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by Ray of Light 07/24/2007, 4:00am PDT |
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Comparably ranked opponent got both blanks, all five high-value tiles (K,J,X,Q,Z), half of the S-tiles plus a bingo to start, and I still beat him. Here is how.
[Blue squares are double- and triple-letter score; red are double- and triple-word score. Henceforth tws etc. We are playing with 8 minutes per side, a comfortable amount of time. My tiles are blue, opponent's are red. Opponent's most recent play is outlined on board in yellow. The numbers around our names are--clockwise--ranking (higher is better), score, and minutes:seconds left on clock.]
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My move first. There is no bingo here, though having ERS gives it potential. My biggest play is ROSIER but that would waste an S and give my opponent a wide opening (putting vowels next to double letter squares, plus the exposed S invites counterbingo). I want to keep ERS and use up at least one I. I could exchange tiles but too much of the rack is playable.
I opted to play OI, the only word that satisfied my constraints. I rarely make a tiny opening like this but there it is.
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Opponent countered with SPITTED.
My gambit worked out, giving me HARRIES. The only place to put it opened up the mid-left tws. According to lexpert, I had TRASHIER or HEARSIER by using the T or E in SPITTED; these would have been much better plays.
I am still in trouble; my two turns together leave me with one less point than than my opponent scored in one turn, and the board is wide wide open for high-scoring plays.
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Opponent thought for a while and (luckily for me) played a harmless RAH in response.
I have a bingo this turn but I didn't realize it was a real word (RECLAME). Instead, I opt to close the tws on the right and regain the lead. AMEER or MERC would have been the best plays for that, but I was under some time pressure: it's still very early and I'd already used two full minutes of my clock.
So I played MEAL, which still got the job done.
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Opponent countered quickly with ROOT, a weak word that scores him a weak 8 points. I think he made a mistake by not considering his position more carefully.
This is a precarious spot. I am back in the lead, but it's a small lead, and both blanks/ 2 S's / all the big tiles are unaccounted for. Bingoing is one of the strongest aspects of my game, but the board is already well developed and, if he pulls ahead, it will be hard for me to save myself with a bingo (no open anchor points for an S, the best bets are off the DE or the L on the right hand side, or through an R in HARRIES).
The other pressing problem is that I have only one vowel and it doesn't go well with compound consonants ( BRUNT GLINT CHAMP FROCK ). You could make a case for changing out, but those high-point tiles are precious and all four double-word-score groups are open. It's a good board for making lots of small words. My gameplan is to play defensively, turning over a couple of tiles per turn and using the blunt scoring power of my tiles to offset the shortness of the words I'll be making. I also want to block any superstar plays involving multiple bonus squares.
After seeing him play ROOT, I feel he will squander a lot of opportunities and have a hard time wrining score out of weak tiles.
I launch this plan with HE, getting sextuple value for my H.
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Opponent thought for 20 seconds and countered with PORK. I don't like this play much, as it exposes the K to opponent reuse and lets him select how open that part of the board will become (by choosing between PORKY, PORKED or PORKIER). It also gets just 10 points out of the K: in his shoes, I would be trying to get at least triple value for it and ideally quad value. However there are no _K two-letter words, so the upper right is closed off until PORK is extended, at a time when my lead is widening. Opponent needs to be creating high-scoring opportunities instead of choking the board. He's doing my job for me.
Meanwhile, my plan to wait out the vowel shortage has backfired: I have none!
I need to start covering the double-word squares and I need to replenish my vowel supply, so I go with CRIBS, sacrificing the S to protect my lead. This is a defensive play. I prefer to attack in close situations, opening distant high value squares to bleed out my opponent's S's and blanks. Playing MERC two turns before (instead of MEAL) would have preserved an A and put me in much better shape to attack this turn.
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Opponent played UNITE on a double word score after 20 seconds' thought. He played quickly until these last two turns, so he may have picked up a blank.
I only got one vowel in 4 new tiles. I would like to change out but it will cost me the lead. Making DEV on the mid-right would save a vowel and dump a V, however his last play allows a bingo ending in -OS -AS on top of PORK; with a blank and 5 new tiles he could easily have hit it. I blocked with TON, leaving me a dismal rack of FGNV.
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He responded with OIL, again taking about 15 seconds. I feel more confident that he holds a blank now, because the board is such that you'll only have a few available moves unless you're planning a big word over on the right. He's shown himself to be a thoughtless player already, and if his rack was like OILLEEA he would have played instantly.
I find myself with no vowels for the second time. DEV is again considered, but I really need to dump two tiles if at all possible. I find DREG somewhere and play that.
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He comes back with ZAG, and my stubborn refusal to manage my rack better has cost me the lead. This is an ok move by him. Again he gets only double value for the Z and it's exposed to dws reuse, but there are only a few specific counters ( FEZ FIZ WIZ BIZ and maybe some others), any of which will open the upperleft tws to countercounterattack.
I am in a lot of trouble, because I need to first resuscitate my rack's playability, then create some scoring opportunities, and have them pan out before my opponent can capitalize on them. I was going to play FLING in the lower left, but luckily I went to take a dump just then and DELVING popped into my head. This was a miracle play because it dumped 5 of my 7 tiles and managed to score 26 points on what was supposed to be a regrouping turn.
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Opponent countered with JIN instantly, discarding a premium tile for the third time in a spot where I could reuse it and for only double score. This turn epitomizes his weakness.
Our scores are close and he still has time to stumble into a big play. I wasnt to apply pressure but I'm stuck in a a holding pattern until my rack develops a bit.
I want to dump either the FL or the W and one N, however I've picked up an E and LEZ in the upper left is an automatic decision. I also have FEZ, but whatever letter I put in the upper left is going to get tws'd by the opponent, while I get only double value. A 1-point tile is better than a 4-pointer in that spot.
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Opponent countered EM on the tws, also an automatic play.
Rack still in rough shape, I decide to play off JIN and close the tls above it with FED. WED was the better play, to save the F for the open L in the lower left.
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I guess that was a good play by me because all he could come up with was AI for 8 points. This kind of play can mean the opponent is very close to bingo. The most likely site is for him to make S______ off of OILS in the lower left; next most likely is the open L on the right. Unfortunately I can't close either of these very well (the F would come in handy now).
Without the tools to defend well, I opt for a weak attack and open the topmost tws with NOW. I intend that if he hit his bingo I can at least play WAN or something off of that.
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He shocks me by playing XIS and closing OIL. What doesn't shock me is that he's again wasting a premium tile on double value in an exposed position.
I would like to close the L in MEAL now and seal his fate, but the lower left tws is too dangerous, BID or FIT or WIT there could give him the lead. I fill it with RUN and move on.
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He counters by taking the other tws, a pretty standard play which nonetheless earns him 5 points less than my play.
Finally, the board is snug, I have a comfy lead and a pretty playable rack. This was my chance to close the L, but I got greedy (couldn't hit any bonus squares that way). Instead I took the higher-scoring play, CAY / PORKY for 30 points.
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Opponent finally gets his bone, but he misses the tws and it's only good for an 8-point lead.
We're down to final racks now, and you can see his in the status bar ( QUOTEY ) puts him in jeopardy of getting stuck with the Q.
For endgame, this board is very open and it will come down to who can go out first. He can't play QUOTE anywhere and his rack doesn't break down easily. Mine is very playable. Also I can make TWEEN if given an opening. I have a decisive advantage.
|  | The endgame is mechanical and we were both low on clock so I won't take it step by step. He missed the two-way QI at K12 but it wouldn't have been enough to win. Final 359-340 me. |
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