Philadelphia 2/18/07 (Rating: 1450)
At 2-1 with a 100+ spread I'm feeling pretty good at lunch time. I just beat Jeff Jacobson (1467) 429-324. I played three consecutive bingos and outpicked him so badly, it wasn't fair. Still it feels like a good win. I'm eating my gyro happily. Eric is 1-2 in Division 1 and he's bemoaning a phoney he didn't challenge in his last game -- REUPDATE.
After lunch things unraveled on me. I lose all four games. All the breaks that went my way in Atlantic City go against me. I draw only 1 blank of the 8 across the four games. Esses are scarce and each big-point tile is seemingly played against me for 40 or 50 points. I'm constantly staring at racks like OURIEUN wondering if I should ditch OUIU or play OURIE for 10 points. I'm not good enough to answer these types of questions. What play would Quackle the Scrabble simulator tell me maximizes my chances of winning? I don't know.
My first game of the day is against David Engelhardt (1532). I'm not feeling fully functional. I went out with friends in West Chester, drank a little, and slept for about 3 hours total, most of it on a camping mat on the floor. I stink like cigarettes, because my pants and jacket were saturated in smoke at the bar last night. I'm the opposite of refreshed. But I'm off to a good start as the first letter I pull from the bag is a blank. I get RE?OUSE and can't find a bingo. I see REHOUSE but cannot imagine it's good (it is, and the other bingos are OUVRES and OVERUSE). I ditch a few letters and play FLOWERS my next turn. I keep the lead until the last two plays and David edges me 372-356. In the next game I beat Marty Fialkow (1397) 477-398. I play 3 bingoes (ONAGERS, PAINTERS, LARIATS) and have two 40+ nonbingos (WOVE, HOODED). The aforementioned game against Jeff Jacobson is next and unfortunately it's the peak of my day.
Mark Miller (1532) gives post-lunch loss number one with a 330-453 thumping. I can't get anything going all day and my best play is a phoney -- TOTEBAG. Toward the end of the game I have BTTOEA? and the only open line requires a hook of the Z and an A with the last two letters of a bingo. Given the circumstances I think TOTEBAG is a pretty nice find. Mark lets it stay and on the next play bingos himself. In my next game it's a phoney that gets me. Early in the game my opponent, Alan Kraus (1413) plays ORALIZES for 104 points and I don't even bat an eye over it. From there on out he draws the bag on me and wins 492-374. My next loss, to Dan Milton (1315), is certainly the most frustrating of the evening. I bingo early in the game, POTPIES, definitely my favorite of my plays on the day, to take the lead. I'm able to hold the lead despite pulling dredge by shutting the board down. On the draw that empties the bag I pull the Q to give me QUARNTL. He has SUIRD?E. I'm up by 20. My only spot to play the Q would allow him go out with a bingo SQUIRTED. I'm stuck and I have no good plays. I play off the T for 5 points, he plays his S for 21. I realize it's over. If I play the Q he'll be able to hit it up on a double word and I'll lose, if I keep it he'll go out and I'll lose. There is nothing I can do. I accept my fate and play QUA for 18. He plays QUIRE for 26 points. I lose 416-400. This loss is super irritating. I needed to draw almost the perfectly wrong tile combinattion at the end of the game to lose, and I did just that. My final loss of the day is only slightly less irritating. Diana Grosman (1536) draws the bag, and clobbers me 437-354. I was doing my best to hang in there, and I hit two bingos to keep it close for a while, but she had the following sequence of plays against me: INTAKING 76, COSTLIER 72, HERTZ 54, JURA 36, FEDEX 51 -- two bingos and then three triple word scores with power tiles. I just couldn't hang.
I'm not sure where I finished I think 10th or 11th of 12 in Division 2. Despite my loss to Diana Grosman I think I finished ahead of her, as she was 2-5 with a worse spread than me. Eric and I leave before the final results are computed. I am 2-5, he is 3-4. No sense sticking around. We aren't winning anything, and it's a long drive back. I hope my rating doesn't drop too much after this poor performance -- but that's in the hands of the NSA bigwigs now. All in all, despite my record, I don't think I played too poorly. Given my tiles I feel like I consistently made plays to give myself a shot at winning. That's all you can do. Things just don't work sometimes. You have to roll with it. It reminds of a story I heard a former umpire tell about Rickey Henderson: Rickey is at the plate and the first pitch blows right by him. "Alright," says Rickey "that's one. You got me with that one." Next pitch the exact same thing happens. "Alright, that's two. You got me two. Throw that shit again, though." The third pitch comes in just like the first two and again blows right past him. Rickey looks at the pitcher, struts toward the dugout and says, "you still the man Rickey, you still the man."
TOURNAMENT NOTES
*My tracking and scoring today was spot-on. It's a very minor consolation though. I like it better when I'm winning and can't track or add for shit.
*The lock-less bathrooms at the tournament venue are quite annoying. The vacant/occupied signs don't really work because people always forget to flip it, so everybody just knocks anyway. The best way to ensure privacy is to put your foot against the door.
*Also Eric was wondering why there are four toilets in a row about a foot away from each other. I think it's a good question.
*The way it's set up D1 & D2 are upstairs D3 & D4 are downstairs. I really don't want to go back downstairs for the next tournament.
*Eric and I were talking about how if people observe your game they will often say, "you missed such-and-such" where such-and-such is some word you've never heard of. It's not so much you missed it, it's that you just didn't know it.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Complete Stem Listing
I'm playing in a one-dayer this Sunday in Philly. In trying to learn words I find it best to create my own stems and mnemonic rather than use a book. I study about 45 minutes a night 4 or 5 times a week when I'm at the gym on the elliptic machine. It's a good system I learn new words, and get in shape without cutting into my research time. Below is a complete list of my stems.
STEMS
Class 1: (Those letters which don’t complete a bingo)
1. TISANE (JQY)
2. STREEL (QUEERED JEER) Remember the double Es
3. EARING (QUIX JOKY) An earring might be quixotic and joky
4. EATERS (YE, JEE, VEE, ZEE, QEE) Think Ye Olde Eatery
5. ALIENS (JANE Z’S QI) Jane the alien from planet Z has Qi
Class 2: (Those letters which, along with JQXYZ, don’t complete a bingo)
6. SATIRE (JOUK) Satire is a joke
7. RETAIN (BOVA) Bovines need many stomachs to retain their food
8. INTERS (RIB) A rib is inter-body
9. ANTERS (F) Remember Fanta
10. SAINER (BEAU W) Pitcher Johnny Sain was a beau who often got the W
Class 3: (Those letters which do complete a bingo)
a) Mnemonics require an explanation
11. ANTLER (EVENING HICCUPS) Deers hiccup at night
12. ATONER (BUG CHUMPS) Atoners are chumps you should bug
13. ENTAIL (REEKS OF GRUMPS) Such an odor would entail many grumps
14. TAIDER (PHAT GRAVY BALKS, MAN) Notice DIETARY and think phat gravy
15. TORIES (BUNCH OF OLD GRUMPS) The Tories were a bunch of old grumps
16. ROTINE (UNPLUG CUBS JUT) See ROUTINE and remember the only vowel is U
17. RUTINE (BRAVES GOT MAD) Linked to the one above via Cubs/Braves NL
18. RETIEN (HIKING CREATURES) Hiking Creatures retie their shoes n draw stings
19. SEINER (WET PHLEGM EFFECTED THE VEXERS) Seiners get wet and then are vexed
20. NEATER (VI’S SKIRT GLITCH) Once Vi fixes her skirt glitch it’ll look neater
21. RETUNE (VIDS) After retuning your instrument you can make music vids
22. SAILER (AHAB MATCHED A GRAVE LEAN JAWS) Ahab = sailer
24. GREENS (MAY DIET) One eats a lot of salad in May
25. GINGER (MY SLAVE) Offensive, but effective mnemonic if you anagram ginger
26. SENATE (HILL DRIPT JIM’S ICING) Hill Clinton dript Jim Bunning’s icing
27. DERAIL (VESTRY POLICE GRABS YOU) They grab and derail you
28. RATLIN (YEHS) Steps on a rope ladder, yeh!
29. LEANER (DWI: BIG TWITS TIP CRIBS) Drunk = leaner that tip their cribs (cars)
30. LEADER (BIGWIG MIXT VINY FBI PICS) Leader = bigwig
31. RETAIL (SELLS DUMP TRUCKS BY THE BUNCH) Dump truck retailers
32. TRAILS (MAYBE COUNT ME OUT) I don’t like hiking on trails
33. AROINT (WUD COPS, BUGS JOB) Crazy cops and bugs drive people away
34. RELINE (GOOD CAB VACS) To reline a cab you need a good vac
35. OSATIRE (DUN JUT RUM VUM) See OUTRAISE, the only vowel is U
36. ERATION (TZARS HAD CAB PLAN) See NOTARIZE and remember Z
b) Mnemonics require no explanation
37. RATING (ASSESSMENT FOR CINEMATIC KINDS AND POWERS)
38. ANGERS (BLOOD BOILED WITH GRIM IRE)
39. TRAINS (GOT ‘EM A CHOO-CHOO THAT BEEPS A SQUEAL)
40. NAILER (MOSTLY OPTS TO GIVE CHICKS SEX)
41. SENILE (LOOPY OLD COOTS FORGOT)
42. SENIOR (WOW JUD, HIGH SCHOOL IS ALMOST THROUGH – IT’S VAPOR)
Class 4: (Letters that do complete a bingo. Stems take no vowels.)
43. GARIES (LV MNS WGHTS) Gary and Gary are love men with some weights
44. RETONE (FNSHD) Only after re-toning are you finished
STEMS
Class 1: (Those letters which don’t complete a bingo)
1. TISANE (JQY)
2. STREEL (QUEERED JEER) Remember the double Es
3. EARING (QUIX JOKY) An earring might be quixotic and joky
4. EATERS (YE, JEE, VEE, ZEE, QEE) Think Ye Olde Eatery
5. ALIENS (JANE Z’S QI) Jane the alien from planet Z has Qi
Class 2: (Those letters which, along with JQXYZ, don’t complete a bingo)
6. SATIRE (JOUK) Satire is a joke
7. RETAIN (BOVA) Bovines need many stomachs to retain their food
8. INTERS (RIB) A rib is inter-body
9. ANTERS (F) Remember Fanta
10. SAINER (BEAU W) Pitcher Johnny Sain was a beau who often got the W
Class 3: (Those letters which do complete a bingo)
a) Mnemonics require an explanation
11. ANTLER (EVENING HICCUPS) Deers hiccup at night
12. ATONER (BUG CHUMPS) Atoners are chumps you should bug
13. ENTAIL (REEKS OF GRUMPS) Such an odor would entail many grumps
14. TAIDER (PHAT GRAVY BALKS, MAN) Notice DIETARY and think phat gravy
15. TORIES (BUNCH OF OLD GRUMPS) The Tories were a bunch of old grumps
16. ROTINE (UNPLUG CUBS JUT) See ROUTINE and remember the only vowel is U
17. RUTINE (BRAVES GOT MAD) Linked to the one above via Cubs/Braves NL
18. RETIEN (HIKING CREATURES) Hiking Creatures retie their shoes n draw stings
19. SEINER (WET PHLEGM EFFECTED THE VEXERS) Seiners get wet and then are vexed
20. NEATER (VI’S SKIRT GLITCH) Once Vi fixes her skirt glitch it’ll look neater
21. RETUNE (VIDS) After retuning your instrument you can make music vids
22. SAILER (AHAB MATCHED A GRAVE LEAN JAWS) Ahab = sailer
24. GREENS (MAY DIET) One eats a lot of salad in May
25. GINGER (MY SLAVE) Offensive, but effective mnemonic if you anagram ginger
26. SENATE (HILL DRIPT JIM’S ICING) Hill Clinton dript Jim Bunning’s icing
27. DERAIL (VESTRY POLICE GRABS YOU) They grab and derail you
28. RATLIN (YEHS) Steps on a rope ladder, yeh!
29. LEANER (DWI: BIG TWITS TIP CRIBS) Drunk = leaner that tip their cribs (cars)
30. LEADER (BIGWIG MIXT VINY FBI PICS) Leader = bigwig
31. RETAIL (SELLS DUMP TRUCKS BY THE BUNCH) Dump truck retailers
32. TRAILS (MAYBE COUNT ME OUT) I don’t like hiking on trails
33. AROINT (WUD COPS, BUGS JOB) Crazy cops and bugs drive people away
34. RELINE (GOOD CAB VACS) To reline a cab you need a good vac
35. OSATIRE (DUN JUT RUM VUM) See OUTRAISE, the only vowel is U
36. ERATION (TZARS HAD CAB PLAN) See NOTARIZE and remember Z
b) Mnemonics require no explanation
37. RATING (ASSESSMENT FOR CINEMATIC KINDS AND POWERS)
38. ANGERS (BLOOD BOILED WITH GRIM IRE)
39. TRAINS (GOT ‘EM A CHOO-CHOO THAT BEEPS A SQUEAL)
40. NAILER (MOSTLY OPTS TO GIVE CHICKS SEX)
41. SENILE (LOOPY OLD COOTS FORGOT)
42. SENIOR (WOW JUD, HIGH SCHOOL IS ALMOST THROUGH – IT’S VAPOR)
Class 4: (Letters that do complete a bingo. Stems take no vowels.)
43. GARIES (LV MNS WGHTS) Gary and Gary are love men with some weights
44. RETONE (FNSHD) Only after re-toning are you finished
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Third Tournament: Getting lucky in Atlantic City
Eric and I have some trouble making it across New Jersey. We misread the directions (Eric's fault) and end up taking this slow-ass two lane road across the entire state. Then the directions gave us a wrong turn (my fault), because the address of the hotel was entered as Atlantic City instead of West Atlantic City. We get to the tournament about 15 minutes after the stated start time, but things haven't kicked-off yet. We have just enough time to check-in and all that and then find our opponents. My first opponent is Gary Perman, rated in the 1400s. The tournament is open so anybody canplay anybody regardless of division.
In the bathroom before things start, I ask Eric what is the rating of his first opponent. "Uh, I'm not sure," he replies, "but actually he's right here." He turns to the guy at the sink next to him, "Hey, what's your rating?"
"Okay, I'll leave now so you guys can talk about me," the guy says.
"We just want to know your rating," Eric responds.
"No-no-no-no-no... I'll leave so you can talk about me." And he leaves. Scrabble players can be an odd lot.
I beat Perman despite his strong finish. I was up by about a bingo with only a few tiles left. There was one open bingo lane when he made a decent scoring play that put ED at the bottom of the board. This gave him another lane with the last blank in his rack. When I blocked the first open line, he played the 9 lettered bingo MISATONED -- very nice. It wasn't enough though as despite my bad tracking and my fast-approaching-zero clock, I made some nice plays to go out first and win by a few. I won my second game also, before getting killed by 1900+ rated Stefan Rau by over 200 points. It was over after his first two plays when he drew a blank each turn and dropped GYPSTER and FUGITIVE on me. It would've been worse but I finally hit a bingo (TERNION) at the very end of the game. I lost my next game to an unrated player named Sha Shanyel (I was her first ever win) by 150 points. I could've made the spread respectable, but I spent my last few plays dumping letters for just a few points in hopes of drawing the right rack to hit ABDOMENS for a triple-triple. It was idiotic really. Spread can matter. Opening night ends with me at 2-2.
The next day I fall into a pattern. Win a game by a few points, lose a game by a slew of points. After 10 games I am 5-5 with a remarkable spread of -556. My worst loss is to Phil Polsky. I barely put up 200 and lose by 216. Also I lose by over 150 to a frantic middle-aged woman who has a rating of just over 1000. I salvage the day by winning my last two games to be a respectable 7-5. I had no business winning my last game. My opponent drew all 4 esses, both blanks. Luckily for me, after 7 games of Scrabble, she was seemingly even more tired than I was. She played quickly and thoughtlessly and I eked out a 4 point victory by sticking her with the J at the end. Eric is also 7-5, although due to the open format he's been playing better competition. He only lost to Rau by 6 points, and he would've won had he not made a blunder in the end game. He also hit up a pretty sweet bingo -- CAUSEWAY, and he's earning a repuation as one of the "unrated superstars" of the tournament. An unrated 18 year-old, Mike Yowonske, is kicking some serious ass, and that woman Sha, and this other unrated guy, Augustine Abba, are also both playing very well.
After the day two games end, Eric and I head into Atlantic City proper for some food and blackjack. I win $25 at the tables, Eric wins $100. On the way back to the hotel we stop at Un'kind Donuts for a midnight snack. Then on the way back form there we stop at McDonalds so that Eric can get some fries. One thing I learned from this trip -- that dude is always hungry. I don't understand it. His gastronomical rapacity knows no satiety. And while I'm on the topic of being hungry, I noticed a disproportionately high number of pear-shaped people at this tournament. I'm not sure if Scrabble attracts the portly, or if many players forgo exercise for gaming, but I think, collectively, Scrabble folk could really do good by instituting a manditory, between-rounds calisthenics regiment at all tournaments.
In the final day of play the open format and my terrible spread really helped me. You play the people who are ranked near you in the tournament, and since I was ranked last among the people whose record I shared, I generally was playing against weaker competition than them. Not weak competition, mind you, just weaker. Like I was playing 1400-1700 rated people instead of 1700-2000. I win all four of my games the final day by a total of 62 points. I beat Stan Willimas (1476) by 8, Augistine Abba (unr.) by 10, Michael Wolberg (1635) by 6, and Diana Grosman (1483) by 38. I finish 11-5 with a spread of -408. Luckily it didn't come to spread though as my record is the outright best among all division 3 players. I made some nice plays and things broke my way. As a few examples: down by over 40 against Williams near the end of the game, with no open bingo lanes, I fish for an S or a U, draw a U and hit TOQUES for 72 points my next play. Against Wolfberg with INLA?ES in my rack I can't find a bingo that starts with an I (INHALES is an obvious one, I see INLACES but don't know if it's good), so I open a line by playing off AL and then hit STHENIA (pronounced Saint Henia by me as a mnemonic) my next play for about 30 points more than INHALES would have been. It was just that type of day -- combine with the two wins from the previous night I went from 5-5 to 11-5 (just like the 2001 Patriots, team of the all-time double-valid great WR Troy Brown.) I take home $525 in winnings. It's pretty sweet. My rating after this tournament is 1450.
Tournament Notes:
*Eric wins 2nd place in division 4. Mike Yowonske wins D4 coming in 4th overall, and nearly coming in 2nd. He misses SEIZERS against Matt Graham to narrowly lose. Phil Polsky wins D2 and Joe Weinike wins the entire thing.
*At 11-5 I finish ahead of Eric who went 10-6. This is hilarious since he beats me more than 2 out of 3 times we play. I causally mention that I had the better record a few times on the ride home.
*The directors Matt, Vernon and Esla did an excellent job and deserve a heartfelt thanks from all the players.
*With the previous note noted Esla could cut her speaking time by about 75% and still convey all the relevant information. She goes on and on and on, and when you think she's done she says, "Also..." At one point one of the players said quite audibly to those around her, "just shut up and let us play." The sentiment was largely echoed by those in earshot.
*Seth Lipkin spoke about cross-tables at lunch, and I thought it was pretty interesting. Spending many, many hours between the ages of 8 and 18 creating virtual sports leagues on Nintendo, I love the idea of meticulously keeping Scrabble stats. It really adds legitimacy to competitive Scrabble, in my opinion.
*Jello is a valid play, (much to Eric's dismay) but it's not in the OSPD, quite strange since it's not offensive. (Unless you find processed, jiggling food offensive.)
*Why isn't feedings valid? It's in dictionary.com.
*I saw a player literally follow the ass of a woman, who worked at the hotel, right out the elevator on the wrong floor.
*I overheard a female player say that another player (who's like 80 years old) had "made a play" for her at a previous tournament that she didn't appreciate. I found this hysterical.
*Open tournament is the way to go for the simple reason that it's more fun for more people.
In the bathroom before things start, I ask Eric what is the rating of his first opponent. "Uh, I'm not sure," he replies, "but actually he's right here." He turns to the guy at the sink next to him, "Hey, what's your rating?"
"Okay, I'll leave now so you guys can talk about me," the guy says.
"We just want to know your rating," Eric responds.
"No-no-no-no-no... I'll leave so you can talk about me." And he leaves. Scrabble players can be an odd lot.
I beat Perman despite his strong finish. I was up by about a bingo with only a few tiles left. There was one open bingo lane when he made a decent scoring play that put ED at the bottom of the board. This gave him another lane with the last blank in his rack. When I blocked the first open line, he played the 9 lettered bingo MISATONED -- very nice. It wasn't enough though as despite my bad tracking and my fast-approaching-zero clock, I made some nice plays to go out first and win by a few. I won my second game also, before getting killed by 1900+ rated Stefan Rau by over 200 points. It was over after his first two plays when he drew a blank each turn and dropped GYPSTER and FUGITIVE on me. It would've been worse but I finally hit a bingo (TERNION) at the very end of the game. I lost my next game to an unrated player named Sha Shanyel (I was her first ever win) by 150 points. I could've made the spread respectable, but I spent my last few plays dumping letters for just a few points in hopes of drawing the right rack to hit ABDOMENS for a triple-triple. It was idiotic really. Spread can matter. Opening night ends with me at 2-2.
The next day I fall into a pattern. Win a game by a few points, lose a game by a slew of points. After 10 games I am 5-5 with a remarkable spread of -556. My worst loss is to Phil Polsky. I barely put up 200 and lose by 216. Also I lose by over 150 to a frantic middle-aged woman who has a rating of just over 1000. I salvage the day by winning my last two games to be a respectable 7-5. I had no business winning my last game. My opponent drew all 4 esses, both blanks. Luckily for me, after 7 games of Scrabble, she was seemingly even more tired than I was. She played quickly and thoughtlessly and I eked out a 4 point victory by sticking her with the J at the end. Eric is also 7-5, although due to the open format he's been playing better competition. He only lost to Rau by 6 points, and he would've won had he not made a blunder in the end game. He also hit up a pretty sweet bingo -- CAUSEWAY, and he's earning a repuation as one of the "unrated superstars" of the tournament. An unrated 18 year-old, Mike Yowonske, is kicking some serious ass, and that woman Sha, and this other unrated guy, Augustine Abba, are also both playing very well.
After the day two games end, Eric and I head into Atlantic City proper for some food and blackjack. I win $25 at the tables, Eric wins $100. On the way back to the hotel we stop at Un'kind Donuts for a midnight snack. Then on the way back form there we stop at McDonalds so that Eric can get some fries. One thing I learned from this trip -- that dude is always hungry. I don't understand it. His gastronomical rapacity knows no satiety. And while I'm on the topic of being hungry, I noticed a disproportionately high number of pear-shaped people at this tournament. I'm not sure if Scrabble attracts the portly, or if many players forgo exercise for gaming, but I think, collectively, Scrabble folk could really do good by instituting a manditory, between-rounds calisthenics regiment at all tournaments.
In the final day of play the open format and my terrible spread really helped me. You play the people who are ranked near you in the tournament, and since I was ranked last among the people whose record I shared, I generally was playing against weaker competition than them. Not weak competition, mind you, just weaker. Like I was playing 1400-1700 rated people instead of 1700-2000. I win all four of my games the final day by a total of 62 points. I beat Stan Willimas (1476) by 8, Augistine Abba (unr.) by 10, Michael Wolberg (1635) by 6, and Diana Grosman (1483) by 38. I finish 11-5 with a spread of -408. Luckily it didn't come to spread though as my record is the outright best among all division 3 players. I made some nice plays and things broke my way. As a few examples: down by over 40 against Williams near the end of the game, with no open bingo lanes, I fish for an S or a U, draw a U and hit TOQUES for 72 points my next play. Against Wolfberg with INLA?ES in my rack I can't find a bingo that starts with an I (INHALES is an obvious one, I see INLACES but don't know if it's good), so I open a line by playing off AL and then hit STHENIA (pronounced Saint Henia by me as a mnemonic) my next play for about 30 points more than INHALES would have been. It was just that type of day -- combine with the two wins from the previous night I went from 5-5 to 11-5 (just like the 2001 Patriots, team of the all-time double-valid great WR Troy Brown.) I take home $525 in winnings. It's pretty sweet. My rating after this tournament is 1450.
Tournament Notes:
*Eric wins 2nd place in division 4. Mike Yowonske wins D4 coming in 4th overall, and nearly coming in 2nd. He misses SEIZERS against Matt Graham to narrowly lose. Phil Polsky wins D2 and Joe Weinike wins the entire thing.
*At 11-5 I finish ahead of Eric who went 10-6. This is hilarious since he beats me more than 2 out of 3 times we play. I causally mention that I had the better record a few times on the ride home.
*The directors Matt, Vernon and Esla did an excellent job and deserve a heartfelt thanks from all the players.
*With the previous note noted Esla could cut her speaking time by about 75% and still convey all the relevant information. She goes on and on and on, and when you think she's done she says, "Also..." At one point one of the players said quite audibly to those around her, "just shut up and let us play." The sentiment was largely echoed by those in earshot.
*Seth Lipkin spoke about cross-tables at lunch, and I thought it was pretty interesting. Spending many, many hours between the ages of 8 and 18 creating virtual sports leagues on Nintendo, I love the idea of meticulously keeping Scrabble stats. It really adds legitimacy to competitive Scrabble, in my opinion.
*Jello is a valid play, (much to Eric's dismay) but it's not in the OSPD, quite strange since it's not offensive. (Unless you find processed, jiggling food offensive.)
*Why isn't feedings valid? It's in dictionary.com.
*I saw a player literally follow the ass of a woman, who worked at the hotel, right out the elevator on the wrong floor.
*I overheard a female player say that another player (who's like 80 years old) had "made a play" for her at a previous tournament that she didn't appreciate. I found this hysterical.
*Open tournament is the way to go for the simple reason that it's more fun for more people.
Second tournament: One day in Philadelphia
On Saturday I stayed with my friends Tyler and Stefanie in W. Chester, PA. The next day they followed me into Philly for the tournament. Despite my warnings of boredom they wanted a first-hand glimpse of the competitive Scrabble world. While I played my first game, they sat across the room on a little sofa. After the game I went over to them.
"I lost," I told them.
"Oh, that's too bad," Tyler said, "well, we're gonna go now, good luck."
"Yeah, good luck, we're gonna go now, there's not really much to do here." Stefanie followed.
Well, they were warned.
Berndette Buckley handed me the loss I told them about. She played well, and I could never get anything going. I lost the second game also to a woman whose name I don't recall to fall to 0-2. Bad plays beget bad luck and that's exactly what happened. With the game pretty close and about 20 tiles or so left I had TARRING on my rack. The only place to play it required a hook of FUME to FUMER. I was about 50-50 on whether or not FUMER was valid (it is). Instead of playing it though, I played RERATING through the E. I was about 80-20 that RERATING was invalid, but I played it anyway following the assinine rationale that she would be less likely to challenge RERATING than FUMER. She challenged RERATING right off the board, and blocked the spot. That was my bad play, then came my bad luck. With the game still very close and the bag almost empty I had a rack with no vowels. She played QUOTE for 15 points vertically down the second to last column with the E in the second to last row. I had both an R and a D and had I had a single vowel, I could've hit up a triple word score that hooked QUOTE. As it were I had to play elsewhere and she hit up the triple and subsequently edged me by a few points.
I was not happy about being 0-2 in division 4. (I later found out that due to a misspelling of my last name I came in as an unrated player. I should've been in D3.) I wanted to move up, and I was off to a bad start. I don't do Tai-Chi in my yard before I play, nor do I receive acupuncture, but I do think Joe Edley has got it right with his even-keel mentality, so I did my best to block out the losses and just focus on my current play in my current game. It worked, and I started winning. In fact I won the rest of my games, and due to my high spread I finished in second place. Ron Millard, the man who edged me in the bingo derby in D.C., took first prize by going 6-1. On cross-tables it has me listed as coming in first, because Ron had a bye, so we each had 5 wins against actual opponents, and I had the better spread, but Ron actually won. Given my bad start though I was satisfied with second.
My rating actually went down after this tournament, but it's still above 1100 which hopefully is good enough to qualify me for D3. I don't like D4. I'll give a few examples why. In one game (actually a rematch against my opponent in the second loss) my opponent kept making comments like, "oh, you're so serious," and "oh, you're on a mission." I guess she was implying that I should lighten up or something, but I was just concentrating. I wanted to make the best plays I could -- that's where all the enjoyment comes from for me. Then, in a different game, this woman played TE, so I challenged. And she said (in what I think was a German accent), "Fine, I vill just take it off then." She wouldn't even go to the computer. Later she played ZEN, which again I challenged, and she said "Ugh... you just spend zee time going up and down, up and down to zee computer. I vill just check on this." And she pulls out the list of threes, "Oh I see it is zin I vas thinking of, not zen." "Yeah," I was thinking, "why don't you play that on your next turn, now." It was absurd. Also I don't know where she got off complaining about challenges, because she challenge every good play I had -- common words like OUTLIER and QUOTA. At the end of the game I had the rack AEELNRT and I know the 3 bingos in it, so I played ENTERAL instead of the other playable one ETERNAL thinking she would challenge, which she did. I got so many extra plays that game. I crushed her, but it wasn't an enjoyable game. I don't think you run into players like her in the higher divisions.
The only big name player there was Marlon Hill who won division 1. Before the awards were presented I was chatting with him and he was complaining about the $140 grand prize. It is a pretty paltry purse for the division one champ. I took home $80 for second prize in D4.
"I lost," I told them.
"Oh, that's too bad," Tyler said, "well, we're gonna go now, good luck."
"Yeah, good luck, we're gonna go now, there's not really much to do here." Stefanie followed.
Well, they were warned.
Berndette Buckley handed me the loss I told them about. She played well, and I could never get anything going. I lost the second game also to a woman whose name I don't recall to fall to 0-2. Bad plays beget bad luck and that's exactly what happened. With the game pretty close and about 20 tiles or so left I had TARRING on my rack. The only place to play it required a hook of FUME to FUMER. I was about 50-50 on whether or not FUMER was valid (it is). Instead of playing it though, I played RERATING through the E. I was about 80-20 that RERATING was invalid, but I played it anyway following the assinine rationale that she would be less likely to challenge RERATING than FUMER. She challenged RERATING right off the board, and blocked the spot. That was my bad play, then came my bad luck. With the game still very close and the bag almost empty I had a rack with no vowels. She played QUOTE for 15 points vertically down the second to last column with the E in the second to last row. I had both an R and a D and had I had a single vowel, I could've hit up a triple word score that hooked QUOTE. As it were I had to play elsewhere and she hit up the triple and subsequently edged me by a few points.
I was not happy about being 0-2 in division 4. (I later found out that due to a misspelling of my last name I came in as an unrated player. I should've been in D3.) I wanted to move up, and I was off to a bad start. I don't do Tai-Chi in my yard before I play, nor do I receive acupuncture, but I do think Joe Edley has got it right with his even-keel mentality, so I did my best to block out the losses and just focus on my current play in my current game. It worked, and I started winning. In fact I won the rest of my games, and due to my high spread I finished in second place. Ron Millard, the man who edged me in the bingo derby in D.C., took first prize by going 6-1. On cross-tables it has me listed as coming in first, because Ron had a bye, so we each had 5 wins against actual opponents, and I had the better spread, but Ron actually won. Given my bad start though I was satisfied with second.
My rating actually went down after this tournament, but it's still above 1100 which hopefully is good enough to qualify me for D3. I don't like D4. I'll give a few examples why. In one game (actually a rematch against my opponent in the second loss) my opponent kept making comments like, "oh, you're so serious," and "oh, you're on a mission." I guess she was implying that I should lighten up or something, but I was just concentrating. I wanted to make the best plays I could -- that's where all the enjoyment comes from for me. Then, in a different game, this woman played TE, so I challenged. And she said (in what I think was a German accent), "Fine, I vill just take it off then." She wouldn't even go to the computer. Later she played ZEN, which again I challenged, and she said "Ugh... you just spend zee time going up and down, up and down to zee computer. I vill just check on this." And she pulls out the list of threes, "Oh I see it is zin I vas thinking of, not zen." "Yeah," I was thinking, "why don't you play that on your next turn, now." It was absurd. Also I don't know where she got off complaining about challenges, because she challenge every good play I had -- common words like OUTLIER and QUOTA. At the end of the game I had the rack AEELNRT and I know the 3 bingos in it, so I played ENTERAL instead of the other playable one ETERNAL thinking she would challenge, which she did. I got so many extra plays that game. I crushed her, but it wasn't an enjoyable game. I don't think you run into players like her in the higher divisions.
The only big name player there was Marlon Hill who won division 1. Before the awards were presented I was chatting with him and he was complaining about the $140 grand prize. It is a pretty paltry purse for the division one champ. I took home $80 for second prize in D4.
First Tournament: Washington DC
Washington D.C., November 10, 2006
I'm entering this tournament liking my chances of taking home a prize in division 4. Playing a couple of games each night on-line and honing my skills by studying stems while I exercise daily, I think division 3 would be a more appropriate level for me. Despite being so close to home Eric couldn't make this tournament due to teach responsibilities. My UMD Versatiles cohorts Nick Fraher and Ross Putman are both here. Nick and I are about the same skill level. Ross is a notch below, but no pushover.
The games begin nicely. My very first tournament game is against Judy Tipton, whom I beat handily. My success mostly continues and after the first two days of play I'm 11-2-1, and I'm in second place behind Nick who's 12-2. One loss was to Nick and the tie was to a scruffy-looking, mid-20s year-old named Ben Lefstein. I was fortunate to get a tie, bingoing with no tiles left in the bag. My other loss is to Barabara Major, a division 4 Scrabble veteran. She was up by about 20 points and it was her go when I had a bingo in my rack with two open lanes. She put down QUITE on a double word score with the Q on a triple letter score for 70+ points. Also she simultaneously blocked both the open lanes. It was a devestating blow from which I cannot recover. Overall, I have 28 bingos which puts me at the top of the "bingo derby" for D4 participants, just ahead of this colorful old fellow, Ron Millard. He has 27 despite a record right around .500. I think he's a fisherman.
Despite being dog-tired the first round of the last day goes great. I rout Jennifer Cohen, who is certainly the cutest girl at this tournament, and Nick loses -- apparently his opponent hit XI, ZA, and QI all for 50+ points. It's a good to know the twos. Nick and I play the next round and I jump out to an early lead and glide to victory. It would've been close if not for his attempt to backhook ORA with an S in playing a bingo. I knew ORA was already plural, because I looked it up once when making a crossword puzzle. I'm now in 1st by a game and a half with 2 left.
My next opponent is Tobey Roland who I beat earlier in the tournament, and who annoyed me earlier in the tournament. In my first game with Nick I overdrew, but hadn't looked at any of my tiles yet. Neither of us were certain of the exact procedure, so he suggested I just toss one back and call it good, so that's what I did. No advantage was gained, nothing in the game was upset, and Nick was almost certainly going to win anyway. Sitting at a nearby table Tobey sees this, butts into our game and tells Nick that what we did was improper, and that people at his club do that all the time, and it's a pet peeve of his. Nick responded that neither of us cared. I couldn't really hear what was exchanged at the time, but when Nick filled me in later it really irritated me -- it's none of his business, we don't care about his pet peeves, and it's completely out of place to disrupt our game. Anyway, I lose to Tobey. It was nip and tuck the entire way and he got the tiles down the stretch. I also made the mistake of not challenging BAW, which I was 99% sure was phoney, because of that 1% chance it was good, and it was only a 10 point play early in the game. But it might of mattered. Bad decision on my part.
I play Nick in the final round for the D4 championship. Drawing all 4 four esses and a blank he wins easily. I couldn't get any balanced racks and I didn't draw the other blank until everything was already shut down, in part because Nick is good at shutting down bingo lanes. I finish second, so it goes. I also finish second in the bingo derby with 31 behind Ron Millard who hit up 32. Somebody told me Ron told them he would let them win if they kept the bingo lanes open for him. If true, that's pretty cheap, but whatever, he had some nice bingos (e.g. QUERIST) and I have no reason to be bitter. Actually I do, he took home the $100 prize instead of me. But it's hard to be bitter toward an enfeebled Viet Nam vet with the mouth of a sailor. I just congratulate him and take my $125 for 2nd prize.
G.I. Joel Sherman of "Word Wars" fame took the grand prize. Matt Graham came in third and Marlon Hill was there, but didn't place. If Joe Edley were there he would've rounded out the "Word Wars" four. Stefan Fatsis, the NPR correspondent and author of the book "Word Freak" was there also playing in division 2, as well as numerous people who's names I recognize.
When the ratings come out I'm 1170. Not too shabby all things considered.
I'm entering this tournament liking my chances of taking home a prize in division 4. Playing a couple of games each night on-line and honing my skills by studying stems while I exercise daily, I think division 3 would be a more appropriate level for me. Despite being so close to home Eric couldn't make this tournament due to teach responsibilities. My UMD Versatiles cohorts Nick Fraher and Ross Putman are both here. Nick and I are about the same skill level. Ross is a notch below, but no pushover.
The games begin nicely. My very first tournament game is against Judy Tipton, whom I beat handily. My success mostly continues and after the first two days of play I'm 11-2-1, and I'm in second place behind Nick who's 12-2. One loss was to Nick and the tie was to a scruffy-looking, mid-20s year-old named Ben Lefstein. I was fortunate to get a tie, bingoing with no tiles left in the bag. My other loss is to Barabara Major, a division 4 Scrabble veteran. She was up by about 20 points and it was her go when I had a bingo in my rack with two open lanes. She put down QUITE on a double word score with the Q on a triple letter score for 70+ points. Also she simultaneously blocked both the open lanes. It was a devestating blow from which I cannot recover. Overall, I have 28 bingos which puts me at the top of the "bingo derby" for D4 participants, just ahead of this colorful old fellow, Ron Millard. He has 27 despite a record right around .500. I think he's a fisherman.
Despite being dog-tired the first round of the last day goes great. I rout Jennifer Cohen, who is certainly the cutest girl at this tournament, and Nick loses -- apparently his opponent hit XI, ZA, and QI all for 50+ points. It's a good to know the twos. Nick and I play the next round and I jump out to an early lead and glide to victory. It would've been close if not for his attempt to backhook ORA with an S in playing a bingo. I knew ORA was already plural, because I looked it up once when making a crossword puzzle. I'm now in 1st by a game and a half with 2 left.
My next opponent is Tobey Roland who I beat earlier in the tournament, and who annoyed me earlier in the tournament. In my first game with Nick I overdrew, but hadn't looked at any of my tiles yet. Neither of us were certain of the exact procedure, so he suggested I just toss one back and call it good, so that's what I did. No advantage was gained, nothing in the game was upset, and Nick was almost certainly going to win anyway. Sitting at a nearby table Tobey sees this, butts into our game and tells Nick that what we did was improper, and that people at his club do that all the time, and it's a pet peeve of his. Nick responded that neither of us cared. I couldn't really hear what was exchanged at the time, but when Nick filled me in later it really irritated me -- it's none of his business, we don't care about his pet peeves, and it's completely out of place to disrupt our game. Anyway, I lose to Tobey. It was nip and tuck the entire way and he got the tiles down the stretch. I also made the mistake of not challenging BAW, which I was 99% sure was phoney, because of that 1% chance it was good, and it was only a 10 point play early in the game. But it might of mattered. Bad decision on my part.
I play Nick in the final round for the D4 championship. Drawing all 4 four esses and a blank he wins easily. I couldn't get any balanced racks and I didn't draw the other blank until everything was already shut down, in part because Nick is good at shutting down bingo lanes. I finish second, so it goes. I also finish second in the bingo derby with 31 behind Ron Millard who hit up 32. Somebody told me Ron told them he would let them win if they kept the bingo lanes open for him. If true, that's pretty cheap, but whatever, he had some nice bingos (e.g. QUERIST) and I have no reason to be bitter. Actually I do, he took home the $100 prize instead of me. But it's hard to be bitter toward an enfeebled Viet Nam vet with the mouth of a sailor. I just congratulate him and take my $125 for 2nd prize.
G.I. Joel Sherman of "Word Wars" fame took the grand prize. Matt Graham came in third and Marlon Hill was there, but didn't place. If Joe Edley were there he would've rounded out the "Word Wars" four. Stefan Fatsis, the NPR correspondent and author of the book "Word Freak" was there also playing in division 2, as well as numerous people who's names I recognize.
When the ratings come out I'm 1170. Not too shabby all things considered.
Introduction
I'm a 29 year old graduate student in applied mathematics at University of Maryland. I started playing Scrabble on regular basis in the spring of 2005. My infatuation with words and word games started with solving and creating crossword puzzles several years before that. During a two year period I published approximately 40 crossword puzzles mostly in daily newspapers (NY Times, NY Sun, USA Today, LA Times, etc.) My crowning achievement in crossword puzzle creating came on January 16, 2005 when my puzzle "Pledge of Allegiance" appeared in the NY Times Sunday edition. Although I still enjoy solving puzzles when I get the chance, Scrabble has almost entirely replaced crosswords as my number one hobby.
I started playing Scrabble on-line (isc.ro) with my friend Eric Ufferman. Our handles are mcscatqat and ufferman, respectively. We started out pretty much equal and at some point he got markedly better than me -- I'm not sure when or how that happened, but a goal of mine is to catch up to him. I became familiar with the existence of competitive Scrabble through the excellent documentary "Word Wars." It took me about a year and a half of playing on-line, and at an on-again-off-again UMD club, before I played in my first tournament. I'm writing this blog primarily as a diary of my Scrabble playing. If somebody reads it, I appreciate the audience. If nobody reads it then that's okay also, I'll write in it anyway.
I started playing Scrabble on-line (isc.ro) with my friend Eric Ufferman. Our handles are mcscatqat and ufferman, respectively. We started out pretty much equal and at some point he got markedly better than me -- I'm not sure when or how that happened, but a goal of mine is to catch up to him. I became familiar with the existence of competitive Scrabble through the excellent documentary "Word Wars." It took me about a year and a half of playing on-line, and at an on-again-off-again UMD club, before I played in my first tournament. I'm writing this blog primarily as a diary of my Scrabble playing. If somebody reads it, I appreciate the audience. If nobody reads it then that's okay also, I'll write in it anyway.
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