Closer To The Heart (Apex 11/19/2011)
Scrabble tournaments are normally lots of fun for me, but when you can share the experience with a loved one it's that much better. Over the last week I've seen my wife forge her creativity and determination into pulling off the best tournament she could on her first try, and I have to say that it was a resounding success, and not just because of my performance.
24 participants showed up on Saturday, several signing up in the week before. This threw Katie into crisis management mode, as she took off half of Thursday and all of Friday to finish tournament preparations. Configuration files were created, and boxes of homemade chocolates were prepared, including her own designer label. Other snacks and drinks were purchased, and a pair of white boards were transformed into a cross-table for the day's results, updated every round. Katie mentioned how she felt she did everything possible to make sure everything went swimmingly, and judging by the number of compliments we both received throughout the day, she passed with flying colors.
Thankfully, everyone showed up paid for, and we actually started right about on time. I played my first opponent, who would be one of 4 first-time tourney opponents on the day.
Game 1 vs. Joe Verga: W 557-335. OVEREDIT, ARENOUS, CoNQUER, NON(A)dULT (Bingo-bango-bongo on the last 3)/EARNING. Joe was actually winning by 17 after 7 turns each, helped by FAZES for 60 and JOY for 48 plus his bingo, but he challenged both ARENOUS and NONAdULT, along with my (MOIRA)I hook, which allowed me to pour on the points and grab the high game prize for the tournament. It's also a new TWL tournament high for me. One of these days I'll get a 600.
Game 2 vs. Andy Hoang: W 471-392. TEcHIER, LUNACI(E)S (Bingo-bango), LUNEIST*/AIRIEsT, LEASERS. Pretty fortunate to come away with a win in this game. Andy tried ROOMAtE* (TEAROOM) on turn 2, and I tried to balance my rack but kept falling just short of a bingo while he struggled with the J and an abundance of O's. I have to play YOWIE just short of the triple, and he gets down AIRIEsT just short of the middle TWS on row 15. Instead of using my H for the hook and 45 points, I bingo with TEcHIER with the T in 6th position of a 3x3. Andy puts down REALESTS* and I challenge it off; he later realizes he had RESLATES as a 3x3, after which I'm sunk. I block up the lanes I just created with LUNACIES, forcing him to open a 3x3 with LEASERS. I get KEYED down for 46, but soon he uses the HAIRIEST hook for 45. I get LEZ for 39 and draw into the UTENSIL rack...and then bungle the letters as I freeze on which of the 3 words to play. I announce my score and hit my clock, only then realizing that I've transposed the letters in LUNIEST, playing LUNEIST* instead. With one in the bag, he holds me for a couple of heart-rattling minutes before finally accepting the play. I think I still win if he challenges it off, but I lose lots of spread that is all-important in an open like this.
Game 3 vs. Sandeep Bala: L 436-379. OSTIARY, BOUNTI(E)S/REAsONED, aNTLERS. Well this was quite the failure on my part. After he played aNTLERS making aNE, he played QUOD for 30, making DaNE*. Rahn had just mentioned to me how he had challenged of DANE* earlier that day, but I completely misread the blank and lose focus, allowing the play. I bingo back with BOUNTIES, he responds with JOKE for 69 and XI for 40, good game. So frustrating, but I knew that I was going to have to win the rest of my games if I wanted first place. I was glad that we had the break after Round 3, as I could use the time to mentally regroup and refuel.
Game 4 vs. lotting: W 478-348. CALPAIN, SIGHTED/SOLERET. I jumped out early with big Q and X plays while she fished, and CALPAIN (my favorite bingo of the tourney) put me up by 80 after 4 turns each. I bailed myself out of an awful rack with (U)NFOUND for 26, and was able to respond to her SOLERET with my SIGHTED. I shut down the board after that, although I ended up getting greedy and taking a nice-fitting EA(V)E for 37, which gave her Za for 63, keeping the 2nd blank.
Game 5 vs. David Klionsky: W 431-318. WETnESS/NEATENeR*. This is my first time playing David "officially", even though we've been in several of the same tourneys before. Game was pretty much over after my WETnESS 77/FLAX 54/ WH(ER)EAT 52 (2x2) stretch, putting me up 205-69. NEATENeR* was only for 59, and there was nowhere left to bingo, so I decided to not worry about holding him on it; I should be surer that it's no good though.
Game 6 vs. badqoph: W 358-289. rETUNEd/none. Oh yeah, this was ugly, where the only bingo was my double-blanker for 62. I actually started pretty strongly, within the first 6 turns getting FAIRY for 30, PIPAGE for 30, MENAD for 35, FAITH for 41, and MAXED for 39, fishing for a CLI(MAXED) to a DWS that never came. I whiffed on (F)uELLING after that, eventually getting my bingo down. He blocked my spot for ARTSI(E)ST among other bingoes, and things just slowed to a crawl. I blocked the wrong bingo lane in the pre-endgame because I had incorrectly tracked all the E's (he still had one), but he was unable to hit the last bingo lane. I'm now 5-2 against Ryan in our last 7 tournament matches, so I'm slowly bringing that head-to-head to a respectable record. I also knocked him from the unbeaten ranks, and now we had a 6-way tie for first at 5-1. I'm leading on spread, but now I've got to play the other top seed in round 7.
Game 7 vs. Rahn McKeown: W 444-277. BE(R)THiNG, DUiKERS, SOYBEAN (Bingo-bango)/none. Major bagging; I pulled 9 of 10 power tiles, as he only got the J for 33. Not much interesting here, except that it turns out I could have fished for RET(W)ISTE(D) at the very end and been successful, but he probably blocks it anyway.
A couple of upsets happen in round 7, as Stacey (Decker) Woodward knocked off Ryan and Andy defeated Robb Griffith, so the 3 of us are sitting at 6-1. Stacey has Andy on spread, so I play her for all the marbles. With all the others at 5-2, and performance prizes available for the lower seeds, there was a lot of possible volatility.
Game 8 vs. Stacey Woodward: W 443-362. GAMBLES, LICTORS, GHASTIn(G)#/TRUN(D)LeS. The first two bingoes and a 50 point Q play give me a 100 point lead at the middle. I gamble with GHASTInG#, thinking it's probably good but guessing she's unlikely to challenge. Turns out it's Collins, but I get away with it and cruise to victory. The top prize is mine, and I'm thinking that home-field advantage is a very real thing for me at this point.
So the final numbers were 7-1, +820, new TWL peak rating of 1735, avg. score of 447 (also a new best), $250 for first place and $15 more for high game. At Triangle 1-days this year I went 21-3, +2086, which is pretty insane. I outbingoed my opponents 19-8 on Saturday, which seems pretty lucky. I was a failed DANE* challenge from going 8-0, but that was early enough in the tournament that I can invoke Heisenberg. I did have to beat 1, 3, and 4, plus 2 other 6-2 players to get this win, so it feels earned, although my play wasn't always stellar.
More importantly though was how much fun everyone had with the open format. One of the School Scrabblers' mother came up to me and said the kids had a blast because they got to play against the best players, not just those in the 2nd or 3rd division as would normally happen. Others commented it was nice not having to play the same people as previous local 1-days. It seemed like nobody had any qualms with the prize structure, as there were opportunities for everyone to go home with something substantial. Katie handled everything with aplomb, although she's thinking this might only be a biannual thing for her. But she'll definitely be assisting at the EC's this year, and maybe some of Ryan's other upcoming tournaments in the 1st half of 2012.
This tournament puts the capper on competitive Scrabble in 2011 for me. Sometime in December I'll craft a year in review, looking back at the (mostly) highs and (much fewer) lows of the past 12 months. The near future holds Charity and Collins for me otherwise. Cheers!
24 participants showed up on Saturday, several signing up in the week before. This threw Katie into crisis management mode, as she took off half of Thursday and all of Friday to finish tournament preparations. Configuration files were created, and boxes of homemade chocolates were prepared, including her own designer label. Other snacks and drinks were purchased, and a pair of white boards were transformed into a cross-table for the day's results, updated every round. Katie mentioned how she felt she did everything possible to make sure everything went swimmingly, and judging by the number of compliments we both received throughout the day, she passed with flying colors.
Thankfully, everyone showed up paid for, and we actually started right about on time. I played my first opponent, who would be one of 4 first-time tourney opponents on the day.
Game 1 vs. Joe Verga: W 557-335. OVEREDIT, ARENOUS, CoNQUER, NON(A)dULT (Bingo-bango-bongo on the last 3)/EARNING. Joe was actually winning by 17 after 7 turns each, helped by FAZES for 60 and JOY for 48 plus his bingo, but he challenged both ARENOUS and NONAdULT, along with my (MOIRA)I hook, which allowed me to pour on the points and grab the high game prize for the tournament. It's also a new TWL tournament high for me. One of these days I'll get a 600.
Game 2 vs. Andy Hoang: W 471-392. TEcHIER, LUNACI(E)S (Bingo-bango), LUNEIST*/AIRIEsT, LEASERS. Pretty fortunate to come away with a win in this game. Andy tried ROOMAtE* (TEAROOM) on turn 2, and I tried to balance my rack but kept falling just short of a bingo while he struggled with the J and an abundance of O's. I have to play YOWIE just short of the triple, and he gets down AIRIEsT just short of the middle TWS on row 15. Instead of using my H for the hook and 45 points, I bingo with TEcHIER with the T in 6th position of a 3x3. Andy puts down REALESTS* and I challenge it off; he later realizes he had RESLATES as a 3x3, after which I'm sunk. I block up the lanes I just created with LUNACIES, forcing him to open a 3x3 with LEASERS. I get KEYED down for 46, but soon he uses the HAIRIEST hook for 45. I get LEZ for 39 and draw into the UTENSIL rack...and then bungle the letters as I freeze on which of the 3 words to play. I announce my score and hit my clock, only then realizing that I've transposed the letters in LUNIEST, playing LUNEIST* instead. With one in the bag, he holds me for a couple of heart-rattling minutes before finally accepting the play. I think I still win if he challenges it off, but I lose lots of spread that is all-important in an open like this.
Game 3 vs. Sandeep Bala: L 436-379. OSTIARY, BOUNTI(E)S/REAsONED, aNTLERS. Well this was quite the failure on my part. After he played aNTLERS making aNE, he played QUOD for 30, making DaNE*. Rahn had just mentioned to me how he had challenged of DANE* earlier that day, but I completely misread the blank and lose focus, allowing the play. I bingo back with BOUNTIES, he responds with JOKE for 69 and XI for 40, good game. So frustrating, but I knew that I was going to have to win the rest of my games if I wanted first place. I was glad that we had the break after Round 3, as I could use the time to mentally regroup and refuel.
Game 4 vs. lotting: W 478-348. CALPAIN, SIGHTED/SOLERET. I jumped out early with big Q and X plays while she fished, and CALPAIN (my favorite bingo of the tourney) put me up by 80 after 4 turns each. I bailed myself out of an awful rack with (U)NFOUND for 26, and was able to respond to her SOLERET with my SIGHTED. I shut down the board after that, although I ended up getting greedy and taking a nice-fitting EA(V)E for 37, which gave her Za for 63, keeping the 2nd blank.
Game 5 vs. David Klionsky: W 431-318. WETnESS/NEATENeR*. This is my first time playing David "officially", even though we've been in several of the same tourneys before. Game was pretty much over after my WETnESS 77/FLAX 54/ WH(ER)EAT 52 (2x2) stretch, putting me up 205-69. NEATENeR* was only for 59, and there was nowhere left to bingo, so I decided to not worry about holding him on it; I should be surer that it's no good though.
Game 6 vs. badqoph: W 358-289. rETUNEd/none. Oh yeah, this was ugly, where the only bingo was my double-blanker for 62. I actually started pretty strongly, within the first 6 turns getting FAIRY for 30, PIPAGE for 30, MENAD for 35, FAITH for 41, and MAXED for 39, fishing for a CLI(MAXED) to a DWS that never came. I whiffed on (F)uELLING after that, eventually getting my bingo down. He blocked my spot for ARTSI(E)ST among other bingoes, and things just slowed to a crawl. I blocked the wrong bingo lane in the pre-endgame because I had incorrectly tracked all the E's (he still had one), but he was unable to hit the last bingo lane. I'm now 5-2 against Ryan in our last 7 tournament matches, so I'm slowly bringing that head-to-head to a respectable record. I also knocked him from the unbeaten ranks, and now we had a 6-way tie for first at 5-1. I'm leading on spread, but now I've got to play the other top seed in round 7.
Game 7 vs. Rahn McKeown: W 444-277. BE(R)THiNG, DUiKERS, SOYBEAN (Bingo-bango)/none. Major bagging; I pulled 9 of 10 power tiles, as he only got the J for 33. Not much interesting here, except that it turns out I could have fished for RET(W)ISTE(D) at the very end and been successful, but he probably blocks it anyway.
A couple of upsets happen in round 7, as Stacey (Decker) Woodward knocked off Ryan and Andy defeated Robb Griffith, so the 3 of us are sitting at 6-1. Stacey has Andy on spread, so I play her for all the marbles. With all the others at 5-2, and performance prizes available for the lower seeds, there was a lot of possible volatility.
Game 8 vs. Stacey Woodward: W 443-362. GAMBLES, LICTORS, GHASTIn(G)#/TRUN(D)LeS. The first two bingoes and a 50 point Q play give me a 100 point lead at the middle. I gamble with GHASTInG#, thinking it's probably good but guessing she's unlikely to challenge. Turns out it's Collins, but I get away with it and cruise to victory. The top prize is mine, and I'm thinking that home-field advantage is a very real thing for me at this point.
So the final numbers were 7-1, +820, new TWL peak rating of 1735, avg. score of 447 (also a new best), $250 for first place and $15 more for high game. At Triangle 1-days this year I went 21-3, +2086, which is pretty insane. I outbingoed my opponents 19-8 on Saturday, which seems pretty lucky. I was a failed DANE* challenge from going 8-0, but that was early enough in the tournament that I can invoke Heisenberg. I did have to beat 1, 3, and 4, plus 2 other 6-2 players to get this win, so it feels earned, although my play wasn't always stellar.
More importantly though was how much fun everyone had with the open format. One of the School Scrabblers' mother came up to me and said the kids had a blast because they got to play against the best players, not just those in the 2nd or 3rd division as would normally happen. Others commented it was nice not having to play the same people as previous local 1-days. It seemed like nobody had any qualms with the prize structure, as there were opportunities for everyone to go home with something substantial. Katie handled everything with aplomb, although she's thinking this might only be a biannual thing for her. But she'll definitely be assisting at the EC's this year, and maybe some of Ryan's other upcoming tournaments in the 1st half of 2012.
This tournament puts the capper on competitive Scrabble in 2011 for me. Sometime in December I'll craft a year in review, looking back at the (mostly) highs and (much fewer) lows of the past 12 months. The near future holds Charity and Collins for me otherwise. Cheers!