| Player 1 |
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#player1 pat pat
#player2 moh moh
>pat: FRY 8H FRY +18 18
>moh: ?CDIIJN -DIJ +0 0
#note Ugh. There's no way to score on this board. Throwing back tiles and keeping the blank and few bingo-prone tiles should yield a bingo before too long.
>pat: AMOR 7G ROAM +23 41
>moh: ?CDIINN -DIN +0 0
#note There was a cool nine available: I3 CNID(AR)IaN. I won't beat myself up for missing it. Short of the nine, there are no decent plays here. A very ugly opening for me, but--once again--I can keep really good tiles with an exchange and should bingo soon and get right back into the mix.
>pat: NO 6F NO +6 47
>moh: ?CEINNO E5 CONiINE +85 85
#note I played way too quickly when I saw the 2x2 I'd get for hooking O(NO) with something like CONINEs, CONiINE, or CONfINE. I could have played the very same words horizontally for two more points.
>pat: EX D7 EX +35 82
>moh: CEGIILO 5G CIG +11 96
#note For the third time in only four plays, this board just doesn't like my tiles. I think I let the frustration of bad conbinations get to me, as my play of 5G CIG was pretty lame. CIG at 9J is several more points. I guess the best play is F10 OLEIC. It scores 21 points and doesn't offer much back to the opponent.
>pat: ?HINRTU C1 HURTINg +70 152
#note Opponent's bingo was one of only three possibilites. The others were RUNTIsH in the same spot for a heftier 86, and the anemic 11A RUTH(E)NIc for a paltry 60.
>moh: EEILORS 10A ELOI.ERS +62 158
#note My ELOI(N)ERS was the only bingo. After ELOINERS, suddenly this board is wide open with five of the eight triple-word squares accessible!
>pat: BIV A7 VIB. +27 179
>moh: AAEIIKO 4A KA.A +26 184
#note The drek continues! It's surely bad form to complain about bad tiles when you're up two-bingos-to-one, but--wow, my non-bingo racks this game have been U-G-L-Y (and they ain't got no alibi!). This position brings up a classic dilemma from our game: Play for leave or play for points? Here there is no middle way, as the decent leaves scores next to nothing (e.g., 1B O(H)IA for 8, 4A IO(T)A for 10, 1C (H)AIKA for 13). But the decent-scoring plays have terrible leaves (e.g., KI(T)E or KA(T)A at 4A, or KAE at 4H). At the time I thought that I better take the points and hold my breath, but I'm not so sure now. As a bonus, the HAIKA and OHIA plays block the most dangerous triple row.
>pat: AQT 4H QAT +46 225
>moh: DEEEIIO 3J EIDE +12 196
#note Remember that dilemma of leave vs. points? Right now I'd love to trade the points of KATA for the leave of OHIA! The most I can score here is a measly 12 for EIDE at 3J. That play gives me a decent leave (given my tiles), but I don't like the huge hotspot it opens at J2. But I've got to play the hand I'm dealt, right?
>pat: EMOPS 2J POEMS +50 275
>moh: EINNOTU A1 NEU. +24 220
#note Ouch! POEMS is exactly the kind of riposte that I worried about when I played EIDE. Hey, at least I didn't get hit with a hundred-pointer like JOINT in the same spot. On the bright side, the best play is pretty obvious here: get rid of the U and one of my Ns with NEU(K) from A1.
>pat: AW 1N AW +17 292
>moh: HINOTTT C9 T.OTH +18 238
#note Alas, sometimes the tiles gods are just dead set against balanced racks. Two options stand out here: H10 (S)TOTIN 21 and C9 T(O)OTH 18. Since I didn't think about STOTIN, my decision was pretty straightforward.
>pat: EIW 12A WI.E +22 314
>moh: DEILNTU 1C .UNTED +33 271
#note No place for DILUENT, and the game realy feels like it's slipping away. Computer simulation shows that the best play, 1C (H)UNTED 33, gives less than 7% chance of wining.
>pat: ADO A12 .OAD +24 338
>moh: BEFIJLS L1 B..EL +22 293
#note The J, while sometimes offering big plays because of its heaviness, is an absolute bingo killer. With a dwindling bag, I am starting to try to figure out if there's a way to win without a bingo since the bingo chances are so bleak (to give you an idea, the top ten plays all offer bingos on about one in fifty draws). Unfortunately, nothing jumps out right now, so just try to score a few and play on...
>pat: EZ 5L .EZ +12 350
>moh: ADFIJOS 6M FAD +27 320
#note I seriously thought about trying to fish for the lone remaining U for H10 (S)AJOUS for 63 points. But I thought that kind of desperation was still a bit premature--6M FAD leaves me down only 30 (and wins about 10% of the time).
>pat: GRU O6 .RUG +18 368
>moh: GIIJOSY 9M JI. +19 339
#note With the doubled Is and the Y draw, I feel like I'm drawing dead because I'm down 48. I'm usually going to need a bingo to make up 48 points this late, so I have to undouble the Is and shed the J with 9M JI(G). Fingers crossed...
>pat: ALPRSTV H10 .PLATS +27 395
#note Notice that my opponent's V does not play in very many places. Even though she has a nice lead, weird things can happen when you get stuck with a tile. But the 27 points for H10 (S)PLATS are too tempting, and she takes them. Surely a 56-point lead should hold up against my harmless-looking final, right?
>moh: AGILOSY 14H .O +2 341
#note I'm very low on time, but I quickly see that the only way my opponent can play her V is with 13G V(A)R. I don't have enough time to work out exactly how I'm going to play off my tiles, but the first step has to be to stick her with that V. Pretty much any play in the G13-14/I13-14 area will stick her with the V, so I play 14H (T)O for 2 points.
>pat: RV 14H ..R +5 400
>moh: AGILSY 13H .Y +18 359
#note Now that she has played off her R, she will have to pass back for the remainder of the game. Now I just need to figure out a way to score 50+ points with six tiles...
>pat: V - +0 400
>moh: AGILS M9 .AG +11 370
#note My choice of (J)AG here is a little weak, but my clock is down to under 15 seconds, so I won't beat myself up.
>pat: V - +0 400
>moh: ILS E5 .......S +17 387
>pat: V - +0 400
>moh: IL 13G L.. +7 394
>pat: V - +0 400
>moh: I 11H .I +4 398
>moh: (V) +8 406
#note Whew! Final clock shows 0:02.
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