Division 1 @ Mountain View - Oct 18

First time in Division1!!

My first three games were with Jerry Lerman, John Karris and Kevin Fraley -- lot of fun. :)

Ended up with 2-4, but my rating hasn't dropped a whole lot -- apparently that was what was expected of me. :)

Bingos played
QUANTILE, WATCHED, COASTERS, MIAOWED, ENSLAVER, MONGEESE, KNOCKED, ORIFICE, BONIFACE, TREADING, OBSERVED, TAILERS, ENTERAL, ANTSIER, LATINOS, CAGIEST, SHELVES, CRANIATE, SOLIDEST, GRITTED, COWERING

Words missed
CLONKED, HEMOCOEL, RESIDUAL, CREPONS, TEOPANS, PERSONATE, PENTOSAN, CAPSTONE, OUTBULK

Game 1 - John
John was still talking about my winning streak, and after a close victory, it continued.

bingos played - QUANTILE, WATCHED, COASTERS

Game 2 - Jerry

I gave Jerry a hard fight, was close. In hindsight, the ENALASE* try gave it away. Lost the game by 3 points after going out with a bingo.

bingos played - MIAOWED, ENSLAVER, MONGEESE, KNOCKED, ORIFICE

phonies - ENALASE* (challenged off)

Game 3 - Kevin

Kevin got a triple-triple down but I was not too far behind until he played another bingo towards the end and I missed my triple-triple of HEMOCOEL! That would have been something. But the triple-triple play was really awesome.

bingos played - BONIFACE, TREADING, OBSERVED, TAILERS, ENTERAL

phonies - URALIDES* (challenged off)

Game 4 - Alan

Missed some OUT words with two blanks!! Also missed a bunch of bingos at the beginning of the game.

bingos played - ANTSIER, LATINOS

Game 5 - Isaac

All my games were so far behind (probably because I had to set up my computer in between, and the recount of game2). But I was kind of stressed, and among other things that were lined up for after the games, I was pretty much switched off after game4. In this game, the PORGY move probably cost me the whole game!

bingos played - CAGIEST, SHELVES, CRANIATE

Game 6 - Paula

I was so switched off by now. I was just playing something randomly.

bingos played - SOLIDEST, GRITTED, COWERING

Romp at Berkeley - Oct 4

Berkeley has really been my lucky venue.. 3 wins out of 3 there so far. I managed to stay undefeated again: 6-0. The win was pleasing, definitely, but I did miss a ton of bingos - need to brush up on them.

In the previous tournament at Mountain View, I had played 11 out of 12 blanks in 6 games. This time, I played a blank early in game 1 and another blank late in game 4. That is it! 2 out of 12 for the round. Considering that, very happy with the 6-0 scoreline. And then, I was able to put down words like RAISONNE. :) Was good to put it down.

One thing for sure, no fear of losing, and no fear of unknown players. I just played my game, took one game at a time, did not play stupid phonies and relaxed.

Bingos played
HERNIAE, SPLASHER, ROULADES, CATENATE, ATOMISE, HOAGIES, ROULADE, ATINGLE, FAVORING, GIDDIEST, GRISTED*, SHAKENED*, RINSABLE, NEGATIVE, RAISONNE, MANACLE, CONGESTS

Words missed
PREMORAL, PREMOLAR, MONORAIL, MASTODON, STOMODEA, EUGENIAS, INCLOSE, CINEOLS, INFIDELS, INFIELDS, PINOLES, EPSILON, EUGENIAS, EXUVIA, REVUIST

Game 1 - KC
On my first turn, had PREMOLAR/PREMORAL -- missed it. I drew well after missing that, and just took off. Did not make too many mistakes after missing the bingo in the first move. The game lasted 12 moves!! and had 6 bingos! I almost hit 500 points! Almost. So close yet so far -- did not even touch 400 in the rest of the games. I wonder how long before I get another 500-point game. The wait is killing me.
bingos played - HERNIAE, SPLASHER, ROULADES, CATENATE, ATOMISE, HOAGIES

Game 2 - Andrea
Again, missed a bingo on my first turn - MONORAIL. Was thinking about MOONLIER* and MOORLINE* but did not play any of them. When she got MASQUE down, I was pretty much out trailing by 40 points. My only chance was to gamble on an N. I played off an A and picked up the N! I could get my bingo down on the penultimate turn but she couldn't and I won the game.

bingos played - ROULADE, ATINGLE

Game 3 - Alan
Missed yet a few more bingos on my second turn - MASTODON (I know that word!) and STOMODEA (of course I had no idea that was a word). Alan took the lead with a bingo in his first turn, and I was playing catch up. He played a phony CHEMA* on his second turn and I let it go. Had a chance to play 10-letter word SCHEMATIZE but didn't spot it. :)  Just when I seemed to catch up, Alan used his second blank to score a bingo and go up by 70 points again.  While Alan was making small plays, I slowly caught up. There was one hot spot for X which I was hoping he didn't score off and I staved that off successfully. I got to within 14 points of Alan when I had GRISTED* on my rack. I wasn't sure if that was a word but it sounded good - it also opened up the triple for him, so, I thought maybe he would let it go. I played the phony GRISTED* and to my surprise, not even a hold on it! I got some nice bonus points. He used the G to play JAGG on the triple score for 63 points,  but by that time I got a slender lead of 2 points. And then I drew the X and score some 35+ points off it. I just managed to come up tops in this game! GRISTED* was a gamble, but the comeback was good. Two come from behind victories in a row.

bingos played - FAVORING, GIDDIEST, GRISTED*

phonies - CHEMA*, GRISTED*

Game 4 - Bennett
Game with Bennett is mostly game of phonies. :) I started with MAUDE* and he played SHAKEnED* for 67 points. 67 points too little to challenge I thought and let it go. Also, it opened up the triple for me. If he had got another bingo on his next turn I would have really been down. I had FRISE and FRISES but wasn't sure about FRISES, so, played ORRISES instead on the triple. I barely managed to be within 20 odd points when he played LAVA to open a bingo row for me.  I played RINSABLE, and also won a turn on his challenge. And I drew the blank on that play. I knew it would be smooth sailing from then on. Played off the P to score another bingo on my next turn. Bennett played yet another phony UNEDIT* and I let it go again.  But I had enough lead to eke out a 56-point win.

bingos played - SHAKENED*, RINSABLE, NEGATIVE

phonies - MAUDE*, UNEDIT*, SHAKENED*

Game 5 - Paula
My knack for not being able to spot bingos came to the fore again in this match. On my 3rd turn I had INCLOSE/CINEOLS on my rack. I was thinking about INCLOSE but wasn't sure. Next turn I had INFIDELS/INFIELDS -- didn't see them. And on a 3rd consecutive turn! I had PINOLES/EPSILON. I was thinking about PINOLES, but EPSILON didn't even occur! Three turns of missing bingos, and I surely deserved to lose after so many mistakes. But I got lucky two turns later, and was able to put down RAISONNE. Nice word -- like it. :) I had a slender lead at this point, after her Z play and triple word play that opened a bingo for me. But on my next turn I got lucky with the J draw for the hot spot, and took a 40-point lead. Knew it was going to be a scrap. She played MAnACLE for a 20+ point lead, putting the first blank down. I wasn't sure of the word, but I just used the triple word score to get close with her. The second blank was still out there, and I thought that she must have drawn it after her bingo play. After exchanging a few punches, I played EYER on the triple for a 2-point lead. She held the play for a long while. I though she was looking for the bingo, but she was trying to block my bingo. Actually, I hadn't even spotted my EUGENIAS! She played GROVEL to give me GROVELING on the triple for 42 points. She played her Q to get even with me, and by this time she had the blank as well. I was left with AEEEISU on my rack. Oh my God, how was I going to get through this? She had BROWH? on her rack. But I had the Q on a double word hotspot, so, I could use that. I tried to play off my E's and trying to maximize my points. So, I played EVE -- apparently I block a high play for her. I had no clue. I was just focused on the big points with the Q. She played HOWs for 22 points, and I had not seen that play and her out chance next turn. She had a 13-point lead by then and a chance to go out. So, she was going to get may be around 15 points. I needed a big play. I was going to play IS for 28 leaving EAU, but then saw AIS instead and played it for 30 points for a 17-point lead. She scored 10-points and got 4-points from my unplayed tiles for a 3-point loss! Phew!

bingos played - RAISONNE, MANACLE

Game 6 - KC

Yet another close game, but I would say she gifted it to me with two phony plays of DAMA* and RAMA*. It was ironic that after challenging them off, I myself played KAMA* and that stayed! The game had the prospects of a closed board right from the beginning. My MOWN and her UNZIPS played a part in it. I had TINNERS if she hadn't played the S on UNZIPS. Missed nice plays -- EXUVIA for 48 and REVUIST for 46 points. Her bingo and HILI took her to a 50-point lead. I thought hard about GAIETY but eventually didn't play it. It would have been a good play instead what I played, leaving a bad rack. I scored good points on the double word scores to gain slight lead of 7-points. This was where the match turned I think. She played REPOSED and DEPOSER for DAMA* and RAMA* hooks on two consecutive turns, and probably gave me a slight advantage with those freebies. I challenged them off the board duly and sat on a 50-point lead. But she had good tiles as well as a blank. So, she caught up soon. Her CHEW was great play, but I was lucky to have SOJA on triple for come back.  My tile tracking was perfect, and I managed to edge her out with an 8-point win.

Looking back at the game, if not for the TREK play, I would most likely have lost!

bingos played - CONGESTS

phonies - KAMA*

My end game was pretty good in the last two games (3-point and 8-point wins).