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.