Wandering Words

Just got back from a 3-day backpacking trip. *sigh*

I got a kick out of this:



Not exactly the kind of thing you plan.

So, what with finally deciding I *am* going to be headed to the NSC in Orlando (as the #2 seed in Div 2, thank you very much), I figured I could go ahead and finalize my playing plans for the foreseeable future.

July 26th-29th - NSC, Orlando, FL
August 30th-Sept 1st - Portland, OR
Sept 20th-21st - Albuquerque, NM
Oct 3rd-5th - New York City, NY

That about covers the four corners of the country in the next four months. Of course, all of that is just on the heels of my recent run of tournaments...

December - Austin, TX
January - Tucson, AZ
February - Phoenix, AZ
March - Dallas, TX
May - Seattle, WA
June - Corrales, NM

Whew. Busy busy.

See y'all in Orlando.

This was a tournament that, by all rights, I should not have been at. First off, I wasn't invited. This is Mike's event, and he has a long list of friends. I, as a fairly recent acquaintance, had no illusion that I would be on the short list. He did eventually approach me to ask me to be a backup for the event, but that put me about three deep on the alternate list. Then there's the fact that I was going to be out of down that weekend. It was smack in the middle of a month of training for work. In Oregon. As one thing lead to another, including a few fortuitous (for me) cancellations, I was able to convince work to fly me home for the weekend halfway through the training (ostensibly to check on the house and attend a friend's wedding reception on Friday night). SO, there I was--invited and able to attend. Since I was home alone for the weekend (wife and baby went along to Oregon, but weren't going home for the two days) I invited Mike Baker, drbing, and millcake16 to stay at my place and shuttled them around the whole time. It was nice to spend some time away from the Scrabble board, too.

Anyway, as cool as the weekend was on a friendship and personal level, it was still almost entirely about the Scrabble. With 17 games in two days, there really wasn't a whole lot of time for anything else. So, without further ado (or to create further ado, as Marj Schoneboom might encourage me to do), here is:
( the rundown )

This past Tuesday I made it out to the Lake Oswego club that I went to when I was first playing Scrabble. It was fun to see lots of folks that I knew, and I guess the Scrabble wasn't *so* bad either. I won a few games, at least.

Game 1, Mike Baker, W 380-338.
Me: ?QXZSS, Bingos: SOURInG.
Opp: ?JSS, Bingos: nOUMENA(L).
Missed Bingos: cHI(L)IDOG.
Equity Loss: 106.

Game 2, Jesse Wornum, W 442-325.
Me: JXS, Bingos: TANGIER, (N)EUTERER*.
Opp: ??QZSSS, Bingos: THRIlLS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 48.

Game 3, Carl Johnson, L 407-488.
Me: ?QXSS, Bingos: GEOT(A)XIS, pI(S)TOLED.
Opp: ?JZSS, Bingos: HOSIERS, (P)ALEFAcE, FROTHIE(R).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 71.

Game 4, Charley Kaplan, W 444-295.
Me: ?SS, Bingos: INSNARE, AIGRE(T)tE.
Opp: ?JQXZSS, Bingos: s(I)MPLEST.
Missed Bingos: AERA(T)IOn.
Equity Loss: 95.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	AIGRE(T)tE	(N)EUTERER*	none
Their Plays	(P)ALEFAcE	none	B(E)EDEE* (MI)N* CASK(E)* VAGuERS* G(UNION)*

My official peak rating as of June 4 will be 1749, so that's that. Guess I'm not going to Orlando. 10-10 was just *1* *win* *less* than I was hoping for to get my one rating point, but much more importantly I had tons 'o fun. For more, ( Jump the cut )

Snuck in a game at club last week, but it was a busy night so I couldn't stay for more than one. I shouldn't have bothered, although I guess I made Susan happy.

Game 1, Susan Beard, L 324-374.
Me: QXZS, Bingos: LINDANE.
Opp: ??JSSS, Bingos: SHATTEr.
Missed Bingos: NIRVANI(C).
Equity Loss: 148.

Wheesh. Another messy, messy game. I was bleeding equity all over the place so badly that I don't even know where to begin. I have to say that I was a little distracted because the wife and baby stayed for dinner and weren't sitting too far away, but that's really not much excuse for how badly I played. Ah well.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	none	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

So the original intent was to go hiking today, but it just didn't seem like the thing to do so I went to club instead. Both Jeff and Wally showed up, too, so that was kinda nice.

Game 1, Jeff Martin, W 488-311.
Me: ??QXSS, Bingos: CERViNE, PISMIRE.
Opp: JZSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 29.

I felt like I did a pretty good job in this game. I had a number of other pretty high scoring plays, and the breaks definitely went my way. It's all good.

Game 2, Susan Beard, L 363-375.
Me: ?SSJQ, Bingos: RASSLED, RENAILs.
Opp: ?SSXZ, Bingos: ArISTAE.
Missed Bingos: AUST(E)RER.
Equity Loss: 124.

This was a sloppy game. I wouldn't have even been in the game at all if she hadn't let me get away with a phony hook. The biggest miss of the game was actually not seeing the multiple possible extensions I had on my rack for OLOGY. That would have totally won the game for me. *sigh*

Game 3, Patty Wayne, W 417-362.
Me: ?ZSS, Bingos: MARAUDS, TOWARDs, TAVERNS.
Opp: ?JQXSS, Bingos: SaILORS.
Missed Bingos: PYROLAS, SIMILAR.
Equity Loss: 131.

From messy to much messier. Weesh. I missed the bingo in my opening rack. I wrote it down, but didn't trust myself. Then two turns later I missed the other bingo for absolutely no good reason. Yuck. I played halfway decently for the rest of the game, other than the math error I made the subtracted a whole 60 points from my score. Oops. Neither of us caught it. This game should have been a *lot* less close than it turned out.

Game 4, Wally Schultz, L 413-482.
Me: QX, Bingos: INARMED, ACONITE.
Opp: ??JZSSSS, Bingos: LAWINgS, UNSEALS, INScROL(L).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 22.

Wow, I played this one almost as close as I could have played it. It was pretty painful to see him play power tile after power tile, but that just how some games go, I know. I was pleased with my overall play, although Quackle showed some more math errors (on both parts) that should have given me a whole 14 more spread points. It doesn't matter so much at club, but it sure could make a difference in a tournament. I gotta be more careful with that.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	MARAUDS	(PRONE)S*	none
Their Plays	none	none	(VOX)ES*

Wheesh. I can't seem to make it to club to save my life lately. Things have been good, but busy lately. I wasn't supposed to make it last night, either, but the scout meeting I was going to head to just didn't work out. Go figure.

Game 1, Bill Barfuss, W 498-367.
Me: ??QXS, Bingos: M(E)GaPLEX, DEBAClE, ROUSING.
Opp: JZSSS, Bingos: BANGERS, (C)OTTIERS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 37.

MEGAPLEX came down as a double-double. That was sweeet. The biggest miss was just not seeing the front hook to HEEZED. Doh!

Game 2, Nancee Mancel, W 419-365.
Me: JQXZS, Bingos: EN(T)RESOL, TERRAIN.
Opp: ??SSS, Bingos: SPL(I)NTeR, INSECTs.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 39.

She was close and scaring me for a good long while, but my second bingo gave me enough cushion to fend off her reply bingo and walk away with the win. Life wasn't so bad, really. I was pretty proud of the pair of games overall. I can deal with <40 pts of equity lost per game.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	(T)AURIC*	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

Game 1, Nancee Mancel, W 505-309.
Me: ?QXSSS, Bingos: (H)OSANnAS, Q(U)AYSIDE(s), TARGETE(D).
Opp: ?JZS, Bingos: INULAsE(S).
Missed Bingos: (M)ATURATE.
Equity Loss: 58.

I was pretty stoked about finding the nine, and it got a challenge out of her, too. The lions share of the equity lost was in missing the bingo. I was so frustrated at not having a place to play TUATERA that I didn't even look from the M. Bleah. Overall it was a pretty good, clean game, though. I like that.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	Q(U)AYSIDE(s)	none	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

So, it's been an awful long time since I posted these, but here are some of the latest Scrabble word study graphs. I took another couple of months off a month or two ago, and things are just now clicking back into place for studying regularly. It's at a significantly reduced rate from my studying heyday, but I think it's a healthier pace overall.

	Upcoming Words 4-24 4-24 histogram of words per day by cardbox, through the end of cardbox 3
	Long Upcoming Words 4-24 4-24 histogram of words per day by cardbox, long version through the end of cardbox 6

I've been at club for the past two weeks, but I didn't get around to analyzing any of them until last night and this morning. Wheesh.

3/27 Club - Missed the first game cuz I got there late.

Game 2, Susan Beard, L 322-410.
Me: JQZSS, Bingos: STRIATE(D).
Opp: ??XSS, Bingos: BIGnESS, DETAInE(D).
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 95.

Game 3, Nancee Mancel, W 377-346.
Me: QXZSSS, Bingos: PERSONA(S).
Opp: ??JS, Bingos: ANTLERs, JAIlERS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 136.

Game 4, Benita Romero, W 366-316.
Me: ?JS, Bingos: sTRIVI(N)G.
Opp: ?QXZSSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 69.

4/3 Club - Sat out the third game to make us even.

Game 1, Nancee Mancel, L 240-462.
Me: JQXSS, Bingos: none.
Opp: ??ZSS, Bingos: GENIToR, (C)hARADES.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 160.

Game 2, Weslee Hendrix, W 461-211.
Me: ?JQZSS, Bingos: INCRUST, SYRINGA.
Opp: ?XSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 95.

Game 4, Mike Baron, W 447-428.
Me: ??QXSS, Bingos: MEATiER, mENSHEN.
Opp: JZSS, Bingos: BOISERI(E), REALTER.
Missed Bingos: SHORTiA, SOLERET, CORBIES.
Equity Loss: 116.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	none	(TANTRIC)S*
Their Plays	HU(G)ELY	none	HOOVE* (UMM)S* E(W)*

I made it over to Mike's place on Thursday morning for a few games. It was an interesting ride.

Game 1, W 456-362.
Me: ??JXSS, Bingos: RALLIeD, ENATIOn.
Opp: QZSS, Bingos: TRUNDL(E)S.
Missed Bingos: JA(R)GOnED.
Equity Loss: 101.

Game 2, L 331-408.
Me: ??QXZS, Bingos: rE(R)OUTEd.
Opp: JSSS, Bingos: SEAPORT.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 87.

Game 3, L 305-488.
Me: ?JXS, Bingos: sTRID(D)EN.
Opp: ?QZSSS, Bingos: REI(F)IERS, ANNELID, BIOPs(I)ED.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 97.

Game 4, W 443-362.
Me: ?JZSS, Bingos: TALENTS, ACTINIa.
Opp: ?QXSS, Bingos: (G)RUNgIER.
Missed Bingos: STANGED, DEMIJO(H)N.
Equity Loss: 176.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	none	none
Their Plays	BIOPs(I)ED	none	none

So, for a lot of good reasons I took another two months off from doing any cardbox quizzing. When I fired up a cardbox quiz yesterday I found that I had 29000 words due. Oomph. I quickly rescheduled that down to 150 and polished that off in no time flat. I was a little bit rusty, but as I found previously it only takes a day or two to work the kinks out and get the anagrammer clicking again. It's just like riding a bike...only not. I have my doubts about whether I'll be able to maintain the vigorous pace I've set before. I have no immediate plans to add in more new words--but we'll see how long that lasts. At any rate, it feels good to be quizzing again. I had my Modified-Kenji Method quizzes for a while, and I've been doing a lot of hook drilling lately, but there's nothing quite like the BIG QUIZ. THE Quiz, you might say. Like before, it's invigorating to come back to it. To come at it with a clearer mind and see so many of the words that were "tough" before, but I see instantly now. Of course, there are also the words that *used* to be easy that I'm not seeing, but it's good to find those out, too. It's all good.

So okay, even my negative side has to admit that 14-7, 12th place, and a class prize isn't *too* bad a showing against the pretty strong field I had to play. There are always thoughts about the ones that got away, but like I already said, I got some nice breaks, too.

I outbingoed my opponents 41-35, which I'm okay with, but I'd like that per game average to be a bit higher still. I *missed* 15 bingos, which is unacceptable. Much of those were due to blanks, which is its own issue, but there were plenty of naturals that got past me, too. I need to work on that.

As far as the meta-game goes, I'm not quite sure how I feel about things. After my great morning on the second day, it suddenly dawned on me that it might be *possible* to break 1750 in this tournament. For some reason, I just hadn't even focused on that at all. Yeah, it would be really nice to be *eligible* for div 1 in Orlando, even if the schedule and all is looking like I won't be able to make it anyway. At any rate, what if I was able to break 1750...I made that my new goal. After the 1-3 that afternoon, I wasn't so sure it was going to happen. Still, I played my game the next morning and let things fall where they will. When it was all said and done, my new rating came out this afternoon as....1749. Hah!

The mental game was good. I read the book Dune last week and I found my new Scrabble mantra. Fear is the mind killer. I love it. For me, it works in Scrabble on so many levels. Fear of opponents, fear of forgetting, fear of the randomness and chaos of the tiles. Fear kills the mind. Fear *makes* you miss plays and forget words and do assorted other dumb things. Fear is the mind killer. Every opponent I sat down to the table with, I knew I could beat. Obviously, I didn't win every game, but I still know I can beat any one of them. Bring it.

Wheesh. That was a blast. I lost a few games that I *know* I should have won, but that was countered by winning a few I got lucky on. What a funny game. Didn't even know I won the class prize until this morning cuz I had to skip the awards to catch the airport shuttle. Funny, funny, funny.

Game 9, Rod MacNeil, W 454-339.
Me: ?JQZSSSS, Bingos: BITTIES*, FAUvIST, HORNIST.
Opp: ?X, Bingos: LAtI(T)UDE.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 49.

Rod never even blinked when I played the phony bingo, although I actually had STI(L)BITE that I should have played instead. Doh. My next bingo two turns later made it pretty hard to climb back in it. His late bingo was more about keeping the spread damage down than anything else. All in all, this was a pretty good game for me, and I was happy to start the day with a win.

Game 10, Lee Brooks, W 362-321.
Me: ?QXZSSS, Bingos: EASTERS.
Opp: ?JS, Bingos: REPENTs.
Missed Bingos: (S)IPHoNIC.
Equity Loss: 81.

Lee had a great first day as a low seed, and we'd reached the sorting out time when we all had to keep winning to stay at the top tables. She actually scared me pretty good when she got her late bingo to pull even, but I had better tiles to play out and win in the endgame.

Game 11, John Luebkemann, W 389-387.
Me: ??JXZSSS, Bingos: SOpITED, LICkERS.
Opp: QS, Bingos: MENTEES.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 49.

It was pretty cool to get to play another of the top seeds in the tournament. I played another tight game and got most of the goodies to keep this one in the win column. I almost blew it in the endgame, but he ended up coming just a wee bit short. Whew again!

Game 12, Rich Moyer, W 389-355.
Me: ??SS, Bingos: aCTIVES, sURTIT(L)E.
Opp: JQXZSS, Bingos: PRESUME.
Missed Bingos: NO(N)TONIC.
Equity Loss: 87.

Rich had a super hot first day, and it was fun to be able to play him again. I wasn't sure how I was going to remember the severe drubbing I left him with at the Reno tournament last year. Other than missing NONTONIC early, I played really well with a lot of ugly tiles. He could have won it right through the end, though, and my big break was when he tried a phony on me, and I was able to play out and win. This game was a *lot* closer than the final score showed.

Game 13, Mike Baron, L 322-432.
Me: ?JXZS, Bingos: (A)NISETTE, HALOGeN.
Opp: ?QSSS, Bingos: ANOPSIA, SCRIVeD, SALTIRE.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 62.

Yeesh. He bingo-bango-bongo early on and I just couldn't do a thing to reply. I made my share of early mistakes, too, then played it tight down the stretch when the game was already lost. Ah well...

Game 14, Jason Katz-Brown, L 396-442.
Me: ?JQXZS, Bingos: (F)AVORITE, REALIZE(D).
Opp: ?SSS, Bingos: UNWISER, A(D)APTIOn.
Missed Bingos: NoNCRIM(ES).
Equity Loss: 163.

This was my first annotated game up at table 1, which was kinda cool. I have to admit that I was a little bit nervous at first, but I was able to shake it off after a turn or two and not worry about it. NOSHERY* really didn't throw me too much, although it felt kinda weird coming down off the podium to get to the challenge computer. I was feeling dead in the water until he gave me a sweet spot for (F)AVORITE, though. I was also really relieved when he didn't block the spot for REALIZE(D). I just wish I'd seen NoNCRIM(ES). (EX)PENDER was just heartbreaking. I so wanted to win the game, and I came so close. I knew it was good, but I just had to challenge because that was my only hope to win. It was an excellent find, and I have to give Jason props for playing a great game.

Game 15, Orry Swift, L 357-416.
Me: ?QXSS, Bingos: STONIlY.
Opp: ?JZSS, Bingos: (C)RITERIA, rERAISE.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 90.

Orry just has my number. This was the third time that he just totally handled me. It couldn't come from a much nicer guy, so I'm okay with it on a personal level, but it's got to come back around sometime or other.

Game 16, Chris Cree, W 412-362.
Me: ?QSS, Bingos: (U)INTAITe, PIONEER(S), DRILLED.
Opp: ?JXZSS, Bingos: HEADSME(N).
Missed Bingos: TAUTInG, T(A)BORINS.
Equity Loss: 126.

This was an interesting game. I missed a bingo on the first turn, but saw (U)INTAITe on the next play. He next played HEADSME(N) to the N, and I put him on hold. After thinking for 30 seconds or so, I (unfortunately) decided to challenge. I hit the stop button on the clock, and it totally wigged out--flashing random numbers and whatever before just shutting down. Uh...oops. We adjudicated the challenge, in his favor, then called the director for some...direction. We agreed to go ahead and say that two minutes had elapsed on either side...reset the clock and play down with 2:00 being the new zero mark. Fair enough, although it eventually wasn't any kind of issue (I didn't expect it would be). I got back in the saddle after the missed turn and balanced my rack before bingoing again, then another two tile balance followed by another bingo. Chris was becoming rather...agitated...by this point. I'd taken the lead back, but it was still a pretty close game with plenty of goodies unseen. I proceeded to miss a bingo on the next turn, which would have pretty much sealed it in my favor, but we were duking it out on a pretty tight board, with neither of us willing and/or able to open it. I finally opened it a bit, but onus was on him since I had a 40 point lead at this point. He missed a bingo opportunity late, if he'd known and seen (Ae)ROPAUsE. Yikes. I ended up ahead at the end though, pulling out another fairly lucky win.

Game 17, Keith Smith, W 410-398.
Me: ZS, Bingos: ANILINE, A(N)TIDOTE, SAUCING.
Opp: ??JQXSSS, Bingos: SOVIETS, UNRAteD.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 86.

Speaking of luck, this was an odd one. While he's bingoing early, I'm playing PIPI(E)R to un-triple my I's. Blech. I bingo twice in a row later, but I'm still down by 60 after his double-blank bingo. I caught what I thought was a lucky spread break when he challenges a four, then barely manage to balance into a late bingo to pull even (376-378) with AEOOORUUYZ unseen. If he has the Z, there's a 44 point Z(A) play primed and ready. What do I draw out of the bag but AEZ. WOW! He blocks the ZA spot (he *has* to), but I have an out-play to win a game I thought was TOTALLY gone. Yee-haw!

Game 18, Laura Scheimberg, L 346-353.
Me: ?QZ, Bingos: none.
Opp: ?JXSSSS, Bingos: EMERSI(O)N, SINUOUS.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 132.

I knew that sooner or later a squeaker would roll the other way. Laura was having a late-tournament surge, and came into this game fresh from shellacking Orry Swift (why can't *I* do that?!?). The tiles weren't looking too good early, and she gets her bingo to go up by a good bit. I had nice bingo tiles, but I opted for the decent scoring six rather then the fish, and draw into FGKQRRZ. She miraculously *doesn't* block my spot to play Z(E)RK for 81, but then bingos again and I'm trying to balance FGQRUW? next. I hold the QU? for a while because there's no great spot to play them off and I saw some potential for a Q bingo. I finally fish off Q(A)T, but I'm holding AEFMTU? for my last rack. No sevens, but if I can't get a 6 starting with a letter that goes in front of an E, I can make it to the triple word and *maybe* score enough points off her rack (DLPTTV?) by going out the next turn. FUMETs would have done just that, but I didn't see it. I do go out, but it's too little to win it. It all holds up on the recount.

Game 19, Joel Sherman, W 430-368.
Me: JXS, Bingos: MEGARON, ST(E)RNWAY.
Opp: ??QZSSS, Bingos: rEVISIO(N), SANSER(I)F.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 89.

A double-double GENO(G)RAM would have been better than MEGARON, but I was glad I found ST(E)RNWAY. Anytime you can be up on Joel Sherman early, it's a good thing. He was right back in it with his second bingo, though, and I caught my break with his detour into phoney-land. He tries (P)ECTATED* the turn after SANSER(I)F, and I hold for a bit before challenging it off. I score 50 with my X, and he immediately tries (S)ECTATED*. I challenge that one off even quicker, and now I'm up by a bingo on him. He cuts the lead down the stretch and draws the second blank, but he only has one more shot before I close down the bingo lanes. He thinks for a long time, taking his clock all the way down to 1 second, then tries (T)OOLLIkE*. I might have held for longer if it wasn't so obviously a desperation play, but I'm sunk if it's good anyway, so we take a third trip up to the computer with the same result as the last two. Off it comes, I muck up the board, he goes over on time, and I end up with the win.

Game 20, Amit Chakrabarti, W 462-387.
Me: ?QXZSSS, Bingos: SPECIAL, BONNiES(T), RESTORA(L).
Opp: ?JS, Bingos: TuRGIDL(Y).
Missed Bingos: NOUVELl(E), lOOSENE(R).
Equity Loss: 138.

This was another messy win that I owe mostly if not totally to a pivotal challenge. I played SPECIAL early instead of the clearly superior (R)EPLICAS, and a couple of turns later, I miss a boatload of bingos in ELNOUV? on a wide open board (Yes, I *DID* see UNLOVED, but that didn't play...UNGLOVE would have, however...). Anyway, I play off LUV, and he puts down TWEETIE(R)*. I hold for a long time. I don't usually hold for terribly long...just make the call and get it over with, but this was big. If it's good, he's right back in it (I *had* been up by 120). He takes his courtesy draw, and I finally make the call to challenge. Talk about RELIEF! I take a quick look at his awful rack (FWJU...something or other) before he throws it back, and I'm back in business...the business of missing another bingo. This time my best play was lOOSENE(R) to the same R. Anyway, I fish again, finally get a sub-optimal bingo on my next play. He's clawing back, but I bingo again a few turns later to pretty well seal it. He gets the super late bingo down with only an S left in the bag, but it was just about the spread at that point. Maybe I should worry about the spread much more than I did this tournament, you think??

Game 21, Joel Sherman, L 350-485.
Me: JQS, Bingos: none.
Opp: ??XZSSS, Bingos: CLANK(I)ER, MARLiNS, tAUTEST.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 52.

Um, yeah. I was here for this game, but it hardly shows. Quackle actually says I didn't pretty well with what I had, but I didn't have much. Getting all the goodies (again, I might add, but with less phoneys this time...), he stomped me up one side of the board and down the other. Ah well...it was fun while it lasted.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	DOAT	BITTIES*	none
Their Plays	(EX)PENDER HEADSME(N)	none	EXP(O)NE* PAY(I)N* NOSHERY* (P)ECTATED* (S)ECTATED* (T)OOLLIkE* TWEETIE(R)*

My trip to get to Dallas was NOWHERE near as interesting as some other folks had. We flew from Philly after visiting the family in South Jersey for the week before. We hopped in Houston, where the wife and little guy got off and caught a flight to Albuquerque. I stayed on the same plane and flew up to Dallas Love Field, getting in right on time. It was a little wet on the ground, but no snow that I could see. It did turn out to be a chilly night, but nothing that couldn't be flown in. Silly airlines cancelling all those flights...

Anyway, on to the games.

Game 1, Judy Newhouse, W 419-336.
Me: ??JQXS, Bingos: NiDATED, LOITERs.
Opp: ZSSS, Bingos: ASTERIA.
Missed Bingos: ANTIWEA(R), LaTERI(Z)E.
Equity Loss: 76.

I'm always a little stiff at the start of a tournament, so I am glad to get through the first one or two. This wasn't very clean (re: missing the two bingos), but not terribly messy (the rest of the game was pretty good), so I was happy enough for it. Judy is such a nice person, though, so I could think of much worse folks to lose to...

Game 2, Mark Gooley, L 291-346.
Me: ?XSSS, Bingos: PINEaLS.
Opp: ?JQZS, Bingos: TAWNIES, E(P)HeDRIN.
Missed Bingos: LIRIOP(E)S.
Equity Loss: 110.

...like Mark. Garumph, or should I say, ***SIGH***. This game just hurt. The big miss (half the equity) was missing the wide open LIRIOP(E)S. I was so focussed on cleaning up the rack and grooming the bingo that I missed the one I had...and screwed up my rack so bad it took me 5 more turns to finally bingo. He bingos again, though, and I just didn't have any firepower to come back. Dang it.

Game 3, Nathan Benedict, W 396-369.
Me: ?JZSSS, Bingos: ANISEED, ETOILES, CaPONIE(R).
Opp: ?QXS, Bingos: cANTICL(E).
Missed Bingos: VESTURE.
Equity Loss: 134.

And I follow that up with a win against my roommate, meezerman--the #7 seed. Despite missing a totally natural VESTURE, I still managed to play well enough to win. It was an odd endgame, though. He played GANGAL* to save spread points late, and I held. There was one in the bag, but I'd mistracked so I wasn't quite sure what it was. If I challenged and he went out, he would win. Still, I KNEW it was phoney, so up to the computer we went, and it came off. I then proceeded to play a phoney three. DOH!!

Game 4, Samantha Southard, W 477-340.
Me: ?JQXZS, Bingos: VESTURA(L), G(L)AZIERy.
Opp: ?SSS, Bingos: TRENAIL, CLOIS(T)ER.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 50.

I was kinda looking forward to playing samhampton since I'd known her primarily from LJ and we'd never played before. The breaks largely went my way from early on, however, and the tiles just kept being nice to me. It ended up being pretty lopsided. Nothing personal, Sam!

Game 5, Ian Weinstein, L 409-520.
Me: JQSS, Bingos: (E)NSHRINE, INDITER.
Opp: ??XZSS, Bingos: wOMMERA, UTE(N)SILs.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 54.

Ian had one of the most nightmare travel stories that I'd heard about. He got diverted to Atlanta, and just decided to rent a car and drive overnight from there. Yikes! I was hoping this would affect his play, but it didn't seem to do much. He opened with the bingo and never really looked back from there. I kept trying to claw back into it, but he had answers for everything. Ah well, I feel like I played a good game against a top-notch player.

Game 6, Gregg Speicher, W 449-427.
Me: ?QSS, Bingos: GAWKERS, EA(T)ERIEs, LECTINS.
Opp: ?JXZSS, Bingos: OUTPLAN, OERSTED.
Missed Bingos: BAGHO(U)SE.
Equity Loss: 86.

Gregg beat me at the Phoenix NSC, dang him. He's a super nice guy so it was absolutely nothing personal, but I always want to beat everyone who's beat me before. I was sad about missing BAGHO(U)SE on my first play, but I did pretty darn well from there out. He kept it close the whole way, but I hit PUN(J)I for good points late and pretty well put it away there. Whew...

Game 7, Stu Goldman, W 450-370.
Me: ?JQXSSS, Bingos: WALT(Z)ERS, ATONIES.
Opp: ?ZS, Bingos: G(O)ONIEsT, DARNELS.
Missed Bingos: SINCIPU(T), B(E)NDWISE.
Equity Loss: 197.

Despite his regularly strident and prickly demeanor, I like Stu. I was kind of glad to go play him again. I liked finding WALTZERS, but the big ones that got away would have been even cooler. I should have known BENDWISE, so that one hurt, but SINCIPUT wasn't quite as familiar. That would have been an AWESOME play. They were both over 60 points of equity lost, though, so they made this game look worse than it felt I played.

Game 8, Jean McArthur, W 391-326.
Me: ?SS, Bingos: SEAMIER, E(U)rOKIES.
Opp: ?JQXZSS, Bingos: LIN(E)SMEN.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 71.

This game *felt* messy. It was the end of the day, and I think we were both ready for dinner already. Quackle was actually kinder to me than I expected. I like tolarjev, but I was glad to pull out the win on our first meeting, too. She made it really close down the stretch, but the tiles were a little nicer to me in the endgame and I ended up ahead.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	none	FAH*
Their Plays	none	none	GANGAL* (OI)N*

Game 1, Nancee Mancel, L 413-465.
Me: ?QXSSS, Bingos: TE(L)EOMES*, BAWDI(E)St.
Opp: ?JZS, Bingos: REEn(R)OLL.
Missed Bingos: SUMM(A)TES.
Equity Loss: 16 (43 lost +27 for a phony bingo).

Yikes, this had a sloppy start. SO I miss what *should* have been an incredibly obvious bingo with my opening rack, then proceed to get away with a phony bingo on the very next turn. From there on out, I lost a grand total of 9 points of equity in the whole rest of the game. I have to give her props for playing it close, and hitting the triple-triple definitely won her the game. If it weren't for my first two turns, this is one loss that I'd definitely be proud of...

Game 2, Rosalie Dion, W 413-263.
Me: ?JQZSSS, Bingos: PERSONA, RESEDAs.
Opp: ?XS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 143.

I sure like Rosalie--she's such a nice person and always a joy to play, as are all of the novices we've attracted to our club here in Rio Rancho. However, she's still got an awful long way to go to improve her game. I played a little sloppy here; there were a number of decisions where I *knew* I was making the sub-optimal play, but also knew I would get away with it. The biggest questionable play was opening the board late to avoid my Q stick when I knew she had a blank and an S, but not worrying because I knew she wouldn't hit the bingo. I was right about that, and she also set me up for more points with the Q because she wasn't tracking and didn't realize I had it. I feel just a little bit nasty doing something like that, but then I guess that's the game we play. It was a largely unremarkable game otherwise, but it's all good.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	TE(L)EOMES*	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

So I did manage to fit in a couple of extra games over the course of the Phoenix tournament weekend. As I am wont, I did keep a detailed scoresheet of these games, too, and figured I'd throw them up here.

The first game was a friendly against John Karris while a group of us were hanging out in Mike Baron's room after dinner on Sunday night. I was due to play John in the round robin the next morning, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to warm up against him. It really didn't go my way, though...

John Karris, L 351-396.
Me: JQZS, Bingos: M(E)TALIST.
Opp: ??XSSS, Bingos: SHARInG, DOWE(R)INg.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 64.

I was reeling after two bingos in the first three turns, although I did manage to get (G)RECIZE for 60 points in reply to his first bingo. I pulled out a bingo finally, but was never really in a position to threaten. I told him that I was just letting him use up all his drawing luck that night so that I would have it the next day. I guess it worked out okay.

Jerry Lerman and I met for a game at the airport while waiting for our flights. I knew I had plenty of time for my flight, but saganist was my ride and he was headed out of town for home, so I had him drop me off way early. I ran into Jerry there and we made a game of it.

Jerry Lerman, L 324-338.
Me: ??ZS, Bingos: (Y)AhRZEiT, TREELIK(E).
Opp: JQXSSS, Bingos: none.
Missed Bingos: none.
Equity Loss: 123.

Wow, talk about playing a dream word. I had to give up a boatload of equity to play (Y)AhRZEiT for 68 instead of TErRAZz(O) for 92, but I was just dying for the style points. This game was pretty well mine to lose the whole way, and I managed to do just that. I had him right up until I opened a spot for his Q to score big enough points in the endgame. Doh.

	Valid, challenged	Phoney, unchallenged	Phoney, challenged
My Plays	none	none	none
Their Plays	none	none	none

Almost exactly a month ago, I made a post that I subsequently deleted about my latest study foray. I'd been feeling like I was in a bit of a rut, study-wise, just running through my cardbox quizzing. SO, I changed things up a bit. Here's the post I made back then (originally posted on 2/21):

So I decided that I need another break from my cardbox quizzing. I've been quite faithful to it lately (averaging over 1000/day for quite a while now), but I'm not feeling inspired by it. SO, I've set it aside for a couple of weeks. I went ahead and made a list of the 21000ish words that AREN'T in my cardbox database...and started a quiz with all of them in it. As of right now--1800 words in--I'm running around 74% correct. That's kind of cool. I suppose this is somewhat inspired by Kenji (I would link to him, but I guess he got scared off of LJ), or cesarsalad, but mostly I'm just bored. It's fun to see new words. I'm thinking I'll be done in a week or two and go back to the cardbox stuff. In my mind, it comes down the depth of word study versus the breadth of word study. The cardbox system is well designed to increase the depth of word knowledge, but a survey quiz like I'm doing now is better for increasing the breadth quickly. It should be fun!

Well, I finally finished that quiz yesterday evening. I guess I was a little optimistic about finishing it in two weeks--I got distracted with tournaments and hiking and life and all--but it was still a fun venture. My final score was 75.9% correct. Many of those words were ones I knew well that I'd just never been quizzed on, although there were a few total guesses that panned out. Of the words I missed, there were a few that I totally should have seen, but missed, and a few more that I just mistyped, but most were strange beasts and oddities that I have yet to learn. The good news is that now I have a list of 5100 words to focus more closely on. It's kind of nice to pare down the "don't know" list to an *almost* manageable amount. At any rate, now I'll start a quiz on that list (it ought to take me a week or two...*grin*).