SJ Scrabble @ Round-Table Pizza

My first tournament after Memorial Day weekend last year -- for the first three games, it seemed like I forgot to play Scrabble! I got so used to playing on computer (it does the scoring, tile tracking et. al. for you) that I sucked big time when actually playing face-to-face, and was always short on time. Also, I have been reading about Scrabble strategies, good leaves, etc. -- so much that I spent more time thinking than actually playing.

For the next three games, I just decided to play my natural game -- not too much thinking, just playing fast. And to hell with tile-tracking -- I guess that will take more practice. Luckily it worked, also a lot of luck favored me in those games.

There were lot of new faces and lot of crowd, which was good. Below are my annotated games: (opponent's racks are a bogus most times, my racks are accurate)

Game 1 - Nathan. First game after 8 months -- there were nerves, as there always are in the first game for me. Moreover, a new player, and someone rated lower than me (which mean I was expected to win). I lost too much time trying to track the tiles, and these kids are darn fast. I lost the game fishing for bingo very early and losing sight of the big picture. There was one phony -- TINSLed*; I wasn't sure and moreover I saw a bingo utilising the S in TINSLed*. I thought TINSLED was good in SOWPODS (a shed made out of tin??) but it is no good.

Game 2 - Dave. Dave and Nathan are teens playing pretty good and fast Scrabble. Again, I was fishing for a bingo towards the end-game. That coupled with some bad moves cost the game. Blanks were out of the game as Dave played a phony bingo (that was challenged off) using both blanks early on in turn 4.

Game 3 Karmun's baby left him groggy, so, he ended up counting 4 points less for his score. But I guess this guy has got the wood on me! I gotta get rid of my psychological block before I am able to beat him. Given my form, I played a very defensive game. Luckily for me I drew both blanks, and hence managed to keep the losing spread under 100pts. It was one of the most closed games I have played. No noteworthy plays.

Game 4 - Eugene was the top seed, and considering my 0-3 start, I basically had nothing to lose. I just let myself free -- all I wanted to do was play as I see (not think too much). In all earlier games I was short on time, so I decided to ditch tracking tiles and do it only if needed. The game started off at rapid pace -- the first three plays were bingos. Eugene opened with LIGHTED. I had SEEDIER and SLIGHTED. Eugene played BORrOWED. Of course, I could not keep up. I played JANE for 47 and I had QUOLL for 68 the next move but I wasn't sure of the word. Since then my pace slowed down and I was down by about 80pts towards the end before I got lucky. I drew the blank and was able to play a bingo - TRIENeS to tie the score. I drew WRENGER. There was one tile left in the bag and Eugene played KEY to go up by 23 points. I needed an I for a bingo and a place to put it. Played YE creating two openings for myself and fishing for an I! I got really lucky.. and Bingo! WRINGER & RYE to end the game. Its been so many years since I won the game in an end game by closing out with a bingo. It felt good to have finally won a game, and winning against the top seed felt even better. Of course, my gambles worked in my favor.

Game 5 - Jim. The way I was playing, I was not going to have an easy game with anyone. After gaining a 100 point lead initially, I let Jim back into the game with some phony play (YOURT*) and bad tile combination. I also gave too many openings in trying to have a good turnover for my tiles. I slowly lost grip of the match and was trailing 50+ points. It was then again, I made a freak draw. I had ICUBATT on my rack and an open E. If only I had an N instead of T. There were two more N's left while there were 7 tiles left in the bag. I gambled on that chance, and Presto! I drew the N!! I put down INCUBATe to get back into the game. I then drew the blank and won a close game.

Game 6 - Dave. Dave is a very fast player. Even though I was trying to play fast, he was much faster. In the first half, until about 60 tiles were played, I was catching up with him. Dave opened up a triple letter with MINT and I was lucky to have the tiles to score 47 with FURRY, with the R above the triple word score. Dave exchanged to allow me to make use of the triple word and take a 40-pt lead. 168-129, and I drew the first blank. He came back well with WHEYS for 46 and led 194-179. I played the phony DILuTANT* (sounded good, left unchallenged) to draw X & Z. I was leading by about 40 points now. The next two moves were high-scoring moves using X & Z and by the time I was done with the power tiles, I drew the second blank to have AVEERS? on my rack. I just drew everything in the last 3-4 turns. Dave played SIB opening the S for me to go out with REVERSAl. Reversal of fortune, indeed!

There was tough competition, and my word knowledge was poor - e.g. challenging GIT and losing. I would have probably got whipped 0-6 if not for getting lucky in the last 3.