u/lifeinprod

For those of you who occasionally play longer than 8 letter words, do you plan them ahead of time (you play a word that creates a specific cap that can be filled to create a large word) or are they all crimes of opportunity?

Now that I'm getting a bit better, I've noticed many of the times I've decisively lost come from leaving the 4 squares covering 3W and 3L exposed, and my opponent hits this with a high value tile on the 3L.

I suppose this is a more significant factor than in Scrabble where it's only 2L/3W, and a bingo/sweep is worth more?

1. Save S to either (1) pluralize an existing word while playing a new word or (2) play a sweep.

2. Save blank for the above or (3) U following a Q

3. Look for opportunities my opponent might not notice to extend an existing word by one letter before or after. (latest example BODED -> ABODED)

4. When a 2W or 3W is playable, consider using it immediately so it's no longer playable by my opponent.

5. Create and don't block areas on the board where sweeps can be played (unless I'm ahead by 50+ points)

6. Save Q, J and X for 2L or better

7. Don't alter my play decision just in case I draw a certain tile in the near future

8. Never swap

9. If my intuition says "there must be a sweep possible here", SLOW DOWN and really look for it, visually placing and rearranging tiles on the board to try to find it.

I'm the initiator of most of my games, and I usually constrain my first play to 4 letters because it seems impolite to open up with a 20+ point double-word-score move to a stranger in a game with a first-player advantage. Thoughts?