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#player1 Joshua_Sokol Joshua Sokol
#player2 Horn Horn
>Joshua_Sokol: AGORRWY H4 YARROW +32 32
#note huh, I feel like I've challenged ARROWY off in one of my series games against Jackson. Maybe not... It takes a nice M hook and is probably better than YARROW because it doesn't take an S, however my positioning makes the S-hook less valuable at least.
>Horn: HNSU 4D UNSH. +22 22
#note And here it was. A blatantly phony word that I was very very close to challenging. My hand was literally on top of the neutralize button when I stopped and thought, is my knowledge of the 5s really that solid? Is it possible that I've just never seen this word? Is it possible that I have seen it once or twice, on aerolith maybe? He is clearly confident that this is valid. What do I know really? There are some weird 5s. However, I really needed to trust my gut here, because not only is he probably keeping pretty well with another S, he also blocked my best plays and I will have to leave the YARROWS hook alive or create an even better hook. I froze. I'm not UNSHY* I guess.
>Joshua_Sokol: ADGJKNV G8 JAG +27 59
#note I missed a fantastic play here. It's a setup, and I think I would play it in a do-over. Interestingly, in relation to my torn feeling about challenging his last play, with an inference of an S, Quackle has JAG as barely the best move over E2 VA(N)G (I personally believe VA(N)G is better)
VA(S) is definitely better than either, however. I will usually have multiple turns to fully maximize the scoring potential of the setup. Quackle doesn't recognize this and expects me to use it ASAP.
>Horn: MOW 6F WO.M +17 39
>Joshua_Sokol: DFKNNPV -FKNPV +0 59
#note keeping just an N seems slightly stronger. I am a slave to synergy.
>Horn: GUV 11E VUG +27 66
>Joshua_Sokol: DEINOOS 5D NOO +18 77
>Horn: AINOSTT 12G STATION +80 146
>Joshua_Sokol: DEEIRSU J4 RESIDUE +74 151
>Horn: IQ 6C QI +14 160
#note he was not happy at this point
>Joshua_Sokol: DEELLRS 8J .ELLED +27 178
#note so I took advantage by playing a phony. Now we're even, but perhaps the damage is already done, he bingo-ed first.
>Horn: AEILTVX K3 VEX +46 206
#note This is the famous point where Joel does something that really bothers his opponents. He gets visibly angry for some reason (in this case it was that he thought he had LAXATIV(E) for a second but realized he did not)
An opponent will then logically gather he is in a bad position, so in this case it would mean that he has no way to score or balance his rack. But they would be wrong when he plays VEX and even more wrong when they realize he kept a leave that hits a bingo over 1/4 of the time.
At this point I thought I was over getting annoyed at this sort of behaviour, but it was a cash game and he was ahead and could strike at any point, leaving me with few comeback options.
>Joshua_Sokol: CGNRTTY K10 TY.NG +20 198
#note I could also do 10I G(E)NTRY, which I didn't spot. It does prevent certain bingos from ending the game very swiftly and blocks one end of the D, but I decided to go aggro instead.
>Horn: AIK M10 KI.A +16 222
>Joshua_Sokol: CFINRTU H12 .URF +21 219
#note I didn't spot N6 CR(E)TIN, which is the defensive option. It digs for a blank, scores well, keeps pretty poorly but it's OK since there is nowhere to score easily on this board. No K left and only NS left to hook IN with no worst case scenario 70-point play with the Z or anything like that, the Q is gone.
This is exactly the type of play I wanted to make in this position. I just didn't spend enough time finding it.
>Horn: LP I11 L.P +15 237
>Joshua_Sokol: ACDIINT N1 INDICAT. +76 295
#note Moment of truth. Do I put the A at N1 or the I?
I figured that Joel would be likely to have one or even two E's on his rack after a play like L(A)P and even KI(N)A, which would make it tougher to hit the N1 spot hard. He also doesn't seem to have the Z, which is what would hit the N1 spot the hardest. It seems slightly easier for Joel to score after INDICAT(E), but that presumes him having the Z more often, I would say.
However, ACTINID(E) does make it impossible to overlap and play downward from O1, which is also something I considered. With both blanks out and the time Joel was taking to make his plays, I was more concerned with preventing 3x3 situations than anything else, and indeed there are significantly more 3x3 threats after ACTINID(E) (16% more in fact, 1810 instead of 1559), which increases the play's standard deviation. So this decision seems to have been the correct one in the situation at hand, but perhaps I'm only trying to vindicate myself.
>Horn: ?AALOTZ 1K AZO.c +69 306
#note after ACTINID(E), he only has Ze(A)L keeping AATO, significantly worse for him than this.
>Joshua_Sokol: AEEFHRR O8 .EAFER +11 306
#note I was really struggling to figure out a plan here. Playing off tiles seemed to be a good idea to go for the case blank, but also beginning to create an even less entropic board. I figured I could probably hold this positioin, but that MET(AZOIc) might come into play later on, and I wanted a head start on hitting that monster play.
M3 EH sims best, but once again I don't really trust this result. It does also complicate things some of the time, so perhaps.
>Horn: ALT 4J ..TA.L +14 320
#note I heard Joel say "but I need that" "no I don't" to himself during this turn. I wondered what he meant, but I should have known.
>Joshua_Sokol: BBDEHIR 14C RIBBE. +16 322
#note Among DRIBBER*, RIBBER and DIBBER, I liked RIBBER the most. I also liked CRIBBE(R) but hoped/doubted Joel would play it unless he felt he needed to. I didn't like DRIBBER and felt like it was too likely to lose me the game since it was probably coming off the board. DIBBE(R) sims best by a longshot almost singlehandedly because of the fact that it sets C(RIBBER) up. I either nead a bingo, a scoring rack, or I need to hit CRIBBER or METAZOIC to win this game. Or was it only AZOTEMIC? It seemed like both were good.
>Horn: EENP 15A PEEN +26 346
>Joshua_Sokol: ?CDHIIO 13A CHI +22 344
#note Alright, here goes. I had many ways to win this game.
-I could have played ARROWY, perhaps gotten challenged or gotten to utilize M(ARROWY), but especially not to create an S-hook.
-I could have challenged off UNSHY*, which now of course looks like a horrendous attempt at a word, even though it was a very good phony at the time it was played.
-I could have played VA(S) and fished for huge 70+-point plays at 1D
-I could have played CR(E)TIN for 26 and closed the board down while taking a small lead, also turning over 5 tiles for the blank earlier on.
-Now, in this position, I could have done more to enforce errors. I see he has MET(AZOIc) and he just wins if he plays it. However, I could have played CHOIc(E) B10 for 52, force Joel to think about challenging, perhaps he would miscount and think he would lose if he let it go.
-I could have played 7B HI, the optimal endgame, and force Joel to think about perhaps just blocking column A with a play like MESA A8, and winning the game by 4 by playing B10 bODIC(E).
-Or this could have worked. I hoped instead that Joel would miss MET(AZOIc) or not be 100% sure of its validity.
-
>Horn: AEEMOST 1H MET..... +54 400
#note Amazingly, I could have tied the first and the last game of the tournament against the same opponent!
3B TAM and TOM both tie, since they block DOIt 7A and only allow me to go out for 10 points by playing through the T at B1.
3C EMO doesn't work even though it also blocks DOIt, since it sets D(EMO) up for me. Joel worked all of this out.
He laid down MET(AZOIc), took it back, took a few breaths, and then put down the finishing blow once again.
>Joshua_Sokol: ?DIO - +0 344
#note And let me tell you, I am so ashamed of how I reacted. I sprang up from my seat, dislodged my tiles from my rack, walked up to the computer seeing only red, had Joel confirm my demise by pressing "TAB", and then shakily walked back to the table, knocking a chair into an adjacent table where another game was in progress.
I was literally fuming and shaking like a flivver. Fortuntely, I regained my good spirits several minutes later and discussed the game with Joel, ultimately apologizing for my behaviour.
However frustrating this loss was, I was way out of line. Ken Rubin, who was playing right next to us, noted to me that I should have challenged UNSH(Y), and I nearly quipped right back at him that he shouldn't have played BETIMEs for 73 or 74 when he had BEdTIME(S) for 84, but that I guess he knew he was going to bingo from the S a turn or two later.
Being a 2000 player really gets to your ego in some inappropriate ways. I need to learn to be humbler and control my emotions, also not to dwell on losses like this one.
>Horn: AEOS 12B OSE +15 415
>Joshua_Sokol: ?DIO 7A DOIt +20 364
>Joshua_Sokol: (A) +2 366
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