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#player1 Sneaky Sneaky
#player2 Beardo Beardo
>Sneaky: AENOVXY 8F ONYX +28 28
#note Beardo: To go first, Evan drew an O; I pulled an X. I offered to play tic-tac-toe instead but he pointed out if we did it with Scrabble tiles, the O's probably would have an advantage. After he played this, I said: "Well, I see I did a half-ass job of mixing."
#note Sneaky: And I did a half-ass job of opening. Not sure if I saw ENVOY, but that would've been better. Even OXY keeping the extra consonant is a slight improvement.
>Beardo: ACIITUY 7I ACUITY +23 23
#note Beardo: Peeved I didn't get a P for PAUCITY, a D for ACIDITY, an A for YAUTIA, I'm half-heartedly shuffling wondering what to do, nearly playing AI at 9H, when I see the six, getting off to as good a start as I can.
>Sneaky: AAEEFNV 9C FAENA +18 46
#note Sneaky: Ugh. FAUVE k5 scores more (22), uses both 4-pointers, and has a nice leave (AEN). The general lack of sleep the last three nights were finally starting to catch up with my thought process.
>Beardo: AEFINOP 8A NAIF +47 70
#note Beardo: Dammit, Evan, why couldn't you give me an open R? (Watch, he'll probably use Tangredi's lame "I didn't have one" excuse.) Short of that, this was as good a setup as I could hope for.
#note Sneaky: Um, yeah. I was happy my idiot play didn't lead to something like QUIZ or PREZ.
>Sneaky: DEEHRTV L4 THR.VED +36 82
#note Sneaky: Ding. I'm on the board.
>Beardo: BEOPRST K9 BOP +21 91
#note Beardo: Q likes BO at 6N, but given my typical draws into RENTS, I don't like drawing into PREST. Considered playing it at 6G to play defense until I remembered I was drawing into REST and closing the board may well frustrate me next turn.
>Sneaky: DEIIJLM 8L .IED +31 113
#note Sneaky: Even though it doesn't shed either the J or M, it scores the most. And the sim puts in on top. I also considered JIM(P) at 11h, but it's only 15 and could lead to other problems.
>Beardo: EEORSST 6C STEREOS +69 160
#note Beardo: Well, now I've learned (D)OSSERET.
>Sneaky: IIJLMNW 5K W.IM +24 137
#note Sneaky: Don't know how I missed J(E)W e5 for two more and a nicer leave. (On a similar note, I'm generally oblivious toward most of my brethren in real life. :))
>Beardo: ?EGIUWZ O1 WIZEs +63 223
#note Beardo: Relieved that Q likes this over WIZE(S) at C2. I commented that I wanted to play W(H)IZ there; was bemused at Evan playing the W and I there. Then Evan says "hold," and I think "Uh oh. That could be construed as coffeehousing, do I give him the free challenge?" Of course, now I'm doubting myself (like after P. Armstrong held EMIC) and really don't want to be embarrassed by playing a phony power-tile five in a game like this, so I decide: "No! It's a power-tile five and he's Evan Berofsky, let him figure it out!" What's my integrity worth? Obviously less than $275. :)
#note Sneaky: This exchange constitutes Part IX in my ongoing series titled "Mentally Slapping Idalski Over the Head". The word didn't immediately click, but it seemed logical after thinking about it and writing down the alphagram.
>Sneaky: DEIJLNN C2 DJIN. +26 163
#note Sneaky: I'm getting closer to the right play. DJINN(I) 2j is 36, leaves EL, and his rack suggests he won't be going on the top row.
>Beardo: GGLORUU J10 GURU +22 245
#note Beardo: Hate opening, but it's clearly the best play. At this stage, I'm still leading after almost all bingos Evan makes.
#note Sneaky: Live a little, kid. It'll put hair on your...uh, forget that.
>Sneaky: AEEILNR 12C NEARLIE. +68 231
#note Beardo: Note to self, quit giving Evan spots for his orphans in future games.
#note Sneaky: Note to self: Make sure you find the high-prob 7 in this rack (not that it played, but it didn't even register during the game)
>Beardo: BGIKLOO 11B GOOK +34 279
#note Beardo: Put down BOOK, remembered that nasty E- front hook (which shouldn't be good), so played this instead. Q's in favor, although it probably didn't want me to expose the B.
>Sneaky: EHOOSTU D1 HOOT +38 269
#note Sneaky: So I thought: "Wouldn't it have been great if that U was open for OUTHOUSE?". Then I missed the only playable 8LW. Go ahead and find it.
>Beardo: BEILPQT 3M BI. +28 307
#note Beardo: Now it's my turn to say: "Dammit, Ducky, quit agreeing with me so much!"
#note Sneaky: Quackle called. It wants its original name back. :P
>Sneaky: AEGLOSU 1D .AOLE +24 293
#note Sneaky: GEALOUS# was on my mind and so was my focus on the possible -ING in column A. (Hey, it's been two Idalski games without a Collins remark.)
>Beardo: ELNPQRT 2N Q. +44 351
#note Beardo: ...and the setup works. (Again, if I'd realized the ramifications of this game, my brain probably would've short-circuited by now.)
#note Sneaky: Uh, why didn't you tell me your brain was working so well during the game? We could've -so- traded, dude!
>Sneaky: CGIMRSU 2C ..RM +25 318
#note Sneaky: Starting to run low on time and still obsessing about column A as a second bingo lane. Don't really want to drop an S, but some pointage* is required. My move isn't terrible, but M(U)CUS 13i is 31, gives me a shot at the other S or remaining blank, and retains the G and I.
>Beardo: AELNPRT I11 P.N +16 367
#note Beardo: Now it gets interesting. Evan, with about 3:10 left to my 15 minutes, says he needs to go to the "washroom." Normally, I'd take a lot of time on a position like this, but really wanted to move quickly, as this is the type of game where 10 points could make a lot of difference. I quickly played this, counted it, hit my clock and thought that there should be some witness that I didn't "fast-clock" him. The director, maybe? A neighboring opponent? Thoughts? Anyway, really interested in this position, I ran a 1110-iteration multi-ply sim giving Evan the S (I never imagined his leave was as bad as CGISU), and Q's favorite is PL(I)ANT at H10, winning 61.22%. P(E)N is fifth, winning 56.58%.
#note Sneaky: No worries about fast-playing. I had the director sneak on a wrist monitor when you weren't looking.
>Sneaky: ACGISSU 2H SAC +13 331
#note Sneaky: Note that when I left for the washroom, I was really looking for a way to find out if CAUSINGS*/SAUCINGS* was good. The urinal visit was secondary.
>Beardo: ADELRTV E5 L.V +12 379
#note Beardo: Evan was down to about 50 seconds and I was gonna insta-play this, but then his play gave me pause. So I thought about it for three minutes ... and made the same play I was gonna make. (Way to fast-play, Jase.) I considered a play like VELD at 14F to block the easiest bingo line, but I'm looking at this pool going "how can he not have it in two spots?" Championship player likes it. A 1005-iteration multi-ply sim giving Evan the S likes it (49.20% win). A 1001-iteration multi-ply sim giving Evan S? likes it (38.40% win). For kicks, I gave it Evan's actual leave (GISU) and a 1002-iteration multi-ply sim likes it (60.90% win). I feel safe in saying this was best, although I wish I'd played it three minutes earlier.
>Sneaky: ?GILSTU 14C GLUIeST +65 396
#note Sneaky: The appearance of the blank in the last six, for the lack of a better term, shocked the crap out of me. GUTSILy four spots to the right tops out at 73. With the available tile pool, he couldn't do anything underneath this and couldn't bingo thru the N.
>Beardo: AADEERT 15I AERATED +84 463
>Beardo: AADEERT -- -84 379
#note Beardo: Yeah, why not end this tournament with a spread-hemorrhaging decision, seeming as I made about 10 in 20 games? I was 99+% sure I'd been in a recent tourney game where PENTA* wrongly stayed on. I almost challenged GLUIeST; but he obviously had UGLIeST too and Evan's way too solid a player to make a mistake like that. If I'd had better presence of mind, I'd have filled out the challenge slip for Evan before making my play.
#note Sneaky: When PENTA* came back unacceptable, I did a fist-pump, spiked a ball, and danced around like Napoleon Dynamite. Surrrrrrrrre. (I should really stop watching Sportscentre and Robot Chicken before writing any commentary.)
>Sneaky: E E1 ..E +13 409
#note Beardo: Contrary to rumors, Michigan is NOT thinking of changing its name to "Evan Berofsky's ATM." Congrats to Evan on a well-deserved runner-up finish and a continued stay in the 1800s.
#note Sneaky: Thanks, but you were the true star of this game. I only palmed the final blank to get the decision. Yeah, and the whole MI cashing deal has truly been unbelievable: 11 events, 104.5-42.5 record (with a +7357 spread), $2715 earned. Michigan has been very, very good to me.
>Sneaky: (AADEERT) +16 425
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