Rocky River full report
Saturday July 12th, 2008
I stayed in on Friday night and watched some TV, played on ISC, and did some Zyzzyva cardboxing*. I was asleep by 11:30, which is quite early for me. This was because I needed to rouse myself at 5:30 on Saturday morning, which is VERY early for me. There were still 4 hours until the first tiles would be drawn. I showered and brewed some coffee, then scarfed down some yogurt and granola before gathering my stuff and walking to the bus stop to meet Stan and Bob. Well, Bob Haggerty was supposed to be playing (and driving), but a big real estate story broke, and he needed to spend the weekend covering it for the WSJ. So, it was just Stan and I who took off around 6:20. The ride was smooth-sailing; no traffic except for one brief slowdown for construction. Interestingly, I had never been to Ohio; uninterestingly, it seems very much like a flattened-out version Pennsylvania, at least in terms of its highway-side scenery. We arrived at the playing site at 9:00 on the dot. I said hellos to some folks, handed my entry fee to Mr. Purple and set up my board. While waiting for the first game, I did some quick cardboxing* on my laptop. At 9:30, it was game time.
Round 1 vs. Margaret “Miki” Sutherland
I was impressed by her meticulous notekeeping* during and after our game. She recorded her racks (I think), the plays along with their annotated location, and at the end wrote down the time remaining on our clocks. Then she went about reconstructing the board on the corner diagram using her in-game-notes, putting a big check mark next to each play as she recorded it. And all of this was done with two identical, fresh and lengthy, perfectly-sharpened red-shafted #2 pencils.
Play the game!
W 542 - 320
Mine: NO(C)TURNE 63, LORINE(R)S 76, DEA(I)RING 78, FaNEgAS 95 ; JKQZSS?? ; 54 tiles
Hers: none ; XSS ; 46 tiles
Missed bingos: none
1 - 0 + 222
Round 2 vs. Pete “Is it EI or IE” Zeigler aka pbzeigler
So we meet again; we’re 1-1 in tournament play before this one.
Play the game! (updated with Pete's racks)
L 406 - 455
Mine: (A)GENTIVE 65, CONfUSE 86 ; KZSS? ; 48 tiles
His: MODIFIE(R) 106, AGO(N)ISES 68 ; JQXSS? ; 52 tiles
Missed bingos: VIGNE(T)TE 86, InVOLU(T)E 72
1 - 1 + 173
Game 3 vs. George “Vibrance” Viebranz aka ipecac_icecap
BTW, IPECACUANHA is good!
George and I finally meet over a board. I offered to play a game of anagrams in lieu of our scheduled Scrabble match, but he was havin’ none of that. (Send me your racks if you want me to add them to the game.)
Play the game!
W 429 - 401
Mine: pEN(C)HANT 63, UMBONEL* 66 ; QXZS?? ; 53 tiles
His: OERSTED 74, CATENAD(E)* 86 ; JKSSS ; 47 tiles
Missed bingos: NELUMBO 66
2 - 1 + 201
Lunch Break
I accompanied Stan and Tina to the New Peking Chinese/Thai restaurant for a quick bite. A much larger group of Scrabblers planned on meeting us there, but the biggest circular table was just barely able to accompany them, so the three of us sat in an adjacent booth. I ate an order of sesame chicken with fried rice and a veggie egg roll. It was tasty, although not that exciting, but for the price and the speed of service, I couldn’t imagine anything better. At first, Stan and I talked math while Tina smiled and nodded. Later on, Tina and I swapped SNL Celebrity Jeopardy quotes while Stan smiled and nodded. Unfortunately, just a few minutes before we left to head back to the playing room, the skies opened up; and it wasn’t just a drizzle. We’re talking all-out war between these raindrops and anything in their path. After the 3 second sprint to the car, I was so wet that I wished I had brought a bathing suit. I went to the bathroom to dry off before the final four games.
Round 4 vs. Linda “AIRFEEDS” Hoggatt
We had just played at the Pittsburgh tourney, where I won a close game but made many mistakes. The final score of this one was not nearly as close, but it would have been had she found the out-bingo.
Play the game!
W 483 - 324
Mine: BILLETS 80, (R)IVIeReS 77, AROINTS 67 ; KQXZSSS?? ; 53 tiles
Hers: PR(O)NATED 82 ; J ; 47 tiles
Missed bingos: ROUT(E)MAN 64, ISogRIV 80
3 - 1 + 360
Round 5 vs. Chuck “I win a lot” Armstrong
My first meeting with the all-time winning-percentage leader. Unfortunately, I did not bring myself closer to topping his stat, but allowing 111 points worth of phoneys certainly didn’t help my cause.
Play the game!
L 365 - 467
Mine: VALINEs 74, SHI(N)IEST 71 ; XZSSS? ; 49 tiles
His: DEMEANO(R) 86, sTRUDEL 70 ; JKQS? ; 51 tiles
Missed bingos: (B)IVALENt 89
3 - 2 + 258
Round 6 vs. Jeff “Mr. Lucky” Clark
We had also just played for the first time at the Pittsburgh tourney where I drew the bag. These next two games between us were much closer. I also realized just how quickly Jeff plays. I ran my clock down in both of these games, and he had well over 10 minutes left heading into the pre-endgames.
Play the game!
W 394 - 373
Mine: INDA(MI)NES 76 ; SSS? ; 46 tiles
His: (E)QUALITY 71, CANAR(I)ES 61 ; JKQXZS? ; 54 tiles
Missed bingos: BUSlOAD 80/BAUSOnD 76/BAUD(R)OnS 72
4 - 2 + 279
Round 7 vs. Jeff “Mr. Luckier” Clark
At 4-2, I needed a victory to have a chance at 2nd place. I also needed Chuck to beat hector31 since his spread was much better than mine.
Play the game!
L 419 - 440
Mine: ONETIME 76, LaTCHED 65 ; JKS? ; 51 tiles
His: TANNERY 80, TRA(C)tORS 68 ; QXZSSS? ; 49 tiles
Missed bingos: none
4 - 3 + 258
Final Result
4th place, seeded 4th
$10 each for high game (524) and high loss (419)
Rating: 1616 --> 1618
Average Score: 434 - 397
Bingos: 16 for me (eight 7s, seven 8s, and one 9) = 2.3 per game
10 for them (three 7s, seven 8s) = 1.4 per game
Averaged 50.6 tiles per game
Power tiles seen: 2/7 Js, 4/7 Ks, 3/7 Qs, 3/7 Xs, 5/7 Zs, 16/28 Ss, 10/14 ?s = 56% total
Valid, challengedPhoney, unchallengedPhoney, challengedMy PlaysnoneUMBONEL*SARKILY*
AMOUNTER*Their PlaysSALBEEST*
CATENADE*
RIBWORK*
RIBWORKS*AIRFEEDS*
This chart was generated by cross-tables.com
Stan and I hopped in the car right afterwards to head back to PA. We stopped for some pizza on the road, and I put my games into Quackle during the first leg of the journey. I eventually made it back to my place around 9:30, watched some TV, and then crashed.
I stayed in on Friday night and watched some TV, played on ISC, and did some Zyzzyva cardboxing*. I was asleep by 11:30, which is quite early for me. This was because I needed to rouse myself at 5:30 on Saturday morning, which is VERY early for me. There were still 4 hours until the first tiles would be drawn. I showered and brewed some coffee, then scarfed down some yogurt and granola before gathering my stuff and walking to the bus stop to meet Stan and Bob. Well, Bob Haggerty was supposed to be playing (and driving), but a big real estate story broke, and he needed to spend the weekend covering it for the WSJ. So, it was just Stan and I who took off around 6:20. The ride was smooth-sailing; no traffic except for one brief slowdown for construction. Interestingly, I had never been to Ohio; uninterestingly, it seems very much like a flattened-out version Pennsylvania, at least in terms of its highway-side scenery. We arrived at the playing site at 9:00 on the dot. I said hellos to some folks, handed my entry fee to Mr. Purple and set up my board. While waiting for the first game, I did some quick cardboxing* on my laptop. At 9:30, it was game time.
Round 1 vs. Margaret “Miki” Sutherland
I was impressed by her meticulous notekeeping* during and after our game. She recorded her racks (I think), the plays along with their annotated location, and at the end wrote down the time remaining on our clocks. Then she went about reconstructing the board on the corner diagram using her in-game-notes, putting a big check mark next to each play as she recorded it. And all of this was done with two identical, fresh and lengthy, perfectly-sharpened red-shafted #2 pencils.
Play the game!
W 542 - 320
Mine: NO(C)TURNE 63, LORINE(R)S 76, DEA(I)RING 78, FaNEgAS 95 ; JKQZSS?? ; 54 tiles
Hers: none ; XSS ; 46 tiles
Missed bingos: none
1 - 0 + 222
Round 2 vs. Pete “Is it EI or IE” Zeigler aka pbzeigler
So we meet again; we’re 1-1 in tournament play before this one.
Play the game! (updated with Pete's racks)
L 406 - 455
Mine: (A)GENTIVE 65, CONfUSE 86 ; KZSS? ; 48 tiles
His: MODIFIE(R) 106, AGO(N)ISES 68 ; JQXSS? ; 52 tiles
Missed bingos: VIGNE(T)TE 86, InVOLU(T)E 72
1 - 1 + 173
Game 3 vs. George “Vibrance” Viebranz aka ipecac_icecap
BTW, IPECACUANHA is good!
George and I finally meet over a board. I offered to play a game of anagrams in lieu of our scheduled Scrabble match, but he was havin’ none of that. (Send me your racks if you want me to add them to the game.)
Play the game!
W 429 - 401
Mine: pEN(C)HANT 63, UMBONEL* 66 ; QXZS?? ; 53 tiles
His: OERSTED 74, CATENAD(E)* 86 ; JKSSS ; 47 tiles
Missed bingos: NELUMBO 66
2 - 1 + 201
Lunch Break
I accompanied Stan and Tina to the New Peking Chinese/Thai restaurant for a quick bite. A much larger group of Scrabblers planned on meeting us there, but the biggest circular table was just barely able to accompany them, so the three of us sat in an adjacent booth. I ate an order of sesame chicken with fried rice and a veggie egg roll. It was tasty, although not that exciting, but for the price and the speed of service, I couldn’t imagine anything better. At first, Stan and I talked math while Tina smiled and nodded. Later on, Tina and I swapped SNL Celebrity Jeopardy quotes while Stan smiled and nodded. Unfortunately, just a few minutes before we left to head back to the playing room, the skies opened up; and it wasn’t just a drizzle. We’re talking all-out war between these raindrops and anything in their path. After the 3 second sprint to the car, I was so wet that I wished I had brought a bathing suit. I went to the bathroom to dry off before the final four games.
Round 4 vs. Linda “AIRFEEDS” Hoggatt
We had just played at the Pittsburgh tourney, where I won a close game but made many mistakes. The final score of this one was not nearly as close, but it would have been had she found the out-bingo.
Play the game!
W 483 - 324
Mine: BILLETS 80, (R)IVIeReS 77, AROINTS 67 ; KQXZSSS?? ; 53 tiles
Hers: PR(O)NATED 82 ; J ; 47 tiles
Missed bingos: ROUT(E)MAN 64, ISogRIV 80
3 - 1 + 360
Round 5 vs. Chuck “I win a lot” Armstrong
My first meeting with the all-time winning-percentage leader. Unfortunately, I did not bring myself closer to topping his stat, but allowing 111 points worth of phoneys certainly didn’t help my cause.
Play the game!
L 365 - 467
Mine: VALINEs 74, SHI(N)IEST 71 ; XZSSS? ; 49 tiles
His: DEMEANO(R) 86, sTRUDEL 70 ; JKQS? ; 51 tiles
Missed bingos: (B)IVALENt 89
3 - 2 + 258
Round 6 vs. Jeff “Mr. Lucky” Clark
We had also just played for the first time at the Pittsburgh tourney where I drew the bag. These next two games between us were much closer. I also realized just how quickly Jeff plays. I ran my clock down in both of these games, and he had well over 10 minutes left heading into the pre-endgames.
Play the game!
W 394 - 373
Mine: INDA(MI)NES 76 ; SSS? ; 46 tiles
His: (E)QUALITY 71, CANAR(I)ES 61 ; JKQXZS? ; 54 tiles
Missed bingos: BUSlOAD 80/BAUSOnD 76/BAUD(R)OnS 72
4 - 2 + 279
Round 7 vs. Jeff “Mr. Luckier” Clark
At 4-2, I needed a victory to have a chance at 2nd place. I also needed Chuck to beat hector31 since his spread was much better than mine.
Play the game!
L 419 - 440
Mine: ONETIME 76, LaTCHED 65 ; JKS? ; 51 tiles
His: TANNERY 80, TRA(C)tORS 68 ; QXZSSS? ; 49 tiles
Missed bingos: none
4 - 3 + 258
Final Result
4th place, seeded 4th
$10 each for high game (524) and high loss (419)
Rating: 1616 --> 1618
Average Score: 434 - 397
Bingos: 16 for me (eight 7s, seven 8s, and one 9) = 2.3 per game
10 for them (three 7s, seven 8s) = 1.4 per game
Averaged 50.6 tiles per game
Power tiles seen: 2/7 Js, 4/7 Ks, 3/7 Qs, 3/7 Xs, 5/7 Zs, 16/28 Ss, 10/14 ?s = 56% total
Valid, challengedPhoney, unchallengedPhoney, challengedMy PlaysnoneUMBONEL*SARKILY*
AMOUNTER*Their PlaysSALBEEST*
CATENADE*
RIBWORK*
RIBWORKS*AIRFEEDS*
This chart was generated by cross-tables.com
Stan and I hopped in the car right afterwards to head back to PA. We stopped for some pizza on the road, and I put my games into Quackle during the first leg of the journey. I eventually made it back to my place around 9:30, watched some TV, and then crashed.