Scrabble Adventures

Much to my surprise, I was able to attend the regular club night. Not having played Scrabble in ages, I wasn’t too optimistic of playing well. Nevertheless, I was just glad to be able to play. Some quick recaps of the three games:

Game 1 vs. Shauna
Not much to report on this one. I had IOU in multiple combinations throughout the game while Shauna was dropping bingos right from turn #1 and getting the power tiles. Stuff like this happens. Even still, I was able to keep the game within a bingo until the very end. Good game Shauna – I owe you one.
FINAL SCORE: 427 – 294 (LOSS)
BINGOS: Me – none; Shauna – VALIANt, WA(R)RANTS, qUIlTING (that’s QUILTING)

Game 2 vs. Lilla
This game was a bit more interesting. Never played Lilla before and the game started off a bit conservative. The board was tight, but we were both scoring and slowly opening things up. I was happy to play NUDZH/H(AFT) for 48 points as I recall studying the Zs a while back. I was a little disappointed that Lilla didn’t even flinch. The next turn I chuckled because she played NURL – I remember that one from Kevin’s studying. A few turns later, I had EEERSV? and had to play through a letter on a fairly tight board. Twelve minutes later, I played rESERVE(R) missing more obvious plays like OVERSEER (duh!). Still, I was able to draw a challenge. Question: if your opponent chews off 12 minutes and then plays RESERVER (sounds fishy), do you challenge? I asked Shelley and she said she would. The rest of the game was just grinding it out.
FINAL SCORE: 398 – 364 (WIN)
BINGOS: Me – ANISEED, rSERVE(R); Lilla – (I)MPARTED (double-double)

Game 3 vs. Shelley (aka "the princess")
I had a great game with Shelley. We joked about her recent email to the mailing list about her being a "princess" because of her car-pool requirements. In any case, it was a fun game that started off very slowly and ugly. I challenged NOTABLES and it pretty much cost me the game as it was on turn 12. I’m flattered that Shelley thinks I’m a good enough player to see bingos, but I know I’m not good.
FINAL SCORE: 349 – 318 (LOSS)
BINGOS: Me – DIrTIES(T); Shelley – NOTaBLE

All in all, I had some good games. I can tell that I’m very rusty from lack of practice or studying. Playing well is nice, but these ‘moral victories’ suck. Maybe as I slowly get back into Scrabble, the wins will follow.

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After a very busy week, I’m just now having a chance to sit down and review some games I played.  Just quick summaries and thoughts if I remember them.  I had a (rare) opportunity to the club this week and play the full three games.

MISSISSAUGA SCRABBLE CLUB:  Thursday June 26, 2008
Game #1 vs. Fraser S
Fraser is better than me and his rating has jumped over the past year or so.  His strength is in knowing many, many words – probably due to his crossword creating experience.  He tried playing RETO(O)LER* which I eventually challenged off.  The board got closed up very quickly and caused us to play a more defensive game than either of us wanted.  Fraser had a decent sized lead and then extended it to 60 points.  I was able to find a bingo with my final play and pull out a win.
FINAL SCORE;  395 – 365 (WIN)
BINGOS:  ME – SEAONSA(L); Fraser – PAINLEs(S)

Game #2 vs. Geoffrey N
I think I could have done better, but I made a few mistakes.  I can’t afford to make mistakes when playing against Geoffrey (a very, very good player).  I confused DErailed and UNrailed* which was challenged off.  The game essentially ended around turn #10 when I challenged SA(N)TERIa (72) even though I thought it was good.  On his next turn, Geoffrey played OXY for another 52 points pulling ahead by over 100 points.
FINAL SCORE:  417 – 341 (LOSS)
BINGOS:  ME – LEARI(N)g; Geoffrey – RAREBIT, SA(N)TERIa

Game #3 vs. Sophia O
Not sure why, but I have considerable difficulty playing against Sophia.  She has this (annoying to me) style of finding these overlapping plays that score in the 25-35 point range while throwing in a few bingos.  Granted, in this game I didn’t get very good tiles, but that’s beyond the point.  I think I need to learn how to play (and win) against players like Sophia.
FINAL SCORE:  408 – 331 (LOSS)
BINGOS:  ME – DECODER; Sophia – EnTAILS, STERILe

I think some of my mistakes were due to a bit of ‘Scrabble rust’ and also being tired from a lack of sleep this past week.  On a more positive note, I didn’t really notice how good (or bad) my tiles were during these games.  I’m trying to change my attitude so that I just take whatever tiles I get and learn how to play with them.  Sometimes they will not be very good, but that’s beyond my conrol.

Oh, one final amusing thought.  During my game against Sophia, I played GNAWN to play off some of my consonants.  Sophia turned the board around and essentially yelled "GNAWN?  What the hell is that?".  She said that with such incredulity that I almost burst out laughing, especially since she said that it was so weird that "it must be good".  I almost burst out lauging a second time after that comment.  Actually, her comment kept me chuckling for the rest of the game.

I was able to catch a few games with Yvonne and Steve on Saturday night.

Game #1 vs. Steve O
I got very fortunate with the tiles this game and broke my 0-fer streak against Steve.  On the other hand, Yvonne kibbitzed and thought I played a good game.  I think the game turned a bit when Steve made an error by playing TEL(E)NRAS* which I quickly challenged off, especially since he tried changing the tiles after he hit his clock.  I was like "Sorry, but you already hit your clock".  After that, I played my second bingo in four turns to pull ahead 178 – 30 (he traded in between) with him to play.  A few turns later, I was able to find another bingo that wasn’t so obvious (to me at least):  BAN(N)ERED.  The rest of the game was pretty much scoring with the great tiles I had and taking advantage of the openings Steve kept making – he was so far behind that he had to make some very risky plays to give him a chance to try and make a come-back.
FINAL SCORE:  512 – 302 (WIN – I think this is only my 3rd game over 500)
BINGOS:  ME – BEANING, CABI(N)ETs, BAN(N)ERED, SALTIER; Steve – RENTALS
PHONEYS:  Me – COILY*; Steve – BEANINGS*

Game #2 vs. Yvonne
After opening with ELATIOn, I got a bit disappointed because Yvonne played two quick bingos in a row, which made me wonder if I was going to have to ‘pay’ for last game’s great tiles.  I took a moment to recompose myself and change my attitude.  Even with only one vowel for about six turns in a row, I just tried to make the best play available to me – I ended up scoring almost 30 points each turn.

At the middle of the game, I had several options available to me and was considering a play, when I noticed Yvonne’s ‘tell’.  Based on that, I decided to make a defensive strategic play.  I was still able to score 32 points, but this play essentially shut down the bottom quadrant of the board.  She later told me that I blocked her bingo(s).  After that, I just used the tiles I had to keep scoring in 30s while Yvonne kept trying to bingo.  I noticed her frustration increase, as did the frequency of two and three letter plays (EVE, OI, GUN, IN).  She later tried a desperation (N)IACINES* to end the game, but I challenged that off. 
FINAL SCORE:  438 – 307 (WIN)
BINGOS:  ME – ELATIOn; Yvonne – PAI(N)TURE*, LACeRA(T)E

In two game sagainst Steve and Yvonne, I think I was able to play fairly solidly and didn’t force anything.  I still need to work on my word knowledge as I missed a X play (VARIX for 50+ points) and screwed up a Q play (QUAS*/SAXON*).  However, I feel a bit more confident that I’ve been able to correct some of my mistakes.  Part of this is due to not being so tired (sleep helps), but also being more systematic in identifying my options and evaluating my choices.  I don’t know how much time I’ll have to learn new words before the Nationals, so I’m going to focus on reviewing the words that I do know.

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I was able to attend the regular club night for the first time in quite some time.  My new schedule has been keeping me busy and unable to attend regularly.  In the meantime, I’ve been trying to review word lists in preparation for the US Nationals, but that hasn’t been too successful.

Fortunately, I was able to make it out to the club and play two games.

Game #1 vs. Priya F
I’ve played Priya five or six times and lost each and every time.  Some of those losses were of my own making as I made some serious tactical errors.  I was hoping for a different outcome this time.

The game became very defensive from the beginning as Priya opened with VAC.  My tiles weren’t very good at the time so I couldn’t do much to score or open up the board.  Priya took a big lead early with a few 30+ point plays.  However, I was able to close the gap with a series of 28-40 point plays before taking the lead with my only bingo.  I think Priya wanted to challenge it, but she decided to play her bingo instead as my play gave her a spot on an otherwise closed board.  After that exchange, the game become even more defensive as I didn’t get any vowels for several turns in a row and Priya played several short words to try and close the gap.  I managed to keep scoring without any vowels, playing off 3-4 consonants at a time until I was able to get a few vowels before the very end.  I just barely managed to hold on for my first win against Priya.
FINAL SCORE:  386 – 374 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – uNAGILE; Priya – IROnIES

Game #2 vs. Kaveri R
I was first to play this game and had somewhat of a dilemma.  My opening rack was ACEIOV? but didn’t see any 7 letter words (I checked and there is one), but could see quite a few 8s.  So, I followed a tip that Craig R once told me and played a phoney – AVOrICE.  My rationale was that if it gets challenged off, I still have a good chance to bingo the next turn (assuming my opponent plays a word).  If the word stays on, I get the 80 points.  Kaveri held me for a few moments before challenging the word off.  However, to my surprise, so played BANGLE, giving me the opportunity I needed.  I played I(N)VOCAtE which drew another challenge.  With my next seven tiles, I was able to get the last blank (EIMORV?).  I missed seeing some obvious 7s, but I decided to open up the board completely, knowing that Kaveri likes to close the board down.  After that sequence, I just had a big lead that Kaveri couldn’t overcome given her playing style.

Unfortunately for me, I challenged another J word – JOWS.  For some reason, I just didn’t recognize it.  Why is it that I can remember the 6s, 7s, and 8s, but not the 4s?  Maybe it’s a function of being tired and a bit ‘rusty’.
FINAL SCORE: 404 – 323 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – I(N)VOCAtE, REMOVIn(G); Kaveri – none

**********

I think last night was a good use of my ‘Scrabble’ time.  I was able to get a few games in to evaluate my progress.  Here are some thoughts:

The Positives:

• I’m making good use of my clock to find better strategic and higher scoring plays
• I’m able to find plays that score in the 30-40s regularly now.  The best part of this is being able to string together several such plays
• I’m not as reliant upon making bingos to score (see above point)

The Negatives:

• I’m still unsure about words, especially the 3s and challenged words that I *thought* I knew (e.g., JOWS this week, and JOSS a few weeks back)

Still need to review more words and will try to learn as many as I can before the US Nationals.  My next evaluation point is likely the July Toronto tournament organized by Tony Leah.  The tournament doesn’t fall within the US National qualification period, so it won’t affect my eligibility for the big tournament.

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I was able to make it out to the club last night, but fell victim to my own inconsistency.  At times I play well, while at other times I lose my brain and make bone-headed plays/mistakes.  I suppose this is all part of the process of becoming a better player (I hope).  Maybe I was mentally more tired than I had anticipated.  I think that’s something that I’ll need to watch for with the upcoming nationals in July.

Game #1 vs. Brenda S
My opening rack was a bit of a conundrum as I wasn’t sure what to play:  ACDEIPT.  For a moment, I thought about trying to play a phoney bingo because I didn’t see a bingo (there are no 7s), hoping that either Brenda would let the play stand or challenge it off and give me a letter I needed to make a bingo – I immediately saw IMPACTED and PEDANTIC, but thought there might be one or two more.  Brenda played a good game and found a great spot to play PERSONA by hooking RAG and ER with the S and A respectively.  I did manage to challenge off OUTBORE*.
FINAL SCORE:  373 – 310 (LOSS)
BINGOS:  ME – SCaTTER; Brenda – SMARTEN, PERSONA

Game #2 vs. Priya F
This is a game that I wish I could take back as I gave this one away.  Priya opened with WRITE and I responded with DEVOT(I)NG.  I almost gave-up on that rack because it didn’t look too promising at first glance.  I’m glad that I’m starting to be more patient and think through my options.  A few turns later, I played another bingo and managed to pull ahead 268 – 127.  Unfortunately, I then started playing like an idiot – playing AYA* (what was I thinking?!!) and allowing HOARIES* to stay on the board.  After that little series of plays, I then challenged JOSS which really irked me because it’s a J word.  A few turns after that, I tried PRE(B)LINd* thinking it was related to statistics/science.  The worst thing is that I could have won this game at the end with a bingo.  There was a free B available at D11 and I had EEELNM?.  Do you see the bingo?  See the end of this post for the answer.  I completely missed it and tried EMENa(B)LE*.  The only positive I can draw from this game is that I still had a chance to win, even with all of my blunders.
FINAL SCORE:  403 – 361 (LOSS)
BINGOS:  ME – DEVOT(I)NG, RESTOrE; Priya – HOARIES*

Game #3 vs. Kaveri R
Kaveri opened with a bingo and put me on the defensive right away.  I was struggling to balance my tiles for much of the game as I seemed to be get quite a few vowels early on.  I also had to work to keep the board open because Kaveri likes to (and was trying to) shut the board down.  She likes to play small two and three letter words that over-lap because she says it takes "more thinking" to play such a game.  Even though I was behind for most of the game, I was able to string together a few high scoring plays to pull ahead late in the game:  FROW (44), QANATS (32), QIS (24), and CRIED (32).  By then, scoring opportunities were scarce as Kaveri had been working to shut the board down.  Fortunately for me, I was able to plan my final two turns to win the game.
FINAL SCORE:  323 – 306 (WIN)
BINGOS:  ME – none; Kaveri – EASIEST

Overall, my play at the club was inconsistent.  I made some good plays and was able to anticipate some potential plays developing.  On the other head, I also played like an idiot.  I’ll need to focus more on eliminating my mistakes during games.  I also think I’ll need to start a process of reviewing the words I’ve learned, as I’m not sure that I’ll have much time to learn new ones before the tournament.  My new work schedule is just brutal and it’s not leaving me much time to do anything. Oh well, I guess that’s the trade-off for a pay-cheque.

ANSWER:  ENsEM(B)LE is the only one that fits.

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