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#player1 David_Koenig David Koenig
#player2 James_Curley James Curley
>David_Koenig: INORTTY 8H TINTY +24 24
>James_Curley: FLUX 7F FLUX +42 42
>David_Koenig: EEFGIOR L4 FOGE. +24 48
#note I missed FIGTREE for 44 points. FOGIE 6B is also superior to my play.
>James_Curley: AEKW K3 WEKA +42 84
>David_Koenig: EIIRRTV K8 .RIVET +18 66
#note VAGI is a decent option which keeps the board tight and angles toward a bingo, but with the duplicate R if I don't hit a bingo, I'm probably stuck fishing on the next turn. TRIVET is more about the long term. It opens the board in a way that can't quickly be closed down because of the way the V prevents parallel plays. It does burn some potential out of this rack, but I was concerned that he would keep outscoring me on a tight board. 6E VIER is more of a pure equity play, but it does me no favors on this board.
>James_Curley: AQT J2 QAT +43 127
>David_Koenig: DHIIRTV 12H HIV.D +32 98
>James_Curley: ENOO H11 O.ONE +24 151
>David_Koenig: ADIJPRT G13 JAP +43 141
>James_Curley: OS M6 OS +10 161
>David_Koenig: DEIRRTT I11 D.RT +23 164
>James_Curley: OSZ M2 ZOS +31 192
>David_Koenig: CEHIORT N7 THEORIC +67 231
#note I liked this better than ROTCHIE 9B for the same score, but I missed that ROTCHIE plays at 6A for 8 more. I knew it took an S and wanted to set up the hook, on the basis that James might not know it or be afraid to try it.
>James_Curley: ABD N1 DAB +38 230
>David_Koenig: CGIMORW O2 GORM +26 257
#note Tough call. I considered WO F14, OM O8, among other plays. In the end, I wanted more turnover for those S's and blanks. COWGIRL G1 is an interesting option that I didn't think about. Although it's a hefty point sacrifice, the turnover is worth a lot in this situation. CORGI 6B is a slightly less crazy version of the same thing.
>James_Curley: ?AELRSU 9C ALlURES +73 303
>David_Koenig: CEIORWY 8A WEY +32 289
>James_Curley: ALP O8 ALP +36 339
>David_Koenig: ACEIORU 6B COURIE +25 314
#note An important thing to understand about this position is that I didn't need to win. As long as James didn't beat me by 200 something, I was going to hang onto second place. I sillily didn't bother to do the math before the game, so I didn't know what the exact differential I needed to protect was. But the main thing I'm trying to do is not necessarily to come back, but to stop him from bingoing twice more.
>James_Curley: AGIN 10C GAIN +21 360
>David_Koenig: AABEIMN B10 AMINE +26 340
#note At this point I'm pretty much a sure thing to cover the spread, I think, even if he bingos down from the W, but I had a tiny bit of concern that he might have picked up more spread in the previous round without me knowing. I wanted to make a play to take out the lane from the W just to be safe. Winning the game wasn't the highest priority, but I still wanted to give myself some chances to score in the endgame. Even though my play is perhaps not the most accurate, it's not as crazy as it looks. I thought about AMEBA in the same spot, but it's worse for a few important reasons: I want to hold a scoring tile to keep scoring on the next turn, and I don't want to keep IN with a bunch of duplicates remaining. The BA leave is good because of the play BA F14 among other reasons. Furthermore, setting up the scoring spot at A12 is possibly a good thing, as I'm the one with the last scoring tile. What I forgot about was the YAGI hook, which would have allowed me to play the same tiles as ANIME 11A for five more points. What I was not expecting was that after my play and draw, I suddenly had very good winning chances.
>James_Curley: EIILNNU A12 LINE +22 382
#note James is in a tough position, because I am set up much better than he is to score in this endgame. Quackle finds only one move to win, ENNUI 13A. As you will see, it is crucial for him to go out fast.
>David_Koenig: ?ABDEES 11B .EDS +30 370
#note This is good enough to win, though playing MEDs with the blank as the S is a few points better if he finds the best defense. The key is to leave BASE/THEORICS to go out and not to play BASE first, which gives him a spot for UNI. sABS would be a greedy play that would score the most on this turn but not leave as much for the next one. However, Quackle says that sEES is equal best with MEDs.
>James_Curley: INU 5D NU +10 392
#note His best play for spread is to play DIN L12, after which I can win with sABE 15L. This is why playing the blank on MEDs was better, because the S is worth more extra points on the SABE play. In fact, with the blank instead of the S, BEsAW A4 is one point better. In any event, I am winning. James made a good practical decision. He thought THEORICS was good, but he wasn't sure, so he decided to force me to play it and challenge.
>David_Koenig: ?ABE 14L BAsE +34 404
>David_Koenig: (challenge) +5 409
>David_Koenig: (I) +2 411
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