Mixing up the tiles
Often, players relax when they find that their tiles in the rack form a word. It is advisable to always keep shuffling the tiles at your disposal to look for new combinations of words. You will be at a disadvantage if you keep the seven tiles on the rack in the order you first put them. The reason is because even if you have found a word, the player who plays ahead of you might disorganize the position you wanted to make a move. Shuffling helps you have a few options that you can use when your turn comes.
Avoid using consonants only or vowels only
There are times that you may have consonants and vowels on your rack. It is crucial not to form a word with all the consonants only or all vowels only in the rack. Each play should have mixed up vowels and consonants. If you were to play and use all the consonants, then when you draw from the bag you get vowels only, you will end up with vowels only in the rack. Therefore, at such situations, you find yourself in a fix. To avoid this, it is important to keep the play balanced.
Facing a clever opponent
It is important to always anticipate the move of your opponent. Clever opponents will take advantage of your play; like when you form words closer to Triple word or Double Word score cells. You should always watch out for the games that edge towards the edge of the board. This brings you closer to the Triple Word Score cells which your opponent might take advantage of.
However, if such a play will work to your advantage then it is good to get closer to high multiplier cells. When playing against an experienced player, if you have the option of scoring high but risk setting up the player for a big score, it is not worth making that move and risk handing over a big score to your opponent on a silver platter. It is better to hold out until you can make the big score move yourself.
Flexible tiles
There are two types of tiles that can be used almost anywhere. These are the blank tile or the S tile. It is wise to hold out on these tiles until the most opportune moment. The blank tile represents any letter and thus can be used in many words. The S tile can be added at the end of any word to form a plural then, used as the beginning of another word. This means you make two plays at once, yet stick within the rules of the game that the word should read from top to bottom or left to right.
Defense strategy
Defense in scrabble is the tactic of foregoing a high score for a lower score play to prevent your opponent from making high scores when you set him up near a multiplier word score cell. Playing defense is very important even though it may be very tempting to want higher scores. A good Scrabble player has to consider the likelihood of giving the opponent good opportunities.
Sometimes, it is better to score less so that you have fewer points to catch up with your opponent if you are behind on points. If you hand over opportunities to your opponent, it will be twice as hard to catch up if you are lagging behind. However, defense must not be taken too far. At times, it is good to score as many points as you can especially if you are playing against a number of players.
Recognizing the likelihood to make a Bingo
There are letters that easily point out to the possibility of you making a Bingo. It is better to hold out on such letters so that the moment you get the right tiles, you will make a Bingo play. These letters are A, E, I, S, R and N. If you notice that you have these letters on the rack, you can set yourself up for a Bingo play. Assuming you draw from the bag and get a T, you can easily form the word TRAINERS. There are so many words that you can form with these letters.
Opening up the game
Sometimes, the game appears like stairs developing diagonally to the edges of the board. It is imperative to avoid these stairs as they close up openings in the game and prevent players from making as many moves as they would in a normal game. When you notice this happening, it will be of help if you can sacrifice and make a move that will open the game and allow you to make moves in future.