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#player1 Noah Noah
#player2 Will Will
>Noah: AEEEGLR 8G GEE +8 8
>Will: AADEEGI F8 AIGA +14 14
#note Not a good start. AIGA is best static equity but sims well below my other candidates, 9G IDEA and 9F AIDE, even with no inference. Given that Noah's rack after GEE is far more bingo prone than random, playing tighter here is even better than sim indicates. I also considered 7G ADAGE but discarded it as too open, which is funny because AIGA yields more bingos/points per turn.
>Noah: AELNRTY E9 LAY +27 35
>Will: ADEEENS G10 EE +12 26
#note Not sure I thought of G8 GEED, which is the only thing I like at least as well as my move here. GEED is ten more points, doesn't sacrifice a huge amount of bingo chances compared to EE, and sets up YADS plays to the triple if I draw high point tiles that don't bingo.
>Noah: EIJNORT I7 J.ON +20 55
#note Nice move by Noah here to block the board, creating a situation where he can wait for me to open it and then pounce.
>Will: ADEINSX J9 XED +26 52
#note Certainly not doing 11I SAX here and getting nailed with SAXE, as Noah's chances of having an E here after GEE and his next two plays not using one are 100%. The choices are my move of XED and 11I SIX. What I'm hoping for here with XED is that Noah doesn't have an O or the other Y and is forced to play alongside XED in a way that creates an S hook for me. On the other hand, any time he does have an O or a Y I'm giving back really nice scores that also block the board further, and he could conceivably have a second O after JEON. SIX scores better (six more points, fittingly), and is several points better defensively, and Quackle slightly prefers it on that basis.
>Noah: EIQRTTU 7C QUIT +29 84
>Will: ABDINSU K10 BAUD +25 77
#note Now between NEBS and SQUIT I have exactly the sort of board I'd like for my INS leave.
>Noah: EEIORRT 8A REI +20 104
>Will: EIINSST A1 INSISTE. +77 154
#note The tiniest bit better than SINISTER because it's easier for Noah to hit an S in first position than an I, and he remains very close to bingoing after REI.
>Noah: ?AEORTT L4 ROTATEs +69 173
#note After SINISTER he gets a few more points for SEATROUT and some other more obscure CSW words.
>Will: CFGIOSW L12 GOWF +39 193
>Noah: EHILMRZ K5 ZEL +50 223
>Will: CILNNOS 15L .LOC +27 220
#note This is a reasonable move, but CODON, which I saw and considered but don't think I fully appreciated, and M7 CON are both better. CODON creates a really annoying S setup that Noah will be hard pressed to block; only low scoring plays from the second T of ROTATES to the triple will even partially block it, and they give me new lines (I suppose there might be a handful of overlaps of ROTATES that also block it a bit). CON is also a nice way to make new lanes that will be difficult to block without giving me huge comeback plays.
>Noah: AAHIMRU J2 HARAM +47 270
>Will: EINNOOS 8L .OON +12 232
#note Quackle wants plays down column B that block my lines; no thanks.
>Noah: ?FINPUY B1 FY +31 301
>Will: EHINOPS N3 ISOPH.NE +71 303
#note I played the higher-up ISOPHONE for two fewer points because I didn't want to give back sixes to the triple that would force me to bingo a second time; however, I think I'm likely to need to bingo a second time even with my placement anyway, and the lower-down ISOPHONE retains column O as a sneaky line with overlaps that I might desperately need as a threat on this difficult board.
>Noah: ?IINPUW O1 WIN +20 321
>Will: ABCDRST M1 CAB +24 327
#note Drat, seems obvious now that the CRST leave after DAB pairs much better with the second S of INSISTER than the DRST leave after CAB. Left some bingo% on the table here.
>Noah: ?AIPTUV 14L .AP +26 347
>Will: DKLMRST M7 K.R +33 360
>Noah: ?IRTUVV 3I V.V +13 360
>Will: DDILMST 12A MILDS +29 389
#note MILDS should win pretty much any time Noah doesn't have a bingo, so that's good, but I failed to spot a much better place to play - C2 hooking NYM. The score is tied, and the remaining tiles are all one-pointers. The extra points from MILDS over C2 plays are not likely to be the difference; at this point, I basically need to score decently and block as many bingos as I can from the INSISTER letters, and C2 plays do that perfectly. My case S should allow me to score at least decently on my next turn and hopefully outrun pretty much any sequence Noah finds. In the troublesome scenario when I don't draw a vowel, I'm still almost certainly fine, because then Noah will be swamped with vowels. The next thing to figure out is which play on column C is best - MID doesn't empty the bag, which might give me better endgame timing, but it allows Noah to dump a U at 13J with UDO, setting up an annoying additional line that might guarantee him the win. It also yields MIDI hooking plays for a small number of bingos. It seems better to just empty the bag now with MILD/MILT and concede defeat to his racks that bingo from the E of REI, like RETINE? (ETERNIZE), but defeating everything else.
>Noah: ?EEIRTU 5A .URETIEs +64 424
#note MILD/MILT would've won the game with relative ease. I seemed to leave a tiny bit of winning% on the table on almost every move in this game, except for MILDS, which was the difference between winning and losing. Very strong game from Noah, who had a remarkably impressive result in this event.
>Noah: (DNORTU) +14 438
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