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#player1 Robin_Pollock_Daniel Robin Pollock Daniel
#player2 Jim_Burlant Jim Burlant
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: AADGIOY -AADGI +0 0
>Jim_Burlant: ?IORRRT 8G TORR +8 8
#note Wasn't sure about this play but it winds up being best.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: EIOPSTU G5 POU.IEST +62 62
#note Glad I'm not the only one who will only see the 8's and miss the 7's in in some of these racks with high-prob 7's in them. Robin told me post-mortem that she very frequenly misses PITEOUS. Robin's best play was PITEOUS 7F 71, simming marginally above K2 PITEOUS.
>Jim_Burlant: ?AFIRSW F10 WAIF +35 43
#note If I had to whiff on the bingo, I picked a good one to whiff on. The only 8 I saw in this was FAIRWAYS, which doesn't play. AIRFLOWS plays at 6B but only scores 65 and sims 10 points and 6% winning chances down on this choice, the sim winner.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: HMO E11 MHO +37 99
>Jim_Burlant: ?EIJRSV 6F J. +25 68
#note I had hoped/figured her to play something at E9 or E8 and that I'd in turn hit JIVES14B 50 and draw 5 to R?. Suddenly, 14A JIVES for 39 didn't look so good. I took several minutes on this position before putting this down. Besides giving up the points, I didn't like this because of what it did to the board. The sim makes it clear this was the right choice,as nothing else comes within 8 points.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: CNOY J6 CO.NY +24 123
>Jim_Burlant: ?EIORSV 6J .OVE +9 77
#note If whiffing on AIRFLOWS was good, this was bad. Any number of bingos play at 7A - PREVIOUS, pERVIOUS, gRIEVOUS, ViTREOUS - and REOVIRuS (a word I know but would probably not find out of a blank rack) plays at I8. I was so convinced my previous play had shut down that end of the board that I didn't bother to look through the U. Her play of CORNY caused me to brain lock, as I didn't think she'd be able to block every bingo I saw, but she did. Several bingos play here, but I couldn't find them. I disliked the other options due to what they did to the board, and one more factor was in play. I had had several games this tournament where the blank became an albatross because I kept burning time trying to find the blank bingos that weren't there. With that in the back of my mind, I conceded the position as a lost cause and felt I should open lines she couldn't shut down so easily. Horrendous play to be sure, but this did work out rather unexpectedly.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: IQ H4 QI +25 148
>Jim_Burlant: ?ADIRSU 4H .UeRIDAS +86 163
#note When you're having the tournament of your life, these sorts of breaks happen - how often is it a good thing that your opponent puts a Q out there? As for this choice - back when I rated in the 1200's, Mark Kenas taught me to play INTO the triple lines instead of up to them - a thought that was anathema to me at that time, but he was right. That lesson has stuck with me; better to make your opponent play through what you've put there than give him all sorts of easy wide open hooks. Quackle agrees with this choice. While N2 bingos (e.g.: RESIDUA) score identically, they give up too many easy plays down the O column. Either this or QUADRICS is the play.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: EEL O1 LEE. +12 160
>Jim_Burlant: ADDTTUY N6 YAUD +37 200
#note The unseen HM concerned me, but I felt 37 points was just too much to pass up. Q prefers N6 DUTY and N3 YAUD by roughly 1 point, which begs the question: how many points should I consider giving up to make sure I don't put the U next to the TW given this pool? Regardless - it's a good thing I played here when I did: this blocked her intended bingo which was going to back hook COVE. This is strong, but I think N3 YAUD is probably best; I was too fixated on hooking the Y to COVE to notice that the D hook still scored well.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: GV 8M V.G +21 181
>Jim_Burlant: ADLMTTW 3L TAM. +24 224
#note Weak - missed a bunch of better plays here, most notably 2J WATTLE (saw it and wasn't sure of it, it's WOTTLE that's phony) and more notably D10 Plays, DAW and TAW. While it does a good job sealing off 8's in row 2, it gives up way too many points on the scoreboard to the D10 plays. This is a mid-pack choice.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: EISZ H12 SIZE +50 231
>Jim_Burlant: DELLOTW 15E TOW.LLED +64 288
#note 15B placement scores 66, but now that we're in the second half of the game, I prefer to start playing more defensively.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: ABEU 14K BEAU +19 250
#note I don't remember her rack, but she told me this after the game - it was definitely a cruddy rack and this was definitely a tough position for her.
>Jim_Burlant: DEFGIKT L10 GIFT.. +22 310
#note If you put a T on BEAU, I know that's good and would never challenge it. Problem is, 19 times out of 20, I will not remember to look for that hook myself. KITE O12 is definiltely the play. Nothing else should have been considered here, this is horrendous.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: NP I3 P.N +13 263
>Jim_Burlant: ACDEKRS O12 CASK +46 356
#note Once again, the old refrain: you have to know the bingo to play it. DACKERS 2C scores 80 and wins 99%. This is the second best choice, and it wins 94.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: EN 11C NE... +7 270
>Jim_Burlant: DEHLNRR C11 .ERD +10 366
#note Q doesn't much like this, preferring a bunch of B10 plays (HERN, HERL, etc - I was more worried about Robin hitting an 8 with the blank that ended in ES. And I didn't even realize the potential for the E front hook on NEMAS at the time.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: IX K11 XI +41 311
>Jim_Burlant: BEHLNOR 1L BOL. +9 375
#note Not one of Quackle's original choices, this sims very very well, and I like this a lot more than any of Quackle's choices, as Q once again thinks I should put the H at B10 and give her a triple line to work with. Uh, no thanks. My main concern was to make sure she couldn't hit something like REGIONAL/GERANIOL on row 1 and limit her to bingoing for 60+ on row 2 or at D4. I was still blind to the E front hook on NEMAS.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: NO B12 NO +6 317
>Jim_Burlant: AEEHINR A7 HERNIA +34 409
#note The rule of thumb is that you don't empty the bag and allow your opponent an out bingo. In the vast majority of cases, that's right. But there's always an exception, and this is it. With the unseen pool of AAEGINRT?, Robin has bingos all over the board and I can't stop them. Any one-tile play I can put down to block the A column doesn't balance my rack. She will then bingo either on row 2 or down the D coulmn and win if I don't wind up with a playable bingo. Then I saw HERNIA, which scores 34 and puts me up 92 points. Worst-case is that she bingos out while I'm sitting on two 1-point tiles. In this case she's got the G, , she can bingo for 79 and get 4 back from me. And if I draw the G she can't score more than 73 with any bingo in that pool. Both championship player and the sim back me up on this: this is the only play that wins 100%. CP says nothing else wins above 39. As inconsistently - and sometimes horrendously - as I played this one, at least I knew what to do with the right draw when it counted. I'll take it.
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: ?AEGINR B1 sERINGA +77 394
>Robin_Pollock_Daniel: (AET) +6 400
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