A start to the 2011-2012 season [2011-08-08]

I wasn’t traveling this week, so I made it to the club for a few games (Thursday September 8th). Apparently it was the start of the new season so all of the season’s stats were reset. For the 2010-2011 season, Craig and Sophia took the championships for Divisions A and B respectively. Congratulations to both of them! Also, I was told that I am now in Division A for the current season. I was about 6 games short of qualifying for the championship and I would’ve had a good chance of winning too as I was leading the standings. Oh well, that’s just part of how things are.

Game #1 vs. Brenda Solomon
Had better tiles and made good use of them. Brenda kept fishing and fishing while I was making plays. In the end it was just too much and she couldn’t make-up the ground.

Final Score: 501-260 (WIN)
Bingos: Me – BAYONET, RET(I)NUES, WAnTING, OL(E)ANDEr; Brenda – none

Game #2 vs. Yvonne Lobo
Had been a while since I played Yvonne so I was looking forward to the challenge. The game started off somewhat slow as she opened with VANG (8F) and I played V(A)U (G7). That double V combo created a bit of a dead zone in the center of the board. I could see that Yvonne was frustrated so I didn’t do much to open up the board. The game was decided on an interesting sequence of plays: I had DEBATES on my rack with a few options. Yvonne played JER(R)Y (46 pts @ 3I) and for some reason I didn’t think it was good. I think I was hoping to use the R to make DEBATE(R)S and got myself convinced JERRY was not acceptable. Anyway, I lost the challenge and Yvonne played PEG for 30 to further close off the top of the board. I played by bingo at a very precarious spot (N7) exposing the triple lane with a juicy E beside the TWS. Yvonne hemmed and hawed and then played TACHIER* for 106 at O2. Generally, Yvonne is pretty good at playing bingos so I thought about the play. The game was essentially tied 206-200 for her. She had made her 9th turn so the game was progressing to the end-game. For 106 points, I had to challenge – if the play is acceptable the game is over. Fortunately for me, it came off. I didn’t see any obvious bingos so I wasn’t sure that TACHIER* was an acceptable word (THERIAC is the only word in that group). I responded with COKES for 51to pull ahead. The rest of the game was me balancing my rack and then getting fortunate with a final bingo to finish the game.

Final Score: 415-307 (WIN)
Bingos: Me – DEBATES, (G)ENTRIeS; Yvonne – none

Game #3 vs. Jason Ubeika
I can’t remember the last time I played Jason and I don’t know if I’ve ever beaten him. Needless to say, I was looking forward to the challenge. The short story is that I lost this game and I think I know the exact turn too. Here’s the board situation:

The score was 177-165 for me and it is my turn. What would you play here?

Given the lack of vowels, I elected to play JE(A)N for 22. I considered JE(T)S as it was the same number of points and closed off the triple lane where someone could play (BOX)Y and get a good score. I also thought that JETS would close off the chance of a Q play. Needless to say, after I played JE(A)N, Jason played QUATE for 68. I knew I made a mistake right away – UGH!

It was catch-up for the rest of the game. I had a bingo on my rack at the end, but Jason played his bingo first (RETIREs), hooking PAGAN and closed of my only bingo lane. Good game. Can’t believe that I essentially lost the game at turn 6!

Final Score: 473-402 (LOSS)
Bingos: Me – ViKINGS; Jason – TRO(L)LIED, RETIREs

Might be a while before I get a chance to play Scrabble as I’m traveling for work again.