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#player1 Jesse_Day Jesse Day
#player2 Steve_Grob Steve Grob
>Jesse_Day: GGGNNRR -GGNR +0 0
#note no, seriously - this was actually my starting rack. Probably an alltime favorite. Good thing I drew considerably better from here on out. I kept GNR because it seemed more useful than just the R, and I can't draw another G which further improves that leave. In other news, the guy across the way on the bolt bus just slapped himself across the forehead, and I'm having an incredibly hard not cracking up.
>Steve_Grob: BFO 8G FOB +16 16
#note wait a second, this looks like my last game!
>Jesse_Day: AEGNRST J2 GARNETS +73 73
#note drawing AEST to most leaves tends to lead to a bingo.
>Steve_Grob: AADEIMN 4H MA.INADE +80 96
#note he later told me that he'd passed up AMANDINE because he wasn't sure.
>Jesse_Day: AHLOSTZ O1 HAZ.L +51 124
#note more here than meets the eye. There's a bunch of 50-pointers available - HAZEL, ZOA at 3M or ZA there or AZO at 3L. I don't think AZO is right, but ZA and ZOA sim very close to my actual play - HAZEL is maybe batter by a point. But I think I would play HAZEL no matter what because I think it gives me a competitive advantage to set up the extensions knowing that the only ones are HAZELNUT and HAZELHEN (though I would've had to think about HAZELBUSH*). He probably knows both of them, but it puts pressure on him to think of them himself. If he doesn't that's to my advantage.
>Steve_Grob: EEIIRSV L2 VI.ERIES +62 158
#note looks like he missed DERISIVE. DERISIVE is probably even better than it is on points alone because it takes out the extensions to HAZEL.
>Jesse_Day: EORSSTU M7 STOURES +76 200
#note one of my favorite racks, because it has so many anagrams and most of them are weird, which means that sometimes it'll draw challenges even when it really shouldn't. I think I learned them all after missing them on a jt daily quiz a long while back. Anyway, I didn't think of OESTROUS, which scores one more point - the second time in the tournament that that word came up and I couldn't find it! I guess I'll try not to forget it again. STOURES is more defensive by a little bit and doesn't give a double-double line back, which means that quackle actually thinks the two are about even. Steveh held but didn't challenge.
>Steve_Grob: ?AGNOOR 3B OReGANO +70 228
#note wow! big start to the game and there's still a blank left!
>Jesse_Day: HIIIJNY -IIIJY +0 200
#note A weird move on my part. I became so fixated with the prospect of the HAZELHEN extension, which I was one tile off, that it made sense for me to exchange everything else in an effort to pull one of the many remaining Es. But my odds are only just over 50%, which means that not taking the 34 points this turn with HIN is absolutely ridiculous, especially with spots next turn where the J can score big. Chalk this one up to tunnel vision.
>Steve_Grob: DEPU L12 DUPE +24 252
#note Steve laid down DEEP first, but then switched it to DUPE, which would make things exciting...
>Jesse_Day: ?CGHINR 15F GRINCH.s +89 289
#note I must've looked fora good five minutes for a triple-triple, but like the mike baron game earlier in the tournament, there was nothing there to reward my ridiculous draw. Pretty wacky that instead of pulling an E I pull a high point bingo. So much for HIN. I saw OCHERING but wasn't sure enough about it to make it worth leaving him that triple for another turn, and I passed up TORCHING for the same reason (didn't know ROACHING). However, that seems to be a case of overestimating one threat, because the board is so open anyway that it's not worth overreacting to that one threat. Regardless, GRINCHES is fine.
>Steve_Grob: EF 2F FE +28 280
>Jesse_Day: BEILPVX 1G PIX +41 330
#note when are they finally going to get around to making VOXEL good? Oh wait, it's good in sowpods. Of course.
>Steve_Grob: DEIOO E3 .OODIE +16 296
>Jesse_Day: ABEKLVY D8 BALKY +41 371
#note things are definitely looking up after this play. something that shocks me is that LEAVE at 8A is competitive with BALKY, even within a point. Is the V that crippling, and can BKY really hold water? Quackle says BKY scores 5 more than EV on this board next turn, which I guess bakes a fair amount of sense given how the board looks. Something to keep in mind...
>Steve_Grob: QUY D1 QU.Y +60 356
#note and all of a sudden, he's right back in it. In related news, the same guy from earlier keeps hitting himself, while I stare at the Jersey skyline trying desperately to stop giggling.
>Jesse_Day: AEENTVW B1 AV.W +20 391
#note a tough move, but I'm not convinced that I looked through all the options as thouroughl as I should have. My thoughts didn't really go beyond - I want to get rid of the V and the W and not open a triple. What I should've realized, though, is that opening the triple isn't the worse thing in the world given the pool, which is full of low point tiles more than anything. I need the flexibility of not having the duplicated E, I think. Other similar plays that I should've considered are VAW at 9F and AWE at 9G. VAW is definitely better for not giving back a triple at all and scoring that extra point. Maybe I was worried about the prospect of JEU, but the J will score no matter what. Still, AWE is probably the best for the most obvious reason in the world - it scores points! There was no reason for me to be in such a hurry to play off the V and the W, given the improbability of a bingo. If I really wanted to play for a bingo threat I should've played WOVE.
>Steve_Grob: OTW C7 WOT +19 375
>Jesse_Day: EEEILNT 11D .EEL +16 407
#note geez, what a tough move. Tons of plays worth reasonable contention. One of the favorites seems to be LENITE. This looks a little crazy to me, however, in spite of its benefits in timing. TELE at N10 also does ok, which I disliked because I thought it gave back too many scoring plays. However, the more I look at this the more I start to feel that the play might be LEKE. It's the same thing as KEEL except it doesn't give back the triple letter, and it interferes with any potential machinations he might have in mind on column B. LEE at B8 might also be worth consideration. What do you guys think? Is the timing of LENITE too good to pass up?
>Steve_Grob: CEIT 8L ..IC +18 393
>Jesse_Day: AEINOTT A4 ATONE +24 431
#note e givewow, this was another tough, tough play. Shame he didn't quite give me TACONITE. Emptying the bag with 4 left is usually not considered a plus, but there was pretty much no other scoring play on the board, and I guess I just liked the idea of taking a 40 point lead into the endgame, big enough that even an out-in-two might not be enough to knock me out. championship player doesn't pick it up, but it seems to do really well in the sims. What do you guys think?
>Steve_Grob: ADLMNRT 10F MALT +24 417
#note it may not win the ask championship player part, but it gives him a chance if I screw up...
>Jesse_Day: EIIJTU O8 .UTIE +8 439
#note which I do in unbelieable, monumental fashion. There are so many ways to win this game that it's absolutely sickening, but here's what happened. With two or three minutes on my clock, I get to look around some. I find my J play for JIN, obviously, but then I think a little bit too hard and realize that it can't be blocked - so why not guarantee an out-in-two, given that his tiles can't go out this turn? The other mistake I made is that I only saw CUTIE and I didn't see ETUI on the left or I would've just played JIN and my life wouldn't have been so bad. Fogel pointed out afterwards that ETUI at the left is the best play because it prevents the ensuing disaster...
>Steve_Grob: DNR 12C R.ND +16 433
#note he had an outplay?!
>Steve_Grob: (IJ) +18 451
#note ouch. My third blown endgame of the tournament, and maybe the most painful of all of them because I had all the information I needed to make the right play and plenty of time, and just completely didn't see what could happen. In a sense, though, it's encouraging - if making three different moves would've won me three exttra games, then at least there's hope for me to get better. On the lighter side of things, after the game I tracked down Evans and made him look at my endgame. He already mentioned this in a previous comment, but I told him before he did so that he would have to look for about a minute, and at the end of it he would say "why didn't you do that?" Evans indeed looked at it for a minute, and at the end asks "why didn't you just play JIN?" Really, there's a lesson to this endgame - don't fuck around and TAKE THE WIN. Finding the best out-in-two is well and good in practice, but take. the. win. End of story, and not a mistake I'm going to make again any time soon.
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