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#player1 Nigel Nigel
#player2 Chris Chris
>Nigel: EEEKV H4 KEEVE +34 34
#note Nigel kills kittens!
>Chris: BCDFIMP 5E IMB.D +20 20
#note Not good - this doesn't put a vowel next to F5, but BIC(E)P is still better - it scores 2 more, keeps a better leave, and doesn't take a front L (which I don't have).
>Nigel: OVX 4C VOX +35 69
#note This is already looking bad for me - no good scoring spots really and I'm down 50 already.
>Chris: ACFJOOP F5 .OJO +15 35
#note G8 POOF to set up the J - make a Nigel play against Nigel? Maybe, because the other options, including what I played, are pretty paltry.
>Nigel: AIRU 4H .AURI +21 90
>Chris: ACFIPRR K3 F.IAR +16 51
#note Big miss of PICAR(O) 8A - nothing else is close. Failing that, FR(O) seems like an okay fishing play. F(R)IAR opens J6 for no reason and is horrible.
>Nigel: FN 6J F.N +14 104
#note This was really scary - I was sure Nigel would bingo next turn haha
>Chris: CDELPRW E8 WELD +21 72
#note I thought this cut off the highest scoring bingo line, so I played it. W(O)LD D3 for 19 keeps a much better leave to possibly counter-bingo and is almost certainly better.
>Nigel: EHMPS 12A HEMPS +41 145
#note Perhaps Nigel just had a consonant-heavy rack with FAN, or maybe he drew HM or MP or something - the possibility of scoring much more with a parallel play at J6 makes me think the former is more likely.
>Chris: AACEOPR A8 POAC. +36 108
#note Super interesting decision here! I've always said that against Nigel I'd take huge gambles like playing an S-hookable opening bingo at H8-N8, and here I am presented with such a decision - I can play POAC(H)ER for 42 and try to hit the S before he does and get a big advantage thereby. However, he's just played an S, indicating that he might have one (granted, he scored 41, so maybe not), and there are still 3 S's and 2 blanks in the pool. I decided not to go for it and play POACH instead, because in keeping ER I can hit POACHERS and POACHIER for 45 a very high % of the time. There are numerous other options here - APACHE, COPRAH, etc, but POACH is winning the sim by 2.5%.
>Nigel: OZ 10A .ZO +32 177
>Chris: AELNRTU M5 NEUTRAL +66 174
#note I miss the IS draw but I draw a bingo instead - bittersweet, I guess. I play NEUTRAL immediately and miss (D)ENTURAL, which is 2 points more and looks better :(
>Nigel: CDOU 11J COU.D +16 193
>Chris: AEHNSSS 9C HA.S +34 208
#note There the S's are! now fishing for an R to make POACHERS (and making the highest equity play).
>Nigel: EIR A8 .....IER +45 238
#note Nooooo, really? Nigel is just too good :P
>Chris: EEINSST N9 EN.ITE +24 232
#note No bingoes here and a tough move. If i make any of the fishing plays like (KEEVE)S, Nigel will block the E and R in the bottom right and I'm screwed. If I open another line with (NEUTRAL)ISE, all my lines will likely get neutralised after Nigel plays through it. I can play INSET 12K for 29, which Quackle likes best, but that leaves me a tempo behind and doesn't open any lines for me. I decide to fork the board and make a crazy play - EN(D)ITE N9 keeping both S hooks, I have no idea if that's idiotic or otherwise though. Help haha!
>Nigel: ?AGGLOT 15H LOGGATs +84 322
#note 'Eighty-four, S' is said in a kiwi accent and my countenance drops a little hehe.
>Chris: EINSSTW O3 WITNESS +86 318
#note Completely missed N1 for 2 more points, although that does expose the W and gives an easy scoring spot on a pretty bad board for scoring, which guarantees that I'll fall a tempo behind after this.
>Nigel: BOY I12 BOY. +10 332
#note Passing up YOB for 25 with the same tiles to block the 14 line. The pool is very bingo-prone, so I think I understand it.
>Chris: ?AEIIRT O1 RE....... +36 354
>Chris: ?AEIIRT -- -36 318
#note This is the critical turn. I didn't see (J)I(V)IE(R) for 23 until too late, and was considering JIVE for 16 and RE(WITNESS)* for 36. I figured that after JIVE, the board would still be closed and i'd still be behind a tempo and would lose a lot of the time, especially against Nigel's perfect endgame play. After REWITNESS*, if it was good, and I gave it probably 70% to be good, put me up a tempo and opened a bingo line that I could more easily take advantage of with my blank. If I had seen JIVIER, it would have been a harder decision, but I think with the info I had, I'd try the phony again. At least I got to experience Scrabble's Walk of Death (the walk to the challenge computer with Nigel) haha :)
>Nigel: IQ N4 QI +25 357
#note Now I'm a tempo down and it looks pretty bad.
>Chris: ?AEIIRT 13C AI +16 334
#note Still not seeing JIVIER (saw it right after playing this, I think) :(
>Nigel: ANY 14D ANY +19 376
>Chris: ?DEINRT B14 DE +14 348
#note -3 to DI(V)eRT C2
>Nigel: AGLRTU L9 AR.GUL. +23 399
#note Very Nigel-like play here, thought it was cool hehe
>Chris: ?EINRT 7F .I.E +16 364
>Nigel: T 8D T.. +10 409
>Nigel: (NRT?) +6 415
#note Final score recorded as 419-360 - could be annotation errors at the end. All in all, an interesting game with a bunch of tough racks - it was really cool to get to play Nigel, and there's even a picture of me repping my Vancouver jersey as I play him :)
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