After my performance at Reno, I seriously wanted more, and wanted to do better. I went to Berkeley the next week while my memory was still fresh. And did some more studying, especially the bingos.
After so much bingo study, I finally got to play some of the words. ENDOSTEA and TENTORIA (won a challenge as well). I got a bye in one round, so, played only 5 games and ended on a somewhat satisfactory scoreline of 5-0. Berkeley seems to be turning out a lucky venue for me. Second win in 2 times, but the clean sweep was special. I took it one game at a time, and just played what I thought was my natural game. Also, improved on my challenges and word play. Did not arbitrarily play words that I thought might be good. I basically did not throw away my turns. Here are the games:
Game1
Game2
Game3
Game5
Game6
The 5-0 effort earned a 60pt rating jump -- more than I thought. That cheers me up for a bit. :)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Reno experience (Jul 4 wknd)
3.5days of scrabbling!! Can you imagine? Nothing but fun..
It's difficult to post comments for all the games, but I have uploaded them here:
Game1 bad start, almost top seed, now a good friend, had a close game considering he played a phony towards the end and I was a bingo away. 0-1
Game2 didn't get any better. Oh my.. 12yr old, let him play tons of phonies - NUMeRANT*, ZONKY*, DULA*. 0-2
Game3 Played Max. 0-3
Game4 Finally a win for me. 1-3 for the session. 1-3
Game5 I swear I gave this game away. Opened it up for her bingo towards the end. 1-4
Game6 Played a phony, got challenged off, got clobbered, not well played. 1-5
Game7 I was pretty much feeling very down and kinda given up. So, I was relaxed, at least. Started with FUrLIKE* (FLUKIEr and FLUnKIE are good) and got some more bingos down. Win another game finally. 2-5
Game8 Played Gloriosa before: knew she wasn't a strong opponent. Got some really nice bingos down. Overall, I played well also. Looking back, this was probably my best game of the tournament. Played the percentages right and thought a little harder for the bingos. 2-2 for the session. 3-5
End of day 1: 3-5 with a healthy spread thanks to my last two games of the day.
Game9 This was a close game: would have won the game had I seen INTeRACT towards the end. Bad start. 3-6
Game10 414 points without bingos or blanks -- rarely happens! Won the game. 4-6
Game11 Again 380 points without blanks/bingos. That too against a highly rated player. Well done. 5-6
Game12 My chance to win and make an even tally of wins & losses and end the session well. The opponent was rate 1507, but I came within 7 points. Would have won it had I seen ACINOSE. Also missed LIGHTEN. I didn't know both the words existed -- that's a different matter anyways. It would have been nice to win that game. Well, yet another 2-2 session and I end up: 5-7
Game13 Had a good find in LITTlIsh, but lost my way after that. Two consecutive challenges on FREEMEN and CURDY pretty much sealed my fate. 5-8
Game14 That's it, I had reached the max I wanted to lose: 8 games (to win the division; eventually the winner had 20-8 record). Couldn't lose any more. Ideally. In this game, I got lucky towards the end as I had an S and found a bingo with it. 6-8
Game15 This game was a real heartbreak. So close yet so far. I didn't see the SUN opening and he bingoed with SENIORS to pretty much seal the game. Ouch! 6-9
Game16 Easy opponent, easy win. 7-9
Not a bad scoreline to end day 2, but it could have been much better if things went my way. (Or if I played better ;) ) The spread was still good because my losses weren't too heavy. Among people with the same wins, I probably had the second highest spread. 12 more games and a long way before the tournament ended. Still lot more games to play and day 3 was crucial. Went out with Michael Stevens and his friends for dinner, woke up at 5 next morning and did some studying.
Game17 Was playing another high-rated player. Almost all my game, I was bracing for a bingo that never came. Won eventually by 120 points! Not a bad start for the day. Can I sustain it and have a good session though? 8-9
Game18 Nope, a huge loss by 100 points thanks to some strategical mistakes too me down to: 8-10
Game19 Oh man, would I love to play her again. She passed or exchanged for like 70% of her turns. Too bad I allowed her to finish off with a bingo. Won by 200+ points. 9-10
Game20 C'mon, get even with a win and a 3-1 session!!! Pat turned out to be my nemesis. Handed me a 140pt thumping. Incidentally this was the only game she won that day!! I think I played bad at crucial moments. My usual scoreline of 2-2 for the session. Not good. 9-11
Game21
For some reason, I didn't think she played phonies.. but she played PELETONS* early on. That sounded good but wasn't. And from then on, she got the wood on me. Disappointing loss. 9-12
Game22 Royal Thumping!! No other words to describe it. Lost by close to 200 points and almost all my spread advantage! 9-13
Game23 What a game!! Phew!! In the end, she handed it to me, but oh my God!, I got really lucky there. Reminded me of IIT days. 10-13
Game24
Eked out another close win, and rounded up one more, you guessed it right, 2-2 session. 11-13
End of day 3: Not really that bad. Just had to win the remaining 4 games on the last day. Michael(1520) was 13-11 and I thought maybe I could catch up with him.
Game25 Had prepared really well, got to the room like an hr in advance, and seemed to be doing all well until that ELATER blunder. Oh my! What a pathetic move, and I knew it even when I was playing it. So damn defensive! Suffered a really bad loss. Not a great start. 11-14
Game26 I was so pissed at myself. All that anger translated to a win. Only two more to go. 12-14
Game27 I got some good bingos and romped home. 13-14
Game28 After the previous two wins, and a close game that I should have won, I got complacent and received a well deserved whupping. Ended with a passable: 13-15
And wanting for MORE!
There was not much talking, just some serious playing -- and dinner/study at night. Lot of new faces as well.
Stayed at Sacramento on Thursday night (Jul 2nd night) and drove up Friday morning. Was at Reno until the tournament got over. My first visit to Reno, and oh my God, the place is so pretty -- I hadn't imagined that! Nice greenery around and the drive from Sacramento to Reno was pretty amazing as well. Really enjoyed it.
Game1 bad start, almost top seed, now a good friend, had a close game considering he played a phony towards the end and I was a bingo away. 0-1
Game2 didn't get any better. Oh my.. 12yr old, let him play tons of phonies - NUMeRANT*, ZONKY*, DULA*. 0-2
Game3 Played Max. 0-3
Game4 Finally a win for me. 1-3 for the session. 1-3
Game5 I swear I gave this game away. Opened it up for her bingo towards the end. 1-4
Game6 Played a phony, got challenged off, got clobbered, not well played. 1-5
Game7 I was pretty much feeling very down and kinda given up. So, I was relaxed, at least. Started with FUrLIKE* (FLUKIEr and FLUnKIE are good) and got some more bingos down. Win another game finally. 2-5
Game8 Played Gloriosa before: knew she wasn't a strong opponent. Got some really nice bingos down. Overall, I played well also. Looking back, this was probably my best game of the tournament. Played the percentages right and thought a little harder for the bingos. 2-2 for the session. 3-5
End of day 1: 3-5 with a healthy spread thanks to my last two games of the day.
Game9 This was a close game: would have won the game had I seen INTeRACT towards the end. Bad start. 3-6
Game10 414 points without bingos or blanks -- rarely happens! Won the game. 4-6
Game11 Again 380 points without blanks/bingos. That too against a highly rated player. Well done. 5-6
Game12 My chance to win and make an even tally of wins & losses and end the session well. The opponent was rate 1507, but I came within 7 points. Would have won it had I seen ACINOSE. Also missed LIGHTEN. I didn't know both the words existed -- that's a different matter anyways. It would have been nice to win that game. Well, yet another 2-2 session and I end up: 5-7
Game13 Had a good find in LITTlIsh, but lost my way after that. Two consecutive challenges on FREEMEN and CURDY pretty much sealed my fate. 5-8
Game14 That's it, I had reached the max I wanted to lose: 8 games (to win the division; eventually the winner had 20-8 record). Couldn't lose any more. Ideally. In this game, I got lucky towards the end as I had an S and found a bingo with it. 6-8
Game15 This game was a real heartbreak. So close yet so far. I didn't see the SUN opening and he bingoed with SENIORS to pretty much seal the game. Ouch! 6-9
Game16 Easy opponent, easy win. 7-9
Not a bad scoreline to end day 2, but it could have been much better if things went my way. (Or if I played better ;) ) The spread was still good because my losses weren't too heavy. Among people with the same wins, I probably had the second highest spread. 12 more games and a long way before the tournament ended. Still lot more games to play and day 3 was crucial. Went out with Michael Stevens and his friends for dinner, woke up at 5 next morning and did some studying.
Game17 Was playing another high-rated player. Almost all my game, I was bracing for a bingo that never came. Won eventually by 120 points! Not a bad start for the day. Can I sustain it and have a good session though? 8-9
Game18 Nope, a huge loss by 100 points thanks to some strategical mistakes too me down to: 8-10
Game19 Oh man, would I love to play her again. She passed or exchanged for like 70% of her turns. Too bad I allowed her to finish off with a bingo. Won by 200+ points. 9-10
Game20 C'mon, get even with a win and a 3-1 session!!! Pat turned out to be my nemesis. Handed me a 140pt thumping. Incidentally this was the only game she won that day!! I think I played bad at crucial moments. My usual scoreline of 2-2 for the session. Not good. 9-11
Game21
For some reason, I didn't think she played phonies.. but she played PELETONS* early on. That sounded good but wasn't. And from then on, she got the wood on me. Disappointing loss. 9-12
Game22 Royal Thumping!! No other words to describe it. Lost by close to 200 points and almost all my spread advantage! 9-13
Game23 What a game!! Phew!! In the end, she handed it to me, but oh my God!, I got really lucky there. Reminded me of IIT days. 10-13
Game24
Eked out another close win, and rounded up one more, you guessed it right, 2-2 session. 11-13
End of day 3: Not really that bad. Just had to win the remaining 4 games on the last day. Michael(1520) was 13-11 and I thought maybe I could catch up with him.
Game25 Had prepared really well, got to the room like an hr in advance, and seemed to be doing all well until that ELATER blunder. Oh my! What a pathetic move, and I knew it even when I was playing it. So damn defensive! Suffered a really bad loss. Not a great start. 11-14
Game26 I was so pissed at myself. All that anger translated to a win. Only two more to go. 12-14
Game27 I got some good bingos and romped home. 13-14
Game28 After the previous two wins, and a close game that I should have won, I got complacent and received a well deserved whupping. Ended with a passable: 13-15
And wanting for MORE!
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