Scrabble Adventures

A quick recap on the last club night of 2006.

Game #1 vs. Allan
I always seem to have interesting and close games against Allan and this one was no different.  Post-game analysis on Quackle revealed that I made some good plays and some dumb plays too.  I only had four bingo racks all game:

• ADEIMNO:  DOMAINE & AMIDONE.  I saw DOMAINE, but wondered about this spelling, specifically the E.  I chickened out and didn’t play this word.  The worst part was that this was my first rack.  Maybe I should have gambled.
• AEIMPRV:  I missed both VAMPIER and VAMPIRE.
• AAIPST?:  Quite a few here:  SPATIAL, PASTINA, PATINAS, PINATAS, TAIPANS, and PITAYAS.  I only saw SPATIAL and I played it.
• ANNOSTW:  I saw WANTONS but wasn’t sure if it was acceptable (it is).  Didn’t matter as there was no spot to play this word.

On his second turn, Allan played DECETNLY.  I called “HOLD” because the word looked funny (the board was still not turned to me).  For some reason, I kept thinking that DECENTLY wasn’t a good word.  After a few seconds, I realized that he spelled the word incorrectly.  For most of the game, I was trailing.  I managed to catch-up with my bingo of SPATIAL and then we traded the lead before Allan took the game at the end.  He finished with AVERTED.  The analysis on Quackle suggests that based on the plays I made, I couldn’t win this game.  I could have blocked AVERTED, but I would have left myself with IIU – just delaying the loss.  In all, the game was a good one.  FINAL SCORE:  453 – 352 (LOSS).

Game #2 vs. Kaveri
I’ve played a few games against Kaveri and lately she’s kicked my ass.  Looking back, I think that this game should have been much closer than it was.  From turn 2 to turn 5, Kaveri scored no points as she traded, lost a challenge, and then had her bingo challenged off.  The only fortunate thing for her was that I was only managing about 20 points a turn, so she was only down by 60 points.  Here are the bingo racks that I had this game:

• AADINVS:  This was my first rack and I didn’t see the bingo.  Can you?  I played AVIAN, but the bingo is NAVAIDS.  No way I’m going to figure that one out.
• EENNST?:  For some stupid reason, I didn’t see any bingos on this rack even though there are plenty (31 in total).  I played off TEN.  Kaveri later told me that my play blocked her only bingo lane – talk about dumb luck.
• ACENRS?:  Lucky for me that this was my very next rack.  I played PRANCES.  I think this rack is one of those hi-prob bingo stems.  I think I should learn this one as there are 31 here.
• ABCORSY:  I missed this one.  CARBOYS – WTF ??!!!

On turn #4, Kaveri played ELASiON (challenged off).  Looking back, she could/should have played LOANErS (there are a few others, but most are rare).  Later, she also played TAENIaS and TAURINE.  FINAL SCORE:  405 – 318 (WIN).

Game #3 vs. Paul
The last game of the night was another close one.  Looking back, I had way too many vowels this game and not enough consonants.  Can you see the bingos on the following racks?

• ADEILOS:  This rack looked good, but I couldn’t find the bingo, ISOLEAD.  Didn’t matter because there wasn’t a spot to play this word.
• AAEILNT + (E):  I didn’t see this, but Quackle found it.  ALIENAT(E).
• AABMNT?:  I saw BANTAMS, but missed BOATMAN and BATSMAN.\

Paul’s only bingo was ExCUSES.  A close game until the end where I made some really good plays and also a few dumb ones.  I don’t think I could have won this game with the letters I had after my BANTAMS bingo.  After the game, Paul and I noted that I had mostly vowels at the end and really couldn’t score with them.  The board was open and so the consonants, especially the higher-scoring letters, allowed him to play and score 20+ points each turn without any vowels.  All in all, a good game.  FINAL SCORE:  420 – 394 (LOSS).

Results from the regular club night.  I can see some improvement in my play, but I still am making some bone-headed moves.

Game #1 vs. Ann
I don’t like playing Ann because she closes up the board.  I suppose that’s a good strategy for her because she knows her two and three letter words down pat and knows a large number of fours.  Knowing this, I tried to keep the board open as best as I could.  I had an opening rack of ENQRRUW and decided to trade 5 tiles (keeping ER).  I didn’t know about QUERN – maybe I should learn some more words.  To make matters worse, Ann opened with BENDERS.  I tried to play “EM(B)ROIDS” but had it challenged off.  She played ZINCY for 47.  By turn #3, I was down 123 – 0 and wasn’t feeling too good.  The rest of my racks were pretty dull, and I made most of the “best” plays as recommended by Quackle.  I pulled out a well played win.  FINAL SCORE:  416 – 355 (WIN).  Here are two interesting racks that I had in this game:

• Turn #2:  DEIORS? – I saw STEROID and VOIDERS.  According to Zyzzyva, there are 28 seven-letter bingos.  With the letters available on the board, I had at least 10 bingo plays on the board but didn’t really see them.  There was the obvious STEROIDS, but I didn’t want to leave a hanging S for a bingo on the triple lane.
• EGORSUV – would you have seen the bingo here?  I didn’t realize that VOGUERS is a word.

Game #2 vs. Vajira
Not sure what to say about this game.  I had some tough boards.  The positive is that I made the only bingo available to me.  On the other hand, I made some poor plays and let far too many phoney plays go (a sign of things to come).  I new that Vajira didn’t play in a club setting and played a very conservative game of taking points and keeping the board relatively closed.  So I tried to open up the board.  Unfortunately, the combination of poor play and not-so-great tiles did me in.  I would probably say my poor play was more the cause of my loss.  I let OARINGS go and that pretty much lost me the game.  Here are some of my beautiful racks I had this game:

• ELORRRV
• AACFJLU
• BEERRYY
• AHINOOS
• AACFLMP
• OQSTTZ? – I got this one on my last turn – I picked up QSTZ on my last turn – ouch.

I think I could have won this game, even with the letters I had.  I suppose that’s the positive – I can remain competitive even when I don’t have great tiles.  Now if I can just play a bit better…  FINAL SCORE:  437 – 316 (LOSS)

Game #3 vs. Brenda
I’m not sure what to comment about on this game.  Looking back, I think this game was over before I sat down.  I had the wrong attitude going into this game and I paid for it.  Some interesting plays:

• my opening rack – AAIORRS and EOsiNES was on the board.  I totally missed ROSARIA/ROSARIAN
• I had TURKIES on my board and played it (for some reason thinking that was the plural form of TURKEY).  Those 7 letters don’t make a bingo, but I could have made an 8 letter word – KEIRETSU.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know this word.  TURKIES was challenged off.
• I had EGHIRSU – I saw GUSHIER or R(O)UGHIES but wasn’t sure if either were acceptable words.  I ended up playing GURNIES – which was quickly challenged off.
• Next turn, I had EGINRSU – for some reason I kept thinking GURNIES as the plural form of GURNEY.  After this game was over, I thought of REUSING.  My only concern (before confirming that the word is good) was whether or not the word was hyphenated.  Quackle pointed out that I could have played ENSURING or SEIGNEUR.
• CENORSU – I didn’t see anything with these letters.  I had hoped for a T to make COUNTERS or RECOUNTS, but none were available.  I missed CORNEOUS based on the analysis by Quackle.
• FERVERS – I mis-spelled this word.  After the game, I realized that FERVORS is the correct spelling.  The worst thing is that I missed a free O on the board to make FOREVERS.
• DEEELVS – I missed SLEEVED.

All in all, this game was not a good one.  For some reason, I just don’t play well against Brenda.  I think I’m starting to learn how to beat John and his wife Ann and other players who close the board.  Now I have to learn how to beat players like Brenda.  She knows quite a few words, but I don’t think she makes great plays as she “fishes” quite a bit (either by trading or playing small words like TI).  FINAL SCORE:  499 – 239 (LOSS – OUCH!)

Another interesting night at the club.  Here’s a summary of my games with some commentary based on post-game analysis using Quackle and Zyzzyva.

Game #1 vs. Allan
Allan’s a pretty strong player.  I played him once before when I was first starting to play Scrabble and he beat me pretty soundly.  This game was interesting.  On my opening play, I had GIOQTUU.  I played “QUIT” and missed QUOIT for 48 pts – ouch.  On my next turn, I had EEGOOU? and I played YET.  After the game, Jason (who was sitting next to me during the game) said I should have played YOGEE to get rid of many of those letters – he’s right.  Anyway, I was hoping to play a double-double, but Allan played on my spot.  Luckily, I played INFUSEs.  Quackle pointed out a slightly better play of UNIF(A)cES, but I wouldn’t have found that play because I don’t think I know that word.

A few turns later, I had CGINORS, and immediately thought SCORING.  I didn’t see a spot to play the 7.  I missed an open S to play CROS(S)ING – that hurts.  The very next turn, I had GIIMNST.  I was thinking MISTING and again didn’t see a spot for this word.  I didn’t realize that there were other words that can be made (TIMINGS, SMITING, and MISTING).  Had I know of the other two words, I could have hooked off of HEW (HEWN or HEWS).  There was one bingo that I missed (ADEMORS) but I didn’t know the word (RADOMES).

For some reason, I let some obvious phonies go:  HU and OWER (I actually held on this one too).  I can’t believe I missed HU – I think I was looking at the board upside down and was focused on my own play and didn’t really examine Allan’s move – bad, bad, bad.  This game was close until the end.  Allan finished first and had 358 plus 2 for my last tile to get 360.  I had 357 pts.  But, Allan was 8 minutes over time, so he finished at 280.  I’m not sure how he went over-time so much as I reminded him twice about his time.  Oh well, a win’s a win, right?  After reviewing the game using Quackle, I realize I’m leaving quite a few points “on the board”.  The one thing I have started to pick-up in terms of strategy is learning how to close off bingo lanes toward the end.  FINAL SCORE:  357 – 280 (WIN).  There’s really no reason why Allan lost this game.  Afterwards, he said that he couldn’t complain about his letters as he got great letters.

Game #2 vs. John
I wasn’t looking forward to playing John as his playing style always frustrates me – he clogs up the board and plays mostly 3–4 letter words.  I played ARIA to open – I had AAIRRS? and I missed RoSARIA – didn’t even know that word.  On turn 3, I had AELRSZ? and I saw both bingos (BLAZERS and GLAZERS) but didn’t see a place to play as John had closed the board a bit.  I didn’t know that YIPE was a good word, otherwise I could have hooked YIP to play my bingo.  John was winning 105 – 66 at the end of turn 4 (his words were RANTED, YIP, CURED, and HUIC).  I held on his play of HUIC, but I let it go.  I had AALOSX? and was trying to find an open E or T to make OXALATES, but none were available.  After playing a few letters to try and get a better rack, I had AINSSV?.  I saw SAVINgS but didn’t know the other anagrams (SAVINeS, VINASSe, SILVANS, and SPAVINS).  I had one other bingo that I missed ILNOOPS (PLOSION) in this game.  I also traded when I shouldn’t have (according to Quackle).  Only by dumb luck was I able to recover from that trade because there was a free T for my play of FOLIAtES (that got a “damn!” from John – heh heh).

The only other interesting thing for this game was the end play.  He had UUSTAIR and played off a U on two successive turns (a mistake I think).  He scored 9 points on those two turns while I made some good finds to score 41 points in those two turns.  By the end of turn 15, I was able to eke out a small lead (368 – 356).  I had REBELG and I knew he had STAIR left with a nice ZEE to hook and finish.  I played out the different possibilities and my only play was to block his play.  He wasn’t able to score enough on his out-play even with the G on my rack.  FINAL SCORE:  376 – 374 (WIN).

This win was very satisfying because I had only a few power tiles (SSS, X, and ?) and struggled to balance my rack the entire game.  Also, I made a very conscious effort to keep the board open and try to set the board up for future plays.  In all fairness, after reviewing the game on Quackle, I don’t think I should have won this game.  Based on the analysis, John should have won because of his superior letters.  Nevertheless, I played a very good game and made very few errors.

Game #3 vs. Kaveri
As I sat down to play Kaveri, I was hoping to continue my good play and finish the night undefeated.  To make this summary short, I played a crappy game.  Reviewing the game on Quackle makes me sick at the points I could have scored.  Granted, I didn’t know many of the words, but it’s still discouraging that I could have had a chance.  I missed the only bingo available to me the entire game.  On my second last turn, I had ILNORST but didn’t see the obvious NOSTRIL.  Didn’t matter because the game was over and there was no place to play it.  Kaveri had good tiles and she made me pay by making great plays.  The only comforting play I made was to use of my consonant heavy rack of EGHRTWY by playing CRWTH.  FINAL SCORE:  455 – 292 (LOSS – OUCH!).

Final Thoughts
Other than the game against Kaveri, I think I played as well as I could have.  I can accept losing if I’ve done my best but still get beat.  Looking back, I probably could (should) have gone winless again, but somehow managed to pull out two wins.  I suppose that’s a good sign.  Well, back to the studying.  I’m currently studying the SATIRE? stem and I think almost have it down.  Now that I’ve started studying these stems, learning them seems to be getting easier.  Hopefully I’ll be able to learn a good 25–50 stems next year.

Another tough night at the club – three losses (ouch!). I’m not sure how I feel about these three games – I was stuck with vowels all night and I think I did the best I could. I didn’t see many bingos and I had a few racks where I couldn’t play. I think these games could have gone either way. Let’s review the plays and see if I’ve missed some obvious bingos or made some critical mistakes.

Game 1 vs. Joy
CUTEY was on the board and I had CEELNN?. I didn’t see anything so I played UNCLE (the 2nd best non-bingo play rated by Quackle). Apparently, I missed LENIENCY (84 points), LENIENCE (at multiple spots), and NONELECT. Lucky for me, I played BRoWNED the next turn to make use of my good tiles. I simulated the rest of the game and I had only one rack with a bingo (ROASTER) with nowhere to play it. I tried to play (RE)ROASTER but that was challenged off. Here are *great* racks I had: AIILNNO, AAEIOOY, AAEIOOS, and IILOOUU. After reviewing the game on Quackle, I think I’m a bit hesitant to trade my tiles. No other bingos that I missed.

Quackle suggested I trade three times this game and I only did it once. Reviewing the game makes me realize that there are many, many words that I don’t know – especially some weird 4–6 letter words with mostly vowels. Another weird thing is that the final scores didn’t match the simulation in Quackle. I was trying to be very careful about scoring all night too. FINAL SCORE: 368 – 359 (LOSS).

Game 2 vs. John
This game was interesting. Throughout the game, I had seemingly good tiles, but no words really stuck out. On turn two, I challenged off his mis-spelled LENGhTS. I couldn’t do much to stop him, so he played his bingo the very next turn. My only rack with a bingo was UPRAISE, but I had nowhere to play it. Reviewing the game in Quackle was very interesting. I missed several higher scoring plays, mostly because of my poor word knowledge (ERICA instead of ARC). On the one hand, I feel somewhat relieved that I didn’t miss any bingos. But, on the other hand, I’m somewhat frustrated at the poor tiles that I had in this game. The final score was pretty close and I’m sure I could have won if I had gotten just slightly better tiles (or at least better distribution of tiles at different points in the game).

I feel somewhat guilty about this game even though I lost. I noticed that John didn’t hit his clock after he played OXO (56 points). He had just played a bingo the turn before (MAIDENs) to take a large 130 point lead. So, I hemmed and hawed for about 10 minutes and let his clock run down to about 5:30. Strategically I should have waited until he noticed his clock, but I felt bad. Actually, he looked at the clock twice but didn’t do anything. I figured that if he missed noticing after looking at the clock on two occasions, then he’s really at fault. Anyway, John won the game and then he was all boastful about how I got most of the power tiles (I had the Q, J, 3 S, and Z). But, I was stuck with vowels for most of the night. Oh well. Chalk that up to another learning experience. Was I wrong to let his clock run down? Should I have let his clock run down to 0:00? Should I have just waited him out? FINAL SCORE: 383 – 341 (LOSS).

Game 3 vs. Don
This final game was another interesting one. I had hoped to end the night on a win, but it just wasn’t meant to be. This game got off to a slow start as we both played short words. I opened up the board a bit and then played (S)HOW onto the bottom middle TWS. Don then played (W)IGgIEST – I held and then challenged (the word is acceptable)(. I was winning 112–52 until that challenge. After his next play, the score was 160–112. Had some crappy letters (AEFNOVY) and thought about playing ENVOY(S) for 28 points, but chickened out because of leaving a TWS lane open for Don. I ended up playing FOE, but Quackle recommends FOVEAS (40 pts) on the same spot I was to play ENVOYS – oh well.

The next few turns, I had some decent looking racks, but never got a chance to score with them. Up until this point, I had no bingos available to me (I checked on both Zyzzyva and Quackle). I had AELOPRR and thought that PAROLER was 50% good. The correct plays are PERORAL AND PREORAL (I didn’t know those words). Doesn’t matter because there was nowhere to play them. The next turn I had EEHPRR?. There was an open A sitting on K5 and I hoped to play PRE(A)cHER (there were 6 possible words I could have played. I saw PREACHER, REPHRASE, and RESHAPER. I missed PHREAKER, HAMPERER, and THREAPER. PERCHER is a 7 letter word, but there was no play available). But, as my luck would have it, Don played NEW to block that nice bingo lane (good play on his part). I had some decent looking racks on the next few turns:

• AAEHPR? – The natural bingos are HANAPER and RHAPNAE
• EEELNR? – I saw both KNEELER and NEEDLER
• DEELNS? – I saw NEEDLES and NESTLED. I missed seeing LEADENS, BLENDES (?), FLENSED (?), LEGENDS (ouch), ENISLED, ENSILED, LINSEED, SNELLED, LENDERS (ouch), RELENDS, SLENDER, ENDLESS, WEDELNS (no way I would’ve found this one), and DENSELY.

Unfortunately, I had no play with any of those racks. I was able to play one bingo hISTONE on my second last play for 78 points. TUX was along N4–N6 and I wanted to play a bingo along the TWS. I missed iNTONES, iSOTONE, iNOSITE, pINTOES, and POINTES (no place to play this one). I thought HISTONES was a pretty good find. The other words starting with I were valued at 80 points, so my find wasn’t bad. I lost track of the tiles and then tried to leave myself an out play. I knew Don had MM and another letter. Unfortunately, I let him play M(A)RM (it’s a phoney). I thought about challenging the play, but there was no way I could win (I verified with Quackle). FINAL SCORE: 380 – 329.

Overall, I didn’t play that well. I made some nice plays that Quackle verified. But, I also made some boneheaded plays. I think I need to get a better grasp on when to trade bad tiles instead of trying to play the tiles out. I was encouraged that I saw some bingos on my rack even though I couldn’t play them. I suppose the frustrating thing is that I really didn’t have very good tiles to play. What I realize is that even though I may not have the best tiles, I have to learn how to play strategically and score with them. Reviewing my games via Quackle shows me that there are better (and higher-scoring) plays out there. Guess I better start hitting the books so that I can improve in 2007.