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#player1 MKH Mary Kay Heckerman
#player2 JJB John J. Bulten
>MKH: FLOP 8F FLOP +18 18
#note ~1:00 [~24:00]
>JJB: ABEGIIY G5 BIG.Y +17 17
#note ~2:00 [~23:00] JJB believes he has counted 7 tiles, but it turns out that 8 make it out of the bag, so MKH gets to see BGN from the middle of the rack and removes the useful N. MKH would also like to outlaw JJB's choice of word (we'll let you guess why). It turns out, JJB does not need to keep 3 vowels anyway, with yagi 19 and aye 21 overlapping (up to 6.7 better static value), and with bialy, gaily, bailey, and bailie playing through.
>MKH: LNT 6F L.NT +6 24
#note ~0:30 [~23:30] MKH continues to turn over consonants, though exchanging may be preferable at this early stage. (Given the partial rack, li 4 rates .2 higher in Quackle, but this is probably deceptive because the rack imbalance is unaccounted for.)
>JJB: AEEEIOS I6 .O.EE +9 26
#note ~2:00 [~21:00] JJB does not like aeon/bo 9 in this configuration and shortly notes that T-P allows better dumping. He promptly finds that topee leaves much better than etape and is in fact fully indicated.
>MKH: ADIV J10 DIVA +19 43
#note ~0:30 [~23:00]
>JJB: AEILRSS K5 AIRLESS +86 112
#note ~1:00 [~20:00] One look at the cushy draw advises JJB he will have no shortage of bingos (the rack has 5 sevens, and 19 bingos are playable), so he first catches up tracking and notation. Turning to the matter at hand, there is no quadruple through the I (maybe the mnemonic should be airless: manchet vlog). The next question is whether column K works, and all it needs is to end with SS, and JJB says "Of course!" as the play commends itself.
>MKH: OOT F8 .OOT +14 57
#note ~2:00 [~21:00] This opening is respectable and rack-balancing but does not seem to help MKH with any directed hooks.
>JJB: ?BEMRTU E1 TUMBREl +75 187
#note ~2:12 [17:48] This time JJB knows for certain that he has drawn only 7 tiles. But, in an improbable physical arrangement, an eighth tile comes out on its own accord, wedged between two of the tiles JJB is actually holding. As he turns this configuration to show MKH that he has overdrawn again, he is surprised that the tile that jumped out of the bag "by itself" is in fact the blank! Without knowing this, MKH makes the charitable suggestion that he just drop the extra tile back in. (Ordinarily this would be a sporting idea, because it avoids the overdraft being punished by opponent gaining knowledge of the rack and selecting among options for the overdrawer. Instead, the overdrawer is deemed as not having overdrawn and the tile is deemed as merely having been dislodged and restored without leaving the bag, even if the overdrawer gains knowledge of the tile restored; this is therefore a generous offer.) However, a player who has seen an identifiably overdrawn tile should also be sporting and either decline, or name the overdrawn tile seen if it is to be deemed undrawn. JJB reflexively says to wait until all 8 are on his rack. The blank goes on his rack first, towards the center, and MKH having drawn from the center last time opts to draw from the edges this time, so JJB dazedly dodges the 37.5% chance of losing the blank (he loses the S out of ERS instead). Good thing, because the blank-free rack does not bingo. Upon review of the rack, he does not see the pretty 8s (umbrette and drumbeat), but can use the hook elint and does so. MKH promptly announces that that was her own spot that got blocked. Ironies.
>MKH: ACER 1A REAC. +30 87
#note ~1:00 [~20:00] If MKH's word in column E was cheater/teacher (5 anagrams in all), she still has several good options, like catheter 92 or cheater e9 91. But the rack was not transcribed and after trying a couple arrangements she settles on the points of react 30. With the time advantage, the wide-open board, the helpful rack, and the high deficit, more time is called for if a bingo might be findable.
>JJB: EENNSUX 12D UNSEX +48 235
#note 0:56 [16:52] Intuition plays a big role as there just seems to be some way between rack and board to cash the X in Everything Scrabble style. There is. (The honorable mentions are ex/re/ex, nexus/divan, luxes, unsex/ax, and exeunt.)
>MKH: DEHR 4K HERD +27 114
#note ~0:38 [19:22] MKH now cashes the H hook for 27, although the H is very pliable and he 30 might be better; it rates 5.9 higher on partial racks.
>JJB: CDEEGIN A1 .ECEDING +89 324
#note 0:49 [16:03]
>MKH: DITV 13I D.VIT +22 136
#note 1:04 [18:18] Good find, but the board accommodates another diva (13g for 28, 5.9 diff).
>JJB: EIJMNTZ H2 MIZE. +30 354
#note 6:53 [9:10] Amazingly, Quackle prefers the triple line with a JZ leave (+2.0), namely tinmen h1 37, diff of 11.5. Close behind are jinn e10 35 and mizen 14f 38, but JJB sees the immense response available to the latter with za (MKH holds at least one of the six As). He might accept jinn, or zine 14f 36 or dizen n4 35, but, after much noodling time given this tough decision, he declines jin l12 20 and opts to double the Z without so much leave damage as tripling it would have.
>MKH: AKO G1 OAK +27 163
#note 0:30 [17:48] MKH has the response letter ready.
>JJB: IJLNNTW L12 J.NN +24 378
#note 3:02 [6:08] This time the searching should uncover the parallel of jinn e10 35, but it doesn't come up, and the second-best play is 7.7 behind.
>MKH: AFINT B6 FAINT +36 199
#note 0:50 [16:58] MKH has an opportunity to hit the parallel again with fa/kif/za i3 34, although her rack-clearer is only 1.8 behind.
>JJB: IILQSTW J2 QIS +41 419
#note 0:20 [5:48]
>MKH: W -5 +0 199
#note 1:09 [15:49] Actual rack unknown.
>JJB: AILPRTW 15H PRAW. +30 449
#note 0:00 [5:48] JJB's clock does not advance for some reason on this quick decision. While the best PW dump seems straightforward, the P has enough value on the rack that twin/toy/wo/it 29 rates 5.0 higher, and even ew b1 20 rates .8 higher.
>MKH: AO 4D O.A +10 209
#note 2:32 [13:17] With the bag growing vowel-heavy, MKH deliberates significantly before crossing over 200 points on this series of unyielding racks. She misses the better dump tao for 4 more points, but spots it next turn, where she has the exact same rack as this turn.
>JJB: EHILRTU B1 .H +20 469
#note 1:54 [3:54] JJB is shocked that luthier does not play. He grabs the quick 20 since bingo lines still exist, but the U is not conducive and hun e10 21 (that parallel again!) has 9.5 better value. It's not time for quilt 28 yet.
>MKH: AO 11F .AO +14 223
#note 1:30 [11:47] Given a second chance from the same rack, this play is optimal on tiles chosen.
>JJB: EILRTUU E12 .URL +4 473
#note 2:54 [1:00] With an ugly fish and an empty bag JJB wants to find a respectable out in two while remaining determined not to run his clock so much over. He could take quirt followed by leu/duel, or quilt with a blockable lurer/dure/ruer/lure, but seeing that quiet/quite yields only nurl while nurl also yields etui parallel for 19, he opts to reverse the order and play nurl 4 first under time pressure. The problem, as he realizes immediately after hitting the clock, is that opponent's blank makes row 15 a very hard blowback: waggly 42 is suddenly obvious, and growly 48 (best value) is noted a little later. But the best continuations to nurl 4 also block quiet/quite: wedgy, gawsy/sherds, and meadowy all score 42, yielding etui 19+4, net of -15. Alternatively, quirt 28, gawsy/davits 39, leu 1l 11+4, yields net of 4, 19 better; JJB is on the right track but lacks enough time to run all Q plays to their ends and find quirt with leu/duel. At least he is assured of out in two, but could keep back much more time for himself.
>MKH: ?AEGOWY O1 YAWs +36 259
#note 0:46 [11:01] Whether she knows it or not, MKH is right to ignore row 15 and to block row 2; wedgy n2, gawsy o1, meadowy n1 all score 42, yielding etui 19+4 and net of 19 to her. She comes close with yaws 36, etui 19+8, net of 9.
>JJB: EITU C7 ETUI +19 492
#note 0:18 [0:42]
>JJB: (EGO) +8 500
#note Both players make strong choices given the tiles shown, and again JJB wins on (three) bingos successfully put together, while MKH's racks didn't yield any bingos and were often consonant- or vowel-heavy. Nobody misses much: the biggest omission by evaluation is JJB missing quirt (19) and also the subtle tinmen from a rack of EIJMNTZ (only 11.5); but a 500 game is nothing to sneeze at. Known points available: MKH 14, JJB 19. Overall points available: MKH 27.8+, JJB 59.4.
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