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#character-encoding UTF-8
#player1 JJB John J. Bulten
#player2 PM Paul Mulik
>JJB: BIORRTZ 8H BORTZ +52 52
#note 0:29 [24:31] The much-anticipated second Silver Dollar Showdown begins with a 6-round early bird that has formed itself simply as a double round robin for two quads. The capable Asif Ali was potentially expected, but director PM takes his place for the first-day action instead, and draws an S after first seed JJB draws the Q. JJB begins the game by passing an initial-rack test that's easy when you look at the alphagram.
>PM: ?AALRRU J6 RU.AL +9 9
#note 1:26 [23:34] (ranular 9c 66 +24.3) PM gets a harder test and does not find auroral, oracular, radular, or ranular. He takes the best play that keeps A plus a consonant, but with many blank leaves being similar it's fine to open up with aura/za 16 with reasonable expectation from LR?.
>JJB: EINORUV I10 ERUV +13 65
#note 3:00 [21:31] (unrove k1 20 +7.8) Souvenir is obvious but also "right out". JJB is fond of eruv for evading hard leaves, but pursuing UV words more seriously would reveal unrove (two good places) and bouvier (though opponent has not broadcast his blank, a killer responder). Trou/ar/lo keeps a positive leave of EINV.
>PM: ?ABFR 12H F.BAR +28 37
#note 0:57 [22:37] (fab k10 22 +.3) PM obligingly wrote down his racks for the second game after JJB asked, but most were not recorded for the first game. On the incomplete data his play was about even with fab/elf 22.
>JJB: ?EINOWX I6 OX. +37 102
#note 1:00 [20:31] JJB notes to look up winebox* later (the only bingo would be swinepox). The best play is the obvious one, but the subtle vixen 13i would secure 45 points with worse leave.
>PM: ?CIOTV 11D VICTO. +27 64
#note 2:16 [20:21] Based on the tiles PM might have had, it's possible he had one of the 9s, costively or covellite, or perhaps costive, vicomte, or victory. It's probable he made the best play though.
>JJB: ?EEINPW 11K PEW +26 128
#note 1:06 [19:25] (weeping c9 92 +31.8) JJB makes the best play that misses the subtle hook. But he has 30 better valuation if he hooks weeping or pinweed onto evictor!
>PM: ?AAELTY E6 fAYAL.TE +60 124
#note 0:56 [19:25] (catalyze l2 88 +28) The biggest virtue of PM's find is that it makes JJB consider holding: good study word. Yet several other bingos would get PM to JJB's score: all 7s play (acylate, analyte, apetaly), and he also has calycate, and catalyze 88! Quackle also regards vealy 30, keeping AT? +31.3, as better than this bingo; but both give opponent use of tripling the Y lucratively.
>JJB: ?DEFINW 8A WIFE. +45 173
#note 1:34 [17:51] JJB has another suboptimal rack and board for his blank, but at least it's good for an easy optimal dump of high consonants.
>PM: DEEIQTU F1 QUIETED +77 201
#note 1:43 [17:42] PM draws a beautiful, risky bingo out of the bag; his search rightly shows there are no better bingos. This gets him the lead he wants, but he can also be sure JJB has been balancing.
>JJB: ?DKNOSS 4A NOnSK.DS +78 251
#note 1:03 [16:48] (doeskins 4d 84 +6) JJB is proud of knowing and finding nonskeds on a tough rack, and knowing that nonskid takes no S; however, the better play is one placement of doeskins (compare dogskins). His prior use of premiums means he has a strong lead now, even after PM had two intervening bingos.
>PM: DIIM B1 IDI.M +16 217
#note 2:12 [15:30] (vim d11 24 +6.8) Even if he had 4 Is, vim 24 would interestingly still be rated a better play in most cases, though it would weaken any S holding. Imide 16 is very comparable to idiom, and a theoretically better bingo opener on row 15: and PM is ready to rebalance again.
>JJB: DEEEINS D10 E.E +18 269
#note 2:02 [14:46] JJB has not wasted too much time so is able to work out leisurely the best conversion of this pre-rack into a full bingo.
>PM: GIJOS 14A GOJIS +37 254
#note 0:22 [15:08] (jogs h1 36 +6.1) Again, even if PM is holding two Is, the simple jogs and/or jigs are always a better play than using up the valuable S now given two good bingo lines for it. Jog/jig both can hook jet also, and direct a further S hook; and in many scenarios goji at 13l or c12 is also preferable. PM has the time he needs to consider alternatives, and to stay even in the long run, but declines to use much time on this turn.
>JJB: DEEINST N9 DESTINE +79 348
#note 2:35 [12:11] Endites is less risky (3h would even block PM's bingo), but JJB is slaphappy about opening up for a few points.
>PM: AIMNNOR O4 IRONMAN +85 339
#note 1:15 [13:53] Happy to take the new placement, better by 13 than the old.
>JJB: ACGINTU 1F .UANTIC +63 411
#note 2:24 [9:47] JJB is concerned about the lead narrowing, but he can once again use a premium heavily, this time as a bingo equivalent, sealing up most of the game. 11 of the next 12 Quackle recommendations also use the Q! The other is to pluralize the obvious tunica on a different well-placed premium.
>PM: APY N4 PAY +35 374
#note 1:50 [12:03] PM can make up some of the deficit, but has to empty the bag to do so, and is thus unlikely to recover the remainder. Either ay or ya here would yield 6%+ win chances given the known tiles, while pay n4 blocks the row 3 line.
>JJB: EGGHLNO O13 NOH +37 448
#note 3:55 [5:52] (hogg a12 39, earhole 15h 33, ingle b8 15+2 +16) JJB is happy to calculate out a won endgame, but does not use all his time and thus settles for a non-guaranteed high-point solution. The continuation above from hogg (threatening ingle and lunge) nets him +23; but his choice of noh allows his out to be blocked, netting him only +7 assuming strong board vision by PM (who has 12 minutes to find the solution). The method here, as it will be for PM too, is to find a strong play (hogg) and a strong pair of plays with the inverse tiles (ingle, lunge, which can be found after hogg is spotted).
>PM: AAEHLOR A11 AAR.H +30 404
#note 1:10 [10:53] (coaler l1 16, gel c10 23, ha a1 33+4 +22) For simplicity PM takes the highest net score assuming JJB plays out. But why let him play out? It's clear that ha a1 will get 33, but if the alternate haj/het 32 is spotted then it's a simple matter to use the fertile remaining AELOR to block opponent's only out. Though coaler is not an obvious find on points or hotspots, it can be found over the board in 12 minutes easily by recognizing the pair of very high scores, ha and haj. Then it simply remains to triple-check one's work, but gleg is very hard to play and so very easy to check.
>JJB: EGGL K3 GLEG +16 464
#note 0:29 [5:23]
>JJB: (ELO) +6 470
#note It's an honor to annotate games that form good models. Both players made several optimal plays, and mistakes were not too significant, just two missed bingos, two missed bingo improvements, and two subtle out-in-two plays that were within the players' abilities to find. Much else being equal, JJB wins primarily on opportunity to triple or redouble valuable words. This game remains the high loss in Branson for a good while. Known points available: JJB 22, PM 50. Overall points available: JJB 61.6, PM 87.5+.
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