From: TCobbs <TCobbs@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 00:03:19 EST
Subject: Re: Consensus Game #1, Turn #2
Message-id: <5336afe5.34c03ba9@aol.com>

This 16xx rated player votes for 9e OFT (but only after being dragged kicking and screaming from my original preference for 9g DEFT).

Two advantages of OFT over DEFT noted by others are worth mentioning -- superior leave and restricting opp. plays on columns d and e.

The decisive difference between OFT and DEFT, for me, however, is the greater flexibility of our hooking options after OFT. Both plays leave us bingo lines on column J and row 10. But after DEFT, column J and row 10 bingos are almost forced to end with S. After OFT, a column J play can have S anywhere in the word and on row 10 we can hook either the E or the S that we're keeping. In short, OFT plays to the strengths of our leave.

(One last elegy for my sadly-departed DEFT -- it does seem next-to-impossible for opp. to block both J and 10 bingo lines after this play. After OFT, if opp. has just the right tiles, we may be left with nothing but the slim hope of playing DEVILISH d1. (But the double-bingo-line-block is, admittedly, a far-fetched worst case scenario.))

Tracy Cobbs (MadMax)