not the best of BATS, but not the worst
Note: For some reason, the formatting on this entry got totally screwed up, and when I tried to cut and paste, things got worse. So I hope this is readable, but things like member names and hiding things behind cuts are just loopy, and I don't feel like retyping the whole thing. So bear with me.
BAT is my favorite tourney of the year, not just because I've had some success there in the past, but because it attracts so many of my favorite people from all generations. I can hang with the kids one moment, and the other old warhorses the next. And, after all these years, I can still always manage to play one or two people whom I've never played before.
I started the weekend by driving into Manhattan to pick up
hebdomad
and
sr_orangepants
at Penn Station. This is the third time I've had the pleasure of driving Scott up to BAT -- and, once again, I was so very pleased that he won the Premier so decisively. The three of us had a most excellent time in the car, and I especially enjoyed hearing Jason't account of being one of the guest spellers at a performance of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Jason was also my roommate for the event, although I didn't see much of him in that capacity. My days of staying up really late at tourneys are over.
On to the games.
FRIDAY, or Night of the Blowouts
Game 1 v.
scrabblek8
This starts out as one of those excruciating games where nothing is going to happen and both players are scrounging for pennies in the gutter. At the end of the fifth turn, the score is 109-95 in Kate's favor. Then, Kate starts bingoing like crazy, something I never manage to do once in the game. Four bingos for Kate, including a bingo out. I lose, 264-513
Lifetime record against Kate: 1-2
Game 2 v.
redessence
This one goes just the opposite way from the start. I open with FELINES, and follow up immediately with STOOP(E)RS. Later, I add MEdICAR(E) to my bingo list. But my best play -- probably for the entire tournament -- is a 32-point non-bingo that also drew a challenge. Jesse has mentioned the word in his BAT report, but I'm going to save it up for when ididjonassalk recreates the board for me. Jesse, meanwhile, can't get much going. I win, 481-339
Lifetime record against Jesse: 1-1
Game 3 v.
cheezchick
Apparently, Somebody Up There does not want me to bingo against women this weekend. Alyssa creams me 350-451.
Lifetime record against Alyssa: 4-3.
Now here's the thing. My 101-point loss to Alyssa was the closest of the six games that Kate, Jesse, Alyssa and I played amongst ourselves that night. Nobody at our table had a game with a spread of less than 100-points. My game with Alyssa also ends up being the last game I play in the entire tournament with a spread of more than 100.
SATURDAY, or Getting Even ... Sorta
Game 4 v. Bruce Adams
I don't wanna talk about it. By the fifth move, I'm already down 133-248. Then, things get weird. I play ETAMINE for 90 points. Except that I don't. I actually play EMATINE*. The minute Bruce says hold, I realize what I've done, and I try to look innocent. He holds a long time. He cannot figure out why I would play EMATINE* when I could so obviously have played ETAMINE. I just keep looking innocent ... and eventually, he accepts the play under the ridiculous assumption that I actually know what the f**k I'm doing. So I get away with my worst mistake of the entire tournament, but it's not enough. I lose, 397-432 ... not bad, considering how far down I had been.
Lifetime record against Bruce (AFACTK): 3-2
(AFACTK = As Far As Cross-Tables Knows. It indicates that I have earlier games against this player that have been lost in the mists of time, unless they all turn up in a box in Alan Frank's garage someday.)
Game 5 v. Mike Wolfberg
An uninteresting game. My only bingo is SOLIDER around the halfway point, then he takes over the lead and I can't get much going. Though Mike goes overtime, I lose 384-424.
Lifetime record against Mike (AFACTK): 4-4
Game 6 v. Michael Early
I really don't want to lose this one. And three bingos -- SA(U)TOIRE, uNG(I)FTED, and STUDE(N)TS -- insure that I don't. Michael certainly plays a decent game as well, but I win, 458-392.
Lifetime record against Michael: 1-1.
Game 7 v.
butch_grislier
I'm glad that Chris is back in Scrabble again after his long hiatus. I'm not quite so glad about the outcome of this game. He opens with a bingo. A few turns later, I bingo with NEGATIv(E) ... hooking onto his NEGATE ... but that isn't enoug to catch up. We get toward the end of the game. I'm down, 264-310. I have SPEWERS on my rack, and one place to play it. So I'm just hoping he doesn't block my spot. The good news is, he does not. The bad new is that, out of the load of horse hockey left in the bag, he manages to bingo with OUTTURN. Even then, I could have won the game if only there had been seven in the bag when he played instead of eight, since he has the X and a V. But, alas, 'tis not to be. I bingo with SPEWERS, draw the last tile, and end of losing 371-409.
Lifetime record against Chris: 2-1.
Well, at least my three losses this morning were with respectable scores: 397, 384, 371. I sure don't feel like I'm playing badly. And I'm enjoying these games.
Game 8 v. Ami Chakrabarti
Poor Amit has not won a game yet. And I extend his losing streak. (He eventually pulls out a victory in Game Ten, and ends up 4-11). I bingo early with ABlATED, but he quickly pulls back ahead of me. Then, on a closed board, I manage to bingo with SUPINES, with the first S hooking on OBJET and the second S hoking on DOCK, for 90. Amit is able to pull ahead yet again, then I bingo with VINT(A)GES. I win, 435-397.
Lifetime record against Amit: 4-5
Game 9 v. Mark McCraw
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
Another tight game, but I bingo early with FLINg(I)NG and late with gELATIN(E), and that's enough. I win, 396-368.
Lifetime record against Mark: 2-0
Game 10 v. Karl Higby
I have never played Karl before. Things go my way early with the 57-point non-bingo PAJAMA. (I play this one too fast, since I immediately realize I should have played PYJAMA instead.) I only manage to bingo once in the game, but Karl is struggling far more. I win, 405-333.
BULLETIN: I HAVE CLAWED MY WAY UP TO 5-5!
Game 11 v. Kevin Colosa
Kevin is another person I've never played in person before. I neglected to record my bingos this game, but I get a couple early. After six moves, I'm ahead, 163-56. Then, Kevin starts bingoing like a house afire. The most damaging is DEFROST(ER) because it opens up an entire quadrant of the board I have thought was pretty securely closed, thus allowing him to bingo yet again. I lose, 368-412. (This game will eventually net Kevin the Comeback prize for Division A.)
SUNDAY, or Attack of the Guys With Four-Letter Last Names
Game 12 v.
spherulitic
Hard to believe, but this is only the second time I've ever played everybody's favorite satyr. Chris bingoes early on me. I close the gap with the double-double ENV(E)NOM. [This leaves me with a U on the rack. I had hesitated for a moment wondering if Canadians spelled VENOM with a U, and if therefore ENVENOUM* was worth risking, but fortunately sanity prevailed in time.] But Chris widens the gap again. Still, the game is winnable. At the end, with the bag empty, my final rack is ACDEEIT, and there is an S sitting on a triple line. It sure looks like there should be something in there ... at any rate, I'm going to try the most plausible thing I can construct. I eventually try DECIATES*, which of course comes off. It turns out there was nothing playable with that rack. I lose, 354-432.
Lifetime record against Chris: 0-2
Game 13 v. Joel Horn
Interesting game. Joel gets a narrow early lead. He bingoes first with DoSSIE(R), but I immediately come back with RETINOI(D). My reward for this bingo is to pull AAEEIIO out of the bag, but a good trade nets me the much friendlier rack of ?AEELNT. And immediately after bingoing with LATEENs, I pull -- and am able to play for 96 points -- aQUAVIT. Two turns later, I challenge off Joel's phony UNPLATE*, and I'm feeling pretty secure. But then, with one tile in the bag, Joel plays off an O for 4 points. I know that his rack is AEILNRT. The board, which as been impossible to close, gives him two places to bingo out. So the only thing I can do is play off all my higher-point tiles wih GUMBO for 21. Joel bingoes out with RETIN(U)LA. And the score is 443-443. Joel realizes that he gave up the win when he dumped the O for only four points instead of the eight he could have gotten elsewhere. He is not happy about this. He is not shy about expressing his unhappiness.
Lifetime record against Joel (AFACTK): 9-6-1
Game 14 v. Sal Piro
This one starts as a low-scoring extravaganza. After ten moves, the score is 240-244. I'm able to bingo at last with the apt word TINIEST, but he makes a couple of big comeback plays. This is the one game where I really have to work hard to figure out the endgame. The score is 367-351 in Sal's favor. There is one tile left in the bag. My rack is AEEGNTU. I triple-check my tracking and see that the unseen tiles are AEHINPOX. I eventually decide that GUAN blocking the only high-scoring X spot will guarantee me a win. I almost blow out by then neglecting to draw the last tile until Sal reminds me. Sal will later point out that his kindness enabled me to win the game, since he could have let me 'go out' and then told me that there was still a tile left. (But he knows I would have done the same for him.) I win, 400-388.
Another weird victory against Sal, though not in the same class of weirdness as the infamous tilebag game of BAT '05.
Lifetime record against Sal (AFACTK): 20-16
Game 15 v. Richard Buck
So now I'm 6-7-1, and I need to win a game to break even. And for a while, it looks like I will do it, with my back-to-back bingos of TANSIES and CaNTATA, plus the 77-point nonbingo ABJURE. But Richard is keeping pace with me. It all comes down to the final tiles. And, sadly, when your final rack is EIIRUYZ, you may be able to score some pernts, but you cannot manage the out-in-two that this particular game requires. I lose, 399-433.
Lifetime record against Richard (AFACTK): 2-6
So there's my BAT. 6-8-1, but none of those losses was a disgrace. The worst mistake I made did not cost me a game ... in fact, I got away with it! My rating looks like it will go from 1719 to 1701, but at least I stay over 1700.
And I'm glad I decided not to turn around when somebody decided that the best way to find good Italian food in Massachusetts was to take a route that detoured through Rhode Island. Because dinner was a lot of fun, too.
I especially enjoyed meeting
tunnicliffe
(at last) and Derek this weekend, as well as having an all too rare chance to hang with my dear friends
eurobikermcdog
and
samhampton
... but, hell, if I start listing all the people I had fun with, I'd be here forever.
Trip back to NY was fine. We dropped Scott and Jason at Penn Station, then I took Conrad back to Long Island. There was a little trouble at the motel -- the first room was smokey, and I felt bad that there was no internet connection. [I could have sworn that
ididjonassalk
was able to post when he was staying at the very same hotel during the Big Apple tourney.] But Conrad and I played three interesting games before I went home to catch a few Zs. Picked up the required bagels this morning, got him to the airport ... and now, I rest.