Day: BIOOPUU L1 BIO +22 317
#note Actual rack. What I don't know is if he passed on BIJOU for fear of giving me a wide open S hook on row 15 (I have, after all, just drawn 7 tiles from a bag of 26 tiles containing SSS, which means I have roughly a 63% chance of having an S) or if he whiffed on BIJOU (like I always do) because he never saw the word.
>Jim_Burlant: AHINNOQ K10 HA. +26 341
#note I double-checked the tracking before putting this down. Quackle's first two choices are 8A NONBEING and 1K OBEAH; neither of those occurred to me, as I made only a token effort to find a row 1 play and shortly thereafter became fixated on not letting him play with the J. HAJI felt wrong with all the S's unseen, and after a while I finally recognized that I was sitting on the case I. Once I saw that, this became a no-brainer: take out the J, and set up QI 13J for 25 on the next turn. Q says I should score a little more with NONBEING. I dunno; the extra points are nice but the last thing I need to do is give him another line to bingo on (even if it's only for 60) while I'm still saddled with the Q in this close of a game. Given these parameters I'm okay with this, even if Quackle has some reservations.
>Darrell_Day: AOOPRRU 11D .O +6 323
>Jim_Burlant: INNOQTY 13I TYIN +24 365
#note Nervous about parting with my I while keeping the Q, but his last play forced my hand. I thought for sure he was close to something like ELOPERS I9, and my first priority was blocking that, as well as anything else he might have had at H8. This blocks all his bingoes - mission accomplished. Simmed against EELOPRS, Q says YONI 13H is slightly better, and this is a close second. I'm guessing that Q is more concerned about the surplus of O's in the unseen pool and thinks YONI leaves me a little more balanced. I'd make this play again.
>Darrell_Day: OOPR F10 POOR +16 339
>Jim_Burlant: EENOQRS 5L Q. +11 376
#note It's too late to exchange and, though I'm only scoring 11 points, this gives me a 37-point lead on an almost dead board. With his bingoes blocked, if Darrell thinks he can't win any other way, he may take out 5L and Q-stick me. So, as far as I'm concerned, I have to unload the Q NOW. Quackle thinks I should play NORI K5; I'm guessing it thinks I'm 100% certain to draw a U. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm certainly not going to take that chance here.
>Darrell_Day: AS 14J AS +26 365
>Jim_Burlant: EENORSV 15G OVER +27 403
#note This does very poorly statically, but the sim is another story: this is clearly best. 87% to win.
>Darrell_Day: ERS M10 RE.S +30 395
#note Excellent play by Darrell...and this is why I need to review the 5's before nationals. TYIN doesn't take an S. Shame on me for letting this go without even holding!
>Jim_Burlant: ELNOS H3 S.LO +17 420
#note Down under 1 minute, I played the right tiles...in the wrong order. I should have played BENE 1L to leave myself an out with this. Whoops.
>Darrell_Day: ERUU 1L ..ER +18 413
>Jim_Burlant: EN 7B NE +9 429
#note G10 EN scores 11.
>Jim_Burlant: (UU) +4 433
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