| Player 1 |
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#player1 JD JD
#player2 Mina_Le Mina Le
>JD: BCILOTU 8D CIBOL +24 24
#note Weak opener, just couldn't logic my way to the optimal play of BOULT, which doesn't give back many points and retains a much stronger CI leave.
>Mina_Le: AHILNOR D8 .HORAL +22 22
#note Ah, I'd been hoping for him to play a T for HORNTAIL. HAHAHA, turns out HE ACTUALLY HAD ONE!
The seven top-simming plays all start at 9G with the H. Most of those options score 23; one scores 22 and one scores 20. Yet HORI has a dynamic valuation of 29.6 and CHORAL has a dynamic valuation of 25.4. Why is playing closed considered better than playing open? After all, an open board gives me more possibilities for the future. And I figured that if he back-hooks CHORAL with the E, then I could respond on row 15.
>JD: ?DEQSTU 14A QUeSTED +98 122
>JD: DEIIOUY (challenge) +5 127
>Mina_Le: BEGINTZ 7G ZE +44 66
#note Weird! Why didn't he play QUeSTED at 14B, so that he wouldn't set up such a blazing hot spot at 15A? And CHORALE I knew, but CHORALS?! I challenged the hook.
Cesar says that by playing CHORAL instead of one of the short horizontal H words at 9G, I gave myself less control over the contents of my next rack. But he also notes that HORI would have given Jesse a double-double SQU(I)nTED, so sometimes you can't game the system and you just have to do your own thing.
ZE is the best-simming play here.
>JD: DEIIOUY A14 .I +33 160
#note kind of rare - 4 completely different options all level on the sim, including UEY at E10, EUOI at 15G and YODE at 9F, all with varying degrees of terrible leaves! the choice I went with is more defensive, but also lowest upside.
>Mina_Le: BEEGINT 6H BEETING +71 137
#note As I laid this down I said, "I wish I could play the NOLA word, but this one scores more." Also, I knew BEETING wouldn't take an S.
Surprise: both of the 13F bingos sim higher than the 6H bingos. I had rejected that spot out-of-hand because the word wouldn't reach the Double Word Score. But it turns out the score is about the same, and there's great defensive value to preventing big plays on row 15. (Jesse made a big row 15 play on the next turn, even though it turns out he had kept a terrible leave.)
>JD: DEHIOUY 15F HOYED +44 204
>Mina_Le: EJNOORU 11A JOU.NO +26 163
#note Proud of myself -- this is one of the two top-simming plays. I'm surprised that M2 JOUR(N)O is the other, because it hangs a J next to a Double Word Score and thus gives up so much in reply.
>JD: IIIPUVY 10F YIP +29 233
#note maybe PIU to cleanse the ugliness faster?!
>Mina_Le: ?EEEELR 5J EE +10 173
#note Four E's! The only bingos I saw were RELEASEE and REPEELED*, but I didn't see a lane for either one. Turns out I completely missed the lane at J8. Also turns out REPEELED* is phony. The real word is REhEELED, which would have been the correct play at this juncture, had I known it. Failing that, Quackle thinks I should have played EEL where I played EE, for the four extra points. For my part I had thought there was synergy in keeping ?EELR instead of ?EER. N'est-ce pas?
>JD: AAIIRUV I4 UV.A +27 260
>Mina_Le: ?EELRST L5 S.LEnTER +73 246
#note I chose this bingo placement because it struck me as maximally defensive, shutting off the bingo lanes on row 11, row 12, and row 13, and not opening anything. To my consternation, Quackle prefers the bingos that start at L1, even though they only score two points more than mine, and they give back big points up top.
>JD: AGIILOR A8 RIO.A +39 299
#note ORIGINAL got blocked, but this is a fair consolation...right?!
>Mina_Le: AAEGOTW K10 AWA +26 272
#note AWATO in the same spot sims best, and I definitely SAW it, but I consciously chose not to play it, because I figured EGOT is a stronger leave than EG. By passing up the flashy play on this turn, I'd have more control over my destiny for the next turn. And boy did it turn out to be the right decision, since I was able to slap down a third bingo on the next turn as a result!
The question is why AWATO for 30 has a dynamic valuation of 29.7 and AWATO for 26 has a dynamic valuation of only 20.9, then?
>JD: AGILRSS J10 GALS +26 325
#note hm nowhere for SLAIRGS, but this seemed like it gave me a good shot at winning - tacked on the S to block row 14.
>Mina_Le: ADEEGOT B2 DOGEATE +74 346
#note Q thinks she was only 5% to bingo this turn :P
>JD: FFIKNRS 8L .FF +9 334
#note this wound up backfiring, but I didn't love KIF at C3 because it just makes Mina's next play so easy, and I'm probably reliant on drawing the X for H4 or something to win. of course, I can also take the 40 points and then set up the S next turn instead, but I thought this would put the most pressure on her.
>Mina_Le: CEINTTX N8 .IXT +30 376
#note The exquisite natural EXTINCT sat unplayable on my rack.
I was already annoyed when he telegraphed his S by playing GALS, but when he played EFF, it was an in-your-face setup of the case S! I faced a crossroads now. TIX would score 41 points at C1, but the same three tiles would score only 30 points for a blocking play of FIXT. Would it really be worth sacrificing ELEVEN points to block? I decided it WOULD be.
Bizarrely, Quackle disagrees. Quackle far prefers the X plays at C2 and C1, giving FIXT a dynamic valuation of 33.6 and TIX a dynamic valuation of 41.3. Does it not understand the setup?
Cesar revealed that Quackle is in fact unable to infer from the GALS play that Jesse has the case S, even though it's OBVIOUS. He showed me you have to "specify partial oppo rack" with S, and when you do, FIXT instantly sims best, markedly superior to EXIT and TIX.
>JD: IIKNORS H1 IKON +30 364
#note I felt like I needed to do this because FIXT blocked me quite effectively, and I needed to create a chance of bingoing out. but probably KOI at B10 is better because it slows the game down, and I save the O so that I can draw into SOU/EFF/IO/XU if I pull the U from the bag (or maybe even SOUARI).
>Mina_Le: ACEMNPT 3A C.MP +20 396
#note Six tiles left in the bag. I see B10 POM for 27 but I'm not sure if POM is good. Indeed POM is the highest-simming play. Given that I'm consonant-heavy and the unseen pool is consonant-heavy, I decide to play off consonants.
At first COMP doesn't even show up among Quackle's top fifteen choices. But when I manually add it, it sims in the top five.
>JD: IINRSUW 4D IWI +20 384
#note it would've been nice if I held onto the O last turn - instead I'm now stuck trying to luck into a bingo.
>Mina_Le: AEMNNRT 1E TRA.NMEN +61 457
#note This was so joyously lucky. I'd never studied this rack (so I didn't see MANRENT or REMNANT), and I had certainly never studied any of the eights that this rack makes. I just happened to find TRAINMEN and recognized that I had seen it played in someone else's game somewhere. A good memory really is a blessing!
>JD: ADNRSUV A1 VA. +27 411
#note low on tiiiime
>Mina_Le: R G7 ..R. +14 471
#note MY THIRD ***CONSECUTIVE*** TOURNAMENT VICTORY OVER JESSE DAY, World #2!
>Mina_Le: (DNRSU) +12 483
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