New player question

If you are talking about Scrabble, it depends on which move it is.

If it is the first move of the game, I try to make a word from the tiles in my hand and then find the highest scoring position on the center square of board for it.

Subsequent hands, I look at the open squares on the board and then see if I can make any words on that spot with the tiles in my hand.

Dunno, don't play squabble, and deny ever having had a SOWPODS.

I am talking about scrabble, yes.
Thank you for your relpy. That's ,in essence, what I do, however it takes a long time! I guess the speed comes w/ experience. I'm still learning the 2 letter words...

A bit of both. There are a lot of things to consider depending on the board and your rack. I guess I think about a mix of the following - in no particular order :
1. Look for bingos
2. Look for coloured spaces that can be used in two directions for high scoring letters (don't waste a high scoring letter or a useful letter like S just on its face value)
3. Improve my rack if there's good potential (including space) for a bingo next turn (eg if I've got a 'satire' word plus Y - dump the Y somewhere)
4.Block potentially high scoring spots if I can't use them myself - including places to use high scoring letters if I know my opponent has them (eg blocking the only open I on the board if its near the end and I know my opponent has the Q)
5. Try and get more points out of high scoring letters already on the board.
6. Close up the board if I'm well ahead so that my opponent can't come in with a bingo and beat me.
7. Etc etc
Just some thoughts. But I lose a lot .... watch some games on the net between high ranking players and you'll get some inspiration.

Thank you for your reply. Forgive my ignorance, but what is a bingo when you're playing scrabble? How would I look for one? Also, could you tell me where I could find some scrabble games , online, played by high ranking players, so I could just observe the strategy?

Sorry - a bingo is a 7 letter word.
Go to http://www.isc.ro/ . You need to register and download the software but then you can play against people or computers - and watch high rated games. You have to pay to keep playing against the computers after an introductory period - but everything else is free.

It actually depends on the other factors during the game. I consider a lot of factors before making a move, but I'll make sure that it is a quick yet favorable move for me.