I honestly didn't think too much about this opening. I thought this was clear given that it was a lot more defensive than other stuff. Quackle doesn't like it, at all. Surprising, and I'm not often surprised. -4? #strategysmall
H1 BLIP is only 1 less but keeps much better. 4D D(u)PING is sick vision and keeps a comparably good BL leave, but DGIN is just much better than GL as a leave. #findingquestionable
i'm too much of a perfectionist, once i saw that i missed this bingo i felt bad. i think it's my only bingo miss of the tournament, but it's annoying because i wrote AABORRSU and i checked that i've both gotten and missed this word a few times when studying. the alphagram didn't really look familiar, and it's a hard word, but if one wants to win nationals, one has to find BAROSAUR here. #knowledgeSADDEST
nothing great dig for here, or rather, too much bad versus only some good. Better to just score a few lesss and keep a bit better with OLDE 3J. #strategysmall #findingsmall
Well, I missed URODELANS, so that's not good. But Quackle also hates my choice of SOUND over something like L10 DUO. My thinking was that on this board, the S isn't really a key tile; the key tiles are the I to play TINY or LINY hooking QI, the H to play HO/HUN, and the X just because it's the last power tile. Rather than play L10 DUO, I wanted to get more cracks at any of these three tiles to maintain tempo advantage. #findinglarge for sure and not sure if this is a #strategymedium as Quackle indicates it is.
Yeah ugh this was difficult. On the one hand JOB C1 just looks like the play. Creates a big spot but blocks the likelier lane, and scores better than GOJI. But I got worried about him fishing for JEZAIL or having it. That's not really enough for him to win though, so I shouldn't have worried #tacticssmall
I think I chose this over the other 4A bingos because it formed EEW--yes, for that reason alone. But I missed C3 pLEBEIAN, which scores the same and doesn't open a TWS-TWS lane. #findingsmall
I kept the A here to perserve the chances of drawing something that hooks AG going down on column M. A better idea is probably just QI, going for ARIETTA/ATRETIC/ITERATE/INTREAT/ARTISTE, but IT is ok too. #tacticssmall
I don't need to be worried about being bingoed on, I need to worry about being outrun with the Z still out. H1 CEILIS is best simpy because it scores. #KNOWLEDGESADDEST #strategylarge
7F GOEL# is the clear best play, as it preserves the closed position and keeps the best possible leave, including an S to hook onto AUA# or LUV. #strategymedium
F8 (C)OO(E)E is good. I drew my 3 tiles without shaking the bag too hard and before looking at them had the urge to put them back into the bag. I feel like it's often not the tiles that opponent threw back that you draw, even when you don't shake, but that whenever the draw is bad, you assume. I should have been allowed to put the tiles back before looking at them because Scrabble draws should be random. #findinglarge
damn didn't see PROMPT! that looks better here. #findingmedium also not much inspiration on this exchange, I guess it's fine? not much scoring power with PR so I wasn't a huge fan, same w the X
With all other power tiles gone except the Z, I was thinking that drawing it would be crucial, which is why I favored B9 Q(U)ARTO over J6 Q(i). However, 3I YO is probably just better, saving B9 Q(U)ATRE and J6 Q(i) for next turn. Honestly, I'm not sure what is really best here. #strategylarge
I'm okay with this because it kills this spot but so 5B WA(I)F and there are a bunch of column C and E plays I should have at least considered. #visionsmall
i spent a long time trying to talk myself into TEUCH but couldn't pull the trigger on it, thinking i was confusing it with TEUGH. i have not as much time to study as some other, taller experts. #knowledgelarge
terrible word knowledge continues. I put down STINGE and AIDE, and then take it back, and put this down. Joel says "you weren't going to play that." UGH!!! #knowledgeSADDEST
I was really happy to have found this unorthodox play, figuring it frustrated Joey's S spot while setting up the BLE combo at H4. To my indignation, Quackle absolutely HATES this play, going for KEBLAH F9 (which I didn't see), or the more obvious BARE, BARD, BARED 10G. (-13) #visionlarge, #strategymedium
Considered AMINE and AMINIC but missed LIMACINE, which Quackle prefers; unlike AMINE, it doesn't hook/give up bingos, and it scores as much as I can get. #findingsmall 10:53
Not sure what's correct here. Blocking the S hook after his last play seems maybe okay, since this play isn't a huge equity sac anyway. #strategysadder
3G PRODDERS is the bingo that he just had to take out! PEDRO in the same spot does sim better than this understandably because I have the S. That's a miss. #findingbad
Chosen over 9G AG, which allows 10G pOMFRET. H6 OVA wins the sim; ADEGR >> ORV, and after OVA, Steven's highest-scoring bingos are 6C/6G FOREMOsT 66. The sim assumes that after AGED, Steven will play 10I FORMaTE, allowing potential OVER- plays at O8--which means that if Steven plays at 7H instead I can expect worse results than the sim suggests. #tacticsmedium
i fish way too much in general. i think i should play EYE here. at B5 it might give up a lot of pts, but if he bingos i might get a big play back, and he seemed like he was going to bingo again. -2.5 #tacticssmall
D10 ETUI is fine, but this isn't. I was afraid of making another S hook, but at this score I think the equity doesn't justify what I did. #strategymedium also #knowledgesad for the challenge.
This is not correct because 11J ODEON and 11J ODEONS block both outplays of 11J OUTLAW and N5 OUTLAW. I saw the ODEON(S) blocks but couldn't see anything better. B12 LOUT is best. #endgamesaddest
yeah big oversight here, I didn't realize I made AG for ZAG for her, so I regretted not playing OAVES, even though she has F7 ZA plays. AVA isn't much behind cause I do average a lot more after AVA (12 more0, but I can cut her average by 7 with OAVES. #tacticssmall
I seriously considered playing 1A WAZ(O)OING* before deciding that it was more likely that the blank was in the bag and I could draw it to win than WAZOOING* being a word. This isn't actually the best play. C1 ZO(A) saves 1A WA(ZO)O and wins about 50% of the time as opposed to this which wins about 30% of the time. #endgamelarge
6C DI #VISIONSADDEST Spoiler alert: thus begins a series of the most ridiculous fishes, serving absolutely no-one. Do not be like me, folks. I just clocked out at this point in the game and never actually hit my bingo.
I'm really surprized to see RAX F4 win the sim. I wanted to keep that RAZ combo for 14H. I suppose drawing the Q without that U is pretty bad, but I wouldn't think burning the R and the A would be worth it. (-5) #strategysmall
calculated GUY being a bit better, but for some reason got worried I was allowing something bad, but even the worst possible thing still loses by 1 for him. -1 #endgamesmall
Spent some time seeing which bingo would be best. Definitely wasn't sure what to do, but even if I saw 12H PIdDLE(R)S, I think I should have at least given more thought to doing I6 DESPoIL or DISPELs. This move definitely could have been better. #visionlarge
#knowledgesad for challenge
M1 Z(E)X #endgamesaddest #timesaddest I need to pay better attention to what my opponent has. Hopefully, by some miracle, they don't see 14B ANDR(O) and C6 DRAN(T) and I get another turn to go out with 7A JEDIS.
ugh, this move is so bad. at least i realized that i can't play 4J O(DE) by itself, it doesn't hit enough and scores abysmally. but LODE bingoes even less so it also sucks. i did see 2L ULNA and considered it for a while, but i hate ROTE and i'm down by 100 pts already, i absolutely need to bingo next turn. i didn't see M1 ENOL despite breathing deeply, so maybe there is no hope. -8 #findingmedium #strategylarge