| Player 1 |
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#player1 josh josh
#player2 Jackson Jackson
>josh: ADEEIMS H4 MEDIA +22 22
#note For a moment I had forgotten that I just needed to not lose by 156 or more. So I decided MEDIA was better than MEDIAE and played it. Given what I need to accomplish MEDIAE is immensely better; it creates no hook for Jackson to utilise--MEDIA creates a hook with 28 of the 93 remaining tiles in the bag, allowing Jackson many options to score more with a horizontal bingo and choose between many placements depending on what might benefit him the most. In a regular game, the aggression that MEDIA uses makes it a worthy option, however in this position, it is a large mistake. The other problem with MEDIA is that it leaves me more prone to vowel trouble and therefore an inability to score and maintain a comfortable pace. I suffer dearly for this, indeed for almost the entire rest of the game.
>Jackson: ?ABNOTU 8H .UTOBAhN +86 86
>josh: AEEEOSV J5 OVA.E +16 38
#note Something more open like 6D EAVE(D) or 9E EAVE would be fine in a regular game. However in this position I am losing ground fast, and I should definitely play OVA(T)E to block all of the 2x2 possibilities and constrain the board.
>Jackson: BEEIPSX K2 IBEX +44 130
#note I need to win the game by 157 points to win the tournament.
>josh: AEEEEST -IIKL +0 38
#note exchange EEE, keep AEST. Things are starting to look like a game!
>Jackson: CEPRRRS 2I PR.CER +24 154
>josh: AEGHIST O3 HEATI.GS +63 101
>Jackson: AFNRRSS K7 S.FAR +23 177
>josh: AILNOOU L2 .OLON +32 133
>Jackson: AGNORST 4A ANGSTRO. +74 251
>josh: ADFGIUU 1F FUGU +28 161
#note I took a very long breath here. Jackson is really bringing his a-game and might win this by more than 156!
>Jackson: AINOPRW 1M WOP +31 282
#note I could do INWRAP for 37 here - I'm up by 127 and need 30 more points. WOP is still fine to increase my bingo % because getting there after INWRAP is more of a slog
>josh: ADDHIIL A4 .LIDAD +24 185
#note Absolutely better to play D(A)HLIA here. 6 more points and a similar leave. I plain missed the word, and could have blown the game right here. The only good thing about (A)LIDAD is that it makes it more difficult to get a huge bingo down column B.
>Jackson: AINNRYZ C1 ZIN.Y +36 318
#note Strongly considered NAZI here. Given I am "down" here, I really wanted the bingo potentialy with ZINGY, even if that means giving up a 35-45 point play. NAZI really hurts my bingo chances, and I'd rather fade the Z play and hope for the bingo than hope NRY materializes into something
>josh: EEHIITY 1A TI. +36 221
#note This seemed better than YE(Z) as I am just no longer trying to win but rather trying to avoid losing by 156+. Keeping a duplicate I and only one scoring tile seemed significantly worse than keeping the H and the Y to try and keep scoring so as not to lose by that magic number.
>Jackson: ADEENOR 3J E..N +26 344
#note Up 97 now, I really need a bingo to win. I could do E(R)A or OE/MEDIAE to really go for the bingo, but even then I won't necessarily be in the lead. EBON still bingoes a third of the time and is much stronger when I do bingo. Given the defense Josh will be playing, EBON gives me a bit more flexibility to possibly outrun instead of bingo down the road.
>josh: EEHIIOY E2 YE.I +14 235
#note just gotta protect myself here and block the T.
>Jackson: ADEEEOR 9G OE +12 356
#note I liked how this opened the board - Josh's only real blocking possibility is to play along row 10, which will give me lots of 8s lines, and hopefully consonants that will help ADEER
>josh: EHILOSU 10C LOUIE +9 244
#note At this point I began to wonder about SOFARS. I liked it but not enough to risk it this turn. LOUIE seemed good because Jackson seems to be fishing without the blank. The Q is also out, and LOUIE gives me a possible spot to unload it. the HS combo is good for scoring and possibly for a bingo. But mostly, I'm blocking. Next turn, if Jackson has missed his bingo (which I really hope he has, I will be able to make a second defensive play and eliminate much of his bingo chances. However it seems better to play HOUSEL at 12H for scoring, since although Jackson will leave one in the bag after a bingo, I can possibly still hold on. After LOUIE it is almost impossible for me to lose by less than 156 if Jackson hits his bingo. So really not a great position for me.
>Jackson: ADEEERT B6 DATE +24 380
#note There are no duplicates in the pool! very cool. Suuuuper consonant heavy and clunky pool. I'm up by 112 here so I'm down by 44. DATE puts me down 20. I think this was the wrong choice here, I should do something more aggressive like L10 DEE. With the O and U in louie, lots of bad racks will be bailed out and my 20 point deficit will again become 40 or 50, and I'll need to bingo at some point. I think I will need to draw a bingo to win.
>josh: ?CHILST 12E CHITaLS +71 315
#note I spent the most time on this turn because I didn't see any bingos and I seemed to be in the driver's seat. The pool is not very good at all with the J and the Q and the VWK. Jackson has very few possible bingos. I figured that if I lost my turn, I could still hold on to victory and create a very complicated endgame for Jackson. I played this because I liked SOFARS and also because I needed some room to breathe; if this gets challenged off, I will have some more time to ponder or look for other options. I didn't see Tr(O)CHILS but I don't know that I would have played that. It allows Jackson to bingo out a lot more than doing nothing, which would lose. If this is good I am just hoping he can't bingo, and CuLTISH and CoLTISH are even in that respect, since they also block two racks that play through the A. Expect Jackson's rack is not random, he might be more likely to hit W(A)RMAKER than he is to hit MAKE(O)VER. Turns out I blocked the right floater given Jackson's actual leave. But it was just total luck to have drawn what I drew.
>Jackson: EEMQRRW - +0 380
>josh: AJKNV M7 J.VA +26 341
#note I can Q-stick here but I am happy to just not lose by 156.
>Jackson: EEMQRRW C7 MEW. +39 419
#note MEWLER!
>josh: KN 7G K.N.. +18 359
>josh: (EQRR) +26 385
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