Tournament game: opponent is a Vulture
Last Play: COP (10)
Against a top player, the best play is to pass your turn.
What? Pass your turn? But… the vulture can then win by playing ANYTHING! Yes, they can. But vultures are not only interested in winning, they are also interested in winning by as many points as possible.
Your options in this position are not very good. In terms of honest wins, you have REZ, which wins with an I and S draw, both of which are really unlikely given your opponent’s last play of SCOP.
Meanwhile, passing provides your opponent with a conundrum, as they should assume the Q is in the bag a lot of the time. With any Q draw, opponent will lose not only the game, but a significant amount more spread. Bingos get punished by HER 11k, setting up ZONER. Any play that assumes a Q draw is actually still better to 6-pass and end the game.
As a result, opponent should often just 6-pass, ending the game. Even if your opponent suspects that there’s a small chance you’re making this play, they need to assess a probability of this happening, and unless they think the probability is somewhat high, they should 6-pass and end the game.