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#character-encoding UTF-8
#player1 Jay_Levin Jay Levin
#player2 Samuel_Kaplan Samuel Kaplan
>Jay_Levin: EILNOOU - +0 0
#note Rd 1 Manhattan Scrabble club 12-5-2024. Note that the games are 22 minutes per player as opposed to the standard 25 in this club. And the spread cap is 200 points per game.
This is not Jay's actual rack; he exchanged 5 tiles to start.
>Samuel_Kaplan: EOOOTUV -OOOUV +0 0
#note And his exchange did influence my decision to exchange. This is the sort of sequence that's a little better in a 25 minute game than a 22 minute game. But I would exchange regardless of how many minutes I had.
>Jay_Levin: ?ADEEMR 8C MEAnDER +70 70
#note I can see why he didn't play this at 8D because of vowel placement issues. I think if he wanted to score 74 and place a vowel on the star, AMERcED, AMEnDER, sMEARED, or MEADERy all do the trick nicely.
>Samuel_Kaplan: EEISTTV E3 ESTIV.TE +72 72
#note Despite this taking both S and D hooks, it still sims handily ahead of G6 VI(D)ETTES because VIDETTES still gives back nice responses on Column H to him.
>Jay_Levin: AEM F10 MAE +21 91
>Samuel_Kaplan: AHILNOS 4E .HINOLAS +74 146
#note I could have had 11E SHINOLA for 114 if it weren't for MAE! But I liked the safer move than J8 SHINOLA or 13F SHINOLA when I will take a lead.
>Jay_Levin: EFI 5I FIE +23 114
>Samuel_Kaplan: ILLNRRY 12C RIL.Y +16 162
#note I figured this had a little more defensive value than LYR(E) blocking the E in MEANDER and I could potentially bait RILEYS* down the road.
>Jay_Levin: GV G3 V.G +11 125
#note I like this VIG over 6D VIG to leave the M open. Good play here.
>Samuel_Kaplan: EILNORU F4 .UN +16 178
#note It's not unreasonable to do 7B REN(V)OI which I didn't see here. I can't fish for 11F AERO- bingoes because of EY* and RENVOI defends better after Jay just fished off 2 tiles, but at the same time, there's still 3 more Us left to draw. With how defensively he tends to play, I might still do HUN just because EILOR can do a better job of potentially bingoing back if he hit his latest draw. Not to mention the lack of good scoring hotspots on this board.
>Jay_Levin: EGLT 3K GELT +16 141
>Samuel_Kaplan: CEILORT 11F .ORTIC +21 199
#note No bingoes were missed despite how promising the rack looks. Almost had a cool bingo of C1 INTERCOM. It seems like he set up an S hook this time and there's not much I can really do about it. AORTIC has long term defensive value over 9B COL(T) as the M isn't that easy to hit with this pool.
>Jay_Levin: GHOS O1 GOSH +42 183
>Samuel_Kaplan: ?EJLOOQ J10 Q. +31 230
>Jay_Levin: P J4 ..P +11 194
>Samuel_Kaplan: ?EJLOOP L1 JO.. +19 249
#note I felt it was worth it to sacrifice 1 point to block gerund bingoes instead of doing 3C JO(E) after a 1 tile fish because there are still 4 Is and 4 Ns to draw.
>Jay_Levin: ACEINRT N3 .ETRACIN +69 263
#note This is probably the decision that won this game for me. I knew this was phony because the only valid 8 with ACEINRTT is INTERACT. And none of the four 7s in this rack play on this board. I will detail why I purposely accepted this in my next rack.
>Samuel_Kaplan: ?AEFLOP M9 PEAFOwL +87 336
#note If I challenge off TETRACIN*, PEAFOWL would play at 7H for 75. Slotting the L at N7 gives him C(L)ARINET because none of the 7s would play for him. His 1 and only counterbingo slots the A next to the O8 hotspot and the E next to the O12 hotspot. In addition, CLARINET stops 1 space short of the DWS at 14N and Jay can more easily get back in the game either by taking advantage of the powerful CLARINETS hook or by making a high scoring parallel next to the ARINE from O8-O12. My best way of dealing with the CLARINETS hook is to play from O12 or even O13 assuming I even draw a play there after I do PEAFOWL and he does CLARINET. It won't always be easy to block the CLARINETS hook entirely without giving something else back to him. The worst thing after CLARINET is I draw drek, I have to exchange, then Jay plays from O8-O12 to effectively protect the CLARINETS hook. This way, while I will take a lead again, and while the M in MEANDER is becoming more of a nonfactor, I felt that I would be able to end the game faster after letting Jay have TETRACIN* and not needing to deal with the possibility of Jay playing from O8-O12 and me being in a dire situation if I can't address the CLARINETS hook easily because plays like 14J ZINES could be a thing. And Jay just drew 7 random tiles so the odds of him hitting a 3x3 are minimal.
>Jay_Levin: UU 15L U.U +4 267
>Samuel_Kaplan: DENORRY C10 DE.RY +18 354
#note Probably fine to just do L12 OY here. I didn't want to keep 2 Rs, but keeping an extra R isn't quite 11 points worse. #strategymedium
>Jay_Levin: AK 6D K..A +16 283
>Samuel_Kaplan: DINOORW L12 OW +25 379
#note 1st big mistake of the night- I missed 13H IRONW(O)OD for 63. #findinglarge
>Jay_Levin: U C7 U. +5 288
>Samuel_Kaplan: DINORWX B5 NIX +21 400
#note I think this is better after Jay's fish instead of doing B14 OX or 14A OR(Y)X.
>Jay_Levin: ABEIZ A1 BAIZE +80 368
#note Odds are he just picked the Z after fishing off the U. Nice play!
>Samuel_Kaplan: ADDORSW O12 WADS +48 448
#note I never expected to draw the S after he did ULU. So that's why missing IRONWOOD could have been costly.
>Jay_Levin: ABEINNT B14 BE +22 390
>Samuel_Kaplan: DOOR C2 ROOD +14 462
#note 7H DOOR for 4 more. Misscored as 13. Yea, that TETRACIN* then PEAFOWL sequence was interesting for sure and I'd like to know people's thoughts on whether you would have challenged off TETRACIN* given what would transpire afterward. Final score was recorded as 471-390, 1-0 +81.
>Samuel_Kaplan: (AINNT) +10 472
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