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#player1 Rafi Rafi
#player2 Will Will
>Rafi: DLOOQRU 8F QUOD +28 28
>Will: AEFJMOT 7H JOT +24 24
#note Very close with JAM, only because I have an A. Ultimately I opted to put some pressure on.
>Rafi: EGLNORT 9H GEL +21 49
#note Rafi taught me what a TRONGLE* is.
>Will: ABEFHMO K5 FOAM +29 53
#note Another close play with several options. This was most balanced between scoring and flexible leave.
>Rafi: LNORSTU 8K .OULT +24 73
>Will: BEEHNOS L2 HEBE +23 76
#note I was choosing between 9M HOE and this, but failed to even consider J2 HEBE, which scores only a point less while setting up a second place to play my S - not a bingo lane, but if I draw something heavy, it could still pay off nicely. However, I don't think a gamble like this without holding a T myself for THEBE is really warranted. With an S in hand myself, I think it's obvious that I should play closed and try to hit JOGS first. HOE, 9L EH, or J4 BENT are all much better. I mean, if I'm going to play this against Rafi it should at least be the clear best play...come on.
>Rafi: ANNORSS M1 NONAS +29 102
>Will: AENNOSV 10B NOVENAS +76 152
>Rafi: AHKLRRS M7 R.KH +17 119
#note Eschewing HORKS because of its effects on the board.
>Will: DEFIMRW 11E FEW +35 187
#note Preventing plays through the V that fork the board, scoring well, and retaining the M for N10. Very good. HOWF is also nice, but not enough to outweigh the benefits of FEW.
>Rafi: AGLORRS N10 ALGOR +23 142
#note Big mistake, setting up the ALGORE* and ALGORY* hooks.
>Will: ADIIIMR 13I DAIMI. +22 209
#note Don't think I really considered MOIRAI at all, which is bad because it's at worst extremely close with DAIMIO. I was hoping to execute some kind of two-turn block of ALGORS this way, but actually, if I want to accomplish that, the better option is 13K IDIOM by far. That's because after DAIMIO I give up the ability to play down column O without an S - my blocks will have to be parallel plays or unhookable words through most likely the M of DAIMIO. After IDIOM leaving AIR, by contrast, I'm setting myself up to play AIMER O11 if I draw one of the 7 remaining E's, neutralizing the triple line threat and scoring very well. That being said, IDIOM still gives up nearly all the same bingo opportunities as there were before my play, so not drawing that E could be problematic.
>Rafi: EIRRSST C4 RESIST.R +60 202
#note Pretty disappointing draw for Rafi. I got lucky.
>Will: EIIORWY L10 WOR.Y +35 244
#note Man, this is actually worse than I thought - I was still in two-turn block mindset even after Rafi just burned the other two unseen esses. Sure, he could pick a blank, but obviously the ALGORS threat has just gone from high to close to negligible for now. WORMY scores well but WIRIER has to be the play here.
>Rafi: AABCPUY 8A CU.P +33 235
>Will: CEIIINV D1 VICE +30 274
#note Surprisingly close with CIVIC which bingos 28% to VICE's 14% and also yields really high scores to Rafi. VICE isn't obviously worse than CIVIC, but I really didn't think of them as remotely close when they clearly are. Once again I think I need to do a better job of adjusting my plays based on the availability of blanks in the unseen pool.
>Rafi: AABDGPY N1 AY +30 265
#note Damn it
>Will: DIINTUX O3 INTUI. +7 281
#note Well, isn't this interesting. Even with A inference Quackle prefers A2 DUNITIC to go for blanks and vowels to X-bomb with - to me, this has to be better, taking only a modest point sacrifice and one tile sacrifice to prevent really heavy plays from O1. I still almost did B1 DIXIT to score enough to mostly equalize most plays there while still drawing 5 tiles. That INTUIT is even competitive with DIXIT is a testament to the danger of Rafi's setup.
>Rafi: ABDGIPT 1D .APID +33 298
>Will: AADEILX 14I AX +53 334
#note After one look at the pool I should have known that this play basically never, ever works out well for me. Did I even look? I need to do something to neutralize some of the potential counterplays. I briefly considered ILEX and in retrospect it looks so amazingly obviously better than AX to cut down on big Z plays, force some bingo specificity, and draw two more valuable tiles. Perhaps better still is AXILE, which gets me one more additional tile pick, a decent score, though far off from ILEX, and most importantly makes it much tougher for Rafi to score a bundle down low, though he certainly can still do it.
>Rafi: ?BEGITZ 15D ZIBETs +81 379
#note If I play ILEX or AXILE it puts Rafi in such a tougher position.
>Will: ADEEILN B1 AEDINE +27 361
>Rafi: ?EEGRT D12 GEE. +28 407
>Will: L J12 L.. +10 371
#note Pretty bad effort overall here - based on my play from days 2 and 3, fatigue from the travel nightmare was probably a factor on day 1. But also a very good effort from Rafi to overcome inferior tiles.
>Will: (?RT) +4 375
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