Scrabble Adventures

I had a frustrating tournament this weekend as I simply didn’t play very well.  Here’s a quick recap of the games.

Game #1 vs. Mark Hamilton (LOSS)
Not much to say except that Mark played a very good game.  I made a stupid mistake at the end by forgetting SENIOR+A that cost me considerable spread points (argh!!).  Mark built up a sizeable lead and I just couldn’t catch him as I needed to trade two times.  As luck would have it, after Mark traded on his first turn, he plays a bingo.
BINGOS:  ME – none; Mark – REFUNDS, InCITEs
FINAL SCORE:  298 – 405 (LOSS)
RECORD:  0 – 1 (-107)

Game #2 vs. Geoff Gibson (WIN)
This game was very close until the end as we traded the lead several times.  I managed to bingo toward the end and kept on scoring.  Geoff couldn’t keep up.  The game was much closer than the final score would indicate.
BINGOS:  ME – TOWeRED; Geoff – GUINEAS
FINAL SCORE:  378 – 292 (WIN)
RECORD:  1 – 1 (-21)

Game #3 vs. Janet Carringont (LOSS)
I’m really upset at this game as I gave it away by chickening out on challenging two plays:  ZENDo (68 points) and WELK (39 points).  I was getting frustrated because Janet kept closing the board on me and was getting a slightly better share of the premium tiles.  Oh well, you live and you learn.  My fault for not challenging.
BINGOS:  ME – SHIFTER, (R)EFUSiNG; Janet – none
FINAL SCORE:  337 – 368 (LOSS)
RECORD:  1 – 2 (-52)

Game #4 vs. Chris Bonin (WIN)
Chris has been my “Scrabble Daddy” as I’ve lost to him the two times we’ve played.  Not so any more.  We played a wide open game and the scoring was frantic at first, but slowed down at the end.
BINGOS:  ME – TEXtILE; Chris – FUDGERS* (it sounded good to me)
FINAL SCORE:  375 – 311 (WIN)
RECORD:  2 – 2 (+11)

******  LUNCH BREAK ******

Game #5 vs. John David (LOSS)
This game is going to bother me as I think I gave it away at the end.  I’m going to review it on Quackle to see if I could have done anything differently.  The game was very close.  John took a 30 point lead with a late bingo and I couldn’t make up the difference.  I think I mis-counted the number of tiles John had and then I didn’t think through the end play correctly.

I just reviewed the game in Quackle and apart from my sub-optimal plays throughout the game, I could have won the game.  I missed two bingos:  SyMBIOT(E) and MISTBOw – don’t think I would have found either of them.  I also let him go with a spelling mistake:  NAIO vs. NAOI
BINGOS:  ME – HANDSET; John – TRUdGES
FINAL SCORE:  342 – 356 (LOSS)
RECORD:  2 – 3 (-3)

Game #6 vs. Valeria Kovacs (LOSS)
Anther game where I made some tactical mistakes because I got frustrated.  Valeria kept closing the board and making these rinky-dink plays and lucking out with great tiles.  I definitely need to learn how to play against people who shut the board down.  One other thing, I can’t believe that Valeria got upset at me when I asked her not to speak on my turn (she has this bad habit of announcing her cumulative score after her turn is up).  She’s been playing long enough to know better.
BINGOS:  ME – none; Valeria – GULLIES, sEATING
FINAL SCORE:  327 – 403 (LOSS)
RECORD:  2 – 4 (-79)

Game #7 vs. Paul Wigley (WIN)
This game was weird.  Paul had a natural bingo of WINCHES, but played WHINCES (it was worth a bit more).  I challenged his play off but couldn’t block his bingo lane – as we were walking to the computer, I even told him that if he played WINCHES, I wouldn’t have challenged.  On his next turn, he didn’t play his bingo, even though he had a spot to play it.  Oh well, maybe he got gun shy after losing the challenge.
BINGOS:  ME – ARTSIER, EQuATED; Paul – TAILERS
FINAL SCORE:  470 – 335 (WIN)
RECORD:  3 – 4 (+56)

Game #8 vs. Paul Wigley (LOSS)
In the final game (a rematch), Paul got pretty much everything and I really couldn’t do much.  At the end, I managed to play ZIGS for 84 points to make the score somewhat respectable.
BINGOS:  ME – none; Paul – STaBLER, DENOTES, MUTATES
FINAL SCORE:  350 – 483 (LOSS)
RECORD:  3 -5 (-133)

Overall, with my poor showing, my NSA rating dropped to about 1034 from 1051.  I have to say that my combination of poor play was the reason why I lost so many games.  I need to play much better if I’m to have any chance at improving.  Cutting down on stupid mistakes, not being afraid to challenge, and not getting frustrated are probably the things I need to work on the most.  I’ve learned to handle the crappy tiles – it happens.  What I need to learn is how to control my emotions when my opponent clogs up the board and shuts it down.  That’s probably the biggest thing that has caused me to lose my games.

I have a few more tournaments left in 2007, so there still remains an opportunity to break 1100:  Cambridge in October; Brantford in November; and Oshawa in December.

At the end of day one, I finished with a promising record of 6 – 1 +284. Apparently, I was in first place because of the spread, but tied with two other players. I was hopeful for a strong finish to cap off a good tournament at my first Michael Wise Memorial Scrabble® Tournament.  Five games to play.

GAME #8 VS MAGGIE POULTER (C14)
This game was one I can’t explain as I did so many uncharacteristic things like over-drawing tiles, mis-spelling words, and going over time.  Maggie got slightly better tiles at the beginning and took advantage by scoring big.  By the time I got bingo prone tiles, the board was effectively closed and I had to start taking risks.  I still shake my head in disbelief when I think about this game.  I think I was just out of it.
SCORE:  201 – 410 (LOSS)
RECORD:  6 – 2 (+75)
BINGOS: Me – none; Maggie – FLIRTED, IRoNIES

GAME #9 VS JANET CARRINGTON (C15)
Another game in which I can’t believe what I did.  I had some very good tiles but couldn’t pull out a win.  A complete phoney bingo (COITERs – what was I thinking?) and going over time didn’t help.  I was pretty out of it, as it took me about 5 minutes to realize that I could front hook JAR and play my TISANES bingo (SESTINA is the play).  I had spent considerable time trying to find force a bingo in another spot ending with a T, with the S in the 4th position.  Even though SESTINA drew a challenge, I couldn’t make up the lost time and got a bit frustrated because Janet kept closing the board throughout the game.  In all fairness, Janet made some very good plays and scored when she needed the plays.  Getting stuck with two I-s on the last turn kept me from finishing and pulling out a win.
SCORE:  364 – 378 (LOSS)
RECORD:  6 -3 (+61)
BINGOS:  Me – EROTICa, SESTINA; Janet – none

GAME #10 VS ANDY SAUNDERS (C7)
With two melt-down games to start off the morning, I wasn’t in the best of moods.  What really irked me was how after each of my first two games, I was being accosted by people asking “who won?” while standing up from my table.  Anyway, I took a short washroom break before sitting at the table to face Andy.  Andy’s quite good and I lost to him in our one previous battle.  On turn #3, I pulled ahead with a natural bingo, INSERTS at K2.  Andy responded with PUNTINg to take a 30 point lead.  I got a bit fortunate with my next play, as I scored 64 with QI.  Andy seemed a bit deflated by that play.  After a few 30 point turns, I had a 271 – 190 lead.  With BENORR? on my rack, I tried REBRONzE* for 72 points.  There weren’t any openings to play BROwNER, BRONzER, or the third anagram (can’t remember it now).  I figured that I’d let Andy figure out if the word is good.  He held me for a good 4-5 minutes before challenging.  At the word judge computer, Andy shouted “yes” followed by a fist pump when he saw that his challenge was good.

Unfortunately for him, he then traded 5 tiles.  I made a play of B(R)AND at 6J to leave a juicy opportunity to hook BRAND and make a play for the TWS squares.  Knowing that I had the last blank, Andy tried to block the spot.  Basically, I did the same, knowing that I had some very good tiles.  Andy later played ATRESIC to close the gap to 327 – 292, but his bingo play left the TWS for me to play EX for 40 points, effectively ending the game as I still held the last blank.  With the good tiles I had, I kept on scoring to seal the win.  After a few losses, finally winning a game felt very satisfying.  Beating someone whom I had never beaten was icing on the cake.
SCORE:  441 – 360 (WIN)
RECORD:  7 – 3 (+142)
BINGOS:  Me – INSERTS; Andy – PUNTINg, ATRESIC

—- LUNCH BREAK —-

GAME #11 VS LORRAINE SOUBLIERE (C2)
In a rematch from yesterday, Lorraine said that she needed to get some revenge for yesterday’s loss.  The short story of this game is that Lorraine had some excellent tiles and just took advantage.  It wasn’t that I had poor tiles, but that Lorraine is just a very, very good player.  Over half of her plays were over 30 points, without a bingo in this game.  I made a fatal error early on as I missed AROUSED on my rack.  Lorraine just pulled away and I couldn’t keep up.  I managed to get a late bingo to make up some ground, but it wasn’t enough.  Just goes to show that Lorraine is just a better player than me.  This loss meant that I was out of the running for a prize, as my +/- spread was very low compared with the other players.
SCORE:  308 – 411 (LOSS)
RECORD:  7 – 4 (+39)
BINGOS:  Me – GREeTED; Lorraine – none

 GAME #12 VS JANET CARRINGTON (C15)
In another rematch, I played Janet to finish off this tournament.  I knew I wasn’t going to win any monetary prizes, so I was just playing for some personal pride and to make sure that I kept my rating above 1000.  The story of this game was that I had most of the good tiles and used them to score.  I think I got a bit too relaxed and made some potentially fatal plays, as I let Janet play QA(I)D for 54 points at L1 and later RAX for 52 points at I1 at the end.  The only thing that helped me was that Janet kept on closing the board throughout the game, so she limited her chances making scoring big and catching up.

I was very satisfied with one of my bingo plays.  On my turn, I played M(A)CE at I9 to open up the board/create a bingo lane and also to try and goad Janet into making a play for the TWS.  After drawing my tiles, I had AEEGLU? on my rack and was thinking LEAGUEs, but didn’t see any obvious openings to play.  Janet played MOLT (34 points) at H12 to use the TWS to close the gap to about 30 points.  Nothing came immediately, but after two shuffles of my tiles, I saw a bingo – (T)UtELAGE.  Prior to Janet’s play, I was thinking that I needed to make an 8 letter bingo and was thinking something like FUSELAGE.  Lucky for me, I got a dangling T.
SCORE:  411 – 330 (WIN)
RECORD:  8 – 4 (+120)
BINGOS:  Me – INGAtES, (T)UtELAGE

———-

I finished with a final record of 8-4 (+120) for 5th place in division S.  I gained 121 rating points and I now sit at 1047 (final results of the tournament).  While my finish was quite disappointing, I’m still happy that I achieved my goal of breaking the 1000 barrier.

For future tournaments, I think I need to get some more sleep before playing the final games.  After day 1’s games, I got home and started doing some work and got quite a bit done.  When I took a break and looked at the clock, it was around 2:10AM!  I woke up around 5:45AM and remembered having a weird dream about playing a game against Lloyd Mills.  All I remember was he was yelling at me, saying that “VAPORISING is not good”.  FYI – VAPOR* is good (S, ED, ING, ISING, etc).  The British version, VAPOUR, doesn’t take most of the hooks.  Anyway, when I arrived at the tournament site, I felt a bit jittery, most likely from a lack of sleep.  I don’t regret the lack of sleep as I got quite a bit of writing done.  I just wish I could have played better instead of playing like an idiot.  That’s been the case in a few multi-day tournaments where I haven’t played my best on the second day.  I think I need to re-examine what I do between day 1 and day 2.

Next up is the Mississauga Scrabble Tournament on September 22nd.  With my three or four remaining tournaments in 2007, I’m hoping to break 1100.  I’m going to take a few days off before I go back and review these games in Quackle.

Well, having survived the Leah Katz Memorial early bird, I didn’t really have any expectations for the main Michael Wise Memorial Scrabble® event (12 games over two days). The theme for day one was “ending losing streaks”, as I ended up getting my first (tournament) wins against many players to whom I’d lost many times. In this tournament, I have nothing to lose as I’m seeded 17th of 18 players in Division C.

I haven’t had a chance to review anything, as I’m quite tired. All I know is that day one is over and I have another five games to go tomorrow. I must say that I was very lucky and fortunate in my first seven games. Phoney bingos are indicated with *.

GAME #1 VS GENE RAWLINS (C4)
I seemed to get most of the good tiles and slowly built up a 70–100 point lead. Gene seemed to get discouraged by his tiles so I just kept on scoring as best as I could to keep the pressure on. Since I had the lead, I left it up to Gene to open up the board. This was the only time I’ve ever played Gene.
SCORE: 372 – 311 (WIN)
RECORD: 1 – 0 (+61)
BINGOS: MISTIER (me), SpICIER (me)

GAME #2 VS ERIC PETERS (C6)
I’ve played Eric about four or five times this past year and lost every one, with each game being very close.  In the end, Eric left himself two places to play QIS and I couldn’t keep up, even with my bingo (UNOILED).  A solid player – hopefully I’ll beat him one of these days
SCORE: 384 – 424 (LOSS)
RECORD: 1 – 1 (+21)
BINGOS: ERINGOS (me), UNoILED (me), RENDERS (Eric), S(O)UtHERN (Eric), AFRONT(E)D* (Eric)

GAME #3 VS PAUL WIGLEY (C10)
This was an interesting game. Paul kept the game very close even though he didn’t bingo. He made several high scoring plays that nullified my bingos: FREAK (45), HANGS (39), and AXE (55). In the end, I was able to pull away by getting the majority of the 3–5 point consonants. I got the sense that Paul was trying to balance his rack to try and bingo so I just kept on playing as many tiles as I could to make the game end sooner. My first win against Paul in a tournament – yay! At the club, we’ve played several times and I think we’re about even in terms of wins. In tournaments, I’ve lost all 4 or 5 games we’ve played.
SCORE: 399 – 308 (WIN)
RECORD: 2 – 1 (+112)
BINGOS: WREATHS (me), nOMINaL (me)

—— LUNCH BREAK ——

GAME #4 VS KEVIN GAUTHIER (C1)
I opened with FOLLIES, hooking Kevin’s opening play of WOODIE. I lost a turn by challenging RALLIERS and then thought I caught a break when Kevin traded five tiles.  Unfortunately, he plays REALISE. I ended up getting the last S and blank about halfway in the game and created a set-up for a bingo. He could have blocked me, but he would have had to use the last A for very few points (I ended up getting the last A too).

On my last turn, the score was 363 – 253 for Kevin and I wasn’t too hopeful about my chances. I had a bingo, but didn’t think I’d get enough to win – SWAGgER for 92 points. When Kevin announced the points for his tiles, I almost fell out of my chair!  I got 24 points, giving me a final score of 369 and a six point win. Wow! After the game, Kevin said that he thought the game was over after his second bingo on turn #5.
SCORE: 369 – 363 (WIN)
RECORD: 3 – 1 (+118)
BINGOS: FOLLIES (me), SWAGgER (me), RAL(L)IERs (Kevin), REALISE (Kevin)

GAME #5 VS KAVERI RAVIRAJ (C18)
I drew the bag in this game and was VERY lucky. Other than the J and one S, I had all of the power tiles and most of the high value consonants. I made the mistake of playing QI on my first turn which effectively shut down the middle of the board – bad, bad play.
SCORE: 390 – 283 (WIN)
RECORD: 4 – 1 (+225)
BINGOS: DEPARTS (me), sTINKIe(R) (me)

GAME #6 VS GEOFF GIBSON (C8)
I should have lost this game. The game was back and forth at the beginning with both of us getting bingos and decent 20–30 point plays. Geoff took the lead with (B)ERATERs – it didn’t look good to me, but I chickened out and didn’t challenge. I figured that I was only down by 30 points and he had to burn the last blank, so I thought it was worth it. Geoff then scored 10 (a block), 31, 24, and 40 points, while I only scored 0 (I played PRE – duh!), 20, 15, and 18. I then played AGONIES to make the score 374 – 382 for Geoff.

I emptied the bag by drawing the U. Geoff had CCEINTV (28 points) left on his rack with very few places to play. Then to my utter surprise, he played CIN(G)E* for 16 points when he could have played (Z)INC for 15 and the win! Whatever play Geoff made, I told myself that I had to challenge to give myself a chance at a win. Geoff’s play came off and I got the win. If he played ZINC (15), I would have finished with 394 after counting his tiles. I think he made a mistake and thought I could score 4 points instead of 2 with my U. He later said he didn’t want a recount and decided to go for a decisive win either way – lucky for me. I finally beat Geoff! We’ve played two or three times and I’ve lost every one. My first game against Geoff was very memorable because I played sU(B)POENA in my first ever tournament (Mississauga vs. Toronto 2006).
SCORE: 404 – 382 (WIN)
RECORD: 5 – 1 (+247)
BINGOS: ATT(E)NDEE (me), PAIN(L)ESS (me), AGONIES (me), BANtERS (Geoff), (B)ERATERs* (Geoff)

GAME #7 VS LORRAINE SOUBLIERE (C2)
This game was a bit painful – a “death by thousand cuts” type of game. I opened with a bingo, burning both blanks PORTiOn. The board started to get closed, with both of us using up most of the As and Es early.  We both kept waiting for someone to make a big play, and didn’t realize that the S-es were all in the bag until the end.  Toward the end, Lorraine made a great play by fitting in ODE between three different words to score 30 points. That was a beautiful play. My first win against Lorraine!  We’ve only played once before, but I’ll always remember playing her because she played PEACED against me and I challenged it, thinking that it can’t be good – it is.
SCORE: 358 – 321 (WIN)
RECORD: 6 – 1 (+284)
BINGOS: PORTiOn (me)

FINAL DAY 1 RESULTS
I ended day 1 with a record of 6 – 1 (+284), possibly in first place because of my point spread. I played 14 bingos vs. 7 for my opponents. Hopefully my luck holds tomorrow when I play the final 5 games. Yesterday, I was wondering if I should stop playing in the Toronto tournaments because I seem to play poorly at them. Hopefully I can keep up my theme of “ending losing streaks”.  My tentative rating is now around 1020 after 6 games (the end of day 1 results weren’t posted when I left). Regardless of the final outcome, I know that I will not have a losing record this tournament. Hopefully I’ll be able to solidify my 1000+ rating, as my goal for this year was to get above 1000.  So far it looks like I have a decent chance to achieve it. Stay tuned for Day 2…

Friday September 7^th marked the start of the Michael Wise Memorial Scrabble® Tournament with the Leah Katz Memorial Early Bird 8 game event.  I haven’t had a chance to review these games, but here are some quick recaps of the games and the player’s seed in the division.  I was player B24.

Game #1 vs Lynda Wise B1 (331 – 374 LOSS)
I had an early lead but couldn’t hold on, getting stuck with mostly vowels for my five last turns.  Lynda was able to play off the Z, the Q, and the X on three successive turns for about 100 points and pull away.
BINGOS:  ME – sPINATE; Lynda – EASTERn

Game #2 vs. Richard Charach B10 (309 – 417 LOSS)
This game was very close until Richard pulled away with two high scoring plays for 132 points (JOINTED for 132, and LOXES for 42).  I had a chance at making up some ground, but couldn’t find a place for UNMINEd.
BINGOS:  ME – RETABLES (drew a challenge); Richard – JOInTED

Game #3 vs. Maggie Poulter B23 (308 – 479 LOSS)
This game was disheartening because I couldn’t get seem to get untracked.  The board was pretty tight and I was constantly trying to balance my rack.  As luck would have it, I missed G(R)EENERy and chickened out on GRE(AT)ENEd.  Maggie played a very good game with the tiles she got – very solid player.
BINGOS:  ME – none; Maggie – WItHERY, TEENIER

Game #4 vs. Irene Kennedy B31 (350 – 269 WIN)
I don’t really remember this game, except that I think I was trying to keep the board open as much as possible.  No memorable plays on my part.
BINGOS:  ME – none; Irene – SeaLERS

—— LUNCH BREAK ——

Game #5 vs. Chris Bonin 18 (327 – 355 LOSS)
Chris played a very good game and took advantage of the openings I made.  I was able to play a final bingo for 86 to make the game respectable.  On retrospect, the play should have been taken off as I made a bad play (YOS).
BINGOS:  ME – ANxIETY; Chris – AIrIEST

Game #6 vs. Ani Migirdicyan B26 (439 – 283 WIN)
I pretty much drew the bag in this game.  On my third last turn, I had JEALOUS on my rack with nowhere to play it.  Ani made a great find of ABDOMENS right after my bingo.
BINGOS:  ME – COSIESt; Ani – ABDOMEn(S)

Game #7 – BYE

Game #8 vs. Emilie Henkelman B28 (346 – 331 WIN)
This game was painful as it got closed very quickly.  I don’t think either of us intended for this to happen, but it just did.  I got lucky and drew both blanks to empty the bag.
BINGOS:  ME – none; Emilie – none

Final Result
I finished the tournament with 3 – 4 (-151) with a bye (worth 50 spread points).  The unofficial results and ratings changes have me listed with 0 change.  Looking over these results, I beat everyone seeded lower than me and no-one above me.  I was seeded 24 out of 31 players.

I managed only four bingos in seven games while my opponents had seven.  Thinking back, I think I played very well in my first three games, keeping the games close until the end.  Then, I just seemed to get some bad luck drawing mostly vowels and other single point tiles.  My opponents seemed to get the power tiles and used them to score.  No hard feelings – that’s all just a part of the game.  Sometimes you get a bit unlucky and you just need to learn how to deal with it.

Hopefully I’ll play better at the main even where I’ll be one of the lower seeds in division C.  I’ll be playing up a division and am looking forward to getting my rating solidly in the 1000s.