Austin Tournament Conclusions
The Austin tournament was a colossal disappointment for me. Last year, I was seeded 2nd/14 and finished 2nd. This year, against a comparable field, I was seeded 6th/12 (others' ratings increased while mine stayed steady) and finished 11th, at 5-8. This was a quick change of scenery from the Waco tournament, where, against a stronger field, I finished 3rd. Meep.
First, some observations: (this is where I'm going to make excuses)
Luck. Yes, Nigel would have performed better than me. No, I didn't play perfectly. But I got double-blanked in 7 of 13 games I played. On the flipside, I double-blanked two opponents. I ended with 8 of 26 blanks, or 30.7%. I do have a tendency to play small and keep more tiles, but I certainly don't play off 30.7 tiles/game. So in the blanks category, I definitely got unlucky.
No Early Leads. I know I'm pretty bad at playing when behind. And this tournament, there were several games where I found myself down by 100 points within 4-5 turns, and I'm sort of useless after that. I don't know what percentage of games you're supposed to win when down 100 after 4 turns, but I won 0% of them this time, and I'm certain it should be more than that. On the flipside, I never really opened a game with a big lead and coasted. In my first win against Holser, I won in an endgame. In my 2nd win against Mike Early, I went up by a little and then he just played badly the rest of the game. In my 3rd win against Cree, he bingoed on turns 4 and 5 before I pulled both blanks and bingoed 2 turns from the end to win. In my 4th win against Pat Barrett, it took a lucky bingo-bango at the end to win, and in my 5th win over Darrell I had to bingo out to win. I never dominated a game, and I got rocked at the beginning of a few (see games against Riblet, Leeds).
Now, some different observations: (this is where I'll blame myself)
No won challenges. I only went to the challenge computer a few times, but I lost them all. I lost a turn on a 4 (ALKA*, which I somehow thought was a word), and a terrible 8 (SUDANIAL*, which is just not a word at all). I also let the phoney JuTTIER go, but it was mostly because I figured he wouldn't play JuTTIER when JeTTIER played in the same spot for the same score. Still, these lapses in word knowledge are pretty inexcusable.
Dumb Mistakes. After falling down, I would do some dumb stuff. Against Fran, I was so flustered after falling behind by 75 that one turn I drew into VU and just made the first play I saw that played them all off, losing equity in the process. But as a whole, I feel that, while I didn't play perfectly, I played about as well as I did in Waco, and I didn't play *poorly*, at least not particularly. I don't think I played like the 1612 player my performance rating suggests I am, not by a long way.
Getting pissed off. I'm certain a large part of my issue is emotion. In longer tournaments, if I hit a stretch of bad luck towards the end of a tournament and watch my chances of winning diminish, I get pissed and play poorly. I didn't even post my last game of the tournament because I genuinely gave little thought to the plays, missed things I would have otherwise seen, and tried an intentional phoney because I thought "Why not?". I got so pissed that I was actually hoping I wouldn't draw any more blanks, just so I could whine about only drawing 7 over 13 games, but I drew one in the last game. My penultimate game, against Darrell, I also played pretty badly, though the tile gods certainly shat on me too. So the last game against Wallace almost certainly could have been a win, and I could have done a little bit different against Darrell and Ken Kasney.
This tournament has left me confused, more than anything else. How does a player like Cree do well so consistently, while someone like Orry Swift sometimes dominates a field and other times finishes 6-7. How do I become more consistent? Am I really a 1750s player? If I am, why? What can I improve?
I started study schedule a few weeks ago, and plan to (eventually) get all the words I once knew into a cardbox to become less rusty on them (It's been 18 months since I've studied...). I still quackle all the games I play, I still go to club every week so I am "fresh" or whatever... How do I stop being a 1750 player and become an 1850? or 1900? or 1950? What do those people do that I don't?
I'm a little disillusioned with Scrabble, but I'll keep playing in club and I'll start going to the 1days again when they start up in January.
I guess that's all I have to say right now.
First, some observations: (this is where I'm going to make excuses)
Luck. Yes, Nigel would have performed better than me. No, I didn't play perfectly. But I got double-blanked in 7 of 13 games I played. On the flipside, I double-blanked two opponents. I ended with 8 of 26 blanks, or 30.7%. I do have a tendency to play small and keep more tiles, but I certainly don't play off 30.7 tiles/game. So in the blanks category, I definitely got unlucky.
No Early Leads. I know I'm pretty bad at playing when behind. And this tournament, there were several games where I found myself down by 100 points within 4-5 turns, and I'm sort of useless after that. I don't know what percentage of games you're supposed to win when down 100 after 4 turns, but I won 0% of them this time, and I'm certain it should be more than that. On the flipside, I never really opened a game with a big lead and coasted. In my first win against Holser, I won in an endgame. In my 2nd win against Mike Early, I went up by a little and then he just played badly the rest of the game. In my 3rd win against Cree, he bingoed on turns 4 and 5 before I pulled both blanks and bingoed 2 turns from the end to win. In my 4th win against Pat Barrett, it took a lucky bingo-bango at the end to win, and in my 5th win over Darrell I had to bingo out to win. I never dominated a game, and I got rocked at the beginning of a few (see games against Riblet, Leeds).
Now, some different observations: (this is where I'll blame myself)
No won challenges. I only went to the challenge computer a few times, but I lost them all. I lost a turn on a 4 (ALKA*, which I somehow thought was a word), and a terrible 8 (SUDANIAL*, which is just not a word at all). I also let the phoney JuTTIER go, but it was mostly because I figured he wouldn't play JuTTIER when JeTTIER played in the same spot for the same score. Still, these lapses in word knowledge are pretty inexcusable.
Dumb Mistakes. After falling down, I would do some dumb stuff. Against Fran, I was so flustered after falling behind by 75 that one turn I drew into VU and just made the first play I saw that played them all off, losing equity in the process. But as a whole, I feel that, while I didn't play perfectly, I played about as well as I did in Waco, and I didn't play *poorly*, at least not particularly. I don't think I played like the 1612 player my performance rating suggests I am, not by a long way.
Getting pissed off. I'm certain a large part of my issue is emotion. In longer tournaments, if I hit a stretch of bad luck towards the end of a tournament and watch my chances of winning diminish, I get pissed and play poorly. I didn't even post my last game of the tournament because I genuinely gave little thought to the plays, missed things I would have otherwise seen, and tried an intentional phoney because I thought "Why not?". I got so pissed that I was actually hoping I wouldn't draw any more blanks, just so I could whine about only drawing 7 over 13 games, but I drew one in the last game. My penultimate game, against Darrell, I also played pretty badly, though the tile gods certainly shat on me too. So the last game against Wallace almost certainly could have been a win, and I could have done a little bit different against Darrell and Ken Kasney.
This tournament has left me confused, more than anything else. How does a player like Cree do well so consistently, while someone like Orry Swift sometimes dominates a field and other times finishes 6-7. How do I become more consistent? Am I really a 1750s player? If I am, why? What can I improve?
I started study schedule a few weeks ago, and plan to (eventually) get all the words I once knew into a cardbox to become less rusty on them (It's been 18 months since I've studied...). I still quackle all the games I play, I still go to club every week so I am "fresh" or whatever... How do I stop being a 1750 player and become an 1850? or 1900? or 1950? What do those people do that I don't?
I'm a little disillusioned with Scrabble, but I'll keep playing in club and I'll start going to the 1days again when they start up in January.
I guess that's all I have to say right now.