STRATEGY - BURNING AN S
By Allan Simmons
Most Scrabble players have been brought up to 'not waste an S'. Some
translate this into an S being worth at 10-15 points extra, and
others that an S must be saved for a bonus word. Whilst these 'rules'
are well-meaning the game is much too subtle for these to make sense
most of the time.
It is certainly true that the S (after the blank) is the most
flexible letter in the set and should be treated with great respect,
but the consideration of the worth of an S should not be in isolation
of other elements of a play such as:-
Rack Balance (of letters left on rack)
Defend/Open (depends on spread)
Turnover (number of tiles played).
So when might you consider 'burning' an S outside of a bonus word?
The S can earn you an extra 10-15 points more than any alternative.
A related factor is how strong the remaining balance is on the rack.
And whether pursuing a bonus is likely to be beneficial.
The board is not open for -S hooks
There's not much point in hoarding an S on the rack if there's no
obvious bonus spots on the board and nothing to offer a generous -S
hook to (unless it's the last S which might enable setups).
When you need to use it in order to improve rack balance.
This would be rare if it is a single S but there could be a situation
where you are lacking in vowels near the end of a game and the number
of tiles used is more important than other elements.
You have more than one S.
You still need to make the extra S work for you if you can -
retaining the second one for bonus potential. If you have two S's and
the other letters dictate a change then it takes a brave player to
put one back. One option is to score whatever is possible with the
extra S and delay the change.
Duplicate S's - Examples
Computer simulation shows that if you start a game with one of the top 6-letter combinations (containing S) and you have another S that doesn't yield any bonus words, then changing the superfluous S often ranks best. For example, it's worth just changing an S first turn with:
ABEORSS AGENSST AENSSTT CEIRSST EILOSST ADINRSS
Even changing S from an initial rack of RALINGS is not bad - although changing the L is far better .
REVIEW - HOW TO WIN AT SCRABBLE
By Andrew Fisher and David Webb
This is a book that takes the reader inside the mind of the expert Scrabble player. In fact there's two minds for the price of one - the book was cowritten by UK masters, David Webb and Andrew Fisher, both of whom have topped the UK ratings in recent years and played at World Championships. It is full of expert tips, strategies, and techniques, presented in a very readable and aspiring way to whet the appetite of any Scrabble fan. Significantly, a large section of the book focuses on the many ways to approach learning and recalling words, a vital part of the game at the top level.
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How to Win at Scrabble - By Andrew Fisher and David Webb |
Here's what some players had to say on reading the book recently:
"Invaluable for both seasoned tournament players and 'Sunday afternoon' players who can beat the rest of the family and want to know more about competitive Scrabble". Stewart Holden
"I loved the first sentence, "Scrabble is one of the
world's great games". This book shows how the minds of the
top players work and just how much work is necessary to reach the
very top."
Pete Finley
"Excellent, and in a very accessible format"
Nick Ball
"This is an excellent description of the way to improve Scrabble. It will take a great deal of work to achieve mastery, but more modest efforts will still yield improvements." Graeme Thomas
"I have just finished reading this splendid book - David and
Andrew are to be congratulated on producing such an excellent book -
one which in time will probably be regarded as the authoritative
guide for all Scrabble players."
George Gruner
"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, despite blenching at
some parts. The complexities of alphagram learning made the maths of
synergy look quite easy! Still, my copy is now covered in highlighted
areas for my improvement."
Elizabeth Hull
"Pretty erudite - every serious Scrabble player should have a copy."
Mike Willis
"A must-read! Well written and thought-provoking stuff."
Ed Martin
"Absolutely wonderful. The tone is instructive without being
pedantic. Some lovely throwaway lines that I found myself laughing
out loud about."
Amy Byrne
Can you find the two words from each of the following racks such that, between them, all the seven letters are used (as if needing to play out in two moves)?
D G H I K U Y
E F I I R U W
E F G G H I M
A A E E I I L
L O R U U VW
PROBABLY THE BEST BONUSES IN THE WORLD!
If you're fairly new to Scrabble with limited time to learn words then the following sevens should be a priority. Someone recently ran 100,000,000 games on a computer thereby determining the top 20 seven-letter word racks that you are most likely to get (listed below). We only have space to show one of the solutions for each rack, a + shows where there are other anagrams to find. The bracketed figure is the number of times the word appeared in the generated games.
AEINORT (10368) - OTARINE
AEEIORT (9715) - ETAERIO
AEEINRT (7275) - ARENITE+
AEILNOT (7138) - TOENAIL+
AEINOST (7114) - ATONIES
AEINORS (7080) - ERASION
AEILNOR (6986) - ALERION+
AEIORST (6975) - OTARIES+
ADEINOR (6946) - ANEROID
AEILNRT (5325) - LATRINE+
AEGINOR (5248) - ORIGANE
AEIINRT (5242) - INERTIA
AEGIORT (5233) - GOATIER
ADEINRT (5204) - ANTIRED+
AEINRTU (5194) - TAURINE+
AEINRST (5083) - ANESTRI+
AEEILNR (4940) - ALIENER
AEEISRT (4880) - SERIATE+
AEEINST (4859) - ETESIAN
AAEEINT (4817) - TAENIAE
HUGY and KID
WIFIE and UR
FEHM and GIG
AALII and EE
VROW and ULU