| Player 1 |
|
#player1 Jason Jason Li
#player2 Joshua Joshua Sokol
#title 2016 NSC Round 6
#description Jason Li plays Joshua Sokol in Round 6 at the 2016 NSC
>Jason: BBNRTWZ -BBNTW +0 0
>Joshua: EEHKNRY H4 HENRY +30 30
#note I begin this game with a fundamental blunder. I was not totally sure if HENRY did not take an S, but for some reason I thought it didn't. I should not have wondered. I should have played KEYER. This was, despite not being a *KEY* play, definitely a *key* play. Hohohaha... puns...
Do not make plays if you are uncertain of their hook(s)! Unless it's clearly a better play! Ack!
>Jason: CDEOQRZ 6F ZO.ED +39 39
>Joshua: EKNSUVV 4H .UNKS +24 54
#note Continuing the trend from last turn, I am assuming HENRYS is invalid. Therefore, this play seems great in many cases. Jason, much of the time, has nowhere to score safely after HUNKS. But instead, this play is another blunder, wherein I play off my S, thinking it has little value to keep, when instead I need to keep it and exchange UVV or KUVV.
>Jason: COOQRTU G4 CO. +22 61
#note Unfortunately for me, but deservedly, Jason manages to make one of the few good plays on this board that do not cause any harm to its low entropy.
>Joshua: AADENVV L1 VAV. +14 68
#note Now, disregarding my everlasting doubt with regards to HENRYS, this play is still terrible. I can just play J2 VA(N) here, keep well, and keep things closed with a slight lead. I can play VENA next turn under ZONED, if need be, and score that way without opening anything huge. I get punished for this mistake as well. NAVV(Y) would have worked fine, too.
>Jason: ?GOQRTU 2J QU.RTO +70 131
#note How to punish Josh for his mistakes 101, by Jason Li the chemistry professor. Has a good ring to it!
>Joshua: ADDEINS 1N ID +20 88
#note Close your eyes now. HENRYS being valid has just come to bite my face off. I of course saw my bingo here, but was certain there was nowhere to play it. Ouch!
>Jason: ?EGIIMO 5J OI +20 151
>Joshua: AADENOS F6 .OA +12 100
>Jason: ?EEGIMS 9H SEEMInG +72 223
#note When Jason played this, I immediately held. All I could think was "No, this isn't happening. Are you serious?" and after a minute, those thoughts morphed into "of course HENRYS is good, and you knew that. Why did you think it was no good?"
I ended up being 100% sure HENRYS was valid, and then, after looking like I was asleep for around 2 minutes, played my bingo.
>Joshua: AADEINS E7 NAIADES +70 170
>Jason: AIILNNO D10 NAOI +19 242
>Joshua: AGHIRTW C9 GARTH +44 214
#note This is not going well. C12 WHIG works for 40. I definitely needed to keep a better leave here. The 4 points aren't nearly worth it.
>Jason: ?ILNTUW L6 UNW.T +12 254
>Joshua: EFILPTW B13 PEW +25 239
#note Maintaining two spots on this board is now extremely important, as Jason will attempt to block everything from hereon out. I hoped that he would not have an A for A(PHIS), or that he would miss it and be unable to block the W. UNWIT screamed consonant-heaviness, so I might have been in luck.
>Jason: ?ACEILT 15A T.ICE +39 293
#note Jason saw all of his bingos here, but TEIGLACH, LICHGATE, DELICATE and CELIBATE were definitely worse than this. Jason unfortunately doubted SEEMINGS, and it cost him a lot of spread. ELASTIC, LACIEST play with UNWITS as well, but once again are not as good as TWICE, or so it seemed. But 92 points at O6 for ELASTIC, well, Jason would have jumped on that, needless to say. He just didn't know SEEMINGS.
>Joshua: FFILOTY K9 .IFFY +34 273
>Jason: ?AIJLRS J13 AJI +31 324
#note This is the turn Jason took the longest on. He now has the case S, so he didn't have to worry about whether or not SEEMINGS was a word, but he couldn't allow himself not to score here, fearing I would catch up someway. So he ended up making a very uncharacteristically aggressive play, most likely to facilitate easy plays for the rest of the game. He was really low on time, like, 4 minutes or less, after this.
>Joshua: BELORTU 15H BU.LT +24 297
#note I smelt TROUBLE here, as my bingo did not play, and Jason would never make that play unless he shut down, or had the blank on his rack. And probably the S. So, of course I have to block. My gameplan was to hit something ending in A, or run Jason overtime and outscore him somehow. Both were extremely unlikely to occur.
>Jason: ?ADELRS N5 DRAg.LES +63 387
#note That settled it. Obviously, once again Jason misses better bingos forming SEEMINGS, but that's not too big of a deal at this point. He's well ahead.
>Joshua: AEEMOPR 12K .E +10 307
#note All that is left is to hope for a screwup on Jason's end and he something like MEROPIA or PLEROMA. If Jason has the I, especially if he has the X, I am sunken. Perhaps O6 EMO has a shot as well, since it scores. Impossible to properly analyze this position, since Jason's lack of time is a humongous factor.
>Jason: BEEGINX O7 XI +39 426
>Joshua: AEMOPRT A7 TEMPORA +96 403
>Joshua: AEMOPRT -- -96 307
#note Now I have to hope he lets this go and screws up the endgame, or that somehow TEMPORA* is a valid word. Jason does not hesitate to call me on it. The correct play for the sake of winning would have been to let this go, but breaching mind games is one of Jason's fortes.
>Jason: BEEGLNR 10B B...L +15 441
>Joshua: AEMOPRT O11 MOPER +37 344
>Jason: EEGLNOR D4 ERGO +13 454
>Joshua: AT A13 AT. +15 359
#note Turns out Jason was unsure of APHIS. So PEW was my best play of the game!
Jason and I effectively shared big blunders this game, me by doubting HENRYS and he by doubting SEEMINGS. However, my blunder was more substantial in that it cost me far more chances at the win. I was the biggest loser this game for sure!
>Joshua: (ELN) +6 365
|
