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#player1 Will Will Anderson
#player2 Ben Ben Schoenbrun
#title 2017 NSC Round 28
#description Will Anderson plays Ben Schoenbrun in Round 28 at the 2017 NSC
>Will: ELNNSTT -NTL +0 0
>Ben: AEFNOUZ 8D ZONAE +48 48
>Will: AEEMNST H8 .ASEMENT +89 89
>Ben: DEFHIOU G13 FOU +23 71
>Will: GNOQRST G7 Q.T +26 115
>Ben: DEHIIJV 11E JIV.D +32 103
>Will: GNOORSS D4 GROS. +30 145
#note I absolutely considered playing something like I11 DORS on this move, but I thought the game score was too close for that. This was an important game, but making plays like GROSZ had gotten me this far...
>Ben: ACEFHIL 14A FALCHI.. +36 139
#note Sweet, sweet extension by Benjy.
>Will: DENNOSX 15A EX +51 196
#note Tempting to play OXEN or XENON but EX is so many more points, and the O will help me score respectably on row 12 next turn.
>Ben: EHIIOTU D12 OU.H +26 165
>Will: DEENNOS 9C DEN +24 220
#note Very tempting to play DENSE for 14 more here, but if Benjy plays there, it does very little to open the board for him, whereas there are many plays he could make with GROSZ, both scores and fishes, that I can shut down now.
>Ben: ADEIIMT I9 DI.IE +29 194
>Will: EINOOSS 5C E.OSIONS +66 286
>Ben: AAALMRT H1 ALAM. +30 224
>Will: AEEKRTW I1 RAW +23 309
#note Quackle likes SKEW and WANK, which is unsurprising, but I am quite content with RAW here, crippling his bingo percentage.
>Ben: AGNORTY 1H ..ROGANT +33 257
>Will: ?EEKORT 10H ..KE +18 327
#note I understand that this play got some surprised reactions. I was very close to playing 2K ROTE, which I see allows Benjy to bingo under 1 percent of the time. But SIKE bingos *ninety* percent of the time here. Benjy just played six tiles, so his rack is random - you can trust simulation here much more so than usual. There isn't a single power tile left to draw and only a handful of whammy consonants. Even almost all of the ugly double-vowel draws give me bingos from the T, which is the real test of whether SIKE is a good play. Almost everything gives me bingos with SIKER, but as long as my bingo percentage from the ARROGANT letters is solid (which it is) then I think SIKE works out well for me. Could Benjy bingo, I brick my draw, and then I somehow lose control of the game after SIKE? Sure, but if I commit myself to only defense from here on out there are ways the game can slip away too. There's a reason Quackle thinks SIKE wins 98 percent of games. I'm actually really comfortable with my choice here.
>Ben: AILRTVY L1 .RAVITY +28 285
>Will: ?EELORT O1 .ELEpORT +74 401
>Ben: ACELPUW N6 WAUL +32 317
>Will: ?BDINRY J13 BY +24 425
#note I actually whiffed on RYNDS here, but BY has its advantages too.
>Ben: BCEEIPU K7 BIC.P +29 346
>Will: ?DGINPR 15J sPRING +34 459
#note 15J ENGIRD is 4 better.
>Ben: EEITU G3 TU. +15 361
>Will: D 3L .D +6 465
>Will: (EEI) +6 471
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