| Player 1 |
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#player1 Joshua_Sokol Joshua Sokol
#player2 Michael_Fagen Michael Fagen
>Joshua_Sokol: EFNOOSS H8 OF +10 10
>Michael_Fagen: ITX 10H TIX +32 32
>Joshua_Sokol: EJNOSSV G8 JO +25 35
#note not a good sequence for me, now it's anyone's game, and my first-turn advantage has disappeared.
>Michael_Fagen: BNO I6 NOB +18 50
>Joshua_Sokol: EGNRSSV J5 GENS +26 61
#note 7H S(O)NG was worth considering. I might even get away with SONGE*. Still, the board is very low-entropy, so that's good for me. I'm now back to being a favorite.
>Michael_Fagen: DENP 6F PEN..D +15 65
>Joshua_Sokol: EEERSTV H3 EVE. +11 72
#note This was really odd. I didn't want to be so aggressive, but nothing else left the board in a decent state. Michael can just score and keep things closed otherwise, my rack is just going nowhere if it isn't for this. Maybe I play 5J (G)ET? G4 VE(E)? What do I do even?
>Michael_Fagen: ADHK 3F KH.DA +19 84
#note Michael wasn't happy to play this, but he presumed I was less likely than usual to have stuff that goes above the A. This was really bad for me, I kind of like his play! I wonder what his leave was.
>Joshua_Sokol: EIIRSTT 11J IT +13 85
#note Ugh. I hate having to fish now. This seemed clear but I considered other things, like just dropping the I or even 2I IT!
>Michael_Fagen: AHORY 2J HOARY +51 135
>Joshua_Sokol: BEEIRST 1L BE +16 101
#note This game has been full of swings. Going from a 2/3 chance of hitting a bingo to being a very clear underdog was not a fun one. Anyways, let's try again. I would play BI(D) or BI(D)E K4 but this provided better defense, also protecting the S(HA) hook sometimes, and, once again, I have a 2/3 shot at a bingo next turn.
>Michael_Fagen: EL H1 EL.... +27 162
#note Michael noted the possible extension of EVEN to ELEVEN when I played EVEN. I noticed it while considering the play as well. For some reason it's pretty cool.
>Joshua_Sokol: EEFIRST G1 FE. +16 117
#note But this was no time to be amused by the extension. I had once again missed a clear likelihood of drawing into a bingo, twice in a row. This time, it might be better to keep the slightly inferior leave just to score and leave more lanes open. K4 FI(D) and 5J (G)IF both score 20. But they are contrary to what I was attempting to accomplish. I don't want to create more opportunities here. I am happy with my two lanes on the bottom right. Once I (hopefully) manage to hit something down there, I would rather the board be more controlled, as the game will be even.
>Michael_Fagen: NOZ 5E ZON. +32 194
#note well, there goes that. Now there's just an O-hook I can do nothing about.
>Joshua_Sokol: DEEIRST 12H RESITED +80 197
#note Finally. Now it's a game. I hate fishing.
>Michael_Fagen: EMMY 5J .EMMY +32 226
>Joshua_Sokol: ?EGRUVW 3L GREW +33 230
#note WU(D) was now tempting. Only 4 hooks left for the W in the bag. But I was done fishing and leaving myself a 60+% chance of getting a bingo down. Just take the points if you can.
>Michael_Fagen: ILPRTT M7 TRIPL.T +22 248
#note surprised by this play, very fortunate that he didn't have a blank or an S.
>Joshua_Sokol: ?AAASUV 14K VASA +24 254
#note This was a big blunder. 1L (BE)AU is 24 points and keeps VASA for next turn, or I might even draw into something better than VASA. My AU? leave was not very good, considering that Michael was likely to take the 1L spot anyway, but also because I was never even close to seeing BEAU. I waffled between VAUS 14J for one more and this for a minute, but I think I chose right between the two.
>Michael_Fagen: GIOR D2 GIRO +24 272
>Joshua_Sokol: ?AISTUU 8L U.US +15 269
#note there's an S. Feeling ok about this game now, but still missing (BE)AU. Once again a big mistake on my part, though still making the 2nd best play. The S is no longer a much better tile than anything else, so it's OK to play it given that I'm getting rid of my U's in the process.
>Michael_Fagen: Q 3C Q. +22 294
#note very happy to not draw the Q and know I will not draw it for the rest of the game.
>Joshua_Sokol: ??AACEI N10 AI. +14 283
#note What a draw. The second blank and the last E. I no longer had to worry about Michael hitting a 7 horizontally. I actually was pretty certain that OFTER was not a word, for some reason. Very unhappy to see that indeed it is. In any case, I tried to figure out how I was going to lose this game, and Michael having a big play at 10B after my row 13 bingo, leaving one in the bag, seemed like a reasonably likely way to lose, given that there was some pretty awful stuff still left in the bag. In that sense, knowing that my lane was pretty much protected, save a weird blocking play like (E)T or a play down from the R, which would give me more lines to work with, I opted to delay a bingo for at least another turn.
My thought process was very incomplete: I did not think that OFTER was valid, so I was not only depriving myself of 4 extra points for my bingo, but also depriving myself of better board positions than the ones I had imagined. I was paranoid into thinking that B10 to B14 plays were all that likely, and the only bingo I even considered was ALCAIDE 13B, suffering from immense pressure at this stage of the game. I didn't want Michael to hit his own bingo, that was another thing, but that's really a 10% chance at best, and the only way to prevent him from hitting a bingo is by waiting until the bag is empty to go for it. I should bingo now, probably with CICADAE. Very lazy and paranoid.
>Michael_Fagen: ADILOOR 1L ..AD +27 321
>Joshua_Sokol: ??AACEL 13C pALACEs +73 356
#note Very happy to strike now, since he had played right into my hand. This is a great moment to play a bingo, as I am leaving one tile in the bag, giving myself tempo and good knowledge of the remaining tile pool. The only better time would have been when the bag was empty. And this time, I saw PALACES. But once again, playing with OFTER is better positionally, probably with vALAnCE.
>Michael_Fagen: AIL 4A LAI. +16 337
>Joshua_Sokol: CIINTUW D9 UNIC. +14 370
#note didn't know for sure if this was as good as TUNICA, but I half-expected a challenge, given it's Michael's only path to victory. He didn't know the word, but as usual was reluctant to do anything other than wonder aloud. This is 3 points worse than TUNICA.
>Michael_Fagen: NOORU F9 OUR +11 348
#note Michael's best play is C9 NOO. This is 5 points worse.
>Joshua_Sokol: ITW 8B WIT +16 386
#note in the end, I gained 2 points from a suboptimal endgame, but Michael may have still played OUR after TUNICA, resulting in a better overall sequence for me. Still, I consider this to be an exploitative win.
>Joshua_Sokol: (NO) +4 390
#note Nothing like a game where just about every turn is a struggle. I drew all 4 eses and both blanks and didn't even score 400. I would have if I had kept my focus for the moves following RESITED. Not proud of the second part of this game, but I played well in one half, which is worth something I guess. Maybe it's worth a tie?
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