Scrabble Champions Want You To Read Their Minds

This is a bonus video that you all earned by subscribing to Josh Sokol's KZbin channel at ‪@axcertypo‬ !
Josh's own commentary and breakdown of this game can be found here:
• Nigel Richards Meets H...
In this game between the GOAT, Nigel Richards, and 2023 champion Josh Sokol, the power of inference in Scrabble is on full display, with each player successfully using their opponent's plays to "read their mind". With a little practice, you can learn to read the mind of a Scrabble champion as well!
Other ways to find me:
/ wanderer15 (my personal Twitch)
/ scrabble (weekly show to resume soon)

[@demiposeidon]

Do grandmasters ever try to bluff the opponents inference? ie play a slightly suboptimal move that tricks the opponent into thinking you have certain tiles, making them try to deal with it, allowing some future play of your own?

[@eighthcoda]

I vaguely recall a game where Nigel did this to 2019 National Champion Jesse Day, fishing off one tile even though he was nowhere near a bingo. But there may have been more to it than that.

[@Sam-oz8pn]

For sure, I think that’s come up in several of Will’s previous videos!

[@mattcanik]

Yeah I've done this before, can find examples

[@wanderer15]

Yes, this absolutely happens, though it's certainly rare for many reasons (most Scrabble plays have a pretty clear-cut "right answer" that you wouldn't want to deviate from, making adjustments like this is very tricky and can potentially hurt more than it helps unless done judiciously, etc.) but when it's done correctly it's a beautiful thing to watch.

[@evanyurko3640]

@@eighthcodathis was a particular situation where Nigel played KID for 8 points. Kenji Matsumoto (I think his channel is scrabble kenji) has a very intestine video about this play and the dynamics and thought process which went into it

[@petrie911]

And remember to always watch out for how your opponent might be setting up WATERZOOI.

[@javen9693]

Nigel's play of JIB also brilliantly sets up a spot for BOBETAH through the triple

[@paperpopper1290]

mack mueller reference

[@wanderer15]

Lol, nice reference!

[@hfcriske]

Before I watched your videos I had no idea about competetive Scrabble, and now it feels like Nigel is a legend I've known about since before I was born. Awesome content

[@AlexDings]

Amazing game. TWIRL also gives Nigel a good alternative X spot should the setup be blocked.

[@wanderer15]

True, I glossed over that, but he did end up cashing it for 40+ there!

[@zuffin1864]

What is cool about scrabble is how many ways there are to play each turn. At first you think "always the biggest point word" but that actually leaves you open to be predictable by your opponent

[@dustinbrown3317]

Easily one of your best videos. Great example game to explain a difficult concept to visualize. Loving the upload frequency!

[@tlstyer]

Hilarious Office Space reference at 2:05!

[@wanderer15]

Glad somebody caught this :)

[@Aequorin628]

3:37 Any idea why Josh doesn't play OBOE here? I would have expected that to be better, since it completely blocks the X play and gets rid of the duplicate E in a vowel heavy leave.

[@wanderer15]

Josh noted himself that this was a miss, but I didn’t want to dwell too long on it. Good catch!

[@ianp1745]

@@wanderer15 Wouldn’t Nigel still play DOJO there? That would renew the spot (allowing OXO). It still may get blocked, with this rack Josh could play something like LEVEL, to do that, and get the duplicate E and L off his rack and the clunky V.

[@danielzitnik4247]

Fun video! And it's interesting how mechanics like inference only matter if your opponent is good. A video idea for you would be where does all the Scrabble terminology come from, who coined them, alternate slang that mean the same thing, etc. Thanks for the content!

[@wanderer15]

Good idea & thank you very much!

[@joshuasims5421]

These strategies are a joy to watch, thank you for sharing and explaining these games.

[@wanderer15]

Thanks for watching!

[@serverinvihatuin2654]

I love this channel, never even heard of competitive scrabble before watching a few of your videos. Now I'm hooked 😂😂

[@BramCohen]

There's the very interesting super-grandmaster technique of knowing your opponent is good at inference and playing something which misleads them. In Poker that's like the whole game but it barely factors in in Scrabble.

[@wanderer15]

True. I think in Scrabble my gut instinct is that something like 75% of positions have an obviously "correct" answer that doesn't really allow for stylistic deviation. Within that 25%, there's a lot of cool stuff you can do, whether it's making plays that influence the future shape of the board, setting up hooks you suspect your opponent might not think of, etc. Making range-finding more difficult for your opponent is in that group. The most common instance where you'll see this is when a strong player has multiple S tiles. Typically, when you have more than one S, it's okay to part with the extra ones after the first, as doing so often helps you maximize your odds of playing a bingo. However, many strong players balk at doing this, because playing an S for a very small number of extra points gives your opponent almost iron-clad knowledge that you're holding another one (or else you would never use one up so carelessly) and will influence them to avoid making moves that can be pluralized / to block S hooks on the board in response.

[@CKyIe]

Another awesome video! You are the Hikaru of scrabble, Will!

[@AlexDings]

Obnoxious and arrogant? 😕

[@alexanderbateman5581]

That's a bit insulting. I think these videos are super entertaining and explain things really well. Why would you compare them to Hikaru?

[@CKyIe]

@@alexanderbateman5581 Sorry, I meant it as a compliment...

[@irakyl]

He truly is the Accolibed of Scrabble

[@wanderer15]

Thank you very much! I'm definitely an admirer of Hikaru and all he's done for the game of chess so I take this as a big compliment.

[@happy_labs]

Thumbs up for the visual Office Space reference

[@Sam-oz8pn]

This was such a fascinating video. More games like this please!!

[@godwinalabi740]

Always excited to watch your videos, very enlightening.

[@PelumiOTE2B]

Oh My God. You are a genius, Will. This was marvelous

[@craiglarimer1173]

Fabulous video. Thanks for sharing.

[@majkgmajkg2613]

One of my best subscribe ever! Love this stuff!

[@johnterry5764]

The sopranos and the office space references at the beginning had me dying 😂

[@doctorleftwizard8931]

Still love these!! Thanks for the videos, Will. :)

[@BorisGamingChannel]

I would imagine Nigel making the 2nd best play to outsmart smart opponents.

[@verbosed]

sometimes he is the only one who can see the best move! if it’s something very obscure or difficult to find

[@duustinduude6776]

what a cool game!

[@sirsayitright122]

Nice commentary analysis 👍

[@fatbeanzoop]

Another amazing video Are you able to slightly discolour the tiles in the board visual to show which player played which tiles? I think it'd be nice

[@wanderer15]

This is an excellent suggestion I’ve been thinking about already. I’ll be considering solutions, but I’m curious if you have any in mind already. Perhaps I should change the scores to the color white and then designate a “red” player and a “blue” player? (Currently, red in my videos is both the default score color as well as the “something bad happening” color on the board, so perhaps this could be improved as well.)

[@fatbeanzoop]

@@wanderer15 Thanks for reading my suggestion Will, I think keeping simple visuals is all you need with player colour tiles, having too much going on with colour keys could distract from the strategy you always highlight

[@janrl16]

You accidentally showed the +23 at 2:26 on Nigel's side instead of Sokols, thanks for the great video

[@wanderer15]

Good catch! Never understand how I miss these things proof-watching.

[@Firefly256]

Props to Will Anderson for not extending this video to 8 minutes

[@wanderer15]

I don’t run mid-roll ads anyway. I’m trying to get viewers above all else and spread the good word about Scrabble to as many people as possible…not to cause anyone to click away mid-video

[@chicswag4657]

1:11 💀

[@DanielDugovic]

I had to look up the definition and pronunciation of formicary. Look forward to Google Trends on that one!

[@feasible]

Fantastic as always.

[@plebcrabslayer]

0:45 The 'i' is the worst vowel. Change my mind. 😅

[@wanderer15]

Until you work your way up to being able to find longer words regularly, the I can be a real pain - not that good in short words and awful when duplicated. The U is technically worse but thankfully there’s only 4 of them compared to 9 Is so there’s an adjustment to be made there too. However, once you get more experience finding longer words, the I (just one at a time) is actually an excellent bingo tile and improves a huge number of bingo-prone combinations when included. So, your instinct isn’t wrong, but perhaps over time you’ll come to like it just a bit better! :)

[@plebcrabslayer]

@@wanderer15 Nice. Thank you for taking the time to reply and explain; I knew that you would throw in some technicalities! :D I look forward to the day that I can call ‘i’ an ally and not an enemy, haha.

[@EebstertheGreat]

Do you know if Scrabble engines use this tactic at all? A lot of the time it might not be a big deal, but it seems like in some cases it could have a hugely important effect on how you play.

[@wanderer15]

There is one engine that I believe uses some form of this but it’s still very primitive compared to what it could be with more time and energy spent. I’m really excited to see what engines can teach us in this area.

[@ramdamdam1402]

Are scrabble solvers optimal regarding inference ?

[@wanderer15]

Not yet. This is a rare area where human beings currently outperform the best engines, but not because engines are incapable of it - it just hasn’t been implemented in an automated way.

[@contrl31]

Why at 4:47 does QUELL block the S hook on RETHINK? ????L?S seems to have plenty of options, so is it illegal to hook and cross a letter on the same turn?

[@wanderer15]

Nope, you're absolutely right - what I should have said was, it "almost completely blocks" or "cripples" the S hook, since plays like what you describe are still possible. However, playing the L in that spot dramatically reduces the chances of a bingo hooking RETHINKS still fitting on the board. Josh wouldn't have made a play like that if it didn't offer other opportunities back to him in return, which QUELL does.

[@Crunchymg]

letter tier list

[@wanderer15]

I promise it’s on my to-do list!

[@ThePeterDislikeShow]

Is it possible to bluff by playing a bad move to make your opponent infer incorrectly?

[@wanderer15]

It's definitely possible, but you'd have to be careful, because bad moves (by definition) have other issues to navigate!

[@ThePeterDislikeShow]

@@wanderer15 Has it happened in professional play at some point?

[@arnavbal3856]

Any reason why fie wasn’t played by Josh?

[@arnavbal3856]

I don’t think it would matter in hindsight, fie would give Josh 6 points which then make his score 432 Nigel would then gain the 4 points putting him at 433

[@arnavbal3856]

Unless I’m wrong about something

[@itskmillz]

what an incredible

[@pideperdonus2]

This makes this WAY more hard than chess. I dont read my opponets mind in chess, I just guess lol

[@Marnige]

But you definitely do need to read your opponent mind in chess. Else you will just let your opponent enter your lane unknowingly

[@pideperdonus2]

@@Marnige< yes, but in chess you dont guess the letters your opponentes may have.

[@wanderer15]

Chess is plenty hard, Scrabble is just differently hard

[@Baconarona]

Sickle*

[@omfgacceptmyname]

nice

[@technospyform1578]

sikcle

[@wanderer15]

Somebody’s playing my puzzles! :) this error has since been fixed. Sorry!

[@NerdTheBox]

pedantic editing mistake: you put the +23 on nigel's side at 2:25. Great video as always though!

[@wanderer15]

Drat, good catch! Don't know how I miss these things, I swear I proof-watch

[@slidenaway]

@@robertveith6383 lmao is that meant to be a meta pedantry comment because if so, gg also hi NTB

[@vicious_rhubarb2247]

​@@robertveith6383Just spell pedantic correctly also hi NTB

[@Xenophilius]

@@vicious_rhubarb2247Not to be pedantic, but sentences end with punctuation and vegetables can’t talk. also hi NTB

[@coolguy14006]

O O O

[@OfficialGidfather]

Yeah I love playing in D3 where someone plays T(O) for 3 points, before drawing the case u and playing QUETZAL serves me right for blocking the obvious S hook instead of the Z hook on the end of PUT. I hate this game.

[@wanderer15]

The dark art of inference is very powerful, but it may also drive you insane...

[@davebutlarge7458]

first! excited for the video!

[@alexanderbateman5581]

I'm surprised there isn't an element of bluffing with this, doing plays with less points to trick opponents trying to infer what they have. Is the level of play not at a point where this could be a deciding factor?

[@Oscar31YT]

I think it’s happened before, just that it’s so hard to do well and the amount of unpredictability is so high that it almost never happens

[@wanderer15]

This falls under the category of something I would do only against very strong opponents with whom I have a long history of play. So the opportunities don’t come along super often. But that type of thinking is amazing to see deployed well.

[@alexanderbateman5581]

@@wanderer15 Would love to see a video about these scenarios!

[@HazhMcMoor]

Phonies really need strong bluffing

[@XTLmaker]

Hello random person typing first, I'm here to tell you you're not and should not even bother :)

[@ChrisWEarly]

:(