Update of very little

It’s been a while since I’ve put a post up on this blog, because I haven’t done anything worth posting in a while. And I still haven’t, truth be told. My Scrabble life has been basically stagnant since Illinois. I’ve been itching to play a tourney, but nothing has worked out. The Sunday Philly 7-gamers are too far away for me now that my friends (and thus my place to stay) have moved from West Chester. The big Baltimore tourney in September fell on a bad weekend, as did a one day DC club tournament. I played a few times in the weekly sessions at club this summer, maybe I’ll try to hit that up more often. I have my sights set on Atlantic City (assuming Eric will want to go), but there is an outside chance that I will be in Denmark at that time.

My studying has gone down, because I don’t go to the gym as often (I memorize words while doing cardio) but I still make time. I learned a set of 10 or so new stems in the past few weeks. I’ve also been playing on-line a lot. My averages are all up. I only dip below 20 pts per play during really dry spells, and I’ve been as high as 23 pts per play. I think with a little luck I could really gain some NSA rating points at my next tournament. Also, Eric has been teaching me some new words during his routine beat-downs of me. He’s getting really good (living in the middle of nowhere can help you Scrabble game, apparently). I can give him a game though, and I beat him just enough to not get completely frustrated. Recently I put up nearly 600 on him. My big play was DEMENTIA – a 3x3 for 140 pts. Nice find.

On-line annoyances

I've played an unusually high number of annoying people on-line the past few days. One person called me an "asshole cheater" immediately after I beat him, and then no-played me. Another person didn't challenge a phoney I played (GROIT, got it confused with the valid GRIOT), and then said to me, "ur word is no good, I didn't challenge to be nice." Then I wrote to him, "if it's phoney, just challenge it right off the board." So he wrote, "it's not my style." Whatever, that's fine, but I'd prefer to play a competitive game. I didn't reply, so he wrote, "I'd rather just my opponent say 'thanks'." I didn't think there was anything to say thanks for, as I don't consider what he did a favor. On the contrary I find it slightly condescending. I was going to type this, but then I thought, why bother, and just didn't say anything. So then he wrote again, "Is the word 'thanks' not in your vocabulary???????? Now I regret it." This I found extremely irritating so I wrote back and said, "I'd rather you challenge, and not be annoyingly self-righteous." We didn't correspond the rest of the game, and then he no-played me when it was over. Well, at least these people are no-playing me. My list is full.

Playing in Division A in Urbana

Four of us are going to the Urbana, Illinois tournament together. Eric and I are in division 1, Matt and Mark, playing their first ever tournament, are in division 4. They’ve never played anything more serious than a coffee table game, they never study words, and they don’t quite have the twos down – the task that Eric assigned them before the tourney. (We give Matt a cram session on the way from Chicago to Urbana, but he’s still a little shaky going into things. “What about RA?”) They each get a couple of wins though, Mark goes 3-9 and Matt 2-10. Eric has the best tournament at 7-5. I go 6-6, not bad at all given I came in ranked 15th in my field of 18. (I should get a bit of a ratings boost, probably around 25 pts). However, .500 is a bit of a let down given that I was 5-2 after the first day. On to my games…

I start things off against Darin True. With a nearly 1700 rating he’s number 3 coming into the tourney. Late in the game I’m hanging in there despite not getting an S or a blank. I bingoed (TRAINEES) and hit-up a 66 pt triple word score (QUIZ). But down 34 with about 10 tiles left I have take to take a risk. I lay down the potential bingo ARIETTE by hooking an E on VOLVA to make VOLVAE. I don’t know if VOLVAE is good or not (it isn’t), but I figure it’s my only chance to win. Luckily, for me he doesn’t challenge, and instead opens a bingo line for himself, as he has some bingoable tiles and the last blank in his rack. Double luckily for me, however, I draw BANDIES from the bag and bingo out to win by 125. I’m feeling great about this win. I really stole one.

My next game against Linda Hoggatt doesn’t go quite as well. I’m completely outdrawn and lose by 170. At one point I try to get back into the game by playing a phony bingo, IOGENES, but she challenges it right off the board. (It’s kind of close to IONOGENS which is good.) After the game she told me ISOGENE was good in that rack, but it’s actually not. Too bad I didn’t try that one instead, but how can one know one phony will better than another? I give Ken Dutch a 114 point smackdown in my next game. He makes two bad challenges (HAZER, AGINNER/JUGA), which really costs him. One big play is pretty much the difference in my next game. With not many tiles left in the bag, against Jacquelin Fyr, I lay down EXTINCTS across a double word square with the X on a double letter square for 92 pts. I win by 94. I actually wasn’t 100% on EXTINCTS (it’s good), but it was too tantalizing not to hit up. Going into lunch I’m 3-1, and feeling good.

After lunch things pick up right where they left off. I thoroughly outdraw Frank Lee (aka Santa Claus) and win 463-334. It was one of those games where the only plays you can see are great plays. In succession I play: THRASHED (80), QUEAN (48), FEU (27), CUSHY (41), COXES (55). Then after I dump some tiles with WINY (11), I hit back-to-back bingos: TIDIEST (72) and BRINDLED (64). Frank is a great sport (unlike some of the other players there), but even he can’t help muttering under his breath after this one. Another 400+ big win follows against Matthew Ridout. I liked this win because I didn’t get all the great tiles. In fact, he got all the esses and one of the blanks. With the exception of one easy-bingo rack (DEELRT?) I had seemingly terrible tile combinations all game. Still I was able to make solid play after solid play in cruising to a 443-352 win. For example, I had IIIORUV on my rack and was contemplating an exchange when I noticed I could put down VIRTU on a double word square with the V on a triple letter square. It was worth 42 points. I then drew AINX to give me AIIIONX, and was able to play AX for 49 on my next turn. It was that type of game. Afterwards Matthew congratulated me and told me I “just flat outplayed” him. It was a nice compliment. Lisa Slankard totally kills my buzz in the last game of the day. I can’t get anything going, I don’t bingo at all, and I lose 319-388. After the game I have the following exchange:
Her: (looking at phone) My kids keep calling me during my games
Me: Oh
Her: One called to tell me he thinks he’s going to be a father.
Me: Oh, that’s nice.
Her: He’s 21, not married and an alcoholic.
Me:
Her: Then my other son calls to tell me he’s dropping out of college.
Me: Well, at least your tournament is going well. (She’s only lost once.)

I end the day at 5-2, not too shabby at all. Eric is 4-3, Mark is 2-5, and Matt is 0-7. Mark hit up EQUALIZE which is pretty sweet.

Back at Mark’s I watch Mark and Matt play a few after-hours games. They are very entertaining. It’s Scrabble wild, wild, west-style. They both know that the dictionary is full of ridiculous words and they both know that the other one doesn’t know the dictionary very well, so the amount of phonies played is off-the-hook (TAIR, RIT, ALBERT, to name a few). Matt wins two games in a row. On the first play of the first game (after not bingoing once in tournament) he busts out BREEZED for nearly 100 points. It was pretty funny (even more so because he didn’t place it so that the Z was on the double letter square). Although, it was not nearly as funny as the night before when Matt missed the center square on the first play of the game. He put down TIE and none of the letters were on the star. There are specific instructions in the rule book for just this situation and once Eric and I were joking about it, because it seemed too ridiculous to ever actually occur. Eric claimed Matt’s misplay was, “the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.” He was in hysterics laughing about it.

I open the next day’s games against Harriet Lakernick. I really want to beat her because I’ve found her board-side behavior throughout the tournament extremely obnoxious. She complains loudly and frequently when she’s not drawing well. It’s completely distracting and inconsiderate to her opponent and those who are playing near her. She’s also pouty, she curses at the board, and she’s pretty rude. There are about three or four people in this tournament like her. Earlier in the tourney a woman was playing Eric at the board next to mine and it was a non-stop bitch-fest about her tiles. She went so far as to show Eric her racks (I guess so he could see for himself how bad they really were), and she’d sarcastically celebrate when she drew an S. This is such bad sportsmanship. And it’s flat out rude to your opponent. If you play enough Scrabble you will have games where you draw super poorly (and super well). The people in the top division know this and they certainly have had games where they’ve drawn badly before, so you would think they would know how to deal with it in a way that isn’t so self-centered, and irritating.

Anyway, Harriet’s tournament is not going well, as she only won 1 game in the first day. But, she beats me. She gets the blanks and the point tiles and two of the esses. There is little I can do to avoid a 97 point drubbing. In my next game I come out with the short end of the stick in great battle against Samuel Smith. With him up two bingos early I’m able to get back into the game due to a bingo by me, and a gaffe by him. With OIRRWS? in my rack I play WORRIERS through an open R, one of two playable bingos I see (the other one is the almost equivalent WARRIORS). Unfortunately it places the W immediately below the triple word score, setting him up for a big play. However, he plays ACED there not realizing he made EW in doing so. I challenge it off the board (he has a d’oh moment, as we don’t even look it up), and then I play JO there for 42. It pulls me within 28. When I bingo ENTOILED late in the game I really like my chances of winning, as I’m up about 25 with a decent rack, and all the point tiles, both blanks and three esses already played. Unfortunately two turns later he bingos STYLING to clinch a victory. Final score: 403-471.

The next game, a rematch against Darin True, is my favorite game of the tournament (just ahead of the game against Frank Lee). On the second play of the game I hit the 2x2 OILSEED for 96 pts., and subsequently draw CEIMNOP. I see a nice play if gives me an L to play through, which luckily he does. I put down COMPLINE for 70+. He holds the play, and I’m hoping he challenges because this word is on a random word list in my office that I made while watching old games on cross-tables, so I’m almost certain it’s good (it is – def.: the last liturgical prayer of the day). He doesn’t challenge though, instead he counter-bingos (LATTICED) to keep it close. I then spend most the mid-game trying to block bingo lines with my racks of mostly vowels. I’m successful in doing so, as afterwards he tells me I twice blocked his only bingo spot. When I hit up DIVERTS for 80+ with the bag nearly empty I seal a victory. For the second time in the tournament I beat Darin by over 100 points.

I get trounced in each of my last two games meaning I finish 1-4 on the day and lose 5 of my last 6. It sucks to finish this way, but in the context of the entire tournament, my first one in the top division, I’m mostly okay with .500. Also, I would like to note that in those last 6 games I drew only 3 of the 12 possible blanks (one each against, Samuel, Darin and Lisa). In my second to last game Connie Breitbeil puts up over 550 points and beats me by about 220. She plays OUTMANS for a 158 pt 3x3. I unsuccessful challenge, and then she follows with DISRATES on a triple word score for about 75. It would have been worse, but I catch her playing a phony (BITED), and she doesn’t challenge my 96 pt. phony bingo (TETCHES). I liked OUTMANS, and had it not been a 3x3 I would not have challenged. I was by no means 100% on it though, and I feel I have to challenge something that’s that devastating unless I’m sure it’s good. After the computer validated the play she gave a little fist pump, and a smirk right in my face. I just ignored it, but it was pretty obnoxious and unnecessary. There is no reason to gloat about winning a desperation challenge, especially when I said while walking up to the computer, “I like it, but it’s too good to not challenge.” Also, after the game I told her (clearly and audibly) “good game, well done.” And she didn’t even acknowledge me. Eric said she wasn’t a very good sport when he played her also (he crushed her).

Speaking of Eric it just so happens that we’re both 6-5 going into the final round and we play each other. Both of us are out of the money, so the game is just for “better tournament” and bragging rights of the only tournament game we’ve played so far. He gets to brag after this one. I’m mostly outdrawn, and it’s not very close. He hits up some point tiles early and then draws both the blanks. His big play is LOUVRED on a triple word score hooking the O to BEAN to make BEANO – very nice. I do bingo twice late, but it’s not nearly enough, and he wins handily.

Overall, it was probably the most fun I’ve had a tournament. At 6-6 I have no reason to be disappointed, and no reason to be ecstatic. I feel if I could’ve drawn a little better the last day, 8-4 was a serious possibility (although had I drawn worse earlier I could’ve just as easily been 4-8). At 7-5 Eric might get a ratings bump also, but it will probably be small. He started out on fire, but hit a stretch of about 5 games where he drew terribly and lost to players with much lower ratings than him. I’m curious to see where Matt and Mark are rated. They say they’re playing again in October in Wisconsin. I’d love to join them, but there is no way that’s happening. I’m going to hit up Baltimore in September and then after that I might not play a tourney for a while. It’ll just be club and on-line.

Very average in Philly

Yesterday I played in a Philly tournament in which I went 4-3 with a spread of +34. Given that I played 4 people rated lower than me (1387) and 3 people rated higher than me, it was almost an exactly average tourney. I imagine my rating will not see much of a fluctuation, though a little bump up would be nice.

For the third straight time in a Philly tournament I picked a blank on my opening draw of the tournament. Against Linda Oliva (1423) I parlayed it into an easy bingo, DEALING, for 71. A few fishes later I hit up RELAXES for 86. I was never behind and ended up winning by 41. She did a decent job making a game of it, but an unsuccessfully challenge of URP was the nail in the coffin. Incidentally I challenged URP against Peter Barkman in the last Philly tourney, so I knew it was good.

In the next game Brain Galebach (1296) thoroughly outdrew me in a 106 point rout. I know Brain from DC club and I was kind of hoping not to play him, because he was so underrated going into this tournament. (Although I think he went 6-1, so he won't be underrated for long.) He drew both blanks and most the power tiles hitting them all up hard. I did draw all 4 esses, but I had three of them in my rack at one time -- I bingoed AMASSES -- so it was not as good as it sounds. In my third game, against Samuel Moch (1407), I was outdrawn again, though I can't really complain because I might have let a phoney bingo go by at a crucial point. I think he played DAVENERS (I lost the score sheet so I can't check) on me which I forgot to look up immediately after the game, but did so just now -- it's no good. I did not even think to challenge. I do that sometime for some reason. It's really bad. I should at the very least think about challenging words I don't know. New rule: I hold every word I don't know. Really that is just be common sense. It shouldn't even have to be a rule. Anyway, Going into the lunch break I'm 1-2 with a -125 spread.

After lunch things start out terrifically. I draw the bag against Sharon Moser (1407) and win by 106. I get both blanks in my rack at the same time. I use one of them in a 72 point non-bingo, ROQUES, and then bingo REPTILE with the other a turn later -- a nice little sequence of events. I squeak out a victory against Nancy Hanley (1304) in my next game. I went up a bingo early with NUTRIAS (which I almost didn't play because I had to hook ELD/ELDS and I wasn't 100% on ELDS), and then closed the board down. Oddly, she did not seem to be making an effort to open it. Louis Berney double-blanked and 3-essed me the next game in a 70 point loss to put me at 3-3 on the day. I exchanged all seven tiles in consecutive turns because I had a load of absolute garbage and all the good tiles were unseen. It just killed me. I did miss a hook I should not miss (QUART to QUARTE or QUARTO), but I could not have hit it up very hard anyway.

The last game was make or break for me. If I won I would consider it a salvaged tournament, if I lost I would be pretty disappointed. I won by 91 against Paul Olmick (1295). He bingoed twice early on, but I immediately counter-bingoed to maintain a narrow lead. I was then able to parlay some klutzy racks into big scores -- QI for 46, PETTY for 36, and JOE for 44. When I drew the final ess late in the game and hit up DINS for 44 (it hooked ZAP on a double word square) I could breathe easily. He kept setting up big play spots in hopes that he would draw the final ess. It was really all he could do. Instead I drew and used it to ensure I a positive spread on the day.

Eric had another forgettable Philly tourney. He went 3-4 in D1, a bit of let down because coming in he was rated in the top half off the field. He did rally in his last to games to somewhat salvaged a 1-4 start. Marlon Hill won D1. I'm not exactly sure who won D2, but I think it was Samuel Sussman.

High Game

In an on-line game I scored 633 points. I believe this is my highest score ever. I don't recall ever scoring in the 600s before, and I doubt that I once did so long ago that I don't remember it, because I wouldn't have been that good back then.

It was my second ever five bingo game. I hit HERNIAS (83), LEISTER (86), SHORTIE (84), MARLINES (80), and REGALERS (80). I never exchanged and also made some strong non-bingo plays. I had 455 with 11 tiles in the bag, but I played two bingos and went out to score 178 points in my last 3 turns.

Great game. Let's hope I have one like that in Philly tomorrow.

Highs and lows in Philly (primarily the latter)

I went 7-12 in D2 in a three game tourney in Philly this weekend. I came in as the 2nd lowest rated player and I feel that my rating is pretty accurate right now, especially since I haven't been studying much at all lately, so I haven't improved my game too much. I would've been happy with 10 wins and satisfied with 9, but getting only 7 is a huge let down.

I severely outdrew my opponent 3 times and was severely outdrawn 5 times. In "even draw" games I was 4-7. Like usual, in retrospect, I can't really complain about bad luck too much. I went 2-5 on day 1 and 1-4 on day 3. On day 2 I was a solid 4-3 and I had a 3 game winning streak during which I played great, and remembered why I decided to spend memorial day weekend playing Scrabble. In back-to-back games I bingoed 5 times on Edward Stewart (the first time I've ever done that, including on-line and coffee table games), and beat eventual D2 champ (and in my opinion the best D2er there) Elana Lehrer by 90 in a game where the draws were fairly even. That's what I have to hang my hat on in this one.

Eric faired even worse than me in D1 going 5-13 (1 bye). He beat Dave Koenig though which is pretty cool.

I lead things off with a tough loss to Barb Gindlesperger. With the game tight and the bag quickly emptying I left a bingo line open since I had a blank, but she it up and won by 62. Next against Florence Spanfelner I 5 times changed 5 vowel racks and was crush by nearly 150. I split the final two games before lunch, beating Jared Milton and losing to Edward Stewart, both were reasonable close. In the first game after lunch against Jeffrey Jacobson (who I always want to call Jacobson Jeffrey because his name was accidentally transposed on the roster the first tournament I played in with him) I played one of the worst games I've ever played. To begin with I let the phoney bingo NOTIVES stay on the board, despite the fact I know the TONIES stem and know that TONIES + V = no bingos. For some reason it just didn't even register to consider challenging. Then with IGNITES in my rack, and a place to play it. I forgo it instead playing the phoney 3x3 STEINING which is promptly challenged off the board. I play it the next play, but still -- pure foolishness. After that I just completely lost focus. Luckily I thoroughly outdrew Stan Williams the next game for an easy win, but I let the last game of the day, against Peter Barkman, get out of hand early to drop to 2-5 on the day.

I come back the next day mentally rejuvenated. I'm not even too phased after losing my first game to Elana Lehrer to fall to 2-6. She is quite good, and I played decently in a nip and tuck game. I held about a 20 point lead near the end. I figured she had a blank and probably an S, but there was also a decent chance she had the klutzy J or K as both were unseen. There were two bingo lines, but neither one was great. I chose to play off the Q for 28 points in the only decent spot it could play instead of closing off the better of the two lines. Tough call. Probably the right move in general, but not in this instance. She bingos ANISETTE through the N hooking the A on GAM to make GAMA -- terrific play. She then draws the J and K, the last two tiles in the bag. Finally score: 341-392. I beat Marty Fialkow in the next game in large part because I successfully challenge his phoney TOOTIER and then hit up RETEACH for about 90 a few plays later. After that game, Verna Berg draws all 4 S-s and a blank, so despite my phoney bingo that she lets stay -- RAINLIKE, she wins without much struggle. I finally beat David Engelhardt (1-4 lifetime against him) in my next game 477-385. He makes some strong plays to keep it respectable, but I draw both blanks and 3 S-s and bingo four times including the phoney TEATHERS. Embarrassingly I just misspelled TETHERS, but I had so many other bingos (REHEATS, HEATERS, THEATERS, etc.) that he figured it must be good, so he didn't challenge.

Next came my five bingo game against Edward Stewart. I lead it off with GRANOLA. But quickly fall behind due to a huge play by him with the Z on a double letter/triple word that I unsuccessfully challenge (BAIZE) for 86 points. On the next play I change, so I lose two plays in a row. Several turns later with him up by 56 on consecutive plays I hit AERATION, INDITES and PRESIDE. After playing YOK for 35 I lay down VENIRES for my 4th bingo in 5 turns and my 5th of the game. PRESIDE I was only able to lay down after challenging his phoney bingo PRECOUNT. I would probably have challenged that anyway because it sounds fake, but I'm definitely challenging it if it blocks my bingo. After VENIRES I had DAFT?NG and really wanted him to play an R in an open line, but no dice. Now, with my confidence sky high I'm ready to play Elana in a rematch. Things start out well as I'm able to hit up the 2x2 DETENTES for 86 (incidentally "Detente" was the name of my 9th grade cultures project). I continue to make strong plays to build up a 65 point lead. Then I add LOCKING to the previous played RE for the 9-lettered bingo RELOCKING on a double word for 88. She challenges -- an odd decision since she said she knew RELOCKS was good. If you know RELOCKS is good then there is about a 99.99% chance that RELOCKING is good. Certainly the probability it is no good is much less than the probability the spread difference betweeen not challenging and challenging would ultimately matter. Anyway, Barb Gindlesperger kills my buzz the next game beating me soundly. I have to fight through awful racks the entire game, but I can't complain too much because I make the bone-headed challenge of ARCADIAS early in the game thinking that maybe ARCADIA is the plural of ARCADIUM -- a word I invent on the spot. The next play she hits up LYNX for 44 where I would've played had I not lost my turn. I try to get back into the game with the phoney IODATISE, which she doesn't challenge, but it's not nearly enough. One reason I tried a phoney against her is because I saw Jared Milton open with OFFTUNE against her without challenge. I couldn't believe it.

I'm coming into the final day at 6-8 with high hopes for a strong finish, but it wasn't to be. I'm severely outdrawn by Jared Milton (all 4 S-s both blanks) and David Engelhardt twice (JKQXZ both times, once with all 4 S-s), and I absolutely botch one against Peter Barkman. My only win is a 4 point eker against Stan Williams (the only player with a worse tournament than me) in which the S-s and blanks are among the last 20 tiles to come out of the bag. My game against Peter really hurt. Due to a few bingos early I have a 40+ point lead with the game winding down. The board is largely shut-off and many of the bingo-prone tiles are gone. The Z is unseen. Peter plays NODI opening a bingo line and putting IT right below a triple letter square. Immediately I should recognized that he might be setting up a phat Z hook, but I don't. Instead of playing LOG across the ODI for a decent score that simultaneously blocks the Z hook and the bingo line, I play GOY under the NO for more points thinking only of the bingo line. He draws on A after playing NODI (he didn't have one before) and hits ZA/ZIT for 63. I'm on the verge of storming out of the venue (a la Marlon in "World Wars"), because I'm so pissed at myself for not seeing that obvious hotspot, but I'm still up by 1 point, so I try to keep my composure. Ultimately it doesn't matter as he gets the agile letters for the closed-board endgame and I'm stuck trying to play off a Q an F and an K. He ends up winning by a bunch because I also mis-track and get stuck with a shit-ton of points.

Seven and twelve. That certainly doesn't sound good. It's not god-awful, but not that far from it.

No tourneys for a while

Looks like I won't be playing any tourneys for a while. I missed Philly this month, and I'll likely miss it next month due to end of the semester ruckus. I really wanted to play a one-dayer in Annapolis on May 12, but I have to proctor my class' final that day -- unfortunate scheduling.

I've started building my rating back up again on-line after a serious slide (see previous entry). I paid for a membership, so that I can use the in-game examiner -- totally worth it. I'm still missing way too many plays that I should see. Tonight I had AIORST? with an E on the board that could end a bingo. JAROSITE, TRAVOISE and OUTRAISE are all words I know from the OSATIRE stem, but for some reason I missed them. Probably just not thinking things through. That's my biggest problem. I just don't spend enough time looking at my racks, which is silly because I'm rarely short on time. I'm still making my best play consistently enough even when it's a word I know. Still tonight I best Eric 3 games out of 4, which is a boon, even if I did mostly outdraw him. My best find was probably STADIUM from ADISTU?, because it was the only playable bingo.

I've got loads of new stems. I'll put them up soon. I think I'm starting to get dimishing returns with my stems. I'd probably be better off learning the 4s and 5s better. It's just way less fun than learning the bingos.

By the way, the Scrabble Newsletter is a pretty shoddy publication. Trust me, I'm not expecting much from a monthly newsletter put together by basically an unpaid staff, that comes free with a membership to the NSA, but is too much to ask to have somebody give it a cursory read before putting it out? In one recent issue the annotated game board was aligned incorrectly making it impossible to follow, and in another a bunch of clues were missing for the anagram crossword puzzle. Those are things that should be pretty easy to spot and fix. Also, what's the deal with the giant barcode that's always somewhere random on the front page? Can't they put that in the corner? It blocked an entire paragraph of text in the most recent issue, and in the issue that featured the record-breaking game it was right over the picture. Front page -- two guys holding the board and right across their faces is a huge barcode. Great pic. All you have to do to make the newsletter decent is not do stuff like that.

Scrabble Low

This weekend might have been the worst two on-line Scrabble days I've had. I remember a time when I temporarily retired from on-line Scrabble that was also pretty bad but this probably topped it. I lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 games in a row. I stayed up until 3:22 am -- on a Sunday -- because I needed a win. Stomping Mr. Cqql into submission -- he called me a cheater and logged off after I bingoed the extremely obscure word SOGGIER -- was little consolation. Every time I needed a break I didn't get it.

I wanted to make note of this.

Treading Water

I went 3-4 with a -90 spread at the monthly Philly tournament on Sunday. This was below my lower bound goal -- at worst I wanted to be 4-3 -- but given that I was 0-3 before lunch I'm not completely unhappy with it.

I'll get into the games more in a minute, but first I have to comment on the poor sportsmanship shown by several players. Apparently instead of showing the national tournament this year, ESPN has plans to carry a kids tournament. This is probably a good move as, if the Philly group is any indictation, the amount of petty quibbling among players you'll see is less for a bunch of fifth graders than for a bunch of adults. Seriously, it was pretty absurd. For one, people get so attached to their own personal boards and get into a huff if they have to move. At one point, niether I nor my opponent had a board setup (there are half as many boards as players, so this will happen) so we took an open board knowing that the person who it belonged to was playing so-and-so, who was already setup at his board, so the board we took over would be open. When the woman whose board we were at saw this she got super pissed. She started bitching about how we took her board and how, "we better not ever do that again." And how, "I was winning on my board, now I'm losing." Even after my opponent explained and apologized (an apology she accepted) she still continued to bitch about it. At several minutes of listening to her complain I said to her, "it's just a board, get over it." I probably should not have said anything, as it caused some friction between us that lasted the entire tournament, and culminated in a very small and petty quarrel at the end, but I hate it when people are being completely unreasonable and everybody kowtows to it.

Eric experienced a somewhat similar incident when he and his opponent were trying to find a board to play on and everytime they thought they had found one somebody would kick them off, because they wanted their own board, they can't just take the open board, they have to be difficult and kick people off and play on their own boards. I don't understand. For all intents and purposes it's the exact same thing. There are no hometown fans rooting for you at your own board. It's not college basketball.

Also while observing play I saw somebody blantantly butting into a game he wasn't involved in. With the game already in hand, the soon-to-be-winner went to make a play, then before announcing his score, decided against it, taking some more time to think -- perfectly legal. The nosy observer said, "c'mon, just make the play and take the victory, don't be worried about spread points. You're worried she's gonna play OY, just make the play. [Turning to another observer]. I hate the way this guy plays. He's always going for spread points. They don't matter just take the win." But actually spread points matter very much, especially in a small tournament, so it's reasonable, smart even, to consider them. And even if it weren't, it's completely out of line to make such comments aloud about a game you're not involved in. Had I been playing I would have told the person this, but the guy who was making the plays is only 14, so he probably isn't that comfortable talking back. Eventually he made his play and subsequently won the game. At this point his opponent started being super pouty -- scowling, throwing her score card around, speaking very curtly. Intentionally doing all the little things to let everybody know she was pissed, basically being a total baby about losing. That's such bad sportsmanship -- just fill out the scorecard and thank your opponent. You can vent all you want and be as mopey as you like later in private.

Anyway, on to the games. I played Dave Engelhardt first just as I did in the last tournament, and just as in the last tournament he edged me in the end. I took the lead late by bingoing SATIATED through an open E, but my subsequent draw was DDNNRRI and the only other vowel I drew the rest of game was a single U. He had vowels for the end game, I didn't and there was nothing I could do to avoid a loss. Lorraine Burton crushed me in the next round. I was trying to not get frurstrated by bad draws, but it was to no avail. I know I'm better than her, but she got the tiles. My next match was even worse. Scott Kitchen gave me a serious whooping, 483-340. He drew both blanks, 2 Ss, the Q, the Z, and the X, and he drew9 of the 12 Es. I couldn't compete. Going into the lunch break I was not happy at all. Eric had only slightly more success in D1. He was 1-2 with a bad spread.

In the first game after lunch I beat Mark Miller. Mark is one of the top D2 players, his peak rating is nearly 1800, so beating him is good. It gives me something, at the very least, to hang my hat on. I made a good challenge against him when he played COILINGS (later Eric and I agreed that in general you should challenge the -INGS words, unless you're sure it's good), only to make the gaffe of making a play that put an open RE on the board, allowing him to bingo RECLOSING on his next move. Considering I knew his tiles, that's really idiotic. Still I was able to grab a decent lead and play defense for a 391-365. In the next game I put up my highest point total of the day and lose to Stan Williams 419-447. With me up by about 40 he bingos SCOUTING and CAUSING on consecutive plays to go up by over 100. I hit a bingo and parlay the X and Z into big points, but it's not enough. I'm not unhappy about this loss, at least I was able to compete. I win my final two games to make my tournament record at least respectable. I edge Marty Fialkow, the fastest player in the tournament, by 9 (he had 18 minutes left on his clock at the end, I had 30 seconds), and then I crush Lorraine Burton by 141 in a rematch. The latter of these games is particularly gratifying as this time around I get the tiles. I hit up JUICER, TALKIEST and RELEARNS all for big points. My top play on the day is TRIPLETS for 80, but given the circumstances I think my best find was SATIATED. I had to find a bingo, as there was only one open lane and I knew he'd close it next turn, and I had AA in my rack, and I'm usually not good with the double A words. I also hit up a few new stem bingos (ESTRUAL and ENTOILED) and it's always nice to see a payoff like that.

Overall I beat 2 people rated higher than me and 1 rated lower than me. I lost to 2 people rated higher, and 2 rated lower. I'm expecting a small drop in my ratings, but it shouldn't be anything too substantial. Also, I think I was severely outdrawn in 2 games (Lorraine I and Scott), and I think I severely outdrew my opponent in 1 game (Lorraine II), and in the other 4 games the draws were more or less equal. That puts me at 2-2 with a +40 spread in "even-playing-field" matches. I'd like to get that ratio up to 3:1 for the next tournament. Eric finishes at 2-5, but 2-5 in D1 is at least as good as 3-4 in D2.

Crushed by Eric

I got crushed in the mini-series against Eric. He won 4 out of the 5 games with an aggregate spread of nearly +400. Some explanation is required. In any Scrabble loss a combination of three factors are at work: 1) good play by your opponent, 2) poor play by you, 3) bad luck. There definitely was a lot of 1) in our series, and I think much, much more 3) than 2). The last three games I drew atrociously. I didn't get a single blank, I didn't have many good stem racks, and when I got point tiles I had them all in my rack at one time. One game I had Q,X and Z all in my rack. I was able to play them off separately each for a decent score (30-35), but between plays Eric drew the blanks successively and hit up two 70+ point bingos. Also, twice I had a good bingo stem with one extra letter that didn't fit (once it was an O, once an A) so I played off the single letter for a modest score (10-15), and both times I drew the exact same letter I just ditched. Obviously, that's the problem with fishing, but if you have a rack like AAEINTR, and the board is open I think playing off an A is usually the right move. The chances of having a bingo rack your next turn is too good to forgo.

Anyway, I am not complaining about my tiles (I'm a firm believer in the strong law of large numbers), I'm just trying to provide an honest assessment of why I think the series was so lopsided. After the first two games we had drawn pretty evenly and the tally was 1-1 with a +7 spread in Eric's favor. I like to think that's a more accurate depiction of where I'm at these days, but I'm not sure. Last night the playing field was too uneven to tell.

I did have one terrible, almost embarrassingly bad play. I had AEINORS in my rack. I should know this rack well. I have both the AINERS and the OINERS stems basically memorized. I didn't recall the bingo immediately, so instead of taking a few more seconds even minutes if necessary, (my clock was not a factor) to find it I played ARINOSE knowing it was invalid and knowing Eric would challenge. In retrospect I have no idea why I did this. I just botched it. And literally, the split second after I announced my score I saw the real bingo, ERASION. I had the exact same rack a few plays later, and I bingoed, but by that time the game was basically already out of hand. The point swing from that play was tremendous.

Anyway, turns out I was wrong and there is a Philly tourney this month. In fact it's next week. Eric and I are going. Hopefully I'll get a little more sleep before this one, and hopefully I'll draw decently. But, if I don't, so be it. I'm not going to get frustrated. I gotta keep that Joe Edley zen shit going on. Although, it really only helps my mental state with respect to the game. It really doesn't help my game that much. If I draw poorly I usually lose no matter how calm or uncalm I am.

Since my school workload has increased recently, I can set only some modest preperation goals before next weekend. Learn one more page of stems and another quiz worth of 4s.

Rating slip

My rating dropped from 1450 to 1407 after my weak performance in Philly -- not too bad, I guess. I won't play a tournament for a while, so it'll stay there for a spell. There is a tourney in York, PA only a few hours from here this weekend, but I can't make it. I imagine the next one I play will be the next Sunday-er in Philly, probably next month. There was no Philly tourney one this month.

I've been playing a fair amount on-line (about 2 games a day) and studying stems while I exercise. I'll give the new stems I've learned below. What I really need to do is get the 3s down 100% (about 99% now), get the short J-Q-X-Z words and vowel dumps down 100% (about 90% now), and start putting a dent in the 4s (not sure what % I'm at now). The things is, I enjoy studying the bingo stems much more than anything else, so that's mainly what I study. Plus I really can't devote any time to it outside of my allotted exercise/study-word time. I do have other things going on.

One small consolation from the last Philly tourney is that I tracked and scored almost perfectly. To keep those skills sharp I'm playing a 5 game series against Eric this weekend -- $1 per game and $.01 per point. One of my goals is to be able to play .500 against Eric, so this will be an indication of how far I have to go (although 5 is a small sample size).

I was playing on-line the other day, a 3 minute game, and my rack was EIKLNRT. I wanted to play TINKLER, but it didn't fit, so I just laid down TRINKLE in utter haste thinking, "what the heck, maybe it's valid." My opponent didn't challenge and instead laid down EXED extending TRINKLE to TRINKLED for 60+ points. I did challenge and since neither TRINKLE nor TRINKLED is valid, EXED came off. I made a play and then my opponent played just ED again making TRINKLED for 30+ points, obviously she thought EXED was the problem the first time, but that's a valid play. I challenged. Again her play came off the board. She then sent me a message that said, "That was really mean, trinkle isn't even a word!" I wrote back saying, "I wasn't sure. That's what challenge is for." After the game I thought about what she said and I came to the conclusion that it's not at all mean. There are basically two reasonable schools of thought you can have on this issue and neither lead to meanness.
1) It's perfectly okay to play any word at anytime regardless of validity. That's what the challenge is for. If your opponent doesn't like you playing phoneys they can challenge, or if they are on-line they can play the void mode.
2) It's poor sportsmanship to play words you know for sure are phoneys. Even if you believe this, I didn't know with 100% certainty the word was phoney. Surely you don't have to be 100% certain on every word you play, as that takes a significant factor of risk vs. reward completely out of the game. Let's say I'm 60% certain a word is good and it's a huge score with the next best play being a very small score. From an expected value standpoint it might be completely worth it to play the word. Now, if they extend my questionable word via a D or an S for a huge amount of points, then that is a risk on their part that they should have considered. Again, from an expected value standpoint it might be completely worth it to challenge. In both cases I could have made what I thought was the best play without trying to trick or deceive my opponent. There is no meanness in that.

Anyway, some new stems:

STONIE -- WATSON WILL RAX THAT LIMP BITCH
RANEES -- MOTTO: LOOK GOOD CROW ON
DARTLE -- ADIOS WAXY SET
ORATES -- HEAR THE ENDLESS CHAMP GAB
ENTERS -- GOES INSIDE A COUPLES VERY WAXY YURT
LINTER -- A GOOSY KID
ARDENT -- CUB VIG SUX
SEALER -- EPOXY STOPPED THE VEXING NICK
RETIES -- A HEP DAZED MAN KVETCHES AND RELACES
RAINED -- POURING BIG CATS AND VINO ON HIM

No brotherly love in Philly

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.