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#character-encoding UTF-8
#player1 JJB John J. Bulten
#player2 CS Carl Solomon
>JJB: ?DEIQTT 8D QuITTED +102 102
#note 0:41 [24:19] With both top seeds at 3-0, JJB is happy to draw an obvious bamdinger* at the start.
>CS: BI 9C BI +18 18
#note 0:44 [24:16] CS is very obliging but is also holding developable bingo tiles.
>JJB: EHNORRR 9I HORNER +26 128
#note 2:05 [22:14] Both players are confident that horner* is a word, which rates 2.1 better than horn in the same place. Either way, opening up the triple is about the safest play.
>CS: OUY 8M YOU +25 43
#note 0:24 [23:52] (challenge, you 7i 22 +23) CS misses an opportunity to hold or challenge (which would allow him 3 less for you 22, but JJB 26 less). Otherwise his rack is balancing well enough.
>JJB: GOOOPRT E5 GRO.T +15 143
#note 3:54 [18:20] (goop b7 18 +14.1) Now JJB misses the useful hook o/bi where he could dislodge two Os, focusing instead on a very cheap double. But two Os on the rack (plus P) have a static value of -8.9.
>CS: ?ACIITV G2 ACTIVI.y +66 109
#note 0:53 [22:59] (activist h1 89 +23) CS forms one of the available bingos. Best would be to glance again and see that activist will reach the triple. Or, for fireworks, play through or n8 with the niner, victorias 71. (And, since blank alone is worth +46.6, keeping the blank with victoria 21 is one of the top non-bingos.) This does much to even the game.
>JJB: CJMOOPW 7L CWM +32 175
#note 2:12 [16:08] (jow 7k 30 +7.7) JJB continues to regard two Os as more balanced than one, against most evaluations. CMOP is a positive leave, JOOP is not, so it's safe to ditch the J here.
>CS: AIL 6G .AIL +9 118
#note 1:05 [21:54] (laic l4 12 +3) CS begins to rebalance his rack but will have more trouble this time; laic and rival are available for more points too, and are as good or better at openness.
>JJB: DJKOOPS J8 ..JO +28 203
#note 1:45 [14:23] (dojo b8 34 +10.8) Again JJB could hook in column B (with o/bit) and play the whole of his chosen word instead of just an extension, better on both leave and turnover. A number of other two-O plays are recommended if the left consonants are kept to 2-3; JJB rejected pooja 30 on its leave, but it rates 5.3 above his play. Is the O worth keeping at all?
>CS: EGNU 5I GENU +15 133
#note 0:43 [21:11] (begun c9 16 +1)
>JJB: DEKOPSV 2C VODK. +23 226
#note 0:45 [13:38] (spoked 12j 43 +2.3) JJB is naturally proud of dumping the V and closing bingo lines, but he didn't see spoked, fully available in his rack, nor did he think to use the S to get 43 from it. In this case the difference between the two plays is not great.
>CS: AELLY C2 .ALLEY +32 165
#note 0:41 [20:30] CS turns tiles hoping for a parallel that may lead to a bingo, but this is a speculative addition given that the points are the primary motivator.
>JJB: ENNPPRS 11I P.RN +12 238
#note 1:41 [11:57] (nap 3b 9 +3.8) Now the 4-consonant draw limits decisions. Quackle would play off two consonants for 9 and keep one vowel; slightly behind is to hook perp/prep onto op for 24. JJB may be rightly concerned about single-vowel racks, but they present more options than single-consonant racks!
>CS: ABT D1 B.TA +24 189
#note 1:26 [19:04] (bat b6 26 +2) Great find, though the column-B setup for bat 26 is probably better despite allowing setups.
>JJB: AEMNPSW 4L MAW +24 262
#note 2:01 [9:56] (wap b6 34 +10.5; maw b6 29 +5) JJB would generally prefer to keep the M of the three middling consonants, and could have gotten either wap or paw at b6.
>CS: AAGS O1 AGAS +28 217
#note 0:57 [18:07] Useful S play.
>JJB: DEINOPS 1H DISPNOE. +86 348
#note 1:14 [8:42] Now the game begins to get surreal. With no bingo, JJB misremembers the spelling of dyspnoea and convinces himself to plop it down, with the lead only at 45 prior. What happens next?
>CS: HI 2J HI +30 247
#note 1:58 [16:09] (challenge, hi 10b 17 +73) CS should challenge the 86 points off the board and narrow the lead, but in a generous spirit he lets JJB's second phony pass like his first. So far, the biggest mistakes in available points have been failing to challenge, and not getting activist onto the triple; JJB's mistakes by contrast have been smaller, chipping away at his spread, which could have been larger than the 131 points it maxed out at. CS wants to get himself back into striking distance so accepts that the bingo gives him a quick 30.
>JJB: EEFINNS B5 EF +28 376
#note 1:39 [7:03] JJB also can overlap with a 4-point tile, and locks out most of column A. He holds a tantalizing near-bingo rack himself (spotting fenniest, with fineness also available in theory) so is conflicted about full blocks.
>CS: FOU 3I FOU +21 268
#note 0:29 [15:40] CS perseveres, keeping his time safe and disposing of the worst vowels.
>JJB: EINNORS N7 ...N +8 384
#note 2:47 [5:16] (hieing 2j 28 +3.4) No play will get 100% wins, so JJB is not out of the woods yet; the best seem to use 4-5 tiles, such as in column C (bonnie, benni/s) or column B (nosier/obit) or the intriguing extension morrions in column N. With 9 in bag, this helps the tempo and allows chances of scoring big with X or Z. If one is going to fish, morn still rates around 98%, but hieing 28 with three overlaps is 99%.
>CS: EISTU A1 ETUIS +21 289
#note 0:35 [15:05] (tuis 12g 22 +3.3; etuis 12f 23 +2) CS grabs the triple rather than pluralizing dojo, giving up his last S (JJB still holds one). He is falling behind and his rack is departing from bingo territory but he has more hopes of scoring with X and/or Z than JJB does.
>JJB: EEINORS 2J ..E +8 392
#note 0:52 [4:24] (ode e1 11 +3.6) Now JJB spots hie 8 but not its extension to hieing 28. He still believes turning a single tile is best, but the difficulty is drawing a tile that will bingo. Only D and L will bingo in row 12 (2/10 unseen tiles), but if OE are both played in ode 11, or none 8 with highest dynamic value and a self-directed S hook, there are more bingos available if one is so inclined. Another interesting 2-tile play is ingenue 5g 12. More important than a bingo is retaining flexibility for drawing X or Z or scoring points in case opponent bingos. All these alternatives to hie have 100% win chances, but hie does not.
>CS: AZ 10B ZA +35 324
#note 0:46 [14:19] CS seizes the key tempo to cash the Z sufficiently to achieve a striking distance.
>JJB: EEINORS 12H ROSE +24 416
#note 3:58.4 [0:25.6] (zeroes b10 30, exedra o10 47, hieing 2j 26+2 +103) Here JJB relaxed, looking at an incomplete tracking that appears to be vowel-heavy. He uses all but a half-minute to calculate two outs that score well together, as usual; his play is intended to allow zein/zine 13 or rein 12. He makes the cardinal mistake of failing to check opponent's response. The logic should have been: make an opening that scores well, namely doubling the Z (zeroes, not zoners), but without allowing opponent extra value, then make a killer followup (hieing is still available). It's the wrong time to get the mere single-J score by using the S. CS still has exedra 47 but the spread and win are safe with reasonable play. (It's rare that the best endgame is all 6-letter words, but observe and enjoy!)
>CS: ADEELRX 13C RELAXED +110 434
#note 0:30 [13:49] CS immediately gets to repay JJB for the two phonies. JJB realizes what word is about to go down, and then that it will quadruple the X, and briefly loses his composure at how he set up his opponent. Correct tracking, better time management, and double-checking attention would have helped JJB. Instead he must quickly adjust his attitude for the remaining games of the day, which is done by recasting the humbling loss as a game where JJB was unintentionally the more generous of the two players.
>CS: (EIN) +6 440
#note Thus after obtaining plenty of points with two phonies, JJB is compelled to give them all back and more by opening up CS's bingo in the end. Other mistakes contributed more minimally. CS fills out the winner's slip genially, while JJB works to control his emotions. But both can agree that this kind of surprise is part of the nature of the game and that there is nothing better for it than being a good sport. The rematch between these two is equally interesting. Known points available: JJB 108, CS 127. Overall points available: CS 128.3+, JJB 159.2.
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