The check's in the mail. (Well, truly, it is about to be.)

Got up early this morning and am trying to be productive on some fun stuff before the regular chores and duties of day get under way.

One thing I just did was write a check for my membership dues to the new NORTH AMERICAN SCRABBLE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION, which I will mail shortly when I run out to the store. $30 gets you in the NASPA through December 31, 2010, and beginning July 1 of this year, you must be a member of NASPA to play in sanctioned Scrabble tournaments. Here's a link to the NASPA page with all the details.

Brad Mills from West Virginia beat me to signing up (of course -- he's always on the ball), and Terry Schroeder, from Pennsylvania, too, but I may be the first Kentuckian to join. I'm not paying the extra $20 bucks to get a custom number though -- I don't do special car license plates, either LOL -- but I must admit that the added cost does go to a good cause here.

Now the question remains, do I continue to be an NSA member when my membership expires? Right now I think not. I'm not eager to do anything to promote Hasbro or its activities after the way they are abandoning club and tournament Scrabble. Maybe some of you who read this can persuade me otherwise.

A couple of afterthoughts --

I thought I was posting this over on my personal blog, the Bluegrass Scrabbler, but was on here instead. Oh, well. So be it.

And not only am I upset with Hasbro about turning its back on club and tournament Scrabble, but also (still) about changing the colors for premium squares on special editions of Scrabble -- totally unnecessary and resulting in needless confusion. Just another ploy of money-hungry marketing folks. Selchow & Righter was a class act; Hasbro is not.

Elyria tournament 3/14-3/15

I had a fun time in Elyria this past weekend. I didn't play as well as I should have, but the tourney itself and the outside activities (scrabble, taxes hold me, 10 tile scrabble) were all quite fun. A real nice group of people to hang out with up there. I roomed with Jeff Clark and Steve Grob and there was never a dull moment. I ended up 7-6 and gained 9 rating. I once again had a dissapointing day two, going 2-4. Partially bad tiles, but I have to take the blame for a few stupid challenges (INLY, HOSTELER) and a non-challenge INLINER. It seems to be a pattern with me that I have a dissapointing day two.
Lexington day one: 8-2
Lexington day two (including late bird): 3-6
Warren day one: 5-4
Warren day two: 2-4
Elyria day one: 5-2
Elyria day two: 2-4
I'm not quite sure what it is but I guess I need to build up some resilience for these two day tourneys.
Not likely to write up a game by game recall, but I will upload a bingo list here shortly.

EDIT:
Bingo List: INTONES, MOULDERS(challenged), ROMANISE, RONTGEN(challenged), AROYNTS, STERNAL, MISALTER(challenged), ROUTINES, PEDDLING, TONGERS, NETTLERS, DIAGNOSE, ELOINERS, DISTILL, ZOYSIAS, VENTURED, DOURAHS(challenged), NATIONAL, GUNNERS, GLUINESS

Favorite play: Opening with ZOYSIaS for 106 versus Linda Hoggat

Tyler holds serve in Elyria

Our Tyler, seeded seventh in Division 2 in Elyria, finished 7th, with a 7-6, +151 record. Knowing Tyler, I'm sure he was disappointed, but hey, he finished with a winning record. His rating bumped up from 1408 to an unofficial 1417. Watch out for him in Charleston!

Indy Redux

(Sorry for another long post. I promise they won't all be this verbose.)

Game 1 vs Will Scott (L 396-366)

Will confessed to me after this game that this was a game he shouldn't have won, and I'll confess here that I silently agreed with him, as I thought my late mis-handling of bad racks cost me the game. It turns out though, that most of my plays were spot on (except for two critical ones), but his were just better.

My opening rack was BEIMORZ, and I was struggling to remember if ZOMBI was indeed good; I put the E on the end for good measure, leaving the B. Unfortunately, had I known BROMIZE was a word, I could have opened with 110 instead of 58. More importantly, I'm not sure Will would have been able to find a bingo with his AFLOPT? rack. So my newfound commitment to Quackling shows a huge miss on my very first rack of my first game. That's ok though, these are exactly the things I want to be revealed to me. If I hadn't written down my rack, I doubt I would have remembered it later to have even seen what I missed.

As it were, though, he hooked his F onto my E for a very nice play with FLAtTOP for 75. I followed with TYPY for 36, and played KNOW for 31 after challenging off his SLOBBING* play, opening up a decent 50 point lead. He nibbled it down to essentially even over the next 5-6 turns, when I played MANROPE for 73, to go up by 66, at which point I drew DEEEITU and things went downhill from there. He made nice plays with EH 26 and oXY 54 to close the gap, while I puttered around with with vowel heavy racks. His STINGER on the penultimate turn was an apt word, as it sealed the game.

So, here's a case where thanks to analyzing a game, I'm beating myself up less than I normally would. I can't kick myself for missing BROMIZE on my opening rack, it just means to study more words. But if I hadn't Quackled the game, I could probably find all sorts of ways to beat myself up for blowing the late lead. In reality, Quackle actually shows that even after the MANROPE play, I made the best play on all the subsequent turns and only blew it once. So, the lesson here is to learn more words (perhaps JQXZ 7s, in due time).

Game 2 vs Paul Seet (W 442-357)
I had some rough racks early, and had to exchange twice in the first 8 turns. I don't think Paul had much better, as the best he could muster was a 158-124 lead at that point. Then I laid down DERRIES for 75, and drew AEQTUY?, and set up one of my best plays of the tournament, EQUiTY for 81, a DWS with the Q on a TLS, hooking the T onto the end his NOW. It would have been an even better play if I'd kept the blank and played QUATE, but who's to quibble?

He did answer with 15C DIASTeR for 76 on the next play, but my MALINES for 78 two turns later basically clinched it.

Game 3 vs Rob Kearn (L 393-390)
I believe this game represents my biggest ever blown lead in a tournament game. I opened strong with 8D QUEAN for 48 after he exchanged, then followed a number of decent 3-5-letter plays for several turns, building up a 76-point lead by turn 12 with a very locked-up board. At this point my rack was ACKLOO?, and I made my favorite play of the tournament, hooking one of my O's onto FID, to make OArLOCK for 73 and a 149-point lead.

Unfortunately, 1) on the next turn he narrowed the lead by 57 in one fell swoop with ZERK in the triple lane, while 2) I drew AAAEJNU out of the bag, and thereafter struggled the rest of the way with dreck on my rack, making sub-20 point plays each time, fighting unsuccessfully to close down the board, trying to dump off my bad rack 2-3 letters at a time, while he kept taking big chunks of the lead away, most notably with 13F COLoRIST for 70. This is where Quackle showed a pretty big difference in what I should have done vs. what I did. Instead of closing things down, I should have been unafraid to either exchange, or dump 5-6 letters on a low-scoring play even if it meant keeping the board open. Had I done so, I wouldn't have been struggling with multi-U and multi-N racks all the way to the end.

The other problem was that poring over these lousy racks cost me a lot of time, which allowed him to get away with a phony 3 (TID*) when I had less than 1 minute on my clock (his clock was low at the time too, so I think it was an honest oversight on his part). Since he won by just 3, I think this was probably the deciding factor in my loss.

So, to me, the lesson here is, when you have a big lead, and get a bum rack, don't be afraid to keep the board open to rectify the situation. In the end, having a flexible rack is more important than trying to lock the board down.

Game 4 vs Wilma Pitzer (W 466-334)
In this game I pretty much outdrew my opponent with both blanks and 3 of the 4 S's, laying down 3 high-probability bingos (ENTAsIA, SOILUrE, and RATIONED), and as such it wasn't that interesting from an analysis standpoint. I won't look a gift-horse in the mouth though, cuz frankly I thought karma owed me a game like this (and frankly still owes me a few more, but I won't dwell on that).

Game 5 vs Frank Lee (W 425-293)
I came into this game somewhat intimidated by Frank's word knowledge, as I'd lost a critical challenge of a word he played on me in Lexington, which probably cost me that game. However my confidence got a bit of a boost in this game when he unsuccessfully challenged my play of OVeRNEAT. Moreover, he actually seemed to have poor draws most of the game, and whenever he tried to open up the board I seemed to have a high-scoring play to come back with. My 3rd favorite play of the tournament came with N1 UNISEX for 67, a DWS with the X on the TLS. Although UNISEX is a common word, I suspect that my study of JQXZ 6's contributed to me finding it in a game.

Game 6 vs Rob Kearn (W 460-400)
This was probably one of the highest scoring games of the tourney. It was a pretty wide open board the whole game, with 4 bingos being thrown down (FRONTES and ORGANISE by me, INDIGENT and CLEAVER by him). We were pretty well-matched in terms of draws, but frankly I just felt like I consistently found the best plays with what I had, and for once didn't make any big mistakes in a critical game. Here's the final board, in all its glory:

Will's Blog Entry on the Plainfield, IN Tourney

(Posted from Will's e-mailed document by John)

GAME 1 against Steve Bush

BGILNOS (spoiler below)

I exchanged four to open, Steve played ZOMBIE, I played FLATtOP, hooking the E to make EF. Steve held but didn't challenge, then he played TYPY through the P on the triple.

So then I drew the above rack. I wrestled with ING words for a while, then looked for possible eights on a wide-open board. I didn't find one, although so far I've learned that there was one through a T -- BILTONGS. New one for me.

I couldn't find a legitimate bingo, so of course I decided to make one up: SLOBBING*. Steve challenged it off the board and gradually built up a lead, then went way ahead with MANROPE. I didn't like it, but I didn't challenge because if I lost, that would be the game. (It's good. Glad I didn't challenge.) Somehow I started to close the gap, then I got a late bingo, STINGER, hooking NAIL with the S to make SNAIL. So I won a game that I really shouldn't have. Final score: 397-367.

On the way home, Steve and I were discussing that game, and the SLOBBING play, and I suddenly realized there was a bingo in it.

"GOBLINS!" I said. I almost drove off the road. Then Steve thought of the only other one: GLOBINS. I could have hooked either of them on EF to make EFS.

GAME 2 against Rob Kearn

Despite challenging two phony bingoes off the board, I managed to lose this one by 2 points. My most obvious undoing was challenging Rob’s OVERSAD for 76 on turn 4. I should have let it go, because I had the Q, and now I had to wait a turn to play QAT for 12. On turn 7, Rob played RIOTING for 80. I answered with my coolest play of the game, playing XI for 46, hooking MI to make MIX and MARTIN to make MARTINI, but I was still 106 points down. On turn 9, Rob tried COENTER*. I challenged it off and played BUCKLER for 78. I then challenged CORENTED* and played SPA for 26 to get within 24, 275-299. I gained on him but never caught him. The game ended with Rob up by 3. I asked for a recount and gained a single point, losing 360-362.

We split the blanks and the esses, but I drew the Q, X, Z and K.

(Inspired by Steve Bush’s post about using Quackle to analyze games, I decided to try to Quackle this game. I failed spectacularly – again – to even get the board to configure correctly. All I got was a blank board: no premium squares, and no instructions. After an hour of screaming, hair-pulling, foot-stomping frustration, I gave up. Maybe some day I’ll master what others seem able to do in their sleep.)

GAME 3 against Frank Lee

This was my second tournament game against Frank, one of the nicest players I’ve met. He built a lead against me early, going up by 60 points on turn 4 after challenging a stupid phony NOILE*. I made up a little ground, then went ahead with RESTIVE for 79. Late in the game I played BEANS, making the parallel plays OWE, PIA, ERN and IS, for 36 points. Then I went out with a 14-point play and took 12 off his rack, winning 345-284.

GAME 4 against Paul Seet

Paul built a 35-point lead until I played LOANERS for 72 on turn 6. On turn 8, he played STIFFED/TITS for 67, to cut my lead to 8 points. I played ZED for 39, then he played JIAO for 22. Then I played WEANLING for 83, and he lost a challenge. After I played REIGN for 27, Paul tried to play ROADIES, front-hooking TITS to make STITS*. I challenged it off, and that was the game. I won 427-331.

GAME 5 against Wilma Pitzer

Wilma opened strongly with ZAIRE for 48, but I played QUODS for 61 on my second turn to take a slight lead. I managed to stay with her until she played DITCHES for 70 on turn 8. I struggled mightily with my racks, then Wilma played REMORSE, hooking the S to make JAPES, for 88. I played AX/DEX for 42 to cut her lead to 80, but that was my last gasp. Wilma won handily, 445-326.

GAME 6 against Wilma

We were tied at 34 when I tried BACONY*. She challenged it off, then tried FOCHE*. I challenged it off, but I couldn’t clean up my rack. (I had the J for six turns. Never a good thing.) I had just caught up to her when she played GENTLIER* for 59 on turn 10. I held, but then I convinced myself that I’d seen the word somewhere, and I let it go. Big mistake. After I played UGLY for 30 on turn 11, she played OUTAGES/GLAZES for 78. And that was the game. Wilma wins again, 414-314.

Final record: 3-3, minus-34. So aside from going 0-2, minus-219 against Wilma, I had a decent tournament.

Scrabble thoughts

I received a ticket, 5:36 am, 3/7. I hadn't quite made it to Frankfort. I was still waking up, and quite anxious about the day. Officer J. Blevins queried where I was going in such a hurry -- why, a Scrabble tournament, of course! Not knowing how long the stop was going to take, and overwhelmed by the brightness of the cruiser's lights and spotlight, I decided to make the most of the inconvenience by reviewing some "4's". However, with my anxiety even further increased, I was not in a place conducive to word study. I would later hear some fours from my spouse :( , the dread of which concerned me much more than the ticket.

Game 1: I was very fortunate to play JOINABLE for a bingo on my first turn. I thought this should give me considerable breathing room, but I had to fight for the win. Judy Bremer drew 9 of 10 power tiles in Game 2, and topped 530! This was my only loss. I went on a roll and hit 3 bingos in Games 3 & 4. I only bested Judy B. by 5 points in the final game for first place. She was tough. This was a game where I felt the pressure on almost every turn. One of the late turns I agonized over for 8 min. It easily could have not gone my way ..... but I'll take it ....