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#player1 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
#player2 Seth_Lipkin Seth Lipkin
>Jim_Burlant: EELPQTW -EPQW +0 0
#note My first rack of my first game leads to my first mistake. I saw the Q and dismissed PLEW as not being worth it, so I exchanged. If I had looked harder to find TWEEP, it would have been worth it to play through. But if you whiff on TWEEP like I did, is it worth it to play through? IMO there's too much chance that Q won't be playable on the next turn. TWEEP for 26 is obviously best, but a sim makes clear that this is a strong, albeit unconventional, choice, as well.
>Seth_Lipkin: ?EGIRTY 8F RETYInG +74 74
#note This is the only 7 in Seth's rack. The problem with playing it at 8G is that, though he avoids vowel placement issues, he gives up 4 scoreboard points to do that because the N will be on the double-letter at L8. This is his best play.
>Jim_Burlant: EILTTYZ L8 .LITZY +38 38
#note Then again, it wound up helping me that I whiffed on TWEEP; I'd be sitting on QZ with nowhere for QUIZ and probably dumping the Q for 23 and keeping a consonant overload. Instead, I can play this.
>Seth_Lipkin: AGIOOOW -5 +0 74
>Jim_Burlant: EEGINOT F6 GO.E +9 47
#note What a crappy position! I couldn't make myself pull the plug on M13 EGO - play for 18, give back a sure 30+ for sure while I'm already trailing? No thanks. M13 OE looks almost as bad, and OE K10 shuts things down while I'm still trailing. Since I wrote this position off as a loss, I figured that I should just groom the rack and fork the board so it couldn't shut down quickly. If I had to open up hot spots, I figured these spots weren't quite as dangerous as what the M column plays gave back. Not surprisingly, Quackle doesn't like this, but all my options suck; I think this sucks a smidgen less than the other choices. Maybe OE 9H if I had this to do again.
>Seth_Lipkin: FIKL E9 FILK +27 101
#note And Seth's comeback justifies my decision to bypass EGO on the previous turn. It's left as an exercise to the reader to confirm that this game is 9 points closer than it would have been if I had played EGO M13.
>Jim_Burlant: CEEINTX G5 NIX. +39 86
#note There are two strong choices here: G7 XENIC, which doesn't open up, or this. I just autopiloted this and didn't look hard enough to find XENIC. The duck likes XENIC by a little bit (admittedly, it scores 47 to this play's 39), but I'm okay with this.
>Seth_Lipkin: ELNTTU H1 NUTLET +27 128
#note No complaints from me here: Seth only gets 27 points playing from H1, the board is now alive, and I don't have to worry about it shutting down.
>Jim_Burlant: AAACEET 3C ACETA.E +22 108
#note Hmmm. This is where I have to adapt the game to my own skill. I get that ACETATE takes out row 3 and interferes with row 2. The problem I have with the M12 plays like AA and AE is the leave: I don't like keeping AACET or ACEET with all those unseen vowels, as the AACET leave in particular may take the rack into a probability range a bit past what I've studied. So after debating this for a while, I opted to dump the rack for 22 and start over. Quackle wants me to play M12 AE or M12 AA. YMMV.
>Seth_Lipkin: EIV D1 VI.E +26 154
>Jim_Burlant: AABDNPR 1A BRA.A +30 138
#note I debated between BAR(FE)D on row 9 and this. What swayed me towards this was that BRAVA didn't open any new threats beyond A1 bingoes; BARFED gives back a bunch of easy 8A plays. Quackle prefers BARFED by a hair because the leave is slightly more balanced. With all the vowels in the pool I'm not too concerned. I'm fine with this.
>Seth_Lipkin: CEORSSW 13D ESCROWS +79 233
#note A SCOWLERS air ball on row 11 is Seth's only other bingo, so this is best. He's 88% to win.
>Jim_Burlant: ADIJNPQ H12 J.IN +57 195
#note Annoyed to see the Q again, even if I was about to score 57 points with the J. If I didn't have the Q, I'd play ADJOIN for 66 in a New York minute. And that's what Quackle says I should do. Pfft. I'm still scoring 57, and keeping ADQ guarantees that, even if I have the draw from hell, I still have QADI 10B, QAID J6, or QAID 10J on the next turn. Quackle thinks I should play ADJOIN because AAAADDDIIIUUU are still unseen. Quackle notwithstanding, I'd make this play again.
>Seth_Lipkin: DHW 10C WH.D +26 259
>Jim_Burlant: ABDINPQ 10J QA.D +34 229
#note A bit of a miss, but this is a mistake I can live with. Best play per the duck is probably QADI 5B, which scores 5 more and neutralizes bingo threats from A1. 5B plays don't give back as much as this does on row 11, but this does open another line (assuming I can land an S).
>Seth_Lipkin: ANPR 12A PRAN. +32 291
>Jim_Burlant: BDEINPT A10 NI.PED +33 262
#note I just saw 5 tiles turned and 33 points and that was that. Quackle likes 11I plays like BINT and BITTEN. I considered 11I BINT for 27 but rejected it due to leave and lack of turnover. I didn't look very hard for BITTEN, and I'm not sure I like it here. I need lines to stay open and IMO BITTEN defends the board for him. I'm going to have to let 11K sit untended.
>Seth_Lipkin: AEOR M12 AERO +29 320
#note Now I catch a break. Seth is getting screwed with vowel overloads, which forces some hard choices on his end.
>Jim_Burlant: ABEHNOT 15L H.BO +39 301
#note Best, but still in the hole; back up to 31% to win; up to now, everything had been in the 15 - 18% range.
>Seth_Lipkin: ?GOO K5 GOO. +8 328
#note Post-mortem, Seth chastised himself for this play; he told me he annotated his scoresheet with "GLP" (short for Game Losing Play). He was overloaded with vowels to go with his blank. He realized that, instead of this, he should have thrown them back into so as to let me have to deal with them if the worst came to pass and I bingoed. Hnstead, this gave me the win:
>Jim_Burlant: AEIMNST N4 INMATES +84 385
#note Luck box. All of the anagrams of this word play at N4 and they are my only bingo choices. This is best, and it wins 73-1/2%. TAMEINS is next best, and ETAMINS is the weakest of the choices.
>Seth_Lipkin: ?AEFMOU O8 OF +26 354
#note Seth told me this was his rack. If I didn't misunderstand Seth, I don't quite get get Quackle here. He has a bunch of 68-point plays at O4 with the blank: FOAMEd, FOAMEr, FOEMAn. But in all cases, Quackle (both the sim and Championship Player) say his best bet is O4 FOU for 25.
>Jim_Burlant: DEILSUV O1 VELD +35 420
#note The advantage Quackle has is that it can elaborate every possible bingo in the unseen pool while I cannot. There are threats all over the board - rows 1 and 15 as well as the A column. I saw the obvious NEUROMAS on row 1. Just in case he had something I couldn't think of down the A column, I figured the best tack was to maxmize score while taking out what I did see, just in case. This is the wrong execution of the right idea. I failed to recognize that NEUROMA would have played at M1 if I played VIED/VELD, while LUVS blocks that. Fortunately, I dodged a bullet.
>Seth_Lipkin: ?AEMOUU 15E MAU. +6 360
#note Best play here is sick: OLEUM M3 for 34.
>Jim_Burlant: IRSU 9E ..S +20 440
>Seth_Lipkin: ?EOU A1 .OUsE +6 366
>Seth_Lipkin: (IRU) +6 372
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