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.