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#player1 Rafi Rafi
#player2 Will Will
>Rafi: ?ADEHRT H4 HEARTeD +78 78
#note Was set to play CHARTED until I thought of UNCHARTED. I have had success on boards where my opening bingo allows medium parallel plays (specifically an E next to the double), as I can really close down the board in a hurry if Will isn't careful. I also liked doubling the E to give fewer 8s. Hard to decide here which bingo is best.
>Will: ?ADEIJL 5E JAD.LIkE +110 110
>Rafi: AAEFGMO I9 FOAMAGE +79 157
>Rafi: AAEFGMO -- -79 78
#note Wow how dumb can I be. Terrible time to invent a word. My only egregious phoney of the tournament.
>Will: ACHLNNO 6D NOH +36 146
>Rafi: AAEFGMO 4L FOAM +34 112
>Will: AACLNTU 9G T.NACULA +62 208
>Rafi: AEFGIOV O4 .OVIE +30 142
>Will: EGORRWY N9 .RROWY +28 236
#note I was really puzzled by this turn. Quackle sims and CP both like ARROWY a lot, but I'm actually still not convinced and I don't have a great rationale for the play. I do like that it scores pretty well and incentivizes Rafi to close up that area if he wants to score. Other plays like K9 COWRY and plays on row 7 hooking JO have problems too, either offering better lanes or access to a triple that also could create good bingo lanes.
>Rafi: AFGMSUX 6J FAUX +42 184
>Will: ABBEEGQ 10H .EB +24 260
#note I was proud that I made this play, but maybe the more traditional options are better. M12 BABE scores nicely, but it helps Rafi score a ton and open the board with one move a lot of the time. DEB, on the other hand, leaves the atrocious ABEGQ, but it offers me QU- plays at L8 with a huge number of draws, many of which do not S hook themselves (QUARE, QUATE, QUALE). I could buy the argument that 10C GABBED is a better way to go about this move, scoring only 4 fewer points but using three more tiles and setting up another place to play the Q if I draw a U, playing QUA- words down from D8. M12 GAB looks reckless at first glance, setting up a huge S hook on a board devoid of them, but at the very least, it doesn't block the QU- plays I can draw that end in a vowel, since I can hook them making EGO. Still, that move creates problems for me long-term that DEB does not. (Editing my commentary to mention a huge factor in favor of DEB that I failed to consider, making it a much worse play for me in the actual game - it retains BG for BIGHEARTED with an I draw. Given that I wasn't sure of that word and wouldn't have played it except in desperation, that is a major strike against DEB here.)
>Rafi: DEGMRSU 7C MUG +22 206
>Will: ABEGQSU 8A QUAGS +73 333
>Rafi: ADEORSS O12 DOES +36 242
>Will: BEIIINN 9A INN +23 356
#note Scores and blocks. Just hope to draw some consonants.
>Rafi: AEPRSWY 11I WYE +32 274
#note WAY is harder to block (ABYE makes it easy to block with a -TE play) but the A is so valuable with one A left and 6 E's left. I'm going to draw a 7 so frequently... hopefully it fits.
>Will: BDEIIIO 10C OBI +11 367
#note Here, I miss the NEWB hook, but there's nothing very palatable to play in that spot. Instead, I try a two-turn blocking sequence, though I know Rafi will open the board elsewhere to counter it.
>Rafi: AKPRSTT N2 TR.P +16 290
#note This seems to give me the best shot at a comeback. Without the S, it's frustrating to deal with.
>Will: DEGIIOP O1 PI +14 381
#note This should be GI.
>Rafi: AEIKLST 12C TALKIES +81 371
#note One off TIECLASP to the P... that would have been really handy.
>Will: ADEGIOR 13D GOAD +24 405
#note Big mistake here, as I thought that AROID formed KO#, discarded it, and never checked a second time to see that it fit. With the Z potentially coming down for a decent score somewhere, those 11 points are huge to miss out on. That being said, if not AROID, GOAD is okay - I have to score somehow here, and GOAD is the second-best score I can get.
>Rafi: EEIORST M13 TE +22 393
#note Will: Very, very complex situation for Rafi. Rafi: I wrote commentary TWICE for this play, and the first time Quackle crashed, and the second time I saved and my commentary disappeared so I rewrote this somewhat fast. Basically deciding between KAE and TE, as OH/EH are easy to block. KAE is really annoying for Will to deal with, and complicates the position a lot as I can possibly fish again the next turn if needed. After TE, according to a sim log, Will hits 6s 40% of the time, and I think I win a lot of games where he decides to block small, as my tiles underlap GOAD pretty well even with C or V draws. The best block of KAES is probably LORN, but I can still score pretty well through the N and still play TE and threaten a KAES scoring play. Without LORN, blocking KAES proves to be pretty hard, and Will might have a difficult time coming up with the best play, whereas the position is pretty straightforward for him after TE. I'm leaning towards thinking KAE is better, as I so frequently have a chance to fish a second time if I don't have a shot at a non-bingo victory - not to mention the possibility of Will making an error that he wouldn't make after TE.
>Will: EEILNRV 15H RELIVE +42 447
#note I can be Z stuck relatively easily after this with a bad draw, but I'm thinking that with 4 other tiles on my rack, I should be able to dunk tiles off along with Rafi and stay ahead by enough points even in that scenario.
>Rafi: CEIORST I3 CO. +13 406
>Will: EINNZ 14A ZINE +30 477
>Rafi: EIRST A12 SI.E +42 448
>Will: N F4 N.. +6 483
>Will: (RT) +4 487
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