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#player1 Jason_Li Jason Li
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Jason_Li: ELNWY 8H NEWLY +30 30
>Jim_Burlant: EEGMORT L1 GEOMETR. +82 82
#note Great start! Best bingo - the other options are GEOMETER down the I column for 65 and 64 depending on placement.
>Jason_Li: LV 5K L.V +12 42
>Jim_Burlant: ?CDEEGG 1K E.GED +24 106
#note Wow. I'd have never thought that CG was such a toxic combination that I should leave row 1 alone and play EGGED on row 9 for 5 fewer points, but that's what the duck would have you believe. In retrospect, given the limitations of my word knowledge, I wish I had done just that, as you'll see in a moment.
>Jason_Li: JLO J6 JO.L +30 72
>Jim_Burlant: ?CEGMNO 3I GEN.M +20 126
#note You gotta know 'em to play 'em. I spent way too much time on this to come up empty; without GENOMiC, all I saw was CONGOMEN*, which looked wrong. But CONGOMEN* does have a legitimate anagram I needed to find: COGNoMEN, which scores 89 at H1. If you miss the bingoes, M3 MOVE or 3I COGON are your best bets.
>Jason_Li: ITZ 4H ZIT +27 99
>Jim_Burlant: ?CEIINO O1 .ECIsION +83 209
#note Bingoes all over the place (10H EOSINIC, H8 NICOTINE, etc.) but those score 78 and 77 while this scores 83 and is best. Time became a problem here because I spent several more minutes looking for the non-existent bingo that didn't present vowel placement issues. Still in great shape, at just shy of 90%. But this game was giong to get more interesting as it progressed.
>Jason_Li: Q 6N Q. +31 130
>Jim_Burlant: FIRRTUW H7 U.WIT +8 217
#note What to do here - exchange? I never saw FURL because the UW combo blinded me and it took me a while just to find this. Best looks to be 9G FURL. The consolation: it wouldn't have stopped his next play:
>Jason_Li: KOOST 10J STOOK +38 168
>Jim_Burlant: DEFHORT 2J FO. +31 248
#note It's either this or 2J FREE. A sim has trouble deciding which one is better. In retrospect, FREE looks a smidge better - therre are still a bunch of R's and 4 E's unseen. But this is still a very good play, though.
>Jason_Li: BEFU M9 B.EUF +26 194
>Jim_Burlant: ADEHHRT N12 HATH +30 278
#note It's either this or 5D THREAD. THREAD looks a smidge better. Still 88% to win.
>Jason_Li: AIPS 15K SPA.I +39 233
>Jim_Burlant: ADEIIIR K10 .IDIE. +14 292
#note Too many I's in this rack for me to consider 5D IDEA, IMO. Slightly better might have been K8 LITAI for 12, leaving a more balanced DEIR. Still 76% to win, but my next rack forces me into a game-altering mistake.
>Jason_Li: AALX G9 AXAL +29 262
>Jim_Burlant: AAIORST 5E TORA +19 311
#note Right idea, wrong execution. While this scores comparably to my other options and I didn't really leave much on the table points-wise, there are two problems with this play. First, while the vowel placement issues with this choice didn't come back to bite me, later, it still gives back plays if he's got the Y. Secondly, it burns the case T. ARIA in the same location would have been much better, not only for the non-existent vowel placement issues. The unseen pool has 3A's and 4R's unseen, meaning those tiles are expendable from my rack. If I play ARIA here, this game is probably my win. Instead, watch what happens:
>Jason_Li: ?AEERRU E5 .REAsURE +64 326
>Jim_Burlant: ADINSVY D12 DAVY +36 347
#note I saw this and just fixated on TREASURE back hooks, which was absolutely the wrong thing to do. VARY on row 6 was a possibilty but there was still an O unseen, so that ruled that out. I then saw DAVY D12 and considered that but was at cross purposes. Entering this game, I was leading the competition for the class prize in my category. I was one game and roughly 300 points of spread ahead of my closest challenger. A close loss here would still guarantee me one of the top two class prizes, and a blowout could cost me one. Eventually I threw my hands up and put this down to maximize my pionts. The play I should have probably made was VANDA 8A, which I never recognized, and tht makes sense. It scores almost as well, and leaves me a Y to play at F6 if I draw any number of combinations.
>Jason_Li: AEPRR 15A PRA.ER +33 359
>Jim_Burlant: ABINNSU 13A BUN.S +22 369
#note Having mismanaged my time and burned it down to the nub at barely two minutes, I make the fatal error. I'm still so fixated on TREASURE back hooks that I incorrectly think that making TREASURED is the big threat. So I rushed this down. After I clocked this play, I realized the mistake: CNIDA 8A was what I had to address threat, and I had failed to block it. This play gifted Jason the win.
>Jason_Li: CDINOS 8A CNID. +30 389
>Jim_Burlant: AIN 6C AI.N +10 379
>Jim_Burlant: (OS) +4 383
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