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#player1 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
#player2 Orry_Swift Orry Swift
>Jim_Burlant: AAEEOUZ 8D ZOEAE +48 48
#note Context: Round 3. In my first game, I sat and watched my opponent play while I drew one cruddy rack after another. Round 2 should have been a loss - while I didn't always play optimally, I still struggled with many poor draws. Seeing this lifted my spirits. Had I finally gotten the drawing monster off my back?
>Orry_Swift: FKLO E5 KLO.F +24 24
>Jim_Burlant: AADNQRU G8 .QUA +23 71
#note No really good options here - H4 QUARE is slightly better in the duck's eyes. I thought it more likely he'd play at H11 than hook it on row 12, and I thought I good draw to ADNR could get me going quickly.
>Orry_Swift: GILTU H11 GUILT +24 48
>Jim_Burlant: ADGMNNR I10 DAMN +19 90
#note The drawing problems from my first 2 games resume and I keep having to burn time to figure out my best plays. It's either this or i9 GRAND. I thought an RNG leave might be a little more bingo prone than MN; if I'd known just how much trouble I would have drawing vowels, I'd have gone with the extra turnover. GRAND I9 is best; this is a very strong runner up.
>Orry_Swift: ERSTTUX 10F X. +25 73
#note Actual rack. When he dumped one tile off and I saw my next rack, I wasn't feeling very good about where things were headed.
>Jim_Burlant: CFGNOPR J9 GORP +26 116
#note I considered 2 plays: 13D FORCING and this. FORCING clears more of the crap, but it gives back an easy EN(FORCING) for 30, not to mention all sorts of easy plays at 12A. I didn't think of PONCING, but it has similar baggage. The leave after playing GORP sucks, but it scores 26. This is best. Surely I can draw a couple of vowels if I turn 4 tiles, right?
>Orry_Swift: EERSTTU 7H TRUSTEE +61 134
#note Only bingo for Orry. Simming Against a random rack he's just under 48% to win in a short sim. Against the swill I had just drawn, he's just over 60.
>Jim_Burlant: CEFNNNP M3 FENC. +20 136
#note The bag had 6 A's, 8 E's, 8 I's, and 4 N's unseen. Drawing 4 tiles from that yields a lone E that I have to play off, no A's or I's...but 2 N's? Seriously? Anyway, you gotta know it to play it. N6 FENNEC clears the rack better than this while it adds resistance to the O column. Q thinks I should play at N6 if I'm limited to FENCE, but the killer in this position was not knowing FENNEC.
>Orry_Swift: AO 9C OA. +18 152
>Jim_Burlant: ?INNPRU 10B NIP +23 159
#note No bingoes play. I saw PUNNIER/PRUNING, UNDERPIN and PREUNON. (The other possibilities are PINNULAR, UNROPING, SPURNING, and PROUNION). Question for the real pros out there - how much time should those of us who don't have eidetic memory take on a rack like this before giving up on it? I burned way too much time here. I chose this because I was obsessed about taking out ZA back hooks and felt that I wasn't opening any new danger while I kept NRU?. Chances are I don't have this problem if I cleared out two of the 3 N's with FENNEC on the previous turn. Apparently the best play is to play PUNNIER 4H for 24, presumably to chase the other blank or maybe an S. I don't know if I like blowing the rack up, even if I do keep a blank. Not sure what I do in this position if I had this to do again.
>Orry_Swift: ?AAERTW 15H .ERAWATt +92 244
#note Ouch! But nice nice find!
>Jim_Burlant: ?EENORU 5H NEURO.Es +64 223
#note More time wasted here because my first inclination was to look for triples down the O column (there are none). Then, realizing there were no available 7's, my next inclination was to look through the S. I finally noticed this after burning so much time I was WAAAY down on time when this finally came down. This or RENOUNCE in the same location is my best bingo. 21% to win.
>Orry_Swift: ABHT O1 BATH. +39 283
>Jim_Burlant: ABEIOOO 14L OBIA +26 249
#note With all the time I had burned on the blank racks as well as all the other turns where I struggles, I was already down under 5 minutes and I burned more time here. I didn't really like this play because it defended the board for him. ABOON H1 opens things up a bit better, but with 6 I's still unseen I have to unload mine which is why I went with this. This is best, but it's 11% to win.
>Orry_Swift: DGIIN B10 .IDING +16 299
>Jim_Burlant: AEILOOW 13K AWOL +36 285
#note Good score, but apparently not best. While this doesn't come back to bite me later, the duck feels I should play A12 ILEA for 32. Not sure I see that. That said, if I was going to be smart about presrving the case A for A15 plays, LOWE 13L might be a smidgen better than this. 17% to win. ILEA ostensibly wins 21%.
>Orry_Swift: DEEIV 6B VEI.ED +20 319
>Jim_Burlant: EHIOSVY O7 SHIVE +41 326
#note Gee, this rack would have been nice when the T's were open on the triple line, but that's how this tournament had gone so far. With HIVES A6 blocked, I put this down on autopilot. Against a random rack, 8M SHY tops a sim at 43% while this wins 35.
>Orry_Swift: EJST A8 JEST +41 360
>Jim_Burlant: CDLMOYY 13A D.MLY +22 348
#note Even though at the time it seemed like I had put up a good fight, I had the annoying feeling when the game ended that I had somehow left a win on the table somewhere. Whether it was a missed bingo on my NIP turn, or if I missed a few points here, had a missed play there...just enough to tip the scale in a game where I had no margin to do so. And this turn confirms that hunch. Down under 40 seconds, I was unable to process this rack effectively with all the counters and whiffed on my only win: DOYLEY C2 scores 34 and leaves me an out with MYC at 4B which will win by 1. This is next best, but it loses by a handful.
>Orry_Swift: IINRRS K9 INS +25 385
>Jim_Burlant: COY D12 C.OY +26 374
#note Best, but not enough. I needed to find DOYLEY on the previous turn. :-(
>Jim_Burlant: (IRR) +6 380
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