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.