Waterford, MI – morning update February 29, 2008
Posted by Hans in Tournament Results.1 comment so far
We (Vera Bigall, Kevin Turner, and me) arrived safely in Waterford, MI late last-night/early morning. Even with some intense snow and crazy drivers, Vera got us here in one piece. Much to our surprise, our hotel is very nice and spacious.
We’re just getting ready to start the tournament, but I hope to post recaps of individual games throughout the day. Fortunately, we have wifi access here at the tournament site.
Here are my predictions for this weekend:
1) Kevin Turner: 11-4 +757 finishing in 2nd place
2) Vera Bigall: 11-4 +585 finishing in 3rd place
3) Me: 8-7 +187 finishing in the middle of the pack
Let’s see how these predictions hold up.
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What is a bingo worth? February 29, 2008
Posted by Hans in Analysis, Statistics.1 comment so far
As I’ve written about the frequency of bingos, I’ve received some interesting feedback. Most of the people who have spoken to me have had similar thoughts – they expected to bingo more.
I’ve also done some analysis about the correlation between scoring and ratings, concluding that a better player scores more points. Sure that doesn’t sound too earth-shattering, but I have some data to support my hypothesis. That’s probably why I’ve been trying to learn more words and also trying to bingo more frequently during games. Bingos are the fastest way to score points.
Okay, so what is a bingo worth? When I play my games, I often do mental "guesstimates" of how many bingos ahead/behind I am. Here are the rough values that I use for 7 letter bingos:
Regular bingo: 60 points
Bingo + DWS: 70 points
Bingo + TWS: 80 points
"double-double" bingo: 90 points
"triple-triple" bingo: 140 points
Just to clarify, DWS means "double word score" and TWS means "triple word score". A "double-double" is a play when two DWS squares are used and the "triple-triple" is a play when two TWS squares are used.
I mentioned these values to Craig Rowland and he thinks my figures are a bit on the high side, especially for the regular and DWS bingos. These values aren’t meant to be perfect, but I use the to give me a sense of what needs to be done to catch-up to an opponent have an opponent catch-me. Of course, if you are lucky enough to have some premium tiles included with your bingo, then the point value can jump up considerably. But overall, I think the values are reasonable.
Of course, there is also the psychological value of a bingo: it can demoralise an opponent and give you a boost, not to mention having greater tile turnover (and thus better chances at getting the better tiles). Having been the recipient of a few bingo-bangos (that’s two bingos back to back), I know that it’s pretty frustrating and even demoralizing. I can only imagine what it must feel like to get three bingos played successsively played against me (i.e., a bingo-bango-bong). On the other hand, playing successive bingos is such a cool feeling and you can see your opponent’s body language just slump. After playing a bingo, I always feel better – as if I achieved something. It’s like making a clutch put in golf.
What do you think? Are these values too high? Too low? Personally, I think the value of a bingo is much more than points.
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I’ve had better nights… club night Feb. 28, 2008 February 29, 2008
Posted by Hans in Club Results.add a comment
Another night at the club. Can’t complain much as I had good tiles, unlike some of the junk I got this past weekend. The only problem was that I was playing like an idiot. Now that I’m starting to play higher-rated players, I’ve noticed that the margin for error is very, very small.
Game #1 vs. Kaveri Raviraj
The story of this game is that I had good tiles and played them accordingly. I was surprised at how easily I was seeing potential bingos. At one point, I had a J7 on my rack, but no place to play it – either JaDEITE or JEtTIED. Kaveria tends to play a very conservative, defensive game and so my plan was to keep the board wide open even at the expense of a few points. This strategy seemed to work.
FINAL SCORE: 454 – 344 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – WAiSTER, LIsENTE; Kaveri – ATONERS
Game #2 vs. Geoffrey Newman
Okay – Geoffrey is flat out a better player than me. He plays close to the "expert" level and on a good day, I think I’m about a 1250 player. I’d give myself a 10% chance of winning a game against him. Add a couple of mistakes plus not as good tiles as Geoffrey and the result is fairly predictable. I was surprised at the two phoney bingos played.
FINAL SCORE: 473 – 292 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – ENRAVEl* (that’s ENRAVEL); Geoffrey – FASTERS*, ENTOzOA, SANDERS
Game #3 vs. Gene Tyzska
I flat out gave this game away. Two significant mistakes: 1) I played my bingo in the wrong spot and scored 12 points fewer than I should have. 2) I completely lost my brain and didn’t challenge MEZO* (51 points). Mistake #2 cost me the game as I went from being up 30 points to losing by 20. Then getting stuck with AAITTUY at the end doesn’t help. Nevertheless, my mental errors were the cause of this loss.
Earlier in the game, I completely misssed an obvious bingo with these tiles: AEOSSU?. There are three and two are pretty obvious: AROUSES and GASEOUS. I’m not sure that I know the third – CASEOUS. On the other hand, I did make an interesting play of FRI(JO)LE toward the end of the game. I’m glad to see that I’m starting to remember my J words again. The game was much closer than the score indicates as I was forced to challenge a play that I thought was good as it was the only possibility of me winning.
FINAL SCORE: 398 – 333
BINGOS: ME – SWaRMED; Gene – pEONIES
Well, it’s off to Waterford, MI for the weekend. With a ratings jump to 1156, I’m playing up a division. My travel-mates, Vera Bigall and Kevin Turner will surely feel my wrath this weekend when I beat them 
My prediction is that I will finish somehwere in the middle (8th of 16) with a record of something like 8-7. I’d be satisfied with that. Of course, if I get on a roll, I think I could have a chance at 10+ wins. I’m just hoping to give myself chances to win.
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Saratoga Springs (Feb. 23-24, 2008) – recap from day 2 February 24, 2008
Posted by Hans in Tournament Results.3 comments
DAY 2 (games 9 – 14)
With a tough first day behind me, I was looking forward to the finale games.
Had a fun night last night as a bunch of us went out to eat at Boston Market and then just chillaxed* in the game room. I ended-up playing Sam Hollington a few times and Ben Lam, getting spanked in all the games except for one. I managed to win against Sam, but that was only because I picked-up all the tiles – nevertheless, I managed to score 505 against him. Don’t think I’ll be able to live down my blunder when Chris Bonin and Ben decided to make small friendly wager on whether Sam could cover a 100 point spread against me. I told Ben that he didn’t need to worry and that the game was "close" – I completely forgot that Sam had given me the 100 points already – I mistakenly thought I was going to add the 100 points at the end, so I was playing far more defensively and confidently than what would be warranted. Sorry dude – I’ll have to make that up to you some other time.
Game #9 vs. Sid Lashley (1160 rating)
In the beginning, I felt like I was handing Sid the game on a platter. I played PUTZY* which was quickly challenged off. Then I made a mistake and grabbed a second C instead of the Y. My play became DICEC*. Another lost turn. Then, I had to exchange tiles. Sid had taken a lead by that point, but I was within striking distance because of a few good plays like FOX (41), HIND (36) and DWEEB (46). I took the lead for good with my double-double INVAS(I)ON. After that, it was a matter of playing off the tiles I had.
FINAL SCORE: 409 – 352 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – InVAS(I)ON; Sid – TENNIES, GIRLIEs(T)
Game #10 vs. Lydia Keras (1379 rating)
The game started slowly until Lydia played OUTWEAVE. Fortunately for me, I was able to keep-up with some high scoring plays with the Z and X. Then, Lydia made a series of blunders that pretty much ended the game. She played SENIORE*. I held and then challenged it after going through my SENIOR? stem to make sure that I wasn’t missing something. After that, she played off OE and shut her own bingo lane down – very strange. This was followed by her challenging my play of BYRL even though she had (R)EFUSING available to her. Very strange. Since I had a 90 point lead, I began to shut down the board in a systematic fashion. Lydia didn’t help herself by only playing off one or two tiles at a time and not opening any new lanes up. Hey, I’ll take a win anytime.
FINAL SCORE: 354 – 294 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – none; Lydia – oUTW(E)AVE
Game #11vs. Ben Lam (1403 rating)
In a "rematch" from yesterday, I managd to get some very good tiles throughout most of the game (good, but not great). Ben is a much better player than me and the only reason this game was even close was because he had much less to work with than me. I suspect that the next time we play the outcome will be far different.
FINAL SCORE: 347 – 342 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – INcITES; Ben – none
Game #12 vs. Mona Larsen (1438 rating)
After a great start this morning, I didn’t want to stop. Unfortunately, there was a short break between this game and the last to get the pairings done correctly. Apart from one bingo, I struggled with tiles all game. I’d play off two to four tiles (mostly vowels) and then pick some more vowels. Meanwhile, Mona gets very fortunate plays with her X, Q, Z, and J scoring over forty points each time. By the time I was able to get a bingo play, she blocks my spot(s) with her own bingo. Such is life. Nevertheless it sucks to lose.
FINAL SCORE: 466 – 244 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – GRIEVES; Mona – ALTEREd, OUTLAIN
LUNCH BREAK
I’m taking a short lunch break to decompress from a very disheartening loss. The string of wins felt good and I had hoped to continue against Mona, but the tiles just didn’t fall my way. Two more games to go and I hope to finish off strong. My record is 6 – 6 (-192) and I think I’m around 20th place (out of 38). My rating is somewhere around 1135ish, so I’ve been able to eke out a small gain.
Game #13 vs. Celia Thomson (1165 rating)
Boy was I upset about this game. I made one bad mistake and it all spiralled downhill from there. Celia played SOUTAIN* and I mistook it for SOUTANE. Of course, I tried to hook the word and had my TWO bingo plays challenged off. Then I made another error by trying to hook an E off of WIZ to make WIZE* so I could play rECTORY. Another play challenged off. Because of all this, I wasn’t on the top of my game and completely lost track of the tiles. What a pathetic display by me.
FINAL SCORE: 433 – 417 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – RENEWAL, RIOToUS; Celia – SOUTAIN*
Game #14 vs. Sue Gable (1336 rating)
This game was so much fun and I don’t mean because of the outcome. I opened with two bingos in a row to open a huge lead – I chickened out on playing AVOIDERS and decided to play the word I knew for certain. I kept on scoring while also trying to shut the board down. However, Sue played outstanding Scrabble with some amazing finds that opened up bingo lanes and also scored 30+ points each turn. I was very nervous all game because Sue just kept on making great plays. I was very fortunate to win this because she had a Q bingo available to her at the end, but couldn’t make it fit. Talk about winning by the skin of my teeth!
FINAL SCORE: 415 – 383 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – LINEMEn, ADVISOR; Sue – UN(S)PARED
Overall, I had a decent tournament – not too bad, but not great. I finished with a record of 7 wins and 7 losses. I believe my rating increased to 1153 that gives me a chance at playing up next week at the Waterford, MI tournament. I probably could have won a few more games, but that’s life. Hopefully I’ll have a bit better luck.
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Saratoga Springs tournament (Feb. 23-24, 2008) February 23, 2008
Posted by Hans in Tournament Results.2 comments
After yesterday’s disaster (3 – 4), I’m looking forward to a better showing today and tomorrow. Considering the horrible tiles I had yesterday, I can’t possibly get anything as bad today.
I decided to play up a division for this tournament to see if I can gain some rating points with a very low seeding. While the potential to jump in the ratings is there, playing against higher rated players means wins are far more difficult to get. Before the tournament, I was expecting to see some new words as well as a couple of blowouts (me on the receiving end). But, having played against expert level players the past few weeks at the local club, I was fairly confident that I could hold my own as long as I didn’t get crappy tiles. Here are some quick recaps as I haven’t had a chance to review any of these games in Quackle. I’m including the seed and rating info for each opponent (if available). I’m writing up the summaries in betwee games.
DAY 1 (games 1 – 8 )
Game #1 vs. Mary A Lyons (1515 rating)
Tough game. I had decent tiles in this game. The only problem is that Mary had AWESOME tiles. She had two bingos in the first four turns and then ZEE for 66 a turn later. Even still, I was only down by 100. I kept up as best as I could by mixing scoring and keeping bingo lanes open, but just couldn’t in the end.
FINAL SCORE: 463 – 295 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – none; Mary – RENAMES, BASTION
Game #2 vs. Marci Mikesell (1120 rating)
This game came down to clock management – of wich Marci didn’t. While I was struggling with my tiles, I managed to open up several bingo lanes. There was an opportunity for a triple-triple after I opened the board and Marci spent 9 minutes looking, eventually settling for 8 points with a play of CU(P). After that, I started playing a bit more quickly because I was able to map out possible plays on Marci’s clock. She started to panic a bit and then didn’t even try to open the board. I think the clock issue messed her up. Nevertheless, a win is a win.
FINAL SCORE: 388 – 253 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – OEDIPAl (that’s an L), TEAMING; Marci – DEITIES
Game #3 vs. Chris Bonin (1111 rating)
A very close game that could have gone either way. I made the mistake of challenging LOATH, but then chickened out of challenging LOATHS*, which Chris hooked on his bingo of BOSsiNG. That was the fatal error. However, I was able to come back to make the game very, very close falling just short. Can’t complain about this game – at least I was able to make this game competitive this time around.
FINAL SCORE: 389 – 388 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – CLEATED; Chris – BOSsiNG
Game #4 vs. Carol McCumber (1118 rating)
This one was tough to lose. Because of two V plays by Carol (LUV and VEG), the top of the board got closed off. I got tired to scrimping for plays at the bottom of the board and decided to make a play at opening the top. A few turns later, Carol played FADdIST that I debated challenging. I spent a good minute or two because we were essentially tied before her bingo – a lost challenge would have meant a sure loss. Making things more complicated was my rack of AEGROT? – the crazy thing was that I was only able to see sTORAGE. After deciding a challenge was far too risky, I set about looking for plays, resulting in (W)ATERlOG (that’s WATERLOG). What seemed like a wise play of SANDER (31) led to Carol’s play of OX for 40. I thought I had given myself a quick out play since I only had N left while Carol still had EEIOUX on a very closed board. I had considered an alternativ play of DEAN (27), but that would have left me with NRS and requiring two or three plays to end the game. I’ll definitely have to review this game on Quackle to see if there was a chance to pull out a win.
FINAL SCORE: 359 – 351 (LOSS)
BINGO: ME – (W)ATERlOG; Carol – FADdIST
BREAK FOR LUNCH
I can’t say that I’ve been playing poorly today. Actualy, I think the quality of my play today is better than yesterday. A few less errors and I think my record would be better. Nevertheless, I feel much better after lunch. Hopefully the curse of the tile god is over. I was thinking that the theme for yesterday’s early bird should be "if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have a chance". Okay, time to start winning.
Game #5 vs. Mad Palazzo (1320 rating)
The story of this game was being one tile short. I had some very good tiles, but seemed to always be one or two tiles away from a big scoring bingo play. Mad took a lead and then started to shut the board down while scoring at the same time with the Z, J, and X. I just couldn’t keep up. Man these tiles just suck.
FINAL SCORE: 419 – 304 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – OILIEsT; Mad – BETTErS
Game #6 vs. Geoff Gibson (1254 rating)
Finally had a "good tile" game, but fell victim to some poor play as I left too many points on the board. Geoff found an amazing final play to find a space for UI to end the game – (L)U(R)I(D). Gotta respect that one. Too bad I left so many points on the board. I have a brutal headache and I think it’s starting to affect my ability to concentrate. Starting to wonder if I’ll ever break out of this slump. So much for a ratings gain.
FINAL SCORE: 392 – 381 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – NAILsET, REVISiT, (D)ETRAINS; Geoff – ENROBES, IODINES
Game #7 vs. Austin Stalknaker (1246 rating)
This game started slowly as we both struggled with our tiles. I made a bad play of TADA* which got my bingo of ALIENER challenged off. Fortunatey for me, I was able to keep scoring while Austin traded a few times to try and balance his tiles. I ended up getting better tiles at the end in order to pull out a win. The beginning was quite tense.
FINAL SCORE: 362 – 327 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – FANNIEs; Austin – INCITeR
Game #8 vs. Kevin Gauthier (1124 rating)
This game was a tennis match as we kept exchanging the lead back and forth. I was able to keep up with some questionable tiles. Kevin picked-up most of the Is at the end, leading to his downfall. My play of OX for 43 sealed this game.
FINAL SCORE: 409 – 356 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – OUTWAIt; Kevin – MoNSTER, ORDAINER
What a long day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. At least I was able to pull out a few wins at the end.
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Saratoga Springs – early bird Feb. 22, 2008 February 22, 2008
Posted by Hans in Tournament Results.1 comment so far
Arrived safely in Saratoga Springs, NY in good time because of Geoff Gibson’s safe driving, even with the snow – leaving at 0530 helps too . There’s plenty of play to go this weekend, so I’m only going to post some quick recaps. Am writing in between games if I can.
Game #1 vs. Tina Cur (1114 rating)
Weird game that got defensive very early. I managed to play a phoney (CLOAKER) that Tina managed to hook (CLOAKERS). Won the game with my late bingo.
FINAL SCORE: 361 -307 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – OUTWaRD; Tina – none
Game #2 vs. Jeffrey Nelson (1197 rating)
Gave this game away because of a bad challenge (LISENTE) and then having a play removed for trying to hook LISENTE with an S. Could have still won, but rushed a bit at the end and didn’t think through the end-game. I was so happy to see a bingo, that I didn’t think to find a better play. The result was a juicy bingo lane for Jeffrey to play out (NEURONES)
FINAL SCORE: 416 – 392 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – BEFr(I)END, rESIDUE; Jeffrey – LISENTE, NEU(R)ONES
Game #3 vs. Marwan Saadi (1027 rating)
Marwan opened with a bingo while I struggled throughout this entire game with the tiles. I felt like I was a U magnet.
FINAL SCORE: 330 – 324 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – tONIEST; Marwan – HANGERs
Game #4 vs. Sid Lashley (1237 rating)
This game got very defensive right away as we both seemed to have challenging tiles. I made an attempt to play more tiles seeing as how Sid was only playing one or two tiles per turn. This strategy seemed to work as I was able to easier tiles later in the game.
FINAL SCORE: 420 – 308 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – (C)RANKERs*, OUTStAY; Sid – none
BREAK
*Note: Normally I wouldn’t mention this on my blog, but I can’t help it. Many of the players decided to eat at the hotel’s dining room/pub. We waited over 70 minutes for our food to come out. DO NOT EAT AT THE GIDEON PUTNAM RESORT & SPA. The staff were very curt and didn’t do anything to placate us for the delay. Rubbing salt into the wound, they even had the gall to add a 19% service charge because we came "as a group". Such a bad experience deserves a write-up at tripadvisor.com
Game #5 vs. Chris Bonin (1125 rating)
Now this game just sucked. Not sure if it was the post dinner/break slump, but I got spanked. Losing a challenge, getting a word challenged off, having to exchange a few times, and also getting bad tiles until the very end is a recipe for disaster. Time to move on and forget about this game.
FINAL SCORE: 451 – 298 (LOSS!)
BINGOS: ME – RANDIES; Chris – STROBES, TWEETi(N)G
Game #6 vs. Elouise Pearl (982 rating)
OMG. It gets even worse. I trade away EEEEEY (that is not a typo) and then I pick IIIIEE. My next turn I trade IIIIEE and pick up CUUVVW – what is going on?!! Meanwhile, my opponent is playing XU for 52 and bingoing all over the board. I think I traded for three consecutive turns. I just want this day to end so I can get some sleep. Of course on my final two turns, I pick-up FOAMIER and FRIZzERS (several other anagrams), with absolutely no where to play. C’est la vie…
FINAL SCORE: 441 – 282 (LOSS – ouch!)
BINGOS: ME – none; Elouise – OUTRIDE, SAILERS
Game #7 vs. Tim Lutts (1065 rating)
What a game to forget. The junk just continued. I blame it on the bad dinner. At least this night is now over. Tim opened with two bingos and it just went downhill from there.
FINAL SCORE: 406 – 327 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – STEaDIE(R); Tim – SPANNeD, RAINIER
That was pretty much it for the so-called "early bird". Because of the delays, we didn’t finish the day until 11pm. Started off reasonably well, but then got cursed by the tile gods. Honestly, I have never seen just horrible tiles – I didn’t even have a chance. Hopefully I’ll finish the weekend off with a bang.
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Tournament prep – club results from Feb, 21, 2008 February 21, 2008
Posted by Hans in Club Results.add a comment
Had an interesting night at the club. I have an early wake-up tomorrowto travel to the Saratoga Springs tournament this weekend, so this post will be very short.
Game #1 vs. Mark Hamilton
Game was close until my first bingo, and then it sort of snowballed from then onward. Mark challenged my final play of ENTASIA as he’d never seen it before.
FINAL SCORE: 468 – 323 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – (G)ENOCiDe, ENTASIA; Mark – none
5 minute speed game vs. Steve Ozorio
Steve and Sophia showed up late this evening. My first game was done early, so Steve suggested a quick 5 minute game before the next round started. I don’t recall any specific details, but Steve "won" the game 347 – 330. We both went over time, him moreso than me, but didn’t count the time penalties.
Game #2 vs. Sinna Vijayakumar
Wasn’t expecting much from this game, except to hold my own. Vijay pulled out to a huge lead early on because of some tough tiles I had at the beginning. Looking back, I missed out on quite a few points on several turns, but I guess that’s part of the learning process. Vijay then opened up the board for me to make the game more competitive (that’s twice he’s given me pity openings in games). With his act of generosity, I managed to play a triple-triple (my second one ever!) to score 140 points. Nevertheless, this game was never in any doubt as to the winner.
FINAL SCORE: 454 – 392 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – LE(A)DIeST (trip-trip!); Vijay – SCATTED, AIRLINe(R)
Game #3 vs. Don Ross
I had tough tiles at the beginning, but Don had worse at the end. He made some questionable plays that left him with horrible tiles.
FINAL SCORE: 384 – 282 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – SCA(R)IEsT; Don – none
Overall, I had a good night, winning against those who I "should" beat and losing to an expert. I was feeling a bit worried before the club because I hadn’t studied in a few weeks and I was forgetting many words.
On a side note, it was good to see some people at the club who hadn’t been out in a while: Paul Wigley, Don Ross, and Tony Leah. Hopefully I’ll get to renew my rivalry with Paul in the coming weeks. Here’s hoping for some great tiles and play this coming weekend.
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How often do you bingo in Scrabble®? February 15, 2008
Posted by Hans in Analysis, Statistics.4 comments
How often do you bingo during a typical game of Scrabble®? Lately, I’ve been thinking about this question. Maybe it’s because I’ve started studying words and am trying to a) justify the time spent studying and b) find a more efficient and effective way of studying. As I previously wrote, we know that dedicated, systematic, and structured preparation (i.e., study) can lead to what we call "expertise". But what and how should one study?
A few years back, Craig Rowland (director of the Mississauga Scrabble Club) held an afternoon of "Scrabble School" during which he shared a recommended study strategy. I’ve been studying so that I can try to bingo more frequently because it’s the fastest way to score points – if you can get lucky, you can score huge points.
Anyway, I asked Craig how often he, and other experts, bingo in a typical game. I expected him to say two or more, but he surprised me. He said that on average, he bingos less than two times a game (something like 5 bingos in 3 games or 12 in 7 games), and would expect the same for other experts. Maybe I only recall the anomalous games when a player has 4 or 5 bingos, but I honestly expected experts to bingo more than twice a game. Granted, the examples he gave suggest something very close to 2 bingos a game, but not exactly. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any data to back-up my assumptions.
I did a bit of digging and have compiled some statistics for the 32 games I’ve played in 2008. Here is the data:
- My average bingos per game: 1.59
- My opponents bingos per game: 1.22
- Combined bingos per game: 2.81
That’s a bit less than even I expected. I plan on collecting this data for all of my games played and will see what happens. I’ve been asking around at the club, and a few experts said they expected two per game, but then changed that to "under two" being a more realistic value after thinking about it. I’d love to learn how others do – feel free to share your statistics/numbers below. I’ll post updates on my figures later in the year to see if my studying increases the number of bingos I play.
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Not quite there … February 14, 2008
Posted by Hans in Club Results.add a comment
My play is improving, but I’m still not quite there. I had an interesting night at the club, but think I could have done better, as I fell victim to mistakes of my own making.
Game #1 vs. Fraser Simpson
I haven’t played Fraser in a while and was looking forward to playing him. I think he’s a good barometer of my level of play; he’s better than me, but not so much better that I don’t have a chance. His rating has been sky-rocketing lately, so I need to keep pace.
Unfortunately, this game was "one of those games" when one player (me) seemed to get amazing tiles. After six turns, I was ahead 300 – 123, as I had three bingos by then. Fraser challenged BEACONED, so that surely didn’t help.
FINAL SCORE: 455 – 322 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – D(E)TENTES, BEACON(E)D, WAIStER; Fraser – OUTFiRE
Game #2 vs. John David
For some reason, I don’t seem to play my best against John. There’s just something about how he plays that irks me a bit and throws me off. I can’t put my finger on it. Nevertheless, I need to learn how play against him. He seemed to get most of the bingo-prone tiles, but I managed to eke out a win. As always, John played very conservatively and didn’t try to open the board, then complained that he had no place to play his bingo(s). At one point, I managed to get SATIRE+R, but didn’t have any place for a bingo. So, I tried playing RE(ORDINATE)* as a gamble – if he let it go, then I get 30 points. If he challenged it off, I was hoping he would give me an opening – he did!
FINAL SCORE: 345 – 330 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – TARRIES; John – OR(D)INATe
Game #3 vs. Geoffrey Newman
This game stings – I had a very good chance to win, but I blew it. On two consecutive turns, I made a mistake and tried to play GAdJEES* (confused it for HADJEES) and completely missing the obvious JAyGEES. Then a few turns later, I completely misspelled a word and had another play challenged off: REQUIMS – what was I thinking? Right after I hit my clock, I saw my mistake of missing the second E. In the end, Geoffrey took a gamble to try and get the last blank and S. He did and I wasn’t able to keep up in the very last turns. Had I not lost three turns earlier in the game, I would have had an excellent chance at the win. I can’t believe I missed a J bingo.
FINAL SCORE: 374 – 346 (LOSS)
BINGOS: ME – ChIMERS; Geoffrey – ARSINES
With the upcoming tournaments, I think I’m slowly starting to round into tournament form. I’m starting to see more plays and I feel that I can compete with the higher rated players. My word knowledge is still limited, but that will come in time. Still, I’m glad that I’m starting to minimize the mistakes I make. Hopefully the improved play continues. Saratoga Springs, NY next week, and Waterford, MI the week after.
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Strike while the iron is hot… February 8, 2008
Posted by Hans in Club Results.2 comments
Sometimes you just get great tiles all night. When that happens, you just gotta do your best to make your opponent pay. Had great tiles for most of the night and I took full advantage. My goal was to not make mistakes and give myself chances to win. I think I’m starting to get zoned into “tournament” mode. Hopefully the good play will continue.
Game #1 vs. Craig Rowland
Craig and I have played three games (not including this game) and I’ve tied him twice. I was hoping to play a solid game and had no real expectations of winning. When I saw my first rack of JKIOQZ?, I had a feeling I would be getting good tiles all game. The game turned at the end when Craig made a calculated risk of playing off one tile in the hopes of picking up the last H. If he had gotten it, he could have made a play of TH(U)J(A) for 69 points and the win. Honestly, I didn’t even think of trying to block that one spot and hadn’t even considered that spot as playable for anything over 30 points. That’s something I’ll need to watch out for. Luckily for me, I had better tiles than Craig for most of the game, and especially at the end.
FINAL SCORE: 419 – 412 (WIN – I’m still in shock about this one)
BINGOS: ME – TOrNADO; Craig – AENEOUS, EASTERN, DECURIA*
Game #2 vs. Geoffrey Newman
Although the tiles didn’t start of great, they got much better in the middle. I was able to bingo three times in four turns and really demoralize Geoffrey. Not much to say except that I had great tiles.
FINAL SCORE: 447 – 327 (WIN)
BINGOS: ME – SWARMED, ENqU(I)RES, POINTES; Geoffrey – none
Game #3 vs. Gene Tyszka
This game was a tough one. I had to work hard at balancing my rack. In the beginning, I kept picking up Is, Us, and Vs. Fortunately for me, Gene wasn’t able to bingo since I challenged off his play of STONIED*. After that, the game turned quite conservative and we both started playing defensively. At the end, I was able to plan out an end game by blocking Gene’s scoring opportunities and stick him with CV at the end.
FINAL SCORE: 318 – 305 (WIN)
BINGOS: none
I played well last night and managed to win all three games. I’ll be the first to admit that I was very fortunate with the tiles and that is the only reason why I had any chance against Craig or Geoffrey. They are clearly better than me – I can tell by their superior word knowledge as well as the way they move around the board. They both are able to make plays that seem to score and open up scoring lanes. I’ve been lucky that Craig has been sharing some of his insights with me and that’s one of the main reasons I’ve been improving. Hopefully I’ll move up the ranks to show that he hasn’t wasted his time helping me. Tonight was all about the tiles. However, even with great tiles, you still have to make the plays. I think I’m getting good enough to be dangerous.
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