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#player1 David_Koenig David Koenig
#player2 Paul_Allan Paul Allan
>David_Koenig: GINUVYZ 8D ZINGY +56 56
>Paul_Allan: EIOW D8 .OWIE +34 34
>David_Koenig: ?DEGTUV 11C G.VED +20 76
#note Quackle prefers G6 VUGG, with 11C VIG 2.5 points back and 11C GIVED 5.8 points behind. Keeping the DE certainly makes the rack stronger, and GIVED does have the defect of possibly giving him good scores at 10F, but I wasn't crazy about sacrificing the points here because it's not a great board for fitting my bingos regardless of which of these plays goes down, since the first two plays have no hooks and there won't be any great letters to play through for eights. If anything, I thought that my bingo chances might be higher after GIVED because of the row 10 and 12 openings. Also with three of the tiles that would most hurt me at 10F already played, it didn't seem like anything to be too concerned about. Maybe Quackle is right and I am wrong, but I still might be inclined to choose GIVED over VIG if I had this position again. There's also the possibility that it might get a +5 from a lesser player than Paul, though I didn't expect him to challenge. But in retrospect, I do prefer VUGG to either of those plays, because creating the open lane through the V and keeping the I and E in ZOWIE open significantly increase the likelihood of eight letter bingos fitting on the board.
>Paul_Allan: ADOT 10F DOAT +19 53
>David_Koenig: ?DIIITU -DIIU +0 76
#note I wouldn't say this is the wrong exchange, as the differences in simulation are very small, but there is one other exchange that simulates a tiny bit better. It is keeping ?DI, probably because the ODD hook significantly increases the chance of landing a bingo on the next turn. However, 12G DUI sims about four points better than the exchanges. Often on tight boards you're better off playing point-greedy than going all out for the bingo, but I don't think that's the only thing going on here. The hidden benefit to DUI is that ?IIT is actually a good bingo leave with the Y open on the center star.
>Paul_Allan: AFORS J6 FAROS +26 79
>David_Koenig: ?GIITTY F10 ..ITY +17 93
#note Quackle likes the point-greedy K5 TYG, preferring it by about 5.5 points over DEITY. Again the reason is probably the secret power of the ?IIT leave with the Y open. I will take the computer's word that my last two plays might have been small errors, but the funny thing is that after both the trade and this play I drew another I, so the way the tiles fell those plays would not necessarily have worked out better for me. That's not an argument for my choices, but just a sign that luck might have been on my side that day.
>Paul_Allan: SU 12B SU. +6 85
>David_Koenig: ?BGIILT H1 BITInGL. +92 185
>David_Koenig: ACELPSX (challenge) +5 190
#note The first thing that occurred to me was ELIGIBILITY, but I would have needed a few more tiles and a larger board.
>Paul_Allan: IQ F6 QI. +32 117
#note Paul bemoaned his luck at drawing the Q right after playing off S and U for a low score.
>David_Koenig: ACELPSX G1 APEX +34 224
#note K3 CAPEX is the obvious equity play, but there was such a strong inference that Paul was close to bingoing here after his last two plays (not to mention his audible reaction) that it seemed like a good time to block up as much of the board as possible.
>Paul_Allan: EEM K4 MEE +15 132
#note Paul doesn't play this one square lower because he needs the L column opening and AE wouldn't take any hooks. That said, it's an easy lane to obstruct for a good score, and the K1-K7 lane was already a good one without making a play here, so maybe there was a case to be made for leaving it alone and trying to create volatility elsewhere on the board.
>David_Koenig: ACEKLLS L4 ALECK +48 272
>David_Koenig: ELNRRSV (challenge) +5 277
#note There's a funny idea of just playing ALEC to hold the ALECK hook to the triple for a good score next turn. It also has the added benefit that ending in the C stops vertical bingos on column M, unless he is holding an H for CH. However, this is getting too creative here. The 20 points sacrificed are not going to be made up for by the average score increase on the next turn. Furthermore, there's no guarantee I draw a K play at 8L-O. None of the one vowel draws get it for me with this particular leave. And the M column hook still isn't that easy to use after ALECK. Just taking the extra 20 points and keeping the better leave is a better way to protect the lead here. The silly phony possibility of slackable* crossed my mind here.
>Paul_Allan: AFS 8L .AFS +33 165
>David_Koenig: ELNRRSV 14B VERR. +22 299
#note Perhaps frustrated by his continued bad luck, Paul overdrew four tiles instead of three after KAFS. I turned over IJR and threw back the R, on the reasoning that the J wasn't that beneficial for him here and it seriously reduced his chances of bingoing on the next turn, which is getting more urgent considering the score. Prior to his overdraw I was planning to play NERVY, but knowing he was holding the J, I preferred VERRY so as not to give him easy J plays at 15A.
>Paul_Allan: IJLU 3C JULI.. +26 191
>David_Koenig: HLNNORS M7 H.LON +24 323
#note In an even game I might play 4B NOH, but starting to block bingo lanes and turning over the extra consonant was more pertinent at this score.
>Paul_Allan: ?ENORTU O8 .NOUTiER +74 265
>David_Koenig: BINPRST L10 BINTS +20 343
#note I did not see the very cute and high scoring PINXIT play here, but BINTS is an almost guaranteed game winner. I kill most of the remaining bingo lanes and rush to the end of the game.
>Paul_Allan: AOR 4B OAR +19 284
#note Although it did not work out for Paul, OAR is an excellent play. There are only two tiles remaining that front hook it, the H and the last R. He creates a race to those tiles for a big score and possibly a bingo. With that lane and the faint possibility of nine letter bingo possibilities on the top two rows, he might have just a glimmer of hope.
>David_Koenig: AEHNPRW A1 RAPHE +53 396
>David_Koenig: EIMNOTW (challenge) +5 401
#note It's the way this game went. I was holding both of the two tiles that could hook OAR, so I didn't even need to take the spot right away. However, there was nothing else better for me to do in this situation.
>Paul_Allan: O B12 .O. +6 290
>David_Koenig: EIMNOTW 14I WIN.OM. +28 429
>Paul_Allan: ACDDENU 15G ACED +29 319
>David_Koenig: AEET 12H EATE. +6 435
>David_Koenig: (DNU) +8 443
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