BAT 15
So... I had played maybe two live games since New Orleans. I didn't touch the new words until two weeks ago. And I got bronchitis. Thus, I went into BAT with less than zero expectations. I drew pretty poorly, I bingoed way less than my average... yet my record came out okay. I felt like I was strangely focused, while at the same time really detached from my results. Get beaten by 200? sure, whatever. Win five in a row? sure, whatever. So, maybe I would've been more mad about my results on another weekend, but for what it was, apparently, I'm fine with it. It does feel a little weird to go into a tournament not having played across a real board in so long. I need to find a way to play a little more frequently.
vs Diane: got a free turn in a phony homophone of a good word - just the change in tempo helped me out quite a bit. Got to play OXIC+. W 395-307.
vs Scott: SPANDEX to open, then got greedy when up 120, opened board, and Scott proceeded to take the lead. Luckily found the second blank and was able to hold on to the lead from there, despite some bingo-prone endgame tiles that could've certainly turned things back his way. W 420-358.
vs Mike: I gave him a spot for his orphan BORAGES, but then he returned the favor a few turns later, playing VOW to let me bingo with ELEVATE/AVOW. Extended a lead a bit with medium-scoring plays to his low ones, ran him down on time, he phoneyed with PINgIEST* and I was able to keep scoring. W 447-355.
bedtime. passed out.
vs Matthew: Another game where I didn't control the board well enough, but got a big enough lead going to be able to get through some messy, vowel-heavy racks toward the end (AEEIOOP, AABEIOU, AEIOLMU, AADGSUV). Played DETANGLE+ W 441-393.
vs Sal: SEANCES to open and FlAVONE a couple turns later - I held the lead start to finish. W 456-328.
vs Jerry: you know when you trade on the first turn instead of scoring small and staying unbalanced, but then everything unravels from there? this was one of those games for me. Got spread down to 100 despite being 3x3'ed and outbingoed 2-1. Cute play - extending HI to (HI)MATION. L 377-476.
vs Joel: our games tend to be really low scoring. maybe this is him trying not to let me bingo all the time? really don't know. i pulled ahead by a bingo toward the end, and he stuck INTI at 1C when I had AQLOTUY. I fished for QU(INTI)LE for one turn, then decided it was too dangerous to leave the 3x3 open and blocked it. Joel's tiles didn't quite come together soon enough and I outran him. W 386-340.
lunch. didn't feel well enough to eat. had a frappucino and got a tummyache. poor me.
vs Karl: I concatenated TROCHAIC and STOCHASTIC and played STOChAIC*, which was challenged off. oops. Got pSOATIC next tun but then Karl bingo bangoed and I was done. Did make cute KA to (KA)OLIANG play. L 371-479.
vs Seth: I never beat Seth. Had bingo friendly tiles and no way to score with them for much of the second half of the game, and just kept falling further behind. Bingoed at the end with STErNED+ so at least I got a new word down. L 328-344.
vs Jamie: He bingoed and bingoed. L 619-429.
vs Joey: was headed for a straightforward loss when I lucked into FLAVOURS from the F and then drew the blank and most of the vowels, while he was stuck with FILNTTS. W 424-416.
dinner: i was finally hungry and ate Indian food that was so spicy i almost died.
then i mostly watched Evans play trivia, but was nominally good at thinking of words with J in them for one of the picture rounds and our team won money. cool.
vs Debbie: this was an interesting one. Down 25, she phoney blank bingos with eight in the bag, so now I have almost perfect knowledge of the situation and five minutes to try to figure out what to do about that. I'm still not sure what I was supposed to do. http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=20730#24# L 387-459.
vs Edley: another one that I think I gave myself a better than expected chance toward the end and then couldn't quite work it out. He bingo bangoed on turns 2-3 with DRIFTNET+ (pretty) and EUgEnIA. I pulled back to 30 behind by almost last racks, but ended up drawing clunky at the end. L 400-413.
vs Joel: I played seven Es including three in bingoes in the first four turns. W 358-274.
vs Jason: thanks to Biology class, was able to challenge off the phoney S hook on his pretty play of GYnOECIA, which gave me a bit of rhythm. Played GRRRL+. Got EUGENIAS down (thanks for reminding me that it was a word, Edley), then ENTREATS toward the end. W 438-325.
Was it a little frustrating to hit a three-game run of losses and get double-blanked three times in the last four games? Sure, but I'm still pretty happy that it turned out as well as it did. Getting into these new words has renewed my interest in studying a bit. Time to start prepping for NM, and I guess I'll be going to Nationals and playing for a change... may be my last OWL tourney for awhile, as CSW is becoming more appealing...
Bingo List (23 for me: 13 sevens, 10 eights; 29 for them)
COEDITOR, PArOLES / RAdIATOR
SPANDEX / DISPOSAL, NOmINEE
ELEVATE / BORAGES, SIENITe
DETANGLE, VAUNTeR / INTERNAL, STRIVeS
PIcAROS / REDUCERs (3x3), SPIRAEAS
HIRSLED, TOADIEs / bEANIES (i think - i didn't write it down)
pSOATIC / REWROTE, CODEINEs, TUTORIAL
STErNED / INTERBEd
AMORINO, BRUITING / COEnAMOR, BONNETED, SIDEWARD, WAITERED, ALLUReS
RANSOMER, FLAVOURS / sUCTION
ANORETIC, GASOLINE / RUINING, MySTICAL, BIELDEd
ISOGONES / DRIFTNET, EUgEnIA, SAUNTER
OlEFINE, LONELIER / none
EUGENIAS, ENTREATS / GYnOECIA, SINEWED
2 blanks: 1-0
1 blank: 6-3
0 blanks: 2-3
vs Diane: got a free turn in a phony homophone of a good word - just the change in tempo helped me out quite a bit. Got to play OXIC+. W 395-307.
vs Scott: SPANDEX to open, then got greedy when up 120, opened board, and Scott proceeded to take the lead. Luckily found the second blank and was able to hold on to the lead from there, despite some bingo-prone endgame tiles that could've certainly turned things back his way. W 420-358.
vs Mike: I gave him a spot for his orphan BORAGES, but then he returned the favor a few turns later, playing VOW to let me bingo with ELEVATE/AVOW. Extended a lead a bit with medium-scoring plays to his low ones, ran him down on time, he phoneyed with PINgIEST* and I was able to keep scoring. W 447-355.
bedtime. passed out.
vs Matthew: Another game where I didn't control the board well enough, but got a big enough lead going to be able to get through some messy, vowel-heavy racks toward the end (AEEIOOP, AABEIOU, AEIOLMU, AADGSUV). Played DETANGLE+ W 441-393.
vs Sal: SEANCES to open and FlAVONE a couple turns later - I held the lead start to finish. W 456-328.
vs Jerry: you know when you trade on the first turn instead of scoring small and staying unbalanced, but then everything unravels from there? this was one of those games for me. Got spread down to 100 despite being 3x3'ed and outbingoed 2-1. Cute play - extending HI to (HI)MATION. L 377-476.
vs Joel: our games tend to be really low scoring. maybe this is him trying not to let me bingo all the time? really don't know. i pulled ahead by a bingo toward the end, and he stuck INTI at 1C when I had AQLOTUY. I fished for QU(INTI)LE for one turn, then decided it was too dangerous to leave the 3x3 open and blocked it. Joel's tiles didn't quite come together soon enough and I outran him. W 386-340.
lunch. didn't feel well enough to eat. had a frappucino and got a tummyache. poor me.
vs Karl: I concatenated TROCHAIC and STOCHASTIC and played STOChAIC*, which was challenged off. oops. Got pSOATIC next tun but then Karl bingo bangoed and I was done. Did make cute KA to (KA)OLIANG play. L 371-479.
vs Seth: I never beat Seth. Had bingo friendly tiles and no way to score with them for much of the second half of the game, and just kept falling further behind. Bingoed at the end with STErNED+ so at least I got a new word down. L 328-344.
vs Jamie: He bingoed and bingoed. L 619-429.
vs Joey: was headed for a straightforward loss when I lucked into FLAVOURS from the F and then drew the blank and most of the vowels, while he was stuck with FILNTTS. W 424-416.
dinner: i was finally hungry and ate Indian food that was so spicy i almost died.
then i mostly watched Evans play trivia, but was nominally good at thinking of words with J in them for one of the picture rounds and our team won money. cool.
vs Debbie: this was an interesting one. Down 25, she phoney blank bingos with eight in the bag, so now I have almost perfect knowledge of the situation and five minutes to try to figure out what to do about that. I'm still not sure what I was supposed to do. http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=20730#24# L 387-459.
vs Edley: another one that I think I gave myself a better than expected chance toward the end and then couldn't quite work it out. He bingo bangoed on turns 2-3 with DRIFTNET+ (pretty) and EUgEnIA. I pulled back to 30 behind by almost last racks, but ended up drawing clunky at the end. L 400-413.
vs Joel: I played seven Es including three in bingoes in the first four turns. W 358-274.
vs Jason: thanks to Biology class, was able to challenge off the phoney S hook on his pretty play of GYnOECIA, which gave me a bit of rhythm. Played GRRRL+. Got EUGENIAS down (thanks for reminding me that it was a word, Edley), then ENTREATS toward the end. W 438-325.
Was it a little frustrating to hit a three-game run of losses and get double-blanked three times in the last four games? Sure, but I'm still pretty happy that it turned out as well as it did. Getting into these new words has renewed my interest in studying a bit. Time to start prepping for NM, and I guess I'll be going to Nationals and playing for a change... may be my last OWL tourney for awhile, as CSW is becoming more appealing...
Bingo List (23 for me: 13 sevens, 10 eights; 29 for them)
COEDITOR, PArOLES / RAdIATOR
SPANDEX / DISPOSAL, NOmINEE
ELEVATE / BORAGES, SIENITe
DETANGLE, VAUNTeR / INTERNAL, STRIVeS
PIcAROS / REDUCERs (3x3), SPIRAEAS
HIRSLED, TOADIEs / bEANIES (i think - i didn't write it down)
pSOATIC / REWROTE, CODEINEs, TUTORIAL
STErNED / INTERBEd
AMORINO, BRUITING / COEnAMOR, BONNETED, SIDEWARD, WAITERED, ALLUReS
RANSOMER, FLAVOURS / sUCTION
ANORETIC, GASOLINE / RUINING, MySTICAL, BIELDEd
ISOGONES / DRIFTNET, EUgEnIA, SAUNTER
OlEFINE, LONELIER / none
EUGENIAS, ENTREATS / GYnOECIA, SINEWED
2 blanks: 1-0
1 blank: 6-3
0 blanks: 2-3