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#player1 Matthew_Larocque Matthew Larocque
#player2 Curran_Eggertson Curran Eggertson
>Matthew_Larocque: AELLPTU 8E PULL +12 12
#note I think I chickened out on PULLET. I wanted to keep LATE instead but PUL has too many hooks so I thought PULL was worth the better defense. I have a history of playing terrible in tournament deciding games so I tried to emphasize defense. Curran knows enough bingos that playing openly would probably decrease my chances of winning. Also, I have a hard time finding bingos under time pressure - and in a game like this I'll surely be using all of my time.
>Curran_Eggertson: ABIN 9D BANI +16 16
>Matthew_Larocque: AAEOOTT D9 .OTA +12 24
#note This seemed like a weak play and maybe it is. The only reason I went for it was because TOEA acted as a dump for next turn if I ended up vowel heavy again. Exchange keeping either ET or ATE sims about the same as this.
>Curran_Eggertson: IKMN C10 MINK +28 44
>Matthew_Larocque: AEOTTWY 10G TOWY +21 45
#note I skipped the points here using the MINK hook because AOTT isn't so good, and it offers huge points to him.
>Curran_Eggertson: CDEFH 11B F..CHED +39 83
#note I held for a long time. It scores a lot of points on a board that doesn't have a ton of scoring spots. I really didn't like it, but I couldn't be 100% sure. However, he is unlikely to score much next turn unless he plays a bingo or opens the board so maybe I should have challenged. I often forget to consider the state of the board.
>Matthew_Larocque: AEEHOTU 7G EAU +13 58
#note I know this kills the S hook, but it's not like I have an S anyways. I guess I was trying to be patient and hope that he was forced to make a play that opened something. In hindsight maybe AUTO at 11J?
>Curran_Eggertson: AEINZ 12H AZINE +35 118
#note Sort of like that.
>Matthew_Larocque: EHIOPTT 11K OPT +18 76
#note Again I just tried to balance the rack and tried to reduce the damage if he has a good rack. I also wanted to keep the H for ODAH and hoped that I drew an A. I still passed on the MINK hook because I didn't feel good about doing that in a high stakes game. THIOTE(PA) certainly gets some turnover and opens without being absurdly dangerous, but I had like no chance of seeing that. (PA)T(C)H is a clever fit, but I like OPT for reducing bingo damage.
>Curran_Eggertson: AV M9 VA. +10 128
#note Curran mentioned that he was "taking the points" here. It seemed like neither of us had great racks and this was not on pace to be a very high scoring game.
>Matthew_Larocque: ADEHILT 13H HATED +41 117
#note The H pays off, and this play is a killer on a board like this one. Sim likes DEATH/MINKE a little more, but that seems silly. HATED gives him like nothing to work with.
>Curran_Eggertson: AM 9I AM +18 146
>Matthew_Larocque: CEIILOX K5 CEILI +19 136
#note I actually played this really fast, but sim is still obsessed with taking the points with MINKE. I dunno, plays like that have often backfired on me and made games crumble before my eyes. I'm still playing it safe in this situation.
>Curran_Eggertson: RRRRR -RRRRR +0 146
>Matthew_Larocque: ?EIIOSX 14F XIS +35 171
#note Very fortunate to draw S? after Curran had to make an exchange. This puts me in an advantageous position because now I have a blank and Curran is going to feel pressured to resurrect the board.
>Curran_Eggertson: ELNO 6J L.NO +6 152
>Matthew_Larocque: ?BEEIJO 14A JOE +31 202
#note Pretty agonizing choice here. finally caved in and used this spot. I ended up rejecting JEE because that allowed him to potentially score with either an A or an O. Since he made a low scoring play to open an S-hook, I thought playing JOE here might force him to try to block it at the expense of his rack. I also gambled that he didn't have an O, but there are 3 unseen so maybe that was not the best strategy. Sim says play JEE, or interestingly enough just BEE. I was only thinking about dumping the J here, but now I think I like BEE!
>Curran_Eggertson: ENOST 15A ONSET +59 211
#note Ugh. That was like the worst thing that could happen.
>Matthew_Larocque: ?ABEIQY 5K .AY +15 217
#note I must have been blind to the QA(T) spot, but at least this messes up LENOS.
>Curran_Eggertson: GR L3 GR.. +10 221
>Matthew_Larocque: ?BEEIQU -QUBIE +0 217
#note There's an awesome play here for 78 points. But since I'm a mere mortal, I exchanged and tried to get a bingo asap. The Q IS better with the blank and a U, and fishing for a Q bingo is another strategy. I didn't really take the time to see how many bingos I could hit like that. Sim is giving B(EAU) a 79% chance to win vs. only 62% for my exchange, so this must be a significant misplay.
>Curran_Eggertson: IIUVW -IIUVW +0 221
#note I didn't expect the G to stay open this turn.
>Matthew_Larocque: ?DEIRVW 12A VE.. +16 233
#note Ugly VW draw slows me down here. No reason to get desperate though, I still have a blank and I will be ahead after I make my play. (YO)W keeps my E and doesn't give anything that he can abuse. VIR(AL) if want to try and turn this into a no-bingo game. I decided that 16 points was good, and he would still be unlikely to get many points unless he either played a bingo or created a new opening.
>Curran_Eggertson: ?EEORRU 3I ROU.E +14 235
#note He told me his rack after the game, missing OvERUR(G)E. I'm not going to lie, there's almost no chance of me playing that either, I didn't know it was a word.
>Matthew_Larocque: ?DEGIRW 4D WeDGIER +78 311
#note Missed WRINGED for 81 and better defense but....
>Curran_Eggertson: ?AEGRRU - +0 235
#note Curran holds for a long time and decides that it's a forced challenge. He's pretty sure WEDGIER is good. Indeed sim is only giving his bingos a 20-22% win chance, but GUAR 3B apparently allows himto win 46% of the time. I am not smart enough to know what the strategy is with that play.
>Matthew_Larocque: BEINORS 5C BONE +22 333
#note I randomly decided to not kill his only bingo lane. I don't know, I lost my focus. I made the play that seemed to score the most but didn't think about position at all. Still not an excuse. I lost a huge amount of spread here and made a sloppy play.
>Curran_Eggertson: ?AEGRRU 2C ReARGUE +62 297
#note Without this bingo, he has absolutely nothing. BONE was horrendous.
>Matthew_Larocque: DIIQRSS N1 QIS +31 364
#note QIS plays for 42. I was very short on time.... causing me to bleed more spread.
>Curran_Eggertson: FT 2M F.T +11 308
>Curran_Eggertson: (DIRS) +10 318
#note I was absolutely thrilled to win this tournament at home, but some of my play was extremely poor so I feel like the luck was in my corner this time around. Maybe I'm too harsh, but I have to be, because plays like BONE will lose games and I gotta keep focused on every single turn and forget about everything else.
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