New Day, Time, and Place for Club Sessions

Beginning next Sunday, January 3, 2010, the Lexington Scrabble Club will be meeting every Sunday at the Perkins Family Restaurant, 2401 Richmond Road, at the front of the old Lexington Mall property. We will have a separate room to ourselves; sessions will start at 3 p.m. and can last until the shift change between 8 and 9 p.m., so players may arrive late if they need to and play for an extended period of time. Scrabblers from Louisville and northern Kentucky/Cincinnati (or anywhere else!) are always welcome to join us.

There were seven for our final session at VFW Post 680 last night -- Betty, Cheryl, Joetta, John, Pat, Steve, and Will. Many thanks to the VFW for allowing us to use their meeting room in 2009 for our club sessions and two one-day tournaments!

We look forward to seeing members who have been unable to play at club while our sessions at Good Foods Co-op were suspended during construction there and hope the new day will work better for those who have not been able to make it to Monday night sessions at the VFW.

A Happy New Year and much fun at playing Scrabble in 2010 to all of you!

Come join us at Perkins on Sundays.

Skipping Second Sunday again

There will be a party this Sunday at the VFW, so there will be no Second Sunday meeting of the club this month.

(Next month we'll see if Good Foods' meeting room is back in action.)

Ratings Changes from Lexington 11/21 Tourney

NASPA now has the results of our one-day tournament on Saturday, November 21, posted with official ratings changes. Here is a link to that results page.

These are the ratings changes --

(Format: Finish -- Player Name -- Old Rating -- New Rating -- Change)

DIVISION 1

1 -- Marc Broering -- 1739 -- 1763 -- plus 24 -- NEW PEAK
2 -- Kelly McKenzie -- 1694 -- 1704 -- plus 10
3 -- Will Scott -- 1310 -- 1302 -- minus 8
4 -- Robert Kearn -- 1289 -- 1264 -- minus 25

DIVISION 2

1 -- David Meredith -- 949 -- 1016 -- plus 67
2 -- Thomas Webb -- 1004 -- 1018 -- plus 14 -- NEW PEAK
3 -- Lois Greene -- 1154 -- 1141 -- minus 13
4 -- Chris Sitler -- 836 -- 851 -- plus 15 -- NEW PEAK
5 -- Andrew Wade -- 1019 -- 981 -- minus 38
6 -- Brad Wade -- 865 -- 843 -- minus 22

DIVISION 3

1 -- Margaret Pozgay -- 801 -- 856 -- plus 55
2 -- Elizabeth Davis -- 783 -- 850 -- plus 67 -- NEW PEAK
3 -- Susanna Webb -- 500 -- 550 -- plus 50 -- NEW PEAK
4 -- Betty King -- 650 -- 603 -- minus 47
5 -- Janet Scheeline -- unrated -- 500 -- (initial rating)
6 -- Cheryl Coovert -- 503 -- 465 -- minus 38

Although the tourney itself is not yet reported on cross-tables.com, it appears that individual player statistics there have already been adjusted to reflect our tourney results. Players whose lines above are shown in RED have new personal ratings' peaks on cross-tables.com .

Good luck to Kentuckian Brian Bowman at WSC 2009!

The 2009 World Scrabble Championship is being played at Johor Bahru, Malaysia, from November 26 to 29, and one of the players there is BRIAN BOWMAN from Villa Hills, Kentucky, who has played at our club and in Lexington tournaments. We wish him all the best there!

Unlike club and tournament play here under the rules of the North American Scrabble Players Association, the WSC uses Harper/Collins (SOWPODS) instead of OWL2 + the LL, and the penalty for an unsuccessful challenge is a five-point penalty for each incorrectly challenged word, not loss of a turn.

There are competitors from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, England, France, Ghana, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Oman, Pakistan, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinadad and Tobago, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Wales, and Zambia.

And, one of them is our friend from northern Kentucky. Good luck to Brian!


ADDED COMMENT (11/28/2009):

The 2009 World Scrabble Championship website has live coverage of its games. John Chew, NASPA Co-President and developer of tsh tournament management software, is providing this and doing the commentary.

Brian finished the next-to-the-last day of the tournament at 14-10, +441. He is currently in 23th place out of 108 players. The top ten finishers will receive prizes totalling $30,500.

Here is a link to Brian's tournament results page.

November 21 Tournament Results

We were pleased to have sixteen players with us for our single-day, seven-round tourney on Saturday, November 21. Eight of the players were from our club area; five were Kentuckians from outside our club area; two were from Ohio; and one was from Indiana.

Here are the results:

Data format is Finish -- Seed -- Name, Rating, W/L, Spread (Prize)

DIVISION 1

1 -- 1 -- Marc Broering, 1739, 6-1, +299 ($80)
2 -- 2 -- Kelly McKenzie, 1694, 5-2, +807 ($40)
3 -- 3 -- Will Scott, 1310, 2-5, -231
4 -- 4 -- Robert Kearn, 1289, 1-6, -785

DIVISION 2

1 -- 4 -- David Meredith, 949, 6-1, +534 ($80)
2 -- 3 -- Thomas Webb, 1004, 4-3, +386 ($40)
3 -- 1 -- Lois Greene, 1154, 4-3, -166
4 -- 6 -- Chris Sitler, 836, 3-4, +17
5 -- 2 -- Andrew Wade, 1019, 2-5, -290
6 -- 5 -- Brad Wade, 865, 2-5, -481

DIVISION 3

1 -- 1-- Margaret Pozgay, 801, 6-1, +695 ($80)
2 -- 2 -- Elizabeth Davis, 783, 6-1, +279 ($40)
3 -- 5 -- Susanna Webb, 500, 4-3, -109
4 -- 3 -- Betty King, 650, 2-5, -137
5 -- 6 -- Janet Scheeline, unrated, 2-5, -494
6 -- 4 -- Cheryl Coovert, 503, 1-6, -234

Tourney high play prize of $20 went to Rob Kearn for QUILTER / CENTAL for 108 points.

Congratulations to our club member Janny on successfully completing her first tournament.

Thanks to all who participated for making the day go so smoothly and without any glitches. There were very few and only minor questions for the directors, and result slips were submitted promptly and with a minimal number of points to be resolved.

Joetta Wilkinson and John Spangler
Club No. 637 Directors

Darn right, John, since you are the busiest tournament player in the bunch!

I had a blog on Live Journal briefly, hopefully I will get some time to look over how to run this thing. I was going to put up an UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT post but you already took care of that, thanks!

New blog team leader takes over this club blog.

I want to thank Cheryl Coovert, our club webmaster, for kindly volunteering to take over this club blog and wish her well in her new role here.

Just now I have reactivated the blog (I had closed it down temporarily), granted her full administrator rights, and revoked my own ... so this blog is now hers to do with as she likes.

My personal blog is also shut down and will stay that way and be wiped out as soon as I store whatever entries there that I may want to save.

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. :-)

You can still find me on Facebook, and I will post from time to time here (as I will soon do about the Asheville tournment this past weekend)

John Spangler

Intarwebz stuph

I just renewed the club domain and webhosting for 2 years. They made it WAY too difficult, I was *very* tempted to move the domain to another host!

One-Day Tourney in Lexington on Sat., Nov. 21

We will be having a single-day, seven-round Scrabble tournament here in Lexington on Saturday, November 21. The event will be held at the meeting room for VFW Post 680 at 1494 Leestown Road, Lexington. In the blog's sidebar, there is a link to Google Maps for the VFW's address.

Registrants for this tournament must be members of the NASPA, the North American Scrabble Players Association. Annual dues for NASPA are $30; there is also a six-month trial membership available for $15.

The tourney has been approved by NASPA and is posted on the NASPA tournament calendar; it is also now up on Cross-Tables. Here are links to the tourney flyer and the tourney entrants' list as posted on Cross-Tables.

Format will be round robin. Divisions and prize amounts to be determined by number of entrants. The deadline for entry is Thursday, November 19, but please register early (tentatively is fine) so that we will have some idea on how many to expect.

Tentative registration requests or questions may be sent to either of our club directors, Joetta Wilkinson at scrabbledirmom@aol.com or John Spangler at JMSinKY@aol.com, who will be co-directing the tourney.

Farewell... For Now

I will be starting classes this Thursday, 9/3, at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN. I just wanted to let everyone know how much I've enjoyed the past year playing Scrabble. I had no idea when I first went to club on Sep. 14, 2008 at Good Foods what an impact it would have on my life. I have met some amazing people, friends I'll have for a lifetime, not only from around the Lexington area but also from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, etc... I have really enjoyed progressing in terms of skill and word knowledge and hope to continue in the future. You have all made my experience with the Scrabble world a good one, and I want to sincerely thank each and every one of you.

I'll be back on breaks, and while at school I'll probably be attending some nearby clubs in Illinois or Indianapolis, but I'll never forget Club 637!

Wishing all of you the best,

Tyler

Will's nationals roundup

I played in Division 3 this year. In 2007 at Dayton, I was in Division 5 of 5; last year in Orlando, I was in Division 4 of 6. Movin' up!

I was seeded 52 out of 128, but I had high aspirations. My rating had climbed significantly in the past year, and my two most frequent opponents, Matthew and Tyler, were both rated 1600, and I usually was competitive in those games. Plus, just before I left for Dayton, Matthew gave me a pep talk that had me thinking I could slay a bear with my hands.

Alas, it was not to be. I had a terrific start; after Game 2, I was in third place by virtue of two blowout wins. The second game was one of my tourney highlights: My opponent drew the bag on me, yet I cruised to victory.

After Day 1, I was 5-2 and in 14th place. After that, though, I went 8-16 for the rest of the tournament to finish at 13-18 and in 102nd place.

There were fun moments. I renewed acquaintances with Scrabble friends and made new ones. Steve and Tyler were terrific travel companions, and as Steve mentioned, our after-hours games of Anagrams were a hoot.

Among my tourney highlights: I played a nine, RECOALING, for the first time that I can remember. Better yet, it withstood a challenge. I played two bingoes – AERONAUT and EATERIES – from my list of five-vowel eights. My high play was ALBEDOS for 95 through a triple-word score, hooking the S to make DEMOTIONS. That play drew a challenge as well. That was the same game in which I plated EATERIES, and it was my high game of the tournament: 503 p0ints. On the low end, I had two sub-300 games. I had a total of 32 bingoes in 31 games, which tells me that either I missed quite a few bingoes or I didn't manage my rack well. Or both. My opponents played 45 bingoes. That's probably my worst ratio ever in a tournament.

Here are some other stats:

My plays challenged – good: DOMICAL, ROOTAGES, STOT, ALBEDOS, ULCERATE, SARDINED, RECOALING,

My plays challenged – no good: EMO, EDEN, OPA, (unrecorded), GREEKS, KINESIA,

Opponents’ plays challenged – good: NIDATING, SYN, KAES, TOPED, OVERSIDE,

Opponents’ plays challenged – no good: MH, SLEDLINE, SANDELS, ELUATED, DONABLE, WADINGS, SIZEY, (unrecorded), JANED, ARELATE,

My unchallenged phoney: DRAGO

Opponents’ unchallenged phoneys: EREPINES, SEMINOLES, WELTY

My bingoes:
DOMICAL, AERONAUT, ROOTAGES, LISTENER, AEROSATS, GREETERS, ENCASING, ADORERS, OUTLAST, ENSLAVED, MENACES, PENSIVE, ALBINOS, EATERIES, ALBEDOS, UNCAGES, ULCERATE, ATOMISE, DIABASE, SARDINED, ASSERTS, RECOALING, AGONIES, ANALYST, DARLING, GRIDDLE, CLOVERS, SNOWING, DARESAY, IGNEOUS, RONDELET, STANDER

Opponents’ bingoes:
STRAINED, RELIEVER, ISATINE, SLANDERS, DUMPIER, NIDATING, LOITERS, BEIGNETS, ENCASING, ADORERS, REGRADED, EREPINES*, WAISTERS, LACTONE, SENIORS, PASTIES, SQUAMAE, OVERSIDE, DEMOTION, SLEDDER, REIFIES, TAENIAS, OLEATES, ENTIRES, ENGRAVES, INOSITE, NEGATION, HURLERS, SOLATES, BRACING, FEDERATE, TRITONES, AERATING, TESTERS, ELOIGNED, SEMINOLE*, COMEDIAN, FALTERS, CONSUMES, ORIENTAL, STAMENS, TREHALA, TRAWLER, REISSUE, JAILERS

Nationals Recap

I've been meaning to do this for awhile, and finally have some time. Since this was a 5-day, 31-game marathon of a tourney, it's obviously not practical to post a game-by-game analysis (sorry to disappoint everyone :-). Instead, I thought I'd just list some random thoughts about the overall experience, what went well and what didn't, and so on...

Overall experience
First and foremost, I had an absolute blast. From the overall outstanding job on the part of the organizers and volunteers running the whole thing, to the comraderie with fellow Scrabble enthusiasts, to the games themselves, it was something I'll never forget. Will and Tyler were great company the whole time, and one of my favorite activities was trading war stories with them while playing anagrams after hours at the outside tables at McDonald's or the coffee shop down the road from the hotel.

Personal bests
I set a few personal records which I'm proud of. First, was what I believe to be my first 9-letter word (that wasn't simply a hooked 8) in a tourney game. I had AELSTU? on my rack, and OP was on the board with O on the center square and P below it, so I played cOPULATES down to the triple word score. It was only later that I realized that I could have made the blank a P. :-)

I also had my highest game ever, a 579-402 win against Stephen DeBacco in the final round. There were a total of 7 bingoes, DIVISION, PELORIAS, ACARInES, and FATTENER by me (all 8s!), and NICTATeD, SETLINE (with a 5-word parallel play), and OUTREAD by him. I believe this was also possibly the High Combined Win for division 3, but the stats on the NSC website only go through round 28 or so, so far.

Finally, I got my rating to a new peak of 1395, which is +2 over where it was after Charleston WV last year before a subsequent (and precipitous) fall.

Favorite Plays
Highest scoring play was GLOATeRS, a 3x3 for 131, but that was a relatively easy find. Perhaps my favorite play was playing HQRSU through a U to make QURUSH, for a DWS with the Q on TLS, for 76 points.

Worst Play
Against Mark Garrod, playing HINGY* for a TWS, with the Y on DLS, and hooking the Y onto NOOK for NOOKY. This would have been a 64-point play and put me in the driver's seat to victory. Unfortunately it was challenged off. Even more unfortunately, I could have played HYING with the Y in the same spot, to the other TWS square, for the same score, and probably still drawn the challenge (Mark told me after the game he was equally unsure about NOOKY and HINGY*). Further, HYING was a better play since it closed the board down more effectively than HINGY*. Most unfortunate of all, though, HYING, a word that I was certain was good, was going through my head, even as I made the weaker (and invalid) play. I still don't understand why I did that, and probably never will.

Phonies and Challenges
I felt that this was one of my more prominent success areas during the tourney. I both won more challenges, and got away with more phonies, than my opponents by a significant margin:

Phonies by me that were allowed: PONTINES, SYRI, YOGIE, SNUGGLY (my favorite), CORIAL

Phonies by me that were challenged off: SEIGNOUR, HINGY

Opponents' phonies, allowed: SEALINGS, OVERKNOT, OVERKNOTS, LEASEES, GOLDY, IODONES, LEGWISE

Opponents' phonies, challenged off: COGNATER, PHEWS, CULTIS, HAWN, KETTLING, VINS, FOMATING, EMERATAS, SWIN, PARTRIGES, EP, BANIS

Good words, challenged by me: CARBINOL, SHOTTED, DICKY, BARNEYS, OUTPLACE, AEDINE

Good words, challenged by opponents: FATTENER, VIS, DEMOTING, NOMS, ACNED, LIVRE, FORMEE, WITHY, VERATRIN, SNOOLED

Again, overall I had a wonderful time. Of course I felt like I could have done better, as I have a tendency to overly dwell on my mistakes, but in the grand scheme of things a 19-12 performance is nothing to complain about. If nothing else, it's further motivation for the next time, whenever and wherever that might be.

Congratulations to Tyler and Steve!

At the end of Nationals, there was an awards ceremony where prizewinners from all five divisions were called to the front of the convention center main hall to be recognized for their accomplishments and receive the applause of their fellow players. Our small club had two such individuals, whose pictures from the NASPA collection of tourney photos are given below.

2009 NSC Division 2 8th-place winner

TYLER HANNAN

19-12, +1725

with Division 2 Director John Robertson

2009 NSC Division 3 12th-place winner

STEVE BUSH

19-12, +1290

with Division 3 Director Wendell Smith

Club Players at 2009 NSC, Dayton

The 2009 National SCRABBLE Championship at Dayton ended today around noon, with thirty-one rounds having been played over the course of four and a half days. Results for the four players from our club are given below; players' names are linked to each person's results page on the 2009 NSC webpages.

CONGRATULATIONS to Tyler Hannan for finishing eighth in Division 2, winning a prize of $300 dollars, and to Steve Bush for finishing twelfth in Division 3, winning a copy of the DVD of "Scrabylon." John Spangler won a set of double-injected ProTiles, one of the prizes in a raffle of Scrabble equipment donated to support NASPA.

It was announced Monday night that the 2010 and 2011 National Scrabble Championships will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

Here are final results for this year for our club players at NSC:

DIVISION 2
Tyler Hannan (seeded 15th with 17.9 expected wins)

pre-tourney rating, 1603; post-tourney, 1652, gaining 49 points

-- at the end of Day 5: 19-12, +1725, finishing 8th of 90

-- at the end of Day 4: 17-11, +1453, 10th of 90
-- at the end of Day 3: 12-9, +1084, 16th of 90

-- at the end of Day 2: 9-5, +980, 7th of 90
-- at the end of Day 1: 3-4, +415, 45th of 90

DIVISION 3
Will Scott (seeded 52nd with 16.6 expected wins)
pre-tourney rating, 1328; post-tourney, 1272, losing 56 points
-- at the end of Day 5: 13-18, +296, finishing 101st of 128
-- at the end of Day 4: 13-15, +500, 76th of 128
-- at the end of Day 3: 11-10, +611, 45th of 128
-- at the end of Day 2: 8-6, +480, 30th of 128
-- at the end of Day 1: 5-2, +272, 14th of 128
Steve Bush (seeded 55th with 16.4 expected wins)
pre-tourney rating, 1320; post-tourney, 1395, gaining 75 points
-- at the end of Day 5: 19-12, +1290, finishing 12th of 128
-- at the end of Day 4: 17-11, +1053, 18th of 128
-- at the end of Day 3: 12-9, +425, 29th of 128
-- at the end of Day 2: 8-6, +253, 36th of 128
-- at the end of Day 1: 4-3, +73, 50th of 128

DIVISION 4
John Spangler (seeded 94th with 9.6 expected wins)
pre-tourney rating, 838; post-tourney, 859, gaining 21 rating points
-- at the end of Day 5: 13-18, -1277, finishing 84th of 93
-- at the end of Day 4: 12-16, -1161, 79th of 93
-- at the end of Day 3: 9-12, -788, 80th of 93
-- at the end of Day 2: 5-9, -325, 77th of 93
-- at the end of Day 1: 2-5, -362, 82nd of 93

Kentucky Players at 2009 NSC, Dayton

(Updated July 21 at 2:02 PM to reflect new cross-tables.com data)

Here are the names, grouped by division, of players from Kentucky who have registered for the 2009 National Scrabble Championship at Dayton, Ohio, from Saturday, August 1, through Wednesday, August 5. Information given is from cross-tables.com's 2009 NSC entrants' list, as of the most current date and time shown in the listing at the end of this entry.

Registration ends July 15. This year there is unrestricted playing up at the NSC.

Division 1 (1700+) -- 128 players

15. Brian Bowman, of Villa Hills (1870)

86. Marc Broering, of Louisville (1693) (playing up)

91. Kelly McKenzie (1686) (playing up)

Division 2 (1500-1699) -- 83 players

15. Tyler Hannan, of Winchester (1603)

Division 3 (1300-1499) -- 129 players

57. Will Scott, of Versailles (1328)

61. Steve Bush, of Richmond (1320)

Division 4 (1000-1299) -- 94 players

33. Kevin Sears, of Louisville (1149)

34. Kathi Cann, of Leitchfield (1146)

92. John Spangler, of Versailles (838) (playing up)

Division 5 (under 1000) -- 53 players

3. David Meredith, of Bowling Green (956)

487 registrants, including 10 from Kentucky, as of July 21, at 12:16:55 p.m., per cross-tables

473 registrants, including 10 from Kentucky, as of July 16, at 12:12:23 a.m., per cross-tables.com

415 registrants, including 8 from Kentucky, as of July 11, at 11:20:48, per cross-tables.com

402 registrants, including 7 from Kentucky, as of July 10, at 8:44:02 PM, per cross-tables.com

390 registrants, including 6 from Kentucky, as of July 9, at 11:10:41 PM, per cross-tables.com

377 registrants, including 6 from Kentucky, as of July 8, at 6:01:36 PM, per cross-tables.com

Some Dates to Take Notice of

JULY 1 (today!)

Beginning today, a player must be a member of the new North American Scrabble Players Association in order to play in any sanctioned tournament in the United States and Canada. It is no longer necessary to retain your membership in the National Scrabble Association, which will continue to operate through Hasbro funding but will focus on school and casual Scrabble playing.

Right now, a search of NASPA's membership database shows 15 NASPA members in Kentucky, 10 of them from our club's playing area.

Membership dues are $30 yearly, but individuals joining throughout 2009 will have an initial membership extending through December 31, 2010. Click here for NASPA's webpage about how to join.

JULY 2 (tomorrow!)

Don't forget that the first Monday of each month is Scrabble Night at the Central Library branch of the Lexington Public Library at 140 East Main Street downtown from 6 to 9 p.m.

JULY 15 (two weeks from today!)

The deadline for registering for the 2009 National Scrabble Championship at Dayton, Ohio, is July 15, two weeks from today.

Last year there were six us from the Lexington club at 2008 NSC at Orlando. Dayton is a lot closer! 2009 NSC will be played at Dayton from Saturday, August 1, to Wednesday, August 5.

As of now, with only two weeks left to register, there are 312 registrants, with five from Kentucky -- in Division 1: Brian Bowman (1870), Marc Broering (1693, playing up), Kelly McKenzie (1686, playing up); in Division 4: Kathi Cann (1146); and in Division 5, John Spangler (838, but considering playing up to Division 4). This year unrestricted playing up is allowed.

It's not too late to join in the fun of five days of competitive Scrabble at Dayton. Check out NASPA's 2009 NSC page. A lot of people wait until near the deadline to decide whether they will be able to come. Last year there were 662 players at 2008 NSC, Orlando.

Indianapolis and Knoxville Tourneys, June 20-21

It was a big weekend for Lexington Scrabblers.

First, Marc Broering and Andy Wade drove up to Indianapolis on Saturday for a 7-game, 1 day tournament.

According to the Scrabble Association's posted results, Marc had a rough day, going 2-5 in Division 1. His rating dropped from 1734 to 1693, but we all know that number is going to go up again soon.

Andy had a very good day. As the fourth seed, he won Division 4, going 6-1 with a plus-431 spread. His rating jumped from 945 to 1019.

On Saturday and Sunday, Tyler Hannan, Steve Bush, John Spangler, and I played a 15-game, 2-day tournament in Knoxville.

Tyler went 8-7 in Division 1, finishing fifth. His rating will go from 1583 to over 1600, just three months after cracking 1500.

I went 8-7 in Division 2, finishing fourth, and winning a "Bob's Bible." My rating will go over 1300, so I can play in Division 3 at Nationals without making excuses.

Steve went 7-8 in Division 2, finishing seventh. Ever the gentleman, he graciously let me outdraw him in two games over the weekend. His rating will stay over 1300, so he might be able to exact his revenge on me at Nationals.

John went 8-7 in Division 4, finishing sixth. His rating might slip a bit, but he's due for a breakout performance, maybe at Nationals.

Another Kentuckian but not a club member, Mark Edward Owens, also played at Knoxville. He finished 7-8, finishing seventh, but he exceeded his expected number of wins, so his rating, currently 1580, is certain to rise a bit.

The official results and ratings haven't been posted yet, but our combined performance means a net gain in ratings points for Kentucky, and especially for the Lexington club members. Woohoo!

MODERATOR'S ADDENDUM (6/23/2009, at 11:15 PM) -- The National Scrabble Association now has ratings changes posted for the Knoxville tourney. Here are the numbers (name, old rating, new rating, change) for the Kentucky contingent at Knoxville:

Tyler Hannan, 1583, 1603, +20

Mark David Owens, 1580, 1580, 0

Will Scott, 1297, 1328, +31

Steve Bush, 1307, 1320, +13

John Spangler, 849, 838, -11

Congratulations to Tyler for breaking into the 1600's! What makes this even more noteworthy is that Tyler has been playing in tournaments for only nine months! His first tournament was a local club tournament at Huntington, WV, in October of last year, with his initial rating at 1163. Great work, Tyler. Onward and upward!

Charleston, WV Tourney in a Nutshell

Just a short, initial post while I am still in Charleston about this past weekend's tourney here. Four of us from the Lexington Scrabble Club (NASPA Club No. 637) attended the tournament, and here is a photo of us at its conclusion, thanks to photographer Peggy from Columbia, SC --

The Lexington contingent at the May 2009 Charleston, WV tournament
Eric, Margaret, John, Tyler

Club member Will sent us all an e-mail pre-tourney wishing us luck and telling us to bring home ratings' points. Well, three of the four of us took him to heart -- Eric, Margaret, and Tyler are all returning with higher ratings -- and Tyler is doing it really big time! They are projected to have rating increases of 50, 20, and 107 points, respectively -- with Tyler breaking the 1500 mark!!!

Tyler won his division, 11-1 (+993), winning the first place prize of $325.

And although I didn't have a ratings' increase, I had a great time and did better, playing up again this year (4-8, -700) than I did playing up last year (2-10, -736), and there's always next year, right?

Complete results were up already last night on the host club's website.

Many, many thanks from all of us to Brad Mills, director of the Kanawha Valley Scrabble Club, for organizing and directing a really fine and fun tournament again this year. The new venue was great, and very positively received by those attending, 60 players in the main event this year. Special personal thanks to local club member Lisa, who very kindly arranged for my Sunday afternoon at Charleston's Clay Center of the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia, which I thoroughly enjoyed visiting for the first time. What a great complex! The movie on Hurricane Katrina in the center's planetarium/cinema, projected on the domed ceiling, was awesome and moving, and the special exhibition of movie and television costumes (including Margaret Hamilton's witch hat from The Wizard of Oz, Harrison Ford's leather jacket and whip from The Raiders of the Lost Ark, Darth Vader's outfit from Star Wars, and Star Trek costumes, among others) was great fun to see.

More text and more photos when I get back to Versailles! Still have to pack up and check out.

And club tonight back home, too! :-)

Charleston WV Day 2

I went 3-1 today and finished up the tournament 11-1 +993, coming in first and winning 375 bucks. Estimated rating gain +107 to bring to 1583. It was a very enjoyable weekend for me, a great tourney and great people.

Charleston WV Day 1

Day 1 went very well for me, I finished 8-0 +904. I definitely drew very well, and I feel like I played well too. The second place player is 7-1 +449 so I have a very large lead on spread, and I think if I can go 2-2 or better tomorrow I should win the division. My estimated rating gain at the moment is +94 however that will go down drastically with even 1 loss because I will lose all of the acceleration points. I am just happy that I should be breaking 1500 and placing in the money.
The tourney venue is a pretty big nice hotel, with a bar right outside the tourney room and a TV where we watched the Derby. (1-50 shot winning the derby???)
Off to play a doubles scrabble variant.

Club Session of 4/20/2009 (2009-15)

(Post incomplete; more to follow)

Our local club tournament occurred just two days ago, so it is not surprising that some of the members did not make it to club tonight. Still we had seven players. Thanks to Julie for providing pizza for those who were there!

Here are the stats for this evening's session, based on three rounds of play, with any extra games played beyond three not included. Session results are listed first by number of wins, then by spreads.

RESULTS

7 players playing 9 games

Betty -- 3-0, +99
Andy -- 2-1, +272
John -- 2-1, +132
Loren -- 1-1, +104
Joetta -- 0-2, -180 (third game results not yet received)
Scott -- 0-3, -427
Julie -- 1 game, results not yet received

BINGOS

4 of 7 players playing 8 bingos in 4 of 9 games played
7 seven-letter bingos, 1 eight-letter bingo
no phony bingos successfully played

Andy -- (B)ARRELS 61, (J)OINABLE 68, SNAKIER 77
Betty -- AREOLES 66, RETINAS 75

Joetta -- TRAVELS 80
John -- EX(P)RESS 67, GAVO(T)TE 78

SESSION RECORDS

Highest Win -- Andy, winning against Joetta, in Round 1, 405-242 (+163)
Lowest Win -- Loren, winning against Scott, in Round 2, 345-220 (+125)
Highest Loss -- Joetta, losing to Betty, in Round 2, 376-393 (-17)
Closest Game -- Betty, winning against Joetta, in Round 2, 393-376 (+17)
Most Points Scored with a Bingo -- Joetta, playing TRAVELS for 80 points against Betty in Round 2
Most Bingos Played in a Game -- two bingos played by Andy (against Joetta in Round 1); by Betty (against Joetta in Round 2); and by John (against Andy in Round 2)
Most Bingos Played during this Club Session -- three, played by Andy

2009 CUMULATIVE STATS THRU 4/7/2009

(Table to be Added Soon)

Lexington Scrabble Club local club tourney, 4/18/2009

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous spring day in the Bluegrass, and a great day for an all-day local club tournament. Fourteen of us spent the day mostly inside doing battle over our Scrabble boards. In addition to our local folks, we were happy to have Marc Broering and David Meredith drive over from Louisvile to join us.

Here are the results from this two-division, seven-round tourney --

DIVISION 1
Marc Broering, 6-1, +611 (first place, $80)
Tyler Hannan, 5-2, +486 (second place, $40)
Steve Bush, 4-3, +287
Will Scott, 3-4, -261
David Meredith, 2-5, -493
Andrew Wade, 1-6, -630

DIVISION 2
Brad Wade, 6-1, +703 (first place, $80)
Charles Faber, 5-2, +401 (second place, $40)
John Spangler, 5-2, +286
Joetta Wilkinson, 4-3, +18
Betty King, 3-4, +212
Cheryl Coovert, -367
Thomas Hehl, 2-5, +185
Pat Binzer, 0-7, -1438

SECONDARY PRIZES ($10 each in both divisions)
Highest win -- Div. 1, Marc Broering; Div. 2, Brad Wade
Highest loss -- Div. 1, Andy Wade; Div. 2, Charles Faber
Highest play --Div. 1, Tyler Hannan for UNRIFLED, 121 pts.; Div. 2, Brad Wade
(Commenters will please confirm these results; sorry for my poor memory here.)

The tourney was held at our Monday evening club location, VFW Post 680's meeting hall, which worked out well. Special thanks to the post's Ladies' Auxiliary for making lunch (grilled hamburgers and cheeseburgers with all the fixings, french fries, nachos) on site and at a very reasonable price. The food was great, and several opted to eat out back outside in the post's picnic pavilion.

All of the blog team members were there so I expect a lot of posts and comments.

For my part, hats off to:

• Cheryl Coovert, who in our first round game, beat me soundly with THREE bingos in a row: CUIS(I)NE 76, ANOINTER 70, and INSPIRE 71.
• Pat Binzer, who only recently started at club and now has her first tournament under her belt -- like all of us when we first started, she is hanging in there and becoming more familiar with the rules and vocabulary of club and tournament Scrabble and having a good time in the process.
  
• Joetta Wilkinson, our club director, who has now directed her first tournament and is already talking about doing more! Way to go, Joetta!

It was a fun, relaxed day with seven rounds of competitive Scrabble. Life is good!

Added text (4/23/2009): NSA's ratings for our tournament are now up. Cross-Tables seems to be behind on postings; right now the most recent tournaments shown there were held on April 5. Maybe the C-T guys are on spring break! If so, it's well deserved!

Club Session of 4/13/2009 (2009-14)

(Post incomplete; more to follow)

There were five of us for club tonight, fewer than usual, but we still had fun.

Our club tourney is this coming Saturday – seven rounds of Scrabble; should be a great time!

Here are the stats for this evening's session, based on three rounds of play, with any extra games played beyond three not included. Session results are listed first by number of wins, then by spreads.

RESULTS
5 players playing 7 games

Tyler -- 3-0, +440
Betty -- 2-1, +141
John -- 2-1, -101
Andy -- 0-3, -146
Joetta -- 0-2, -334

BINGOS
4 of 5 players playing 16 bingos in 7 of 7 games played
11 seven-letter bingos, 5 eight-letter bingos
2 phony bingos successfully played

Andy -- BRON(Z)ES 70, DESTAIN 75, SINTERS 81
Betty -- OMELETS 68,PELTINGS* 88, PIVOTER* 85

John -- REFINISH 78

Tyler -- ALMONDS 93, DOLLARS 67, EROTICA 71, MOISTEN 80, ORIOLES 66, OVERLEWD 66, RECANTED 68, RESIGHT 82, REUNITER 66

SESSION RECORDS

Highest Win -- Tyler’s Round 3 win against Joetta, 502-326 (+176)
Lowest Win -- John’s Round 3 win against Andy, 341-327 (+14)
Highest Loss -- Betty’s Round 1 loss to John, 363-384 (-21)
Closest Game -- Betty’s Round 3 win against Andy, 339-335 (+4)
Most Points Scored with a Bingo -- Tyler’s Round 1 bingo ALMONDS for 93 points against Andy
Player with Most Bingos Played in a Game -- Tyler’s Round 3, four bingos played against Joetta
Player with Most Bingos Played during this Club Session -- Tyler, nine bingos played

2009 CUMULATIVE STATS THRU 4/13/2009

(Table to be Added Soon)

Will's Myrtle Beach tourney: Main event

In the main event, I was seeded fourth of 14 in Division 2. Two of the three higher seeds had beaten me already in the early bird.


Game 1 against Joann Burchett:
Not much memorable about this game, although I made a late comeback. I was down by 29 and made consecutive plays of 39, 39 and 28 while Joann scored 16, 19 and 19. She bingoed with O(U)TRIDEs on turn 5, but only for 66. I had no bingoes; my high play was BR(I)M/LOOM for 42. We split the blanks.


Game 2 against Frank Schin:
Going into a tournament, one goal I always have is to not have a game below 300 points. Well, that didn't last long. Frank spanked me, 416-272. He opened with PlACATE for 76 and later played RETIMEd, also for 76. Meanwhile, I was dropping plays of 10, 10, 11, 14 and 15. My opening rack was DEEIIIT, and I played TEIID to clean it up, but things didn't get any better. On turn 7, I had WORDILY on my rack, but I had to settle for WORDY/WE for 35, and that was my high play. Looking at that rack now, I wonder if I missed an open S for DROWSILY. On turn 6 I held EFLLRUY and made E(A)RFUL, to which Frank added a T front hook to make his RETIMEd. Looking at it now, I wonder if I missed an open U to make RUEFULLY. If I ever figure out Quackle, this is one game to analyze.
I'm now 1-4 lifetime against Frank. He is a decent guy, and he graciously insisted that he drew the bag on me, but I didn't help myself, either. I felt lost the entire game. It's the kind of game has dragged me down in the past, but fortunately, I managed to put it behind me.


Game 3 against Cheryl Melvin:
I almost blew this game. I played ELICITS/TROGS on turn 4 to take an early lead, but on turn 7 I played an awful phony: a T front hook on ILEX that Cheryl had just played to make TILEX*. I got it confused with SILEX. So Cheryl promptly plays ATONIES/SILEX to take a 50-point lead. Luckily, on turn 12 I played SEABAGS/MEATS to retake the lead, and I held on from there to win, 442-401. I drew three esses and the X, and she drew everything else, so I felt good about pulling that one out.


Game 4 against Marilyn Pomeroy:
I had played Marilyn about eight years ago, and I've seen her at various tourneys since then. It was good to be able to play her again, but the result was the same as our first game.
She played DOZER for 51 points on her second turn, and followed that with POSTING/PI on her third to take an early lead. I made a couple good plays with XYSTI/TRUED for 36 and RHEA/EX/AY for 28, but then I made a boneheaded play: GRR*. I hadn't reviewed the threes for a while, and it cost me. I thought GRR and BRR were both good. So she takes her free turn, and holding AIRRRST, I exchange. After Marilyn plays, she's up, 205-85. I play (E)LOINERS on turn 8 for 70 and one of my best plays of the tournament, CERATIN/EMU/RE/AG, for 83 on turn 13, but it's not enough to excavate myself. Marilyn wins, 390-353.


Game 5 against Katya Lezin:
I was 0-3 against Katya, so I was eager to correct that trend.
Katya jumped to an early 50-point lead, but I caught up and passed her with IODATES/FAERIES for 72 on turn 4. Then I got away with a phony 8,
TI(D)EWALL*, on turn 7. She held but didn't challenge, and I was so certain that it was good that when she back-hooked it with an S with QIS, I didn't even hold. Now I've got to make sure it's out of my head. It's a win, 377-305.


Game 6 against Alan Riechman:
Alan takes an early lead with MARINES/COBS for 70 on turn 3, but I bounced back on turn 5 with (E)NTAILED. I then seal the win with DETAILS on turn 10. I drew both blanks and 3 esses, so that certainly helped.


Game 7 against Toni Douglas:
I open with a phony, NOTAH*, confusing it with LOTAH, but Toni isn't sure and lets it stay on the board. And that was the highlight of this game. I drew both blanks, but not until the very end, so they were no help. My best play was for 38 and hers was for 43. I win, 364-309. A win is a win, so, woohoo!

Game 8 against Noah Lieberman:
Noah is Katya's teen-age son, one of those precocious youngsters who are rising through the ranks. We had a close game until I played the only bingo, SLUDGEs, back-hooking the D to GADI, which I had played three turns earlier. Noah didn't like GADID, so he challenged, but it came back good. My study of fives paid off! Later, I played Qi for 31 and BYTE and something else (bad recordkeeping) for 57 to pull away for a 421-302 win.


So after a 2-2 morning, I finished the day 6-2, feeling good. But I still had to play the top 3 seeds.

Game 9, against Susan Bertoni.
Susan had beaten me at Nationals last year and in the early bird, so I wanted a measure of revenge. We both struggled this time, each exchanging twice during the game. She edged to an early lead, but I caught her with ANGLING on turn 7. She then edged ahead again, but with both blanks and 2 esses, I played rEVISeS for 80 on turn 13, and she couldn't catch me. I won, 380-361.

Game 10, against Matt Hopkins.
Matt and I split our two games in the early bird, so this was our rubber match.
He opened with a bingo, UNCLEAN, but I limited the damage by playing ZITI. After that it was back and forth for a while. I picked up a blank on turn three, then picked up the second one to keep it company. Finally, I used them both on turn 8, with MISNAMED for 83. I don't remember which letters were the blanks, because Matt is a fast player and I'm slow, and I abandoned any attempt at tracking after turn 6.
Matt immediately answered with GAWKIEST for 70 to go ahead by a point. However, I followed with JOLTED for 45 to take control.
After turn 11, I was up 371-337. Matt made a 23-point play to make it 371-360. I had both remaining esses, and while considering my options, I noted to myself that so far in the tournament, I hadn't made a single dumb mistake. I rarely make it through a tourney without one bonehead decision, often one that costs me a game. Well, I was about to make one.
I had given up on tracking, so I didn't know Matt's final rack, and my time was short, so I couldn't go through it now. However, there were no bingo lanes, and I knew I could go out in two plays, picking up Matt's leftovers and eking out a win.
I had a place to play EASE for 18 points, but VOX had been played down from the triple-word in the upper righthand corner. I couldn't resist, so I played ES to make (VOX)ES* and (TON)E for 21. It was a move that my clubmate John Spangler, Mr. Latin, would never have made. (The plural of VOX is VOCES.)
Matt nearly jumped out of his chair: "Challenge!" I looked again at my play and instantly realized what I had done. I've studied fives hard, especially those using the power tiles, and VOXES* wasn't in there. I told Matt there was no need to adjudicate and took back my tiles.
Matt then made a 25-point play, I played EASE for 18, and he went out on the next play, picking up 6 points from me to win, 403-389.
I said to myself, "What a F#*<-up!" (Okay, I said it out loud, but it was aimed in my direction.) I sat there with my head buried in my hands as I fell into a bottomless, lightless pool of self-loathing. Matt was a gentleman, sitting there quietly until I gathered myself. He probably thought I was crying. Among other things, I was convinced that I had just blown any shot at winning the division. A 7-2, I was in third place going into this game, and now I had taken a big step backward. What I didn't know was that both players ahead of me also lost that round, so I wasn't as bad off as I thought.
Often, a bad game such as this throws me off, and I stumble around the rest of the tournament. Fortunately, I was able to clear my head and keep playing.

Game 11, against Marcia Wade.
Marcia was the top seed, and she was having a good tourney, sitting in first at 8-2. I knew I had to be on my game against her.
Marcia is quiet, calm and efficient. She's a longtime player, once rated inthe 1800's, but she doesn't track and she doesn't visibly agonize over what she should do. She just plays.
After opening with UNTO, I played ZAX for 38 on my second turn, then I got away with a phony, QUALL*, on my third turn for 28. QUOLL is good, but I somehow thought they both were. (Back to studying my fives.) Marcia didn't challenge, and then I played BRENS/QUALLS for 35, and Marcia again let it go.
Some players advise playing conservatively against higher-rated players, but I didn't, mainly because I wasn't seeing bingoes and my best plays were opening up the board. So I played them: AMONG for 35, VIES/SQUALLS for 31, FITLY/IVIES for 41. I built up a lead, but I knew Marcia would come back. She did, playing TACKIEr for 73 on turn 8 to take a 10-point lead. We stayed about even, then on turn 10, she played mUDDISH. I held, unsure. This late in the game, if I challenged and lost, she would almost certainly win. But if I didn't challenge, she was still likely to win. I challenged, but with zero confidence. I was stunned when the adjudication came up "unacceptable." (The only bingo in DDHISU? is kIDDUSH, and I don't think that was playable on our board.)
After that, we traded the lead, but I won a squeaker, 343-340. I was certain Marcia would ask for a recount, but she simply congratulated me and told me I had played very well. She's my new favorite opponent.

Game 12, against Celia Thompson.
For the second game in a row, I didn't have a bingo, but I was able to make some high-scoring shorter plays, most notably JAUKS/SHIRE for 40, while Celia struggled. She drew both blanks, but they didn't do her any good, and I won, 397-256.

Game 13, against James Clark.
This game started out even until turn 4, when I bingoed with RESTYLES for 63. James challenged unsuccessfully. He also exchanged twice, which put him into a big hole. On turn 9, I played EXULT for 60. James finally found a bingo (a cool one): DHOOTIes for 62 on turn 10, but it wasn't enough. I won, 412-266.

Game 14, against Marcia Wade.
Somehow, both Marcia and Susan Bertoni had lost again, so now I was in first place, 10-3, and they were now both 9-4.
I get down a bingo on turn 3, AMPLEsT for 70, but Marcia soon catches up. Then I play STINgIER for 74 on turn 7, followed by (C)ROFTS for 36, and I'm in control. Marcia narrows the gap, but I go out first and pick up 22 points from her rack, including the X. Final score: 394-330.

So I win the division with a 12-3, plus 526. I drew 15 of 28 blanks, so that certainly helped. I played 15 bingoes in 14 games; my opponents played 10.

It was a fun, well-run tournament, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Club Session of 4/7/2009 (2009-13)

(Post incomplete; more to follow)

Yesterday evening the NCAA Finals were played, and our club session this week was switched to tonight. Eight of us showed up for an evening of Scrabble.

Here are the stats for this evening's session, based on three rounds of play, with any extra games played beyond three not included. Session results are listed first by number of wins, then by spreads.

RESULTS
8 players playing 22 games

John -- 2-1, +261
Tyler -- 2-0, +220
Loren -- 2-1, -110
Betty -- 2-1, -31
Joetta -- 1-2, +176
Steve -- 1-1, +59
Andy -- 1-2, -5
Pat -- 0-3, -570

BINGOS
6 of 8 players playing 15 bingos in 9 of 22 games played
11 seven-letter bingos, 4 eight-letter bingos
2 phony bingos successfully played

Andy -- (D)EARIES 64, DRILLE(R)S 59, REPAGES* 80, UNOILED 68
Joetta -- MINTIER 74
John -- SC(H)EMED 67, HOTTEST 69, (S)TRAINED 70

Loren -- UNREELS 71

Steve -- DIVINGS* 85, METERING 69
Tyler -- CURATES 77, DENTURE 80, LEADWORT 74, ROSIEST 69

SESSION RECORDS

Highest Win -- Tyler, winning against Steve, in Round 1, 481-300 (+181)
Lowest Win -- Loren, winning against Joetta, in Round 1, 310-307 (+3)
Highest Loss -- Andy, losing to Tyler, in Round 2, 370-409 (-39)
Closest Game -- Loren, winning against Joetta, in Round 1, 310-307 (+3)
Most Points Scored with a Bingo -- Steve, playing DIVINGS* for 85 points against Tyler in Round 1
Most Bingos Played in a Game -- three bingos played by Tyler (against Steve in Round 1) and by Andy (against Tyler in Round 2)
Most Bingos Played during this Club Session -- four, played by Andy and by Tyler

2009 CUMULATIVE STATS THRU 4/7/2009

(Table to be Added Soon)

Day 2 Fenton

I did pretty well on day two. I went 4-3, +220 and won the class prize (as I did last Fenton open tourney) for 45 bucks so I was pretty happy with that. I played a pretty tough field (1124, 1377, 1504, 1537, 1637, 1792, 1804), and I think I'll gain some rating. I crushed my record for high tourney game, scoring 652 against Cheryl Melvin (1124). 4 bingos (CAVINGS, GENITALS, BOASTERS, MEUNIERE - triple triple) and almost all of the good tiles. Getting the 400 spread points from that game really went a long way (put me high enough up to win class prize). More game write-ups to follow this week sometime.

EDIT: It looks like I'll gain around 50 rating points for the weekend, its hard to tell exactly because the ratings will change slightly between day 1 and day 2

Day 1 Fenton

I went 5-2 today and I was very pleased with my play. Both losses were as far as I know unwinnable and didn't even pass 300 in one. I ended up second in the division (70 bucks) and also won the high win prize with 517 (10 bucks). That was in the last game of the tournament where I got 4 bingos, my opponent also won high loss that game with 398, so it was quite a high scoring game. Coolest play of the day, EOLOPIl(E) for 70 (5 vowel 8's have come in very handy), it was held but not challenged since my opponent had lost the turn before challenging SALTEST. A bunch of people went to a local restaurant after to watch MSU play in the final four, since its sort of the local team everyone went crazy when they won. Tomorrow is the real challenge, the open late bird. I hope I play as well there as I did today and pick up some good rating. Off to play poker...

Good luck to Tyler at Fenton this weekend!

Our ace young club member, Tyler Hannan, is off to Fenton, Michigan, today for a 7-round main event tourney there tomorrow and a 7-round late bird on Sunday. When Tyler played at Fenton in January, he gained 194 rating points from that weekend. Tyler has been playing in Scrabble tournaments for less than a year; he is a phenomenal player, and we all really enjoy having him with us at club.

Good luck and many bingos again this time at Fenton, Tyler!

Will's Myrtle Beach tourney -- early bird

The Myrtle Beach tourney included a four-game early bird, which had me the bottom seed in Division 2.

Game 1, against top seed Bruce Shuman, a longtime player and a nice guy:
I jumped to an early lead with a bingo, SINGLET, on turn 3, and I held it through most of the game, despite exchanging 3 U's twice. On turn 11, I made a fun 4, YIRR. Bruce made a late charge right after that, and on turn 15, he went up by 10, 351-343. I held LSUU. I was extremely short on time, and my only chance to win was to not go over on time. There was no place to play ULUS, so with 7 seconds left I played LUGS through a G for 10. Bruce went out on his next turn with a 10-point play, and that was the game, 363-353. Then someone pointed out to me that I could have gone out with SULU, hooking the S to YIRR. I never saw it. So running short on time cost me my first game, and poor clock management would plague me all weekend.

Game 2 against Matt Hopkins:
Matt got caught in traffic and arrived late, forfeiting his first game, and he was clearly rattled, but it didn't carry over into our game. He bingoed on turns 2 and 3 with AMENDING and AIGRETTE, then followed those with KANJI for 24 and PYX for 45 to lead 229-104. I finally answered with FUNKIEST for 82 and later played QuEST/ORCAS for 73, but it wasn't enough. Matt won, 415-372.

Game 3 against Susan Bertoni:
I played Susan last year at Nationals, and she is a gracious player. Unfortunately, I had the same result against her in this game as I did last year.
I opened with CANE for 12, and Susan exchanged. After I played CL(A)NG, Susan dropped BEA(C)HING for 68, the first of 3 straight bingos. I exchanged. Susan then played DOTTERS/CANED for 68. What I should have done was play WOAD to the triple, picking up WE, OR and AS for 49, leaving me only 57 points behind. What I did was challenge. DOTTERS? Never heard of the word. Now, of course, I'll never forget it.
Next, Susan plays WhIMSEY(S) on the triple, which of course she wouldn't have been able to play had I played WOAD. WHIMSEYS? Come on. It's spelled SY, and it pluralizes to IES. Challenge!
Well, what do you know, there's an alternative spelling!
So she plays IRES/SI/ER/YE for 28, and the score is 248 to 30. Can I go home now?
I finally did play WOAD, for 41, followed by DEXIE for 30 and MOSEY/BEACHINGS* for 37. Susan considered challenging the phony, but she wasn't sure and decided it wasn't worth the risk.
Somehow, I managed to reduce the final deficit to 71 points, 408-337.

Game 4 against Matt Hopkins:
Matt is 1-1 and I'm 0-3 for this King-of-the-hill finale, so I'm playing merely for self-respect. Things go better this game. I bingo with ROOTAGE for 61 on turn 5. Matt plays CZaRS on turn 7 for 75, but I answer with DEX/DO/EN/XI for 57. He plays RUDDIEST on turn 9 for 86 to get within 3 points, but I play STROWeD/URINALS on turn 11 to jump ahead again. Finally, a win: 442-385. So I finish the early bird 1-3, minus-67.

Congratulations to Will, Division 2 Winner in Myrtle Beach!

The Crossword Game Players (CGP) group on Yahoo has a post from the tournament directors of this past weekend's Myrtle Beach tournament, reporting that our own Will Scott, won Division 2 there in the main event tourney, with 11 wins and 3 losses, and a spread of +526, for a prize of $400! Great going, Will. We look forward to hearing the details of your win.

NSA's tournament results for Myrtle Beach show Will's new rating as 1300, up from 1227 pre-tourney, a new peak for him and breaking 1300 for the first time!

[April 1, 2009 addition:] And here is the Cross-Tables.com page for the results of Will's division at Myrtle Beach.

Club Session of 3/30/2009 (2009-12)

(Post incomplete; more to follow)

This evening six of us played at our club session at the VFW hall. Julie was there, too, not playing Scrabble, but instead busy baking dessert breads, some of which were snatched up by eager club members. (I bought chocolate chip and blueberry.)

Here are the stats for tonight's session, based on three rounds of play, with any extra games played beyond three not included. Session results are listed first by number of wins, then by spreads.

RESULTS
6 players playing 18 games

Steve -- 3-0, +312
Tyler -- 2-1, +222
Betty -- 2-1, +198
John -- 1-2, -181
Andy -- 1-2, -222
Joetta -- 0-3, -329

BINGOS
5 of 6 players playing 15 bingos in 10 of 18 games played
11 seven-letter bingos, 4 eight-letter bingos
1 phony bingos successfully played

Andy -- (I)NTONER 69, SLA(V)ING 75
Betty -- ETESIAN 85
John -- EXULTER* 80, PI(G)TAIL 76
Steve -- GERANIOL 68, LINGERER 83, OUTREAD 72, PASTING 77, SCENARIO 71
Tyler -- DAINTIER 63, ETALONS 73, LATESTS 77, NETTLES 89, RATINES 79,

SESSION RECORDS

Highest Win -- Steve, winning against Joetta, in Round 1, 456-264 (+192)
Lowest Win -- John, winning against Joetta, in Round 2, 351-318 (+33)
Highest Loss -- Tyler, losing to Steve, in Round 2, 397-416 (-19)
Closest Game -- Andrew, winning against Betty, in Round 2, 399-391 (+8)
Most Points Scored with a Bingo -- Tyler, playing NETTLES for 89 points against Andy in Round 1
Most Bingos Played in a Game -- two bingos played by Andy (against Betty in Round 2), by Steve (against Joetta in Round 1; against Tyler in Round 2), and by Tyler (against Andy in Round 1; against Steve in Round 2)
Most Bingos Played during this Club Session -- five, played by Steve and by Tyler

2009 CUMULATIVE STATS THRU 3/30/2009

(Table to be Added Soon)

Lexington Scrabble Club Now NASPA-Sanctioned

I noticed just now that we have officially become a sanctioned club of the new North American Scrabble Players Association, which during 2009 is taking over the club and tournament Scrabble functions of the National Scrabble Association.

Effective July 1, 2009, players must be members of the North American Scrabble Players Association in order to play in sanctioned Scrabble tournaments.

We are one of the first dozen or so NSA clubs to become sanctioned NASPA clubs, and the first in our area. Way to go, Joetta!

Local Club Tournament on Saturday, April 18

Our club director, Joetta Wilkinson, will be directing her first tournament on Saturday, April 18, at the VFW Post 680 hall where we have our Monday night club sessions.

Here is a link to the tournament flyer, which is posted on our club website. (3/30/2009 Addition: And here is a link to the tourney's Cross-Table entrants' list page. The flyer is also available there as a link.)

First-time tournament players must be members of either the National Scrabble Association or the new North American Scrabble Players Association in order to play in this local club tournament. Dues ($25 for NSA for one year, or $30 for NASPA for membership through 12/31/2010) can be paid at the tournament site, and a discount is being offered to first-time players to help compensate for the added cost of joining one of the associations. After July 1 of this year, membership in the NASPA is required in order to play in sanctioned tournaments.

By playing in this tournament, first-timers will obtain their initial national rating, which will allow them to register and play in the 2009 National Scrabble Championship at Dayton from August 1 to 5, if they so desire. You must have a national rating in order to play in that tournament.

It should be a fun day of Scrabble-playing for all.

Also, good luck to our club member and blog team member, Will Scott, who will be playing in an early-bird and a two-day tournament at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. He is the only Kentuckian playing there -- let's hope he brings back both money and rating points with him!

Club Session of 3/23/2009 (2009-11)

(Post incomplete; more to follow)

We were an uneven number at club this evening, seven, until Julie’s husband joined us to make us eight. Thanks, Scott, for helping us out! Come back any time.

Here are the stats for tonight's session, based on three rounds of play, with any extra games played beyond three not included. Session results are listed first by number of wins, then by spreads.

RESULTS

8 players playing 21 games

Tyler -- 3-0, +516
Joetta -- 2-0, +175
Brad -- 2-1, +87
John -- 1-2, -14
Betty -- 1-2, -178
Andy -- 1-2, -191
Scott -- 0-2, -215
Julie -- 0-2, -247

BINGOS

6 of 8 players playing 11 bingos in 8 of 21 games played
6 seven-letter bingos, 5 eight-letter bingos
no phony bingos successfully played

Andy -- AREO(L)ES 83, RETAKING [points scored not given]
Betty -- SPOOKIER 64
Brad -- RAVINES 69
Joetta -- BRAZIER 115, OUTBACKS 72
John -- FAD(E)OUT 70
Tyler -- AIRDATE 72, FLOOZIES 69, REPRIEVE 98, SECTION 72

SESSION RECORDS

Highest Win -- Tyler, winning against Andy, in Round 3, 488-273 (+215)
Lowest Win -- John, winning against Scott, in Round 2, 324-265 (+59)
Highest Loss -- John, losing to Tyler, in Round 3, 373-440 (-67)
Closest Game -- Brad, winning against John, in Round 1, 344-338 (+6)
Most Points Scored with a Bingo -- Joetta, playing BRAZIER for 115 points against Scott in Round 1
Most Bingos Played in a Game -- two bingos played by Andy (against Betty in Round 1) and by Tyler (against Brad in Round 2; against Andy in Round 3)
Most Bingos Played during this Club Session -- four, played by Tyler

2009 CUMULATIVE STATS THRU 3/23/2009

(Table to be Added Soon)