Steve Bush, Director, congratulations!

Mary Rhoades, the North American Scrabble Players Association's Director of Club and Tournaments, acting upon my recommendation as his mentor for his apprenticeship, has e-mailed this morning confirming our club member, Steve Bush, as a full club and tournament director for NASPA.

Congratulations, Steve, and thanks for your willingness to go through the process of director certification!

Steve is now officially as well a joint director for our club. His efforts as a joint director in coordinating and conducting club sessions and in holding local club tournaments and, at some point, open tournaments will be a great help to me and a great benefit to the club.

It is now six months since I became sole director of our club by default; I was an assistant/co-director who got automatically "promoted" to sole director by the unexpected resignation of my predecessor. Given my responsibilities as primary caregiver for my mother who is 91 years old and nearly ten years into Alzheimer's disease, I am a good bit limited in the time that I can devote to club and in my ability to be at club. I appreciate very much that Steve has become a director to help in running our club. Both of us would very much welcome any other member who wants to join us as club directors by going through NASPA certification.

Our Lexington Scrabble Club is very much a group effort, and that's the way it should be. The more each club member gets involved in club and helps out in such ways as promoting the club to friends and acquaintances, by helping set up for local club tournaments or straightening up afterwards, by coming to club sessions to play, and by responding to session attendance and other surveys the stronger and more active our club will become. Cheryl Coovert deserves special recognition and our gratitude for her fine work as our club webmaster and blog administrator and for always helping out whenever she can.

My thanks to all of you for making being your club director (now one of your two club directors) such an enjoyable and rewarding activity. It is really good to be playing Alfred Butts' word game with you guys and gals on a recurring basis. You are a wonderful group of people.

John Spangler

Results of 6/27 Local Club Tournament

Yesterday we had our second Local Club Tournament of the year. Like the first tourney, this one is rated by both NASPA and WGPO. We had a total of 10 players, in 2 divisions of 4 and 6 players each, playing 5 games total.

I will post links to both the NASPA and WGPO results pages for this tournament when they are available.

Below are the results. Note that the ratings shown are projected NASPA ratings from the Director! tournament management software program and reflect a fully-rated tournament; since this is an LCT the projected rating change is actually only 1/3 the number shown. The correct number should be on Cross-tables when I get the results uploaded to the NASPA website.

LCT27June2010Results after Round 5 of 5
Division A
Rank Name OldR Wins Sprd PerfR NewR
1. Marc Broering 1724 4.0 248 1656 1721 First place, $20
2. Will Scott 1413 3.0 126 1475 1417 Second place, $10
3. Andrew Wade 1023 2.0 155 1246 1036 High win, $4
4. Margaret Yoder 1071 1.0 -529 0818 1057

Division B
Rank Name OldR Wins Sprd PerfR NewR
1. Brad Wade 0843 4.0 460 1042 0861 First place, $20
2. Victoria Bledsoe 0642 3.0 27 0770 0656 Second place, $14
3. Brandon Zitzman 0723 3.0 -23 0752 0726 Third place, $10
4. Cheryl Coovert 0440 2.0 -194 0546 0448 High win, $7
5. Andrea Carman 0500 2.0 -252 0532 0504
6. Betty King 0675 1.0 -18 0174 0642

Thanks to everyone that participated, especially Marc Broering and Brandon Zitzman who drove down from Louisville and northern Kentucky, respectively. And a special huge thank you to John Spangler for mentoring me and making sure my first tournament as a director went smoothly. Thanks, John!

Here is a link to NASPA's web page for the results of this LCT with its rating changes.

Local Club Tournament Sunday, June 27

In case you haven't heard, our second Local Club Tournament (LCT) of 2010 is this coming Sunday, June 27. Like the first one last month, it will be rated by both the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) and the Word Game Players' Organization (WGPO).

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The LCT will run from 3 p.m. until around 9 p.m.

Five games; pairing system and prize structure to be determined.

Entry fee of $12 (including NASPA-required $2.50 participation fee).
(WGPO does not charge a rating/participation fee.)

This tourney will be dually rated by NASPA and WGPO.

NASPA membership ($30/yr) is required to play

at a NASPA-rated LCT.
WGPO membership (free) is not required to play

at a WGPO-rated LCT.

Local club tournaments are one-third rated by NASPA

and fully rated by WGPO.

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A summary of club members' responses on attendance at this LCT is given below. Members may indicate their attendance response by e-mailing Steve at bush3262@yahoo.com or John at JMSinKY@aol.com, or by posting a comment to this post. As additional responses are received, they will be added into the summary. (Responses are current through June 26, 2010, at 9:48 p.m.)

12 will be able to attend: Andrea, Andy, Betty, Brandon Z., Cheryl, John, Marc, Margaret, Steve (directing), Wade, Will, Victoria
3 will not be able to attend: Eric, Jan H., Janny S.
? are unsure about attending:

This local club tournament will be in place of our normal club session on June 27 and will be conducted in accordance with NASPA Official Tournament Rules.

Survey about July 4 Club Session and LCT in July

Responses last updated June 25, 2010, at 10:52 a.m.

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Rather than have this bump Steve's more important post about this Sunday's local club tournament, I am backdating this one so that it will appear after that post. Pretty tricky, am I not? lol

Independence Day this year falls on a Sunday. I really rather doubt that any of you will want to spend that afternoon playing Scrabble. Neither Steve nor I will be there. So unless I hear from more than one of you that you will definitely be at a club session on July 4, I am going to cancel meeting on that date. Here are your responses on that (you need only respond if you are committing to be at Perkins on Sunday afternoon, July 4) --

MEMBERS COMMITTING TO A JULY 4 CLUB SESSION

Margaret is likely to come if there is a club session.

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For July, the options that your directors are giving you for a local club tournament are either Sunday, July 18, or Sunday, July 25. Here are your responses about those two dates (an asterisk means that date is the one the you prefer; no asterisk means no preference betweeen the two dates):

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JULY LCT ON SUNDAY, JULY 18?

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2 would be able to attend on July 18 -- John, Margaret

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1 would NOT be able to attend on July 18 -- Will

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1 is unsure whether he could attend on July 18 -- Steve

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JULY LCT ON SUNDAY, JULY 25?

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1 would be able to attend on July 25 -- John

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1 would NOT be able to attend on July 25 -- Margaret

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2 are unsure whether they could attend on July 25 -- Steve, Will (probably would attend)

So what I need to hear back from you about are the following four points. You may either send me an e-mail at JMSinKY@aol.com or leave a comment to this blog entry with your reponses. Please tell me --

1. Whether you want a club session on July 4 and commit to being there. (Only need to respond if YES)


2. Whether you are able to attend an LCT on Sunday, July 18. (YES, NO, or UNSURE)


3. Whether you are able to attend an LCT on Sunday, July 25 (YES, NO, or UNSURE)


4. If you answer yes to both Points 2 and 3, which of the two dates you prefer more, if you have a preference (Only need to respond with JULY 18 or JULY 25, if you have a preference on one or the other of those dates.)

If you have not already indicated that you are or are not playing at this Sunday's local club tournament, please go to the post about it and leave a comment with your response about the LCT or e-mail Steve or me at the e-mail addresses given there.

Thanks! Would be great to see some "strangers" this Sunday for the tournament. Steve is directing the LCT, and I get to play! After he successfully directs this tournament, I will recommend that Steve be upgraded from apprentice director to full director. It would be great if one or two (or more) of you took the director's test, too, and joined us. Our club will function even better if there are several directors in the team!

John

Responses about Attending Club on Sunday, June 20

Last updated June 20, 2010, at 9:33 a.m.

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Club members are asked to indicate whether or not they plan on being at our club session on Sunday, June 20, by either e-mailing John at JMSinKy@aol.com or by leaving a response as a comment to this blog entry.

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Here are the responses so far:

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0 will be able to attend:

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10 will not be able to attend: Andrea, Andy, Eric, Jan H., Janny S., John, Margaret, Steve, Victoria, Will

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0 is unsure about attending:

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Also, if you have not yet indicated your likely attendance or nonattendance at our local club tournament on Sunday, June 27, please include a response about that, too, in your e-mail, or go to the blog entry about that event and leave a comment there. Eight people so far are planning on being there for that LCT ... that would mean two divisions and more prizewinners! :-)

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Thanks!

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John

Finally, here are the June 13 club results. I forgot to record everyone's results at club, so I had to reconstruct them, and not everyone kept their sheets. I got most of the important data, though.

Five people attended. We played in the main dining room at Perkins, because the A/C wasn't working there, so the paying customers were in the auxiliary dining room. Also, they couldn't lower the volume of the music in the main dining room. Not ideal conditions, but hey, they let us play there without a fee.

Results:

Victoria: 3-0, +140
Andy: 2-1, +???
Will: 2-1, +60
Betty: 1-2, -44
Andrea: 0-4, -??? (she had a two-point loss to Betty)

The play of the day was in game one against me (Will). On my third turn, I played PHOTO at J5 (5J? horizontally) for 41 points, leaving the obvious S-hook in the triple lane, but hey, it was 41 points. Victoria then made a more difficult, less obvious play: LARYNX, down from the triple, hooking the N to PHOTO and with the Y on the double-letter score. 71 points. Her next three plays were for 36, 44 and 41, and she controlled the game. Well done!

Will

Responses about Attending Club on Sunday, June 13

Last updated June 12, 2010, at 10:52 p.m.

Club members are asked to indicate whether or not they plan on being at our club session on Sunday, June 13, by either e-mailing John at JMSinKY@aol.com or by leaving a response as a comment to this blog entry.

Here are the responses so far:

2 will be able to attend: Betty, Victoria

5 will not be able to attend: Cheryl, Eric, John, Margaret, Steve

1 is unsure about attending: Andrea (50-50 chance)

Last Sunday (June 6) six members played at the club session -- Betty, Jan H., Janny S., Madeline, Steve, and Victoria.

Also, if you have not yet indicated your likely attendance or nonattendance at our local club tournament on Sunday, June 27, please include a response about that, too, in your e-mail, or go to the blog entry about that event and leave a comment there. Eight people so far are planning on being there for that LCT -- that would mean two divisions and more prizewinners! :-)

Thanks!

John

Responses about Attending Club on Sunday, June 6

Last Updated June 6, 2010, at 9:08 a.m.

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Club members are asked to indicate whether or not they plan on being at our club session on Sunday, June 6 by either e-mailing John at JMSinKY@aol.com or by leaving a response as a comment to this blog entry.

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Here are the replies so far:

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4 will be able to attend: Betty, Jan H., Steve, Victoria

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5 will not be able to attend: Andrea, Cheryl, Eric, John, Margaret

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0 are unsure about attending:

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Also, if you have not yet indicated your likely attendance or nonattendance at our local club tournament on Sunday, June 27, please include a response about that, too, in your e-mail, or go to the blog entry about that event and leave a comment there. Eight people so far are planning on being there for that LCT -- that would mean two divisions and more prizewinners! :-)

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Thanks!

WGPO Ratings for LSC LCT on May 23

Brian Galebach, the Ratings Committee chair of the Word Game Players' Organization has posted on that organization's listserv the WGPO's ratings for our local club tournament held on May 23, 2010. Here are those ratings --

(Format: Finish -- Seed -- Name -- OldR -- Wins, Spread -- PerfR -- NewR)

1 -- 1 -- Bush, Steve -- 1461 -- 4.0, +496 -- 1134 -- 1450
2 -- 2 -- Wade, Andrew -- 1019 -- 4.0, +408 -- 1298 -- 1031
3 -- 3 -- King, Betty -- 666 -- 3.0, +71 -- 968 -- 695
4 -- 6 -- Bledsoe, Victoria -- 000 -- 2.0, -215 -- 642 -- 642
5 -- 5 -- Carman, Andrea -- 000 -- 1.0, -270 -- 500 -- 500
6 -- 4 -- Hatton, Janice -- 503 -- 1.0, -490 -- 322 -- 489

Unlike NASPA, the results for WGPO-approved local club tournaments are rated for that organization at full value, not at one-third value.

Cross-Tables.com now has new player pages up for Victoria Bledsoe and Andrea Carman. That site has elected only to carry tournament information and to show results and ratings data for NASPA-sanctioned tournaments. WGPO will be posting its tournament calendar and the results and ratings for its approved tournament on the WGPO website.