(no subject)
i won't lay direct blame for my recent horrible tournament performances on anything other than this terrible habit i have of giving games away, which is totally inexcusable. after every tournament, i go through score sheets and mark the ones that i lost and could have won (within my ability). without actually looking for these score sheets and doing the math, i will estimate that i foolishly give away nearly a third of my tournament losses.
these are the stupid things i do most often (that i am aware of):
play a phony in endgame and lose a turn when i have (and see) a valid word that scores enough to win.
fail to consider the unseen pool before making decisions -- in fact, it is somewhat uncommon that i even bother to take the time (which i usually have plenty of) to use my tracking to benefit my endgame.
leave the desperation phonies of my opponent on the board thinking (incorrectly, usually due to the stupid thing listed above) that i can still win without risking the loss of turn.
i can attribute a lot of this to my lack of word knowledge, which is something i would love to work on, but almost don't know where to start.
i clearly did not lose 15 out of 20 games in chicago just because i gave games away -- many games were nothing but one hideous rack after another despite making balancing plays and exchanging. i was heavily outdrawn on too many occasions and frustration followed. i wasn't feeling that great on sunday, and by monday i was quite ill. and i didn't stay up really late drinking and playing scrabble every night, which i am rather convinced has more positive results than negative ones.
despite all these things, i did enjoy myself and was always in excellent company. probably not playing any tournaments until albany next month...i intend to get in a good amount of live games between now and then, attend club(s)...sunday scrabble gathering(s) sometime in june, my northeastern friends?