Scrabble Adventures

The 13th annual Oshawa Scrabble Tournament is now over. Overall, I think I did reasonably well. Sure, I could have done better, but that can be said for pretty much anything. I finished in third place with a record of 8 wins and 4 losses (+279). I’m not sure what my new NSA rating is, but I think I may still be in the 700s.

The schedule for the tournament was as follows:

• Day 1: Games 1–3 in the morning; games 4–7 in the afternoon
• Day 2: Games 8–10 in the morning; games 11–12 in the afternoon (“king of the hill” format)

I’m going to post some quick recaps of the games I played, focusing mostly on interesting plays and made/missed bingos. Quackle has a new feature that generates full HTML reports of the games with a listing of possible options.

** Please note that for the games listed below, I only have access to my tile racks – my opponents’s racks remain mysteries. Also, some of my reported scores may be slightly off of the scores generated by Quackle – I’m pretty sure this is due to human error when calculating scores during a game. The reported scores are the “official” ones used in the tournament. Also, I don’t know how to indicate unsuccesful challenges (i.e., someone challenges a good word). In these instances, I have used a PASS. Time penalties are not reflected in the Quackle simulations.

After the recaps, I’ll share some thoughts about my play.

GAME RECAPS
Game #1 vs. Audrey D (view full game)
There’s not much to say about this game. Basically, I had way too many vowels this game. None of my racks made any bingos, and I had no bingo opportunities available to me (Quackle confirms it). You can see some of the ugly racks that I had. Basically, I was trying to open up the board so that if/when I got some decent racks, I could score. Just didn’t happen. The thing that kills me is that Audrey started the game off my saying that she just comes to “let other people win” at tournaments – ouch. What a way to start off the tournament.

FINAL SCORE: 358 – 310 (LOSS)
RECORD: 0 – 1

Game #2 vs. Carolyn B (view full game)
This game was interesting. Carolyn was a first time tournament player, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. She told me that she’s only played at pubs and online for a few years. As you can see, I missed an opening bingo on my first turn – I didn’t even see them. The natural bingos for the rack of ADNSTY? are: DYNASTY, STANDBY, and DYNASTS. I missed the 8 letter bingos of: DYSTONIA, DYNASTIC, and TARDYONS. I had only one other bingo opportunity, and I played MASTERs (one of 33 possible bingos) on turn #2. In retrospect, I could have played better this game as I seem to have left quite a few points on the board.

FINAL SCORE: 385 – 344 (WIN)
RECORD: 1 – 1

Game #3 vs. Gavin T (view full game)
I started the game with ADENOY?. I felt like there was a bingo in there and I ultimately found ANNOYED (ANODYNE and NOYADES being the anagrams). Gavin seemed a bit discouraged with my opening play. On turn #2, I had AEIQRTU. I missed QUAI(N)TER, A(N)TIQUE, and TAQUERIA (using an A on the board). Honestly, I didn’t even think to try and find an 8 letter word as I was fixated on using up the Q to score. Gavin made a great play of OVERsEA on his second turn. I wasn’t sure if the word was good. My only concern was if the word was hyphenated. I wrote out the word OVERSEA and OVER-SEA – just doesn’t look right with the hyphen and I let it go. I played off P(O)RCH to use up some vowels. Afterwards, Gavin said that he wanted me to challenge the word so that he could use the TWS left open by his O.

On my next turn (#4), I had AAMPRTS. The tiles didn’t look too promising so I started to shuffle them and then I saw PASTRAM(I). I apparently missed RAMPA(R)TS. At the end of turn 4, the score was 245 – 101 for me. Turn #5 was interesting. I didn’t have much, so I played GRANT. Gavin then said “Is that the best you can do? C’mon you can do better than that” in a very sarcastic way of my 12 points. I couldn’t help buy chuckle because I was averaging about 60 points per turn so far. He then played SAINTED, hooking GRANT. Apparently, I blocked his play of (H)ANDIEST with my previous play. By this time, I had a roughly 100 point lead and the rest of the game was pretty dull. We both traded points and I started to shut the board down slowly, limiting his chances of making a come-back.

FINAL SCORE: 431 – 344 (WIN)
RECORD: 2 – 1

Game #4 vs. Laurinda L (view full game)
I’m not sure what to write about this game. Normally at the club, I beat Laurinda handily (even though she beat me the last time we played). In any case, I knew that she misspells and plays phoney words so I wasn’t going to be shy about challenging her plays. But, the story of this game was not her play. In all fairness, she played a very solid game, taking the opportunities that I left her (as can be seen by the play). I challenged her bingo of EMENDING and lost. She then played some weird words that I held her on: GRAVID, URATE, ORIEL, SEGO, and BANCO. Because I was losing and could take advantage of her play, I let TOEAE go. I probably shouldn’t have. Note: when she played SEGO for 25 points, I had to challenge her to give myself a chance at prolonging the game.

Enough about her play. Basically, I lost this game. Reviewing this game on Quackle was painful as I missed bingo opportunities on five straight plays!

• Turn #4 (after the unsuccesful challenge): DEIILNS for SIDELIN(G) AT 15H
• Turn #5: ADEIPVS for SPAVI(N)ED at J2 (I didn’t know this word)
• Turn #6: EHOPSU? for at least 10 possible bingos. I missed the obvious POUCHES (PHOEBUS, UPHROES). The others were 8 letter bingos that I missed (most were ones I didn’t know), but a few I probably could have found: SUPE(R)HOT, HOMESPU(N), and PUSHOVE(R). The less obvious ones were like EUPH(R)OES and T(A)PHOUSE.
• Turn #7: FINRSU? – I was thinking FURNISH or SURFING but couldn’t find a spot. There were at least 10 bingo opportunities that I missed: FUNF(A)IRS, RUFFI(A)NS, INFUSER, SURFIN(G)S, FURRIN(G)S, and REFUSIN(G) to name just a few.
• Turn #8: CINRSY? – the 7 letter word is SCRYING, but I needed to play the 8 letter word CYPRI(A)NS which I didn’t know.
• Turn #9: CIINST? – I finally seized an opportunity and played STICkIN(G).

You want to know the worst part? On turn #13, the score was 392 – 311 (Laurinda was leading). I had EIMNSST on my rack. On a previous turn, I played T(I)LLER hoping to play a front hook later in the game. By this point, I wasn’t really thinking straight as I was a) suprised at how well Laurinda was playing, b) how crappy I was playing, and c) what crappy tiles I had the three previous turns following my bingo (HLNRTWY, ELLNRTT, DDNOSTZ). Anyway, I could have won this game if I played MISSENT (bingo for 88 points and whatever remaining tiles Laurinda had). I thought about MISSENT but wasn’t sure that it was a word and didn’t play it. Even after all that crappy play by me, I could have won the game, but I missed it! That hurts.

FINAL SCORE: 423 – 350 (LOSS)
RECORD: 2 -2

Game #5 vs. Bruce M (view full game)
After losing to Laurinda, I wasn’t feeling too confident. He opened with TRANQ for 48 points and I had IJMSSUX. I wasn’t really thinking straight and so I played JUT instead of something like JUS or JISM (hooking TRANQ). Of note, I was able to play one of the low-prob words that Kevin sent me: SKIEY (hooking TRANQ). That play drew a challenge (heh heh). On my next play, I played a bingo jIGGLES. Knowing that my opponent was going to be a bit gun-shy, I played VROW/SIDER. I wasn’t completely sure about SIDER, but I figured Bruce would let it pass because I was opening up a big lead.

Reviewing the game on Quackle, I realize that I made some dumb plays and missed four straight bingo opportunities (much like the previous game against Laurinda).

• Turn #6: CEIIMO? – I played COI(L) and missed DOMICI(L)E
• Turn #7: DEEFIM? – I played FEM and missed MISFEED (how did I miss this one?)
• Turn #8: DEEIIN? – I missed INDI(G)ENE. I don’t think I know this word.
• Turn #9: ADEEIR? – I missed AERIFIED (this one would be tough to spot)

The rest of the game was pretty tight, but I got a lucky break with my play of ZEAl for 66 points that pretty much ended the game. Bruce played a very solid game. The score would have been closer, but he went 2 minutes over the limit for 20 points.

FINAL SCORE: 360 – 296 (WIN)
RECORD: 3 – 2

Game #6 vs. Maggie P (view full game)
I was a bit nervous to play Maggie because she was winning by huge margins – I think she was 3 – 2 +560 at the time. I played the only bingo of the game on turn 11 pEOPLES. The game was pretty slow and tense as neither of us wanted to lose. I did, however, miss a few bingo opportunities (big surprise

• Turn #1: EKNNOR? the 7 letter word EINKORN or the 8 letter KEN(O)TRON. No chance of finding those as I didn’t even know those were words.
• Turn #7: DEOUV?? – I missed the obvious OVERDUE, DEVIOUS, and DEVOURS (in total there are 12 bingos here).
• Turn #8: DELOR?? – there are 90 7 letter bingos. I missed (Y)ODELLER for over 100 pts.
• Turn #13: AIMNNOR – I missed IRONMAN
• Turn #10: AELPQ?? – I was thinking PLAQUES but couldn’t find a place for it. There was no bingo available on this turn.

On my second last turn, I had AEEILNU and I was winning 334 – 310. I knew she had some good tiles (DDEINST for DISTEND or some other words). I made a good find of ULNAE for 17 points and didn’t open up anything easy for her. Afterwards, Maggie mentioned how ULNAE was a great find because she couldn’t do anything with it while I scored points and played off tiles.

FINAL SCORE: 365 – 348 (WIN)
RECORD: 4 – 2

Game #7 vs. Jim C (view full game)
The final game of day 1. I was getting a bit tired but wanted to finish on a high. At first I was a bit worried because I was getting crappy tiles and Jim was playing ZA for 65 points and REBINDS for 72 points. I started to open up the board a bit and was able to play bEATIN(G)S to make the score 193 – 176, but he responded with QI for 64 points (ouch!). I then made five high-scoring turns in a row (averaging over 30 points) while he was stuck making 10 point plays. That was pretty much the game.

I missed a bingo with EEINNS? (there are 10 words here), but the plays would be: MENINGES, ENLIVENS, NERVINES, INNERVES, to name a few (there were a few others).

FINAL SCORE: 430 – 375 (WIN)
RECORD: 5 – 2

Game #8 vs. Percy F (view full game)
I was hoping to start day two strong. Basically, I had all of the good tiles this game. I even got away with a phony bingo: IOLATes. I wanted to play something that wouldn’t open up scoring opportunities for Percy to catch-up. Apparently, I missed LAUWINE (which I don’t know). Even though I had all the good tiles, I wasn’t really able to score with them, making the game much closer than it should have been.

FINAL SCORE: 350 – 323
RECORD: 6 – 2

Game #9 vs. Christine W (view full game)
I wanted to beat Christine because of a past “incident” we had during a tournament in Stratford. I don’t think she remembered me, so I tried to be polite to her. Early on, she played OREAD and I was wondering about her word knowledge. She then played IDEMS for 44 points. I thought about it, but let it go (it’s a phony). I wasn’t sure if it was one of those rare words that is acceptable in Scrabble.

I played sEARING for 84 points and MIDDLEs for 68 points – both times opening up the board and jumping ahead. I missed bingos when I had DDEIUV? (DIVULGED or REDUVIID – WTF is that?) and CGHINOS (COSHING – didn’t know that word). I had good tiles and made use of them.

FINAL SCORE: 414 – 313
RECORD: 7 – 2

Game #10 vs. Henry D (view full game)
This was another interesting game with plenty of ramifications. This game was the last game before lunch and before the “king of the hill” games began. Henry had a record of 6 – 3.

This game was close for much of the game, even though Henry had better tiles. I played my only bingo AROUSER. He challenged the play and lost. On my next play, I debated playing in one of two spots. Of course, I took the “other” spot, allowing for Henry to play JEW for 42 points.

I made 3 mistakes this game:

1. On turn #11, I played 2H HEN for 25 points. This play allowed Henry to play QaTS for 73 points! That was just dumb of me.
2. On turn #13, I thought IVAR was good – and so I played EMIT/IVAR. This play was challenged off. I mistook IVAR for IZAR.
3. Turn #17 – my last play. I was down by 30 points (336 – 306) and I had MUGS left. A few turns ago, I had DEGMOSU – basically SMUDGE + O with no more tiles left in the bag. I played the O hoping to go out with SMUDGE, but Henry blocked my out play. I played of ED for 30 points to get to 336 – 306. On my final play, I missed 2L MUGS for 40 points and the win! Ouch. I was looking at 14D MUGS but that didn’t give me enough points. I was running out of time, so I played SUM even though it wasn’t enough, hoping that Henry wouldn’t go out.

I could have/should have won this game! Even after Henry tried to shut the board down, I still should have won this game. This game further highlights some of the weaknesses of my game – missing hook and overlapping plays.

FINAL SCORE: 345 – 332 (LOSS)
RECORD: 7 – 3

LUNCH BREAK
Going into the lunch break, five players had a record of 7 – 3 and I was in second because of spread points. Henry was in 1st, Gavin was in 3rd, and Laurinda and Percy were in 4th and 5th and Maggie was in 6th at 6 – 4. Basically, as long as I kept winning, I had this tournament.

Game #11 vs. Henry D (view full game)
In a weird twist of fate, I got to play Henry again. He wasn’t too happy about that, saying that he was lucky to win the last game. At the time, I didn’t really think so because I thought he played a pretty good game. Looking back, I guess he was lucky.

Anyway, I was scared because he opened with ZEROS for 48 points. I managed to make some decent scoring plays the rest of the game. I made two bingos: StONERS and DIeTING (this was the only bingo play on the board). I had decent tiles and made use of them. I even got away with a phoney (FOILER).

In our previous game, I learned that Henry was playing “scared” and was fairly defensive about the TWS spots. Knowing this, I tried to use it to my advantage. I would make plays that would start to open up the board, knowing that he’d try and use up the TWS spots. What I tried to do, however, was to limit his scoring opportunities to making 3–4 letter words while giving me some alternative places to score. In this game, every time I started to open things up, he get this look and then he’d make plays to close things down (he confirmed it on turn #9 with ALT – he played a phony that I didn’t catch). Then he repeated himself on turn #11 when he was afraid of a “hanging” D. He fidgeted for a minute or two and then ended up playing (D)OOR. Personally, I was hoping he’d play something like (ODD)ER so I could try for a TWS because I was getting some good tiles at the time. Anyway, I played DIETING and that pretty much ended the game.

I did miss one other bingo opportunity. I had EOOPSTV and there was a free R on the board. I played VOTE(R), but I didn’t realize I had STOPOVER available to me. After the game was over, Henry mentioned that we had equally good tiles, but that I really made good use of them.

FINAL SCORE: 415 – 319 (WIN)
RECORD: 8 – 3

Game #12 vs. Laurinda L (view full game)
The final game. I wanted to beat Laurinda because I had lost to her previously. The short story of this game was that I didn’t play very well. For some reason, Laurinda seems to have my number recently (she’s won three games in a row now – two at the tournament and once at the club). I think her comment of “Please don’t be so serious. Let’s just have fun” and here talking during the game bother me more than I want to admit. I really should call her on that.

Anyway, I missed a bingo opportunity on turn #2. I had BGHINN? with an open E on the board. I didn’t even think about BENCHING. I was able to find a very good bingo on turn #5. I had CEENNT?. The only play available to me was CENTNER. That drew a hold. A person sitting next to Laurinda must have made a puzzled look because I remember hearing Laurinda say “I’m not going to challenge him because he plays weird bingos”. I really wanted her to challenge me. After that, I basically got Is, Os, and consonants (see the game).

I couldn’t make up the ground and I started to panic. As a result, I didn’t make good plays. I was upset that she was burning blanks and Ses with words like BUt and SAGA. Apparently, she had all four Ses at one point of the game. Anyway, I have to give her credit because she plays her game and for whatever reason, makes me play poorly. Congratulations to her. I must say that she plays some weird words (TAXON). Combined with her spelling mistakes (RUR, TWOONIES – from a previous game, and TOEAE) makes it hard for me to determine if she knows some rare words or is just making crap up. I’ll probably have to play her again, so I better figure out how to get back to my game. Just goes to show that you can’t beat bad tiles.

FINAL SCORE: 400 – 335 (LOSS)
RECORD: 8 – 4

FINAL RESULT
Because of my loss to Laurinda, I tied with Maggie at 8 – 4. Maggie ended up crushing Percy by over 150 points and thus got the point-spread/margin tie-breaker to finish in 2nd place ($150). I came in third. Laurinda finished at 9 – 3 (1st place) and won the $200 prize.

POST-TOURNAMENT THOUGHTS
Now that the tournament is over, I noticed a few things about my play.

• My word knowledge of 4–6 letter words needs improvement, especially when using the “power tiles” (i.e., Q, Z, X, J, K, W)
• I need to spend more time looking for better plays rather than taking an easy play
• I need to learn to control my emotions better. I’ve noticed that I get frustrated when opponents start shutting the board down right from the beginning or start to play the “step-ladder” game. That really irks me and then I start to try and open up the board. But the result is that I leave juicy openings for my opponent to use and score big-time points (see game #10 vs. Henry D)
• I have difficulty finding 7 and 8 letter bingos. For some unknown reason, I tend to “give-up” on racks instead of constantly looking for a bingo. Hopefully as I study more, things will improve.
• The players that I compete against right now (NSA rating: 500–1000) tend to play very conservatively or defensively. I noticed in a few of my games that players seem to want to use the TWS and sacrifice their tiles. Maybe I can take advantage of this information in the future (see games #10 and #11 against Henry D).
• Finally, I need to focus less on either “winning”, my tournament record, or my NSA rating and concentrate on making the best possible plays that I can. Sometimes you just get crappy tiles, get bad luck, or play the best that you can but still lose. If I start to make good, high quality plays on a consistent basis, the winning should take care of itself. Right now, I think I’m too focused on trying to win and raise my NSA score that I don’t play as best as I can.

NEXT TOURNAMENT: Cambridge on March 31, 2007