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#player1 Dave_Koenig Dave Koenig
#player2 Toh_Weibin Toh Weibin
>Dave_Koenig: AEGGNNR -GN +0 0
#note Although Quackle's static evaluator does not come up with this exchange, it is the clear sim winner, coming out more than 2 points ahead of 8G GANG, the next highest ranking play. There is simply no way to score points now that has as much upside as the powerful AEGNR leave.
>Toh_Weibin: OVX H7 VOX +26 26
>Dave_Koenig: ACEGINR G9 ANERGIC +73 73
>Toh_Weibin: AAINNNY 13B NANNY.AI +76 102
>Toh_Weibin: AIKR (challenge) +5 107
#note I knew NENNIGAI#, and I was aware that the word had an alternate spelling, though I could not remember exactly what it was. It certainly seemed plausible to me that this was a good word, and I saw that it gave me just the letter that I needed to bingo. However, I decided to challenge anyway. This comes down to the imbalance of how small the penalty is for an incorrect challenge with the 5 point challenge rule. If Weibin has to take back this rack of AAINNNY and score zero for his turn, I am in very good shape with the blank in hand, even though I don't bingo right away. The upside of that outcome is so strong for me compared to the small downside of giving up 5 points, that it benefits me to challenge if I have even a very slight doubt about the spelling of his word. On the other hand, I would certainly have not challenged with the double challenge rule, and in this circumstance, I probably would not have challenged it under the 10 point challenge rule either.
>Dave_Koenig: ?BCDEEF C8 FEEDB.Ck +66 139
>Toh_Weibin: AIKR 8A KA.IR +39 146
>Dave_Koenig: ?FIOOSS E3 ISOFO.mS +70 209
#note FOISONS K2 is my best bingo, and it is a word that I surely knew at one point. But memory is a fickle thing, and I clearly conflated it with FRISSON, because on my scoresheet I wrote down the latter word as well as FROISONS* and FROISSON*. Either I never came up with FOISONS or I was too doubtful about which of those words were correct. However I was also very unsure whether ISOFORM took the S, though I eventually decided to take the plunge and try it. Weibin held for a bit, but did not challenge. This was one of many times in this tournament that I made a suboptimal bingo. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
>Toh_Weibin: GLORSTT 3C TR.GLOTS +72 218
#note DIGLOT is good in TWL, but this is CSW only.
>Dave_Koenig: EGIOORU 15G .OGUE +24 233
#note COURIE# and COGUE# at the bottom were the only plays I seriously considered, because they were a good mix of scoring well, clearing out a lot of vowels, and taking away easy scores off the C for him. Choosing between them was tricky. Although COURIE scored three more and left a more balanced leave, the G is an inflexible tile. On the other hand, IOR had decent bingo possibilities, and I wanted to move in that direction as quickly as possible while the board is still open. Normally, I would not like to leave a vowel heavy leave like IOR which is not super bingo prone, because it risks drawing into the kind of non-bingo but all one-pointer racks where you just cannot score. However, with more than half the I's gone and only two O's and two R's remaining, the chance of drawing duplicates was especially low, making it a stronger than usual leave.
>Toh_Weibin: AQTU H1 QU.TA +45 263
>Dave_Koenig: EILORTU 12I OUTLIER +68 301
>Toh_Weibin: DEEHW 4J HEWED +29 292
#note At this point, I have bingoed on four of my first five plays, but I am only in the lead by 9 points! Weibin is not making it easy on me, though my racks continue to be very friendly.
>Dave_Koenig: EIIJMNP O6 JIMPIE. +54 355
#note Again there were only two plays worth considering, JIMPER or JIMPIER#. (I did not remember until looking it up after the game that JIMPIER is not good in TWL.) There is a case to be made for the shorter play, both because the N10-14 spot that is opened up is quite a big one, and because vowels are starting to get scarce. I think the second reason is more compelling than the first, because there are a number of other good scoring spots on the board. However, when in doubt with the lead, I usually prefer to turn over more tiles and hasten the end of the game. In particular, winning the race to the Z may be enough to put the game out of reach.
>Toh_Weibin: EEPV N10 PE.VE +44 336
>Dave_Koenig: AALNSYZ M2 SL.AZY +44 399
#note The S is for score! Do not hesitate to use it to make a big play, especially when that play gets you close to the end of the game and blocks up bingo lines, when you no longer need to bingo and the opponent does.
>Toh_Weibin: IMO D10 MOI. +28 364
>Toh_Weibin: IMO -- -28 336
#note An unfortunate phony for Weibin, which almost eliminates his comeback possibilities.
>Dave_Koenig: AAENRTW B10 WEA. +35 434
#note This was the obvious play, both because it scores better than anything else and because it keeps a great leave.
>Toh_Weibin: IMO 5K MO.I +28 364
>Dave_Koenig: ADNNRTT 1H .AT +12 446
#note I am not out of the woods yet! Although I look like an almost sure winner, it is still possible to lose this game. For example if I attempted to combine scoring with playing off my duplicates by playing ANT A10, I would sloppily empty the bag, and lose in the scenario where I drew BHR and he bingoed out with ODALIQUE#. In addition to that bingo, I thought of the possibility of BOARLIKE* to the K. It is not good, but during the game I thought it might be. I figured I could not block both spots, but the Q was the more dangerous one for a few reasons: one is that it scored 5 points more, and the second is that if that was the one he had I would definitely draw only consonants, making it harder to score and play off more tiles after the bingo. However, my choice was exactly wrong, and it could have been the losing move! If I had drawn DH and left an O in the bag, then he would have bingoed with BAULKIER A4, and with my seven consonant rack, I would have lost the game. (Best continuation is THRU J9 followed by ABO 12D, and I lose by 6.)
>Toh_Weibin: HRU 15A RU.H +30 394
#note Once I saw my IL draw, I was pretty sure I had a won game.
>Dave_Koenig: DILNNRT 5D D.NN.T +7 453
#note I did not have time to work out the endgame well, and intuition told me to avoid a point-greedy play like DI 15N, because he might be able to slow play me while I would not be able to score with consonant junk. However, I could not find my good plays, missed his out play, and just settled for something that played a lot of tiles. Quackle says the best play is the pretty NIRL# D7, making ERM# and WELS#, which conveniently threatens an out of TINED 14K preventing any slow-play madness. But it is only bookkeeping at this point.
>Toh_Weibin: ABDEO L8 DOAB.E +11 405
>Toh_Weibin: (ILR) +6 411
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