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#character-encoding UTF-8
#player1 JJB John J. Bulten
#player2 SK Sebastian Knowles
>JJB: CEORVWX 8G VOX +26 26
#note 0:52 [24:08] (vower 8d 30 +4.6) JJB pulls the A against the L to start this game and gets a middling rack with some power. Quackle likes the leave after vower 30 better, but JJB opts to close out the opponent and cash the X first and deal with the W later.
>SK: Q -6 +0 0
#note 1:07 [23:51] SK is indeed closed out and doesn't even have a blank to keep: he probably keeps a vowel to go with the X.
>JJB: CEEORRW 7H WORE +23 49
#note 1:11 [22:57] Now the best play is easily indicated by leave and JJB leads 49-0.
>SK: DGGOY 8K DOGGY +39 39
#note 0:26 [23:25] Sharp comeback.
>JJB: ?CEQRTU 6B CRoQUET +81 130
#note 1:35 [21:22] (coquetry o1 116 +35) JJB's biggest error is to stop hunting shortly after finding croquet 81. He could easily have found coquetry 116!
>SK: IV K5 VI.. +16 55
#note 2:13 [21:12] SK has near bingo tiles and directs a hook to his I since opponent has a new rack.
>JJB: IJMRSST 4J JISM +35 165
#note 0:24 [20:58] Alas, this opponent is willing to use I even if it's the only vowel on the rack, extending the lead to 110 with indicated RST leave worth +13.6.
>SK: AEEINPR B2 PANI. +18 73
#note 5:50 [15:22] (ape 3m 18 +8.4; amping m3 24) Now SK recognizes perinea, which plays through GLST, but JJB has blocked the hook and both slots for perigean, unwittingly. This leads to a deep think but no bingo and a hard leave choice. After ape/am 18, EINR is worth +9.4; after ae/as/em 14, EINPR is worth +12.1; after just em 8, AEIPNR is worth +17.8. SK takes a hybrid approach for points with EER +1.0, but he might have worked out that amping 24 uses the same tiles, or that apneic or apiece or pierce give better leaves. It's understandable to take one's time.
>JJB: EEILRST 3B .TELIERS +70 235
#note 0:58 [20:00] JJB has drawn his own simple bingo rack that can use P, A, or N for 6 playable words.
>SK: BEEHR H1 HE.B +36 109
#note 0:43 [14:39] Best hit back with the fresh pointers.
>JJB: AEGHIMS 1E MAS.GIEH +71 306
#note 0:37 [19:23] JJB arranges his tiles and they look hauntingly familiar, but he doesn't see the unplayable gamefish or megahits. Instead he works out a Hebrew spelling of mashgiah that needs an H to succeed. Heart racing upon having a "bingo-bango" available (a second consecutive bingo), he verifies that the spelling looks good and lays it down. But the American lists recognize only mashgiah and mashgiach (plurals mashgihim and mashgichim), not the eminently formable mashgieh*. (And the only formable spellings of meshuga here, among many others, are mishegaas and mishugases.) Suspense reigns ....
>SK: DEERUU E6 .UEUED +32 141
#note 0:31 [14:08] (challenge +71) SK looks at the phony and mutters with some concern that he has to infer that it's spelled right, implying that it looks too bizarre to be a phony. He is busy slotting a clever vowel dump anyway to stay in the game, but his breaking up perinea has not been rewarded yet.
>JJB: AAAEENO 3L AEON +18 324
#note 3:23 [16:00] JJB has to make a vowel dump too, for which 18 is not bad.
>SK: ABKR O1 BA.K +45 186
#note 0:22 [13:46] (brake 8a 48 +1.9) Excellent K usage. Only caveat is that SK is still holding an R and this allows him the same premium for more at 8a: brake 48.
>JJB: AAAEINR 7M AA +10 334
#note 1:57 [14:03] Now the vowel dump is not worth much at all, but the leave is good. JJB sees that 7m and 7n score the same, but he likes the perversity of using the same word twice in a turn (fondly remembering an old crossword-building puzzle that forbade repeated words in the final diagram).
>SK: LNPRT D2 L.PT.N +16 202
#note 0:20 [13:26] Now SK signals being out of vowels suddenly, but he makes an excellent disconnected play all the same, which still has perhaps the best win chances, keeping about 2%-3% alongside exchanging to the L.
>JJB: ADEFINR F10 FA +29 363
#note 2:03 [12:00] Infare (a reception) does not have a past tense, so another fish is indicated, and the triple letter allows a good 29 and a good hook.
>SK: OORT D10 ROOT +18 220
#note 0:56 [12:30] SK correctly makes the most of these one-pointers and his choice leads many simulations at about 1%, comparable to roto and rot/pol.
>JJB: ACDEINR 12F DANCIER +79 442
#note 0:35 [11:25] But JJB has fished his way to another bingo, the only one available, and a lead of 222, greater than SK's score. SK's win chances are now about 1 game in 2000 if all goes perfectly.
>SK: L K12 .L +2 222
#note 1:49 [10:41] (la 2n 8 +6) SK knows a hook can help him and he makes a gutsy choice, possibly directing D, F, or L besides the S; this can still win theoretically but would be miraculous.
>JJB: EINOTWY 6M WYE +39 481
#note 4:25 [7:00] (witney 13b 49 +11.1) JJB has played seven turns perfectly by static leave standards, including passing off a successful phony, but he has not reviewed witney recently enough to spot the 49-point placement he unknowingly set up (sextuple Y). Witney consistently retains value in simulation, about 20 ahead of wye, while wo/wag, wyn/wag/yag (not wye), and towny/tel/or (riskier) also have good value; Quackle finds no losses for any of these in thousands of simulations. Showy play award for now: oxytocin 25, but is a showier play still in the works?
>SK: AFI H12 .AIF +21 243
#note 0:32 [10:09] SK might still hold out hope to draw Z and blank for a big score in row 14 by playing off pali/at/mil, but this is speculative and doesn't jibe with JJB's actual rack. Instead scoring the points and weakening the bingo line is a transition to be considering. Fat 13b 12 is also a compromise opener worth consideration.
>JJB: ?INOOTU 6J O. +8 489
#note 3:48 [3:12] (oxo i7 11 +3) And now JJB has drawn the blank and good synergy and sees the possibility of another bingo. With 2 in bag he could fish O and threaten flouting (L), fountain/function (N), fruition (I or R), outfinds (D or S); fish I for outfound (D), outflown/snootful (L), outfrown/unforgot (R); or fish U for finfoots/footings (S), footling (L). JJB sees a few of these, and one other possibility, but knows the Z might block row 15 anyway. But with such a high score nobody can reject a fish. He chooses oi/or 8 over oxo 11 due to placement.
>SK: ENSZ 14F ZE.NS +36 279
#note 0:25 [9:44] (zein 14f 33 +2.0) SK has the Z rather than a bingo (flinders or trindles). Without working out all the endgame possibilities, we can say he found the most points except for sez 37, which doesn't block some bingos. He might have held the opener dizen/eld 34, which keeps S and blocks row 15 as well as zeins. Static leave prefers keeping the S for zein 33, which also blocks sufficiently but is an unclear choice in the endgame when followup plays like dirl c12 might be drawn and preferable.
>JJB: ?INOTTU 10D ...UTaTION +64 553
#note 0:20 [2:52] But JJB's preferred fish was for the T, which doesn't bonus in row 15 but allows the amazing refutation 64 in row 10! And, out of nine unseen, T was in the bag and selected! JJB warns SK that he got what he needed and then shows it, ending the game immediately, to SK's mixed relief. Though his record so far stands at 2-4, JJB can take consolation in a solid first 10-letter bingo, two 500 games, and a positive tourney spread.
>JJB: (DILR) +10 563
#note JJB turns in a high game with five bingos, and could have gotten even more in theory with timely play of vower, coquetry, or witney. SK had no big opportunities aside from challenging opponent, having three bingos on one rack all getting blocked simultaneously, and suffering from both vowel and consonant imbalance. Yet this allows JJB to get a play that's good for the books and to recover his pride after a weak daily performance otherwise. Known points available: JJB 38, SK 77. Overall points available: JJB 53.7, SK 89.3+.
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