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#player1 Colin_Northmore Colin Northmore
#player2 David_Koenig David Koenig
>Colin_Northmore: III -III +0 0
>David_Koenig: ACDEPPU 8D CUPPED +32 32
#note I briefly considered CUPPA mainly because I was playing in the UK and drinking tea during several of my rounds, but I like this better.
>Colin_Northmore: FO F6 FO. +16 16
>David_Koenig: AALORRT 9G AR +10 42
#note There really aren't any standout plays here. My choice is pretty far down the list of Quackle's sim results, and its static evaluator doesn't even suggest the play. But there's not a big difference between almost any reasonable choices here. The most important thing is probably just to pick something and move on instead of getting into time pressure worrying about being perfect here.
>Colin_Northmore: AEINSTT 10C SATINET +67 83
>David_Koenig: AAILORT D8 .O.LA +14 56
#note This however is a seemingly similar case in which there is a clearly best play, and I found it. Nothing else balances scoring and leave as well as COALA.
>Colin_Northmore: DORU 11H DOUR +17 100
>David_Koenig: AINNRTY 6D IN.ANTRY +66 122
>Colin_Northmore: AGLR K2 GLAR. +18 118
>David_Koenig: ?BEIMRY 3E lIMBER.Y +68 190
>David_Koenig: AEHIINT (challenge) +5 195
#note The only bingo.
>Colin_Northmore: CU H1 CU. +21 139
>David_Koenig: AEHIINT L1 HI.A +35 230
#note It's plays like this that separate contenders from pretenders in my opinion. It's easy to fixate on the 2F square, both because it's one of the highest scoring places for the H and because it's a hot spot that you naturally want to take away from the opponent, and end up making a play like AH or HAUT which scores well but leaves a suboptimal leave. Even if you decide to sacrifice points to clean up the rack better, you might just think to dink AHI at 5C. While those choices are all comparable to each other, they are all far worse than HIYA, which both scores a lot and cleans up the rack exactly as you want to. It's not a natural lane to think about as HIYA is an unusual word formation and without an O you might not even think about the L1-L4 lane. How do you get better at spotting plays like this? I don't know that I have a good answer. Experience can't hurt, but I also think a lot of systematic study of the fours helps so that when you consider letters like AHIY you can instantly recall that there is a word there.
>Colin_Northmore: AERTX 2B RETAX +82 221
>David_Koenig: AEEINTW 1A WANE +31 261
#note Usually N is a better letter to keep than T because it goes with more midpoint tiles. However, there are two more N's unseen and only one T unseen, and also most of the midpoint tiles have already been played. All of that is why I chose WANE over WATE/WETA. That said, there's another concern which is more important here. Though I did think about it during the game, I didn't come up with the best play to actually deal well with it. The issue is that there are a lot of E's unseen and only one more A. Furthermore, there is value in keeping the A for the DOURA hook. If I could have played WITE in the top corner I would have, but I was unable to find a good way to score well enough there and retain the A. The best play is 1A EEW. With all those E's unseen, the AINT leave is actually my most bingoable leave, and the DOURA hook significantly increases the chances those bingos go down.
>Colin_Northmore: IIO 1L .IOI +21 242
>David_Koenig: BEEHITZ 4A ZIBET +54 315
>Colin_Northmore: GOSW 13A WOGS +24 266
>David_Koenig: DEHLMOT A4 .LOTE +42 357
#note I didn't think of THOWEL, which is a strong alternative, but this play is at least as good because it doesn't open up row 15 for him, and the H and M play nicely alongside ZLOTE.
>Colin_Northmore: EKS A12 E.KS +36 302
>David_Koenig: DEGHMOQ B6 HOME +36 393
#note It's looking like he needs a bingo, and even that might not be enough. However, I could get into Q trouble, which might turn the tables on me. Therefore, rather than holding back the E for a more balanced leave, I considered it important to turn over the maximum number of tiles to give me some way to get rid of the Q.
>Colin_Northmore: ?AEILNV 15A .LEAVINg +83 385
#note Colin bingoed just in time, as otherwise SQUEG would have come next.
>David_Koenig: DDEEGQU F14 Q. +31 424
>Colin_Northmore: FIJNOSV B12 F.O. +31 416
>David_Koenig: DDEEGU 12J GED +15 439
#note I was short of time here after messing up my tracking earlier, but fortunately it didn't matter. I can't lose as long as I make any reasonable out in two. Although Colin made the score close at the end, his post-bingo rack was just a bit too clunky to complete the comeback.
>Colin_Northmore: IJNSV G13 JI. +29 445
>David_Koenig: DEU 5G DUE +11 450
>David_Koenig: (NSV) +12 462
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