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#player1 Matt_Graham Matt Graham
#player2 Matt_Canik Matt Canik
>Matt_Graham: ?AEGLUY 8F vAGUELY +78 78
#note Racks for this game provided by Matt G.
>Matt_Canik: CELNRTY J7 R.CENTLY +73 73
>Matt_Graham: BBHOQSV L4 HOBB. +30 108
>Matt_Canik: AEEFLNO K10 FOE +23 96
#note Not really a fan of the bingo-or-bust leave AELN, but nothing else stood out. Maybe LOANEE M2 if I really want to?
>Matt_Graham: DNQRSSV G7 D.RN +8 116
#note Matt G felt like blocking after my fishy play and liked the way this set up his esses down the road.
>Matt_Canik: ADEEGLN H10 ANGLED +32 128
#note Or EAGLED instead?
>Matt_Graham: EHQSSTV L10 THE +30 146
>Matt_Canik: ACEMNRV M1 CAVER +27 155
#note Matt spent a long time before playing THE and seemed hesitant to play it, which made me feel like he's very consonant-heavy and was deliberating an exchange. MAVEN K1 or M1 are better plays, but I liked being aggressive here
>Matt_Graham: EKQSSVW 2J WEK.S +40 186
#note Matt has held QSV or QSSV for 4 consecutive turns
>Matt_Canik: AEIMNOX 1G AXIOM +51 206
>Matt_Graham: ELOQSSV 3G LOVES +24 210
#note Clearly telegraphing another S (or maybe even two?). Matt is also setting up QI 2F.
>Matt_Canik: AAENOTT F7 O.A +7 213
#note With Matt holding an S or two, I feel like it's only a matter of time before he's able to parley that into a bingo or a big setup, so I wanted to be aggressive and try to bingo myself. With about 18 Is unseen, this leave seems fairly strong. Q gives me nearly a 50% chance to bingo next turn.
>Matt_Graham: AFIOOQS 2F QI +34 244
>Matt_Canik: AEINPTT N4 PATIENT +74 287
#note With Matt telegraphing S strongly, I don't like playing this at E9 as much because the lingering S(PAR) hook and the lingering (AIL)S hook will be really annoying (though I could easily block both in one low-scoring play).
I only really get burned if Matt has the final F here, or give up 30 or so if he has an M. But of course....
>Matt_Graham: ADFOOSS O8 FOOD +43 287
#note ...he does! Matt spent far too long on this turn, too - he set down FOOD and stared at if for a loooong time, so I've more or less got him pegged for both unseen esses now.
>Matt_Canik: EGIIIMN E9 GEMINI +22 309
#note With no real strong options here and 3 more Is to draw in the bag, I decided to play this even though I was fairly confident it's invalid. Maybe MINI in the same spot is fine, but I feel like drawing Is and/or Us into EGI is a death sentence for me this game.
>Matt_Graham: AESSTUZ 14J .UTZES +36 323
#note (C)UZ at 1M is 44 but it seems he missed that.
Something huge happened after this play: Matt G draws his tiles and sets them face down on the table, but I noticed that he had 6 tiles face-down and two on his rack face-up: he overdrew. I'm nearly 100% sure that one of the two tiles on Matt's rack is the final S, which is a crucial tile in this game for the AILS hook - especially important because my rack is AAIIJP? and I don't have any reasonable blocks in the E column. However, I believe that it's the spirit of the rules to call out an overdraw as soon as it's noticed by either player, and while I could have waited for Matt to mix his tiles to ensure a chance at returning the S to the bag, I didn't feel like that was the proper sportsmanship play. I alerted Matt to the overdraw, revealed IRU, and returned IU to his rack (though it was a really tough decision for me because there were three Rs, two Is, and two Us unseen).
I've won games on ethically-questionable moves before and honestly it makes me feel like a complete scuzzbag for the rest of the tournament and beyond. I don't like to win that way, and even though there's a chance this decision cost me the game, I'd do it again.
>Matt_Canik: ?AAIIJP 13A JAPA. +28 337
#note Now I'm utterly flummoxed about what to do: with partial knowledge of Matt's rack as ISU, I feel like I need something big to happen for me to win this game. I thought long and hard about PIA(N) at 13B to enable me to cash huge J plays at a12 next turn. I thought about fishing somehow for a JAPEs play at D8. I thought about PIAnI 15K. I thought about PIA D12. But ultimately, I didn't see anything that worked out well.
With ISU on his rack, Matt doesn't have a lot of options down from the J unless he's also got the N (JIN) or he burns the S (JUS) - something I'd be ecstatic to see him do. But those plays leave two in the bag and leave me in the hole, so I don't think I win the endgame too often... especially holding II? with a pool that has IUW in it. Q sim hates PIA(N), so I rightfully dismissed that idea as too cute, but it most prefers just JI(N) or PIA 15K. Weird turn. Still don't know what to do.
>Matt_Graham: AINRSTU 4A NUTRIAS +70 393
#note As it turns out, there was nothing I could do. IU turns into NUTRIAS - returning IR or UR was much better here, and PIAN would have just given Matt a higher scoring bingo.... meh.
>Matt_Canik: ?DIIOUW A3 I.DIUm +18 355
#note I had Matt mistracked and thought I was blocking his only out
>Matt_Graham: EIRR C11 RI.ER +7 400
>Matt_Graham: (OW) +10 410
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