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#player1 Joshua_Sokol Joshua Sokol
#player2 Mike_Thelen Mike Thelen
>Joshua_Sokol: ADIJTTY H8 DITTY +26 26
#note I considered DITTY and TAJ here. For me, the J isn't so bad that I have to play JAY here. I feel like TT is far less flexible after JAY than the J is after DITTY. The J will likely score decently, and might even help me control the board. TAJ is nice, defensive and flexible, though. Any underlaps will allow me to underlap myself with (JO)Y. DITY is also slightly bingo friendly! So TAJ is a nice play as well. The J isn't really good to keep, but it's not bad here either. I like DITTY, but also TAJ.
>Mike_Thelen: EGR G7 REG +15 15
>Joshua_Sokol: AHJPPRT 12D HAPP. +30 56
#note Another turn where I had to decide if the J was worth keeping. The two plays that don't use the J here are 12D HAPP(Y) and I7 PHT. If I have an A, the J is quite nice here, which is why PHT is a good play. Otherwise, although it seems to defend the board, there is really no way to make sure he can't hit me on column J. Bingos ending in ES or starting with SE or E are basically a sure thing to worry about for the rest of the game if the board isn't further opened by then anyway. If I can help it, that isn't something I want. That is why I rejected PHT, even though it does nice things for me. HAPPY scores well and retains a relatively balanced leave, just like DITTY, allowing me to score next turn and hopefully balance my rack even further. The 2x2 is also cool to get rid of. Given that three T's are already gone, and REG seems more bingo-prone than anything else, a 2x2, be it a 7 or an 8, would not be a happy beginning to this game. Looking further into this position, we have a few J plays. F6 and 6F JAR have the same problem, setting up an A hook and forking the board when his rack is most definitely more bingo-prone than mine. I also wondered if Mike had seen the new 4, A(REG), or even if he would challenge if I played it. That is really the reason I would play JAR/AREG. Otherwise it's just not very good for me, besides the off chance I can draw a 6 down to the R at H1 next turn, which requires drawing an E, I or O for H_PPE(R) and an A for TAPPE(R). That's not something to rely on at all. playing off JAR seemed so clunky, since there are no vowels to play through on this board in the first place, and JAR also just gives up so much to Mike. HAJ on the other hand, scores less, leaves a bit better considering everything, and really doesn't give up anywhere near as much as JAR. But the most interesting J play was JAP(ED). I completely missed that. Although it only scores 23, it's an interesting gamble. If Mike missed A(REG), he's so much less likely to bingo this turn or next, since JAPED takes out the easy S lane and another easier 7 lane on column F. But I can do very little after JAPED to attempt to continue to restrict Mike, or at least I am quite unlikely to do much, given the HPRT leave, that is pretty bad given the lack of scoring spots on the board. So in the end I chose to hold on to the J another turn, hoping I would get a nicer or just as nice spot to dump it next turn.
>Mike_Thelen: AFOO 11C OOF +27 42
#note Then this came down, and I held it! I had just gone through my 4s and FOOS was one of the alphagrams, and I knew FOOS was the only thing in there. Once I realized that OOF and FOO are both new, I released, but I was confused for a second. Especially since he had FOO(T) for more, and maybe even AFOO(T)! He indeed had AFOOT here, a bad case scenario for the play I decided to make last turn.
>Joshua_Sokol: ?BEJRTV F6 JET +32 88
#note Of note, 8A BReVET(ED) for 51.
>Mike_Thelen: ACEMR 8A CREMA... +48 90
>Joshua_Sokol: ?BNORSV 13C NOB +24 112
>Mike_Thelen: III -III +0 90
#note He either exchanged 3 or 5 here I think
>Joshua_Sokol: ?ENRSVV C4 VERV. +15 127
#note no need to not score here and play R(E)V, I'd save, especially cause it leaves a lane open that will only be used for bingos most of the time.
>Mike_Thelen: DH 5C .DH +14 104
>Joshua_Sokol: ?DENNSU 14E StUNNED +68 195
>Mike_Thelen: AACLNU 15J LACUNA +38 142
>Joshua_Sokol: ABEENOS 4A NO.AE +29 224
#note I also considered VOE in the same spot, but I didn't see how ABENS was really going to come in handy that often over BES, so I preferred taking the points.
>Mike_Thelen: EEFORST N8 RESOFTE. +76 218
>Joshua_Sokol: BEGIMRS O4 GRIME +36 260
#note I was sad BEGRIMS didn't play. I was deciding between BE(R)G, BE(R)M or GRIME O4 here. I thoguht GRIME was better than anything that didn't use my I, since there was a plurality of I's left in the pool, and since GRIME scored more than anything else. GIBER for 32 is also an option, though, and it is true that I really didn't like how the B went with the rest of the pool. But I needed to look harder! The star play may very well be the counterintuitive M9 BIG! Mike's rack is random, which means he probably has two I's, and might not even have an E. Even if he does, he usually won't be able to hurt me that much with it. Given that the game is at kind of a pivotal point, it might be a good idea to bite the bullet and deliver either a huge blow next turn with my fantastic EMRS leave (probably around 7 times out of 10) or get burned (probably 20% of the time). I dunno if I should take that risk or not, but in this case it seems like a good idea!
>Mike_Thelen: AEIL A1 LIA.E +15 233
>Joshua_Sokol: ABIOSTY M7 BOY +27 287
#note After much consideration here, I had to choose between BASI(F)Y 12J and M7 BOY or M9 YOB. I liked the bingo potential the S gave me, but other than that it wasn't that useful. Given that the blank was out, though, it seemed the S was more useful than usual, since one of us or both of us will likely get a bingo down before the end of the game. So even though I liked how much BASIFY scored and also that it got rid of my I, I decided to play BOY over YOB since it set up AS bingos nicely for myself. But what's more important than bingos in this game is actually turnover, since the Q, the X and the Z are all very useful for scoring on this board. So I turn again to BASIFY after analyzing, and I believe it was the right play to make.
>Mike_Thelen: INOW L9 WINO +23 256
>Joshua_Sokol: ?AEISTU 1A .IqUATES +74 361
#note what a dumb drawm though. I was kind of getting frustrated with how well I was drawing, because it was not preparing me for poor drawing that is likely to occur in the next 9 games. But I was calm and serene, I wasn't overly emotional here. Maybe I wasn't just drawing well, and everything was just working. Although I looked a long while before finding the only bingo that hits a triple, which is surprising. I also saw SAUTEIn(G), but not A(C)UiTIES. If ACUITIES didn't score 14 less than LIQUATES, I may have played it if I had seen it, since that C is really not something I want to leave open with the possibility of a huge bingo later for Mike.
>Mike_Thelen: L 6N L. +4 260
#note for context, Mike didn't have the X or the Q or the Z here, and so he wanted to fish (I thought he was going for (C)AZIQUES!) and also block the hotspot, to make sure he has a small chance of still being able to win.
>Joshua_Sokol: ADGITWZ 2G DITZ +39 400
#note I didn't see any huge thing he could hit at A8 except CAZIQUES, which was impossible given my Z, so I made this move relatively quickly. I don't think it can really lose.
>Mike_Thelen: IQ K10 QI +37 297
#note and in opposition to our first game, Mike draws the Q after playing off one tile, instead of me.
>Joshua_Sokol: AGKLORW B10 GROK +30 430
#note happy to have found this play. I was set to just play AGLOW, but I knew that was bad, since I can't go out next turn.
>Mike_Thelen: AEIISUX 3J AXIS +33 330
#note This is now quite a difficult position for Mike in the endgame. He finally just laid this down, 8 points off of the best play, which we found together afterwards, 3J AX, setting up SUE for 27 next turn underneath. The 2nd best plays are at 9C (SIX SEX and SAX).
>Joshua_Sokol: ALW L1 WA.L +22 452
>Joshua_Sokol: (EIU) +6 458
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