Mountain View Sep scrabble, Sep 20

Now, Division C has become a regular division for me, which I am happy to be part of. I guess that is the fastest way to rise up if you manage to defeat higher seeded players.

Before the tournament, I was so busy at work, so my studying has been haphazard. I was quite busy otherwise as well with Mom coming the next day from India and swimming classes on the morrow. I almost did not go, but I decided that I was playing okay online, and that I should go and give it a try -- just enjoy myself and not worry about how I was gonna do.

Somehow, THAT worked out to be a charm. I guess the Tile Gods were happy too as I played 11 blanks out of 12 in 6 games and stayed undefeated. I was seeded 6 in a group of 6 and it was fun to have a 6-0 record. That record is fun anytime by the way. But after the 6-0 performance, still did not feel sated. Two reasons:

1. A month ago, I had come 3rd -- and there was no prize money for 3rd place. Now, I was told that was the new thing. Today, I came first and was hoping to make up for the previous round's loss. No luck. New tournament director, new rules. 3rd place got a prize, and 1st place cash prize wasn't that appealing. :) This was gonna be secondary as I was happy with 6-0 and was expecting close to 1400 or touching 1400. I came in with a rating of 1236, and was playing a field of 1300-1400.
2. Went home, typed in the results to see where I would end up -- 1356. Still a jump of 120 points, but somehow not too happy.

3 tournaments coming up in October - Berkeley in 2 weeks, Mountain View 2 weeks after that and the California Open two weeks later. Big October to look forward to!

I guess I need to brush up my 3's and 4's before that. I realized studying bingos helps in finding bingos. Before this tournament, I was just quizzing on 7-letter words randomly. Maybe that works -- not sure for how long. Of course, the Tile Gods had a big part to play. In the end, the trip was worthwhile. Much more than that. At least, feel ok to play in California open.

One thing that seems to be working is to take it one game at a time -- all players are good enough to comeback from a big deficit if you allow them to.

Things to improve:
challenging & bingos -- I did miss out on a few opportunities, and I let go a bunch of phonies that looked like, sounded like and were in fact phonies. :)


Game1 - Alan
Top seed vs. bottom seed. Tried a phony IDOLATE* early in the game and that got challenged off. I knew it was wrong but I had to try. After that, I seemed to be picking all the tiles at the right time. I had a comfortable lead. In the end, the margin was only 5 points, but after my response of blocking the triple after he had played MAILER for 41 points, I guess my feara eased. I guess I played carefully/smartly towards the end.
bingos played - BLUSTERY, KEROSINE, ACINOSE

Game2 - Paula
INTERNS on turn 9 was probably the most crucial play in the close game. I almost missed it. Then she caught up again in 2 moves, but then I drew both the blanks. I was fishing for the bingo because I had two blanks -- missed an opportunity to play SCUTTLED, but found ENTITLED next move. Luckily she didn't have a bingo to close out. Ideal play would have been DOTTLES instead of ENTITLED.
bingos played: INTERNS, ENTITLED

Game3 - Jeannie
I started the game with REFRAIN, good find, was almost gonna play FAIRER. Glad I am taking just a little extra time to find the bingos. And there was no looking back from there. I should have challenged FEYS* -- I was almost sure that wasn't good. But almost wasn't enough and I let it go.
phonies: OVULI*, FEYS*
bingos played: REFRAIN, SATIRES, ENTRANT

Game4 - Bennett
It was a close game, and I have to say I let it get close. He played CAUKERS* and I let it go because I wasn't very sure, and I knew it helped me get a bingo -- but could not find TRIHEDRA or RHETORIC. I basically wasted the phony play. I played PARVENU which Bennett challenged. I was surprised at the challenge, but that let me back in the game. It became a closed board after that, and a tactical blunder by Bennett in the end game let me win the game I think.
bingos played: CAUKERS*, PARVENU
phonies: CAUKERS*

Game5 - Pat
After playing BLASTIE, I drew the blank and it was smooth sailing overall. Each time Pat came close to my score, I got a bingo and went ahead. When I played TREATING, I was wondering if BRETTING* was good. BLETTING* is no good either. She didn't get any bingos down and what should have been a 100+ point win for me wass only 70+ points because of my tactical blunder of leaving a lone C on my rack!
bingos played: BLASTIE, TREATING, URINATED

Game6 - Bennett
I let a bunch of phonies stay on the board, also, played one myself and came out with a 70-pt win. Picked up the right tiles -- got a highe score with X in the beginning, and then got triple-word scores with J & Z. Bennett had a slow start but I had taken off by then with LOONIES. He played RESTROVE immediately after but that opened up a triple-word. I played JIBER, he played high-scoring PLOTZ but that again opened up a triple and I had the tiles to play ZEALOT. It was tough for him to catch up after that. Had I played VIOLONES instead of LOONIES, there wasn't probably a b ingo play for Bennett then. Later in the game, I missed BARENESS (as thinking about it but did not play it). Ideal play was to challenge CILLE* and play BARENESS. In the end, it was much easier than the first game.
phonies: CILLE*, ATAKE*, FARS*
bingos played: RESTROVE, LOONIES