Scrabble Adventures

Another interesting night at the club. I was paired up with Group A (1500+) players again and had fun. We had a few “new” faces at the club: Tony Leah from the Toronto/Oshawa club, Curtis Akomanyi, and another fellow who I don’t know.

Game #1 vs. Craig Rowland
My goal was to give Craig a challenge, as I wasn’t expecting to win. He’s a much better player than me (top 100 NSA ranked) and so I’m just a bit out-classed. In any case, he said he wanted to play well and get revenge for our previous game (a tie) and didn’t want to read about a loss on the Internet via this blog

I was able to stay with Craig and even hold the lead for a while because of an early bingo. He took the lead for good with his first bingo. After that, Craig was able to make some really good plays and continue to score about 30 points per turn. I think I made a mistake when I didn’t make an exchange. I had FLTSTV? and I made a low-scoring play of VUM for only 12 points. Looking back, I should have traded. By the time I got some vowels on my rack, Craig pulled way ahead with his second bingo. I just wasn’t able to close the gap. Apart from only one turn, all of Craig’s plays were >20 points. Looks like I need learn how to score and balance my rack in order to compete with the experts.
BINGOS: ME – READIES, BANGErS; Craig – (D)ECORATe, OUT(F)IRED
FINAL SCORE: 442 – 381 (LOSS)

Game #2 vs. Shaun Goatcher
I wasn’t expecting to win against Shaun. He kept joking that he wasn’t going to open up any triple lanes because I might “triple-triple” again. This game was actually very close. In fact, I had the lead from most of the game until I made a mistake by playing GUIN* (I confused ith with GUID). That was quickly challenged off and I just couldn’t recover. Shaun has great board vision because he blocked several spots where I could have scored big. For example, he blocked one spot where I could have played JEEP for 63 points. In the end, I couldn’t keep up with his superior board vision and word knowledge even though I had better tiles.

Looking back, if I played a different anagram for my only bingo, I could have scored 23 more points (I missed the double-double), which may have changed the outcome. I had SATIRE? – I should have played either ASTrIDE or ASTERIa but ended up playing ARTSIEr. Also, I had a bingo early on, but didn’t play it, opting instead to block a spot. After the game, both Shaun and Tony Leah said that I should play a bingo if I have it – unless there are specific circumstances (i.e., end of game when playing it could cost the win). That’s good advice for the future.
BINGOS: ME – ARTSIEr; Shaun – (C)APONIER
FINAL SCORE: 377 – 360 (LOSS)

Game #3 vs. Mark Edelson
When I was paired with Mark, I thought it was turning into “get revenge on Hans” night, as I had beaten Mark last week. Mark opened with WAXY and I thought it might be a long game as I had to exchange some ugly tiles. I managed to stay close until Mark gave me an opening to play PREEN for 43 along the TWS lane. My next turn, I had my first bingo (completely missing three of the anagrams – CERUSES, RESCUES, and SECURES). As I started to draw my tiles, I started to get worried: NNOOMO? What am I supposed to do with three Os? I was thinking something like MOON or MONO when I thought MONOTONE. Unfortunately, there was no free Es or Ts on the board, but just as I was about to give up, I saw a free Y and quickly saw MONOtONY or MONsOON. I ended up playing MONOtON(Y) because it didn’t give Mark easy shots at the TWS spot. Mark came back a few turns later with his first bingo and then challenged my last bingo – ANI(M)ATER. He seemed to challenge more out of frustration than anything else. Actually, I wasn’t completely sure of the spelling, thinking the -OR ending was the correct one. Later, he made a great find to play sURM(I)SES and made the game very, very close. Had he not played in that spot, I was going to play another bingo – REBOT(T)LE. Unfortunately for him, he picked up some FUGLY* tiles at the end and couldn’t catch-up – he had AHIIOUV. Mark joked that he didn’t want to play me in the future because he keeps losing rating points.
BINGOS: ME – RECUSES, MONOtON(Y), ANI(M)ATER; Mark – FRICT(I)ON, sURM(I)SES
FINAL SCORE: 413 – 396 (WIN)

**********

Well, one win against three expert level players isn’t bad. I think I managed to hold my own for most of the night. Granted, I had some very good tiles that allowed me to compete. I don’t mind losing to expert players because I learn so much. Shaun and Craig both seemed to have great board vision, not to mention great word knowledge. I’m not sure how to improve board vision, but that’s something I’m going to think about more in the future. Also, I’m forced to play better because I get punished for making too many sub-optimal plays.

A few random observations from the club:

• Yvonne was playing Tony Leah and she challenged UKASE. I knew it was good because Kevin Turner shared some crazy fives he’s been studying.
• After the night was over, both Yvonne and Mark E decided to play another game because they only played two (Yvonne showed-up late and Mark had to sit out). I hope Mark won because he’s been on a bit of a losing streak here in Mississauga.
• Without any announcements regarding the weekly theme, the evening seems to start and end much more quickly and quietly.

Last night at the club was fun, albeit in a different sort of way. Being the last night before Christmas, we had an abundance of snacks and had a chance to play a few extra games after the official three games. For me, I was paired up with Group A (1500+) players all night.

Game #1 vs. Sinna Vijayakumar
Sinna’s a great player who knows a whole bunch of words and is a great anagrammer. Give him some great tiles against a player like me and the results are pretty predictable. After the game, he said he felt bad because he had all the great tiles. He opened with a bingo and it was pretty much downhill from there. It was just one of those games.
FINAL SCORE: 467 – 257 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – none; Vijay – HAuLERS, NOTATED

Game #2 vs. Mark Edelson
I’ve played Mark only once before, during my first ever tournament (the 2006 Toronto vs. Mississauga inter-club tournament). Since then, I haven’t had a chance to play Mark because his rating is 1600+ and … mine is not even close. Anyway, Mark pulled out a big lead after a bingo that was challenged and lost (OUTRAVED) and then another bingo. I picked up both blanks and the Q and decided to fish for a bingo. After balancing my rack and then leaving myself a somewhat risky hook, I played my first bingo to score 128 points, basically double my score, and be down only about 30 points. Mark then pulled ahead again with another bingo. I made a few decent 30 point plays to keep the game within a bingo’s reach. Making a “hail Mary” play, I played one tile to see if I could pick-up the last tile to make a bingo. Lucky for me I got the tile I needed. Mark was running out of time and then he missed blocking my bingo lane, allowing me to bingo out and steal the win.
FINAL SCORE: 442 – 429 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – EQuINeS, HORNETS; Mark – O(U)TRAVED, VA(G)ARIES, INDEXED

Game #3 vs. Steve Ozorio
Not sure how to characterize this game. Steve pulled ahead with an early bingo, but I managed to stay close and even take a lead. Then, he played a phoney bingo that I didn’t catch and the game essentially turned as I got vowels, vowels, and more vowels to finish the game. I tried making a desperation bingo attempt that was challenged off – LEAKISH*.
FINAL SCORE: 410 – 259 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – TErRAIN; Steve – APLITIC, OVeRL(E)AN*
PHONIES NOT CHALLENGED: ME – Y(A)DDA*; Steve – BO(S)E*

Well, after the official games were done, I was able to sneak in two games.

Game #4 vs. Yvonne Lobo
This game was close throughout and we were both flying through our plays. Before I knew what happened, Yvonne plays a bingo and then I bingo right after. When I went to replace my tiles, the bag was empty. We were both surprised that the game was over.
FINAL SCORE: 397 – 327 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – FEInTED, SATIRES; Yvonne – BrOILER

Game #5 vs. Yvonne Lobo
No-one was available to play, so we played another game. Yvonne missed an early bingo by playing GEEBIES*. I challenged it off and then told her she missed BESIEGE/D. Toward the end of the game, I got completely distracted as everyone else in the room started cleaning up. I sort of stopped caring as I thought we’d just end the game, but Yvonne kept on playing. I think it was because she was winning and wanted to end her three game losing streak against me (I’ve won all three games against her). Anyway, with only a minute left, I decided to finish the game out. I managed to find another last play bingo and was sad to lose by only one point. If I had paid more attention, I would definitely have challenged her play of COXIER* off. I just didn’t care at that point and didn’t even see the play. Regardless, a loss is a loss. Yvonne was so happy to win – merry Christmas to you. Next time we play, I won’t be in such a giving mood.
FINAL SCORE: 364 – 363 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – STRAITE(R); Yvonne – TAsTErS
PHONIES NOT CHALLENGED: ME – none; Yvonne – HIPT*, COXIER*

********

After playing against all “Group A” players, I feel pretty good about my play. Here are a few observations:

• I realize that I need to improve my word knowledge as I was just unsure about too many words that were played.
• As I’ve been oft in saying, I’m just good enough to be dangerous with some decent tiles. If I get out-drawn against top players like Vijay, I get clobbered. He could have run-up the score even more, but he was leaving bingo lanes open to see if I could make some plays to catch-up. I’m sure players with greater word knowledge, experience, and board vision can make games more competitive with the so-so tiles I got.
• Holy crap Vijay plays quickly! Even when I watch him against other expert players, I’ve never seen him have less than 10 minutes left. Against me, he had over 18 minutes left. The guy is a speed demon.
• Yvonne plays quite a few phonies and always claims “it’s good in SOWPODS!”.
• Not sure what to think about Steve. I’ve played him twice now and I don’t get the sense that he’ll blow me out of the water like when I play Vijay.
• I’m now 3 – 1 against Yvonne. I feel confident that I can beat her more often than not when I play her.
• Before the club started, I had a friendly game against Paul and was able to find a nice double-double play for 92 points (UnEARTH), front-hooking both R/AI and T/WO. It was good to see Paul at the club. He hasn’t been around in a while, but hopefully he’ll be out more often in 2008.

Well, I just got back from a fun afternoon of Scrabble at Shaun and Pat Goatcher’s home. They graciously invited a few of us over for a get-together of drinks, food, and Scrabble®. I definitely had quite a bit of fun. I didn’t get a chance to play everyone, but I enjoyed being able to play higher rated players. Vera Bigall and Max Panitch came from the Toronto club. From the Mississauga club, we had Yvonne Lobo, Steve and Sophia Ozorio, Sinna Vijayakumar, Shaun Goatcher, and myself. Dave Krook and his wife Shauna Petrie showed up much later.

Game #1 vs. Shaun Goatcher
Shaun and I started playing before the rest of the crowd showed up. My first few turns were spent playing off vowels to complement my very bingo prone tiles. I tried playing ATONIED*, but that was quickly challenged off. Shaun played his first bingo in the only spot available, leaving a free E on I15. I had EILNTX? but didn’t think much of it. Trying to heed Craig’s advice of “always looking for a better play”, I decided to take another look. Hey look – I found a bingo: T(E)LEXINg! My first ever triple-triple! Never having played one before, I tallied up the score incorrectly – 22×3 + 50 = 116. Shaun looked at me and was a bit shocked. Actually, he thought about challenging, but then accepted it. He was pretty gracious and then pointed out my calculation error: that’s 22x9 + 50 = 248. 248 points! Wow. The rest of the game, Shaun tried to catch-up and did a pretty good job by playing another two bingos. I got slightly better tiles at the very end and managed to pull out a win. I’m still a bit amazed that I won.
BINGOS: ME – T(E)LEXINg (triple-triple baby!); Shaun – DIAMINE, LATHIER, VIGORO(S)I*
FINAL SCORE: 474 – 440 (WIN)

Game #2 vs. Sophia Ozorio
I lost my score sheet for this game so I don’t have any details to report. All I know is that I lost and lost big.
FINAL SCORE: something like 410 – 301 (LOSS)

Game #3 vs. Steve Ozorio
I lost my score sheet for this game so I don’t have any details to report. All I know is that I lost. I do remember, however, having AQUATIC on my rack but nowhere to play it. I was leading for most of this game, but couldn’t close the deal.
FINAL SCORE: something like 384 – 362 (LOSS)

Game #4 vs. Sinna Vijayakumar
I really didn’t have any expectation of winning and so my goal was to keep the score close. I made a few good plays and was able to stay tied with Vijay for most of the game. Vijay made some really good plays to keep scoring even though I seemed to get most of the good tiles. On the penultimate play, I had EGILOT? with an open S to use (had to be the last or 2nd last letter). I spent nearly 8 minutes looking for a bingo, but wasn’t successful. If I found it, there’s a good chance I could have won. The only two that I recognized were: EuLOGI(S)T or LOGgIE(S)T. Doh!
BINGOS: ME – DENAT(U)RE, (S)QUARERS; Vijay – ALIENIS(T), UNV(A)RIEd
FINAL SCORE: 392 – 358 (LOSS)

Game #5 vs. Dave Krook
For the final game, I just got spanked. It’s just one of those games where your opponent seems to get everything at the right time. After turn #4, the score was 162 – 44 for Dave. I challenged ROOTIEST and lost. I was able to make up that turn by challenging REGIFTS*. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Even though I stuck him with the Q and a few other tiles, it wasn’t enough. Dave played a really good game.
BINGOS: ME – RESIGNE(R), (S)CuRRIED; Dave – RELATIO(N), (R)OOTIEST, FrIG(A)TES
FINAL SCORE: 481 – 380 (LOSS)

********

I definitely had fun playing against everyone. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to play against Shaun, Vijay, and Steve again in the future. I’m also hoping to play Vera too – I didn’t get a chance this time because she and Max had to leave. Having played these expert players, I’m just happy that I was able to hold my own and not get blown out in all of the games. I did get some good tiles, but hey, you still need to make the plays. Hopefully with some studying and steady improvement, I’ll be able to play against them regularly. I’m just still stoked about getting my first ever triple-triple. That was the only bingo available too. 248 points – that’s definitely my highest scoring play ever.

Well, that’s all the Scrabble® I’ll be playing this week as I’m scheduled to get my wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday. I’m pretty sure I’ll be in no shape to play on Thursday.

I find it very strange how things seem to be either “feast or famine” when it comes to drawing tiles. Oh well, I suppose that’s part of the game. It is, however, dang frustrating when you get junky tiles.

Game #1 vs. Mark Hamilton (WIN)
Not much to say about this game. I drew great tiles. What surprises me is that even with my great tiles, I wasn’t able to pull away from Mark. Losing a challenge doesn’t help (I challenged MILDS – it’s good). I unintentionally played a phoney (FAW*) and Mark didn’t even hold me on it. Guess I’m not the only one who doesn’t know his 3s.
BINGOS: ME – SPITTER, PIGEONS, COInERs; Mark – SILLIER
FINAL SCORE: 428 – 345 (WIN)

Game #2 vs. Shan Abasi (WIN)
I played Shan a few weeks ago and lost to him because I drew junk. This time, the tables were turned. On his opening play of WIRL*, I didn’t realize it wasn’t good until it was too late – I was focused on my tiles. Luckily, I was able to hook my bingo and it was pretty much over after that as I just drew some really good tiles (FAINTER/TWIRL). Like in game #1, I was making some very good plays, but couldn’t really blow out my opponent. I apparently got lucky at the end when Shan played off the S to fish for a G. He could have played (M)AGAZINE for 140 points! Unfortunately for him, I played my bingo first and took his spot. Earlier, I let DOSA* go. I had in mind DHOSA*, but apparently it’s only good in SOWPODS.
BINGOS: ME – FAINTER, GaROTTE, (M)OtHERED; Shan – MAILING
FINAL SCORE: 486 – 356 (WIN)

Game #3 vs. Don Ball (WIN)
Again, I drew a high percentage of the good tiles. I got away with a fake bingo and managed to bingo again on my next turn. After that, Don played catch-up but couldn’t score enough to win. He made a great find for his only bingo – POETISE(D). On my final turn, I got stuck with EEIIIP?. Luckily I had enough of a lead to seal the win.
BINGOS: ME – ROTTEN(E)D*, (V)IOLAtES; Don – POETISE(D)
FINAL SCORE: 390 – 361 (WIN)

**********

I had a very good night and scored very well. I was trying to break this season’s record for most bingos in a night for Group B. Kevin currently holds the title with 8 bingos. I was only able to get 7 (valid) bingos. Maybe one of these days I’ll hit 8 or 9 in three games.

As I started this post, sometimes you just get really good tiles. I had all six of the blanks this game. I think I’m going to get back to studying more and playing less. I’m really shaky on the three letter words and I think that could potentially come back to haunt me. I’m going to spend some time thinking about my goals for 2008. I usually try and have a few things that I want to accomplish.