NZ Scrabble Masters 2010 - My Record

Game #11 - Ian (355) vs. Blue (591!)

Expected: 5.7 wins, Actual: 6 wins. Rating change: 1550 to 1559.


SUMMARY:

Opponent	(my)	#	W/L	My Score	Opp. Score	Diff.	My Bonuses	His/Her Bonuses
Shirley V	s	1	W	426	379	+47	EROTISE UNAIMED	SECRETE
Denise	??ss	2	L	429	432	-3	RECOINED BOATLIFT	LAUNDER VERSING
Andrew	?	3	L	376	470	-94	CREATIN	RELATION WARIEST ALLEGES
Steven	?ss	4	L	308	497	-189	MISGRADE RESONANT	RECLUSE
Shirley H	?sss	5	W	438	361	+77	LODGINGS	RESTATED
Marianne	?sss	6	W	414	373	+41	MIRAGES BEATINGS	TRIKING*bogus!!
Anderina	s	7	L	247	489	-242	-	VALLEYS REFINERY
Rosemary	:-(	8	L	269	377	-108	-	SEXTONS
John	??s	9	L	313	391	-78	STANDEN	WOOLIEST
Mike	?ss	10	L	382	429	-47	BROMATE STOURIE	INCENTRE
Blue	??s	11	L	355	591	-236	NEUTRAL SWAGGER	LIGNITE POLENTAS SWEATED NOMADIES
Liz	ss	12	L	371	419	-48	DELETES	SPARING
Jeff	sss	13	L	307	413	-106	-	POETISE BARONET
Lawson	?sss	14	L	390	522	-132	DIRIGES FEASIBLY	COTISED TELLING
Howard	?s	15	L	323	607	-184	GAMBLES	LINEATE THIOUREA UNDROSSY
Lynn	??sss	16	W	446	346	+100	MATRICS ERASURE EPINAOI	SETTLING
Murray	?sss	17	L	400	436	-36	LEAFIEST OPERATES	MARINERS
Joanne	sss	18	L	291	495	-204	REALIST	DUOTONES PINERIES
Glenda	??ss	19	W	413	343	+70	LITHEST*bogus!! EXPECTS	SURLOIN
Peter	?ss	20	L	309	487	-178	PATROLS	DEICING SITUATE
Paul	?ss	21	L	384	419	-35	-	GAROTES
Glennis	?sss	22	W	422	406	+16	CREATES SEDATED ABALONE	TERSION
Joan	?sss	23	L	444	454	-10	ATRESIA LOOTINGS	PREENING BLOTTER

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Game 1 - Shirley van Essen (Christchurch)
Neck and neck till I got a playable UNAIMED out of nowhere near the end, then raced to a win.
Nice way to start.  Shirley was seeded #18, but she actually turned out the tournament surprise, finishing up at SIXTH place!

Game 2 - Denise Gordon (Wanganui)
(See previous blog post)

Game 3 - Andrew Bradley (Auckland)
I missed my chance at turn 4 - DEINPR? and I missed at least 2 sevensin there that I should have known. Was never in the game after that.

Game 4 - Steven Brown (Wellington)
He scored 5 non-bonus turns over 40. Again on turn 4 I had a playable 7, considered it briefly, but didn't know or like it so chickened out. AINNSTU - (makes only the one word).

Game 5 - Shirley Hol (Christchurch)
Three times I had to remove (alleged!?) bonuses! First SOUDAIN* which I really thought was ok, but that makes no 7 (though DINOSAU(R) and SUDA(T)ION were both available.
Then SEDGING* which again I felt an inkling I knew (EDGINGS wouldn't fit). SEDGES, even SEDGED, but NOT what I had. Again there WAS an 8 there: NIGGA(R)DS for 140!! Shame.
Then later FUSTION*, which in fact makes nothing.
I also let her away with KAG* - yet - my tiles were so good I still won easily!

Game 6 - Marianne Bentley (Tauranga)
I made many poor plays (the worst being not challenging her TRIKING*!) but good tiles pulled me thru.
Now 3 wins outa 6 - great! (Little knowing I was to lose my next NINE!! )

Game 7 - Anderina McLean (Auckland)
A shellacking (and my lowest score of the tournament). Turn 3 I played H(A)RPIST for 32, leaving O. I SHOULD have played HOI for 23, leaving PRST. Very sad, as I DO like my S's, but even sadder, I never saw another S or a blank! Boo hoo.

Game 8 - Rosemary Cleary (Wanganui)
The only game of the weekend where I got ZERO esses or blanks.Horrified to see her SeXTOnS early on - that's 4 of the 6 'goodies' gone already.My highest turn for the game was PLUG for 37 - 'nuff said. :-(

Game 9 - John Foster (Auckland)
Probably my worst game - missed playable 7s (which I 'knew") from AADEINS and then next turn from ADEGINS. Also missed EU(T)AXIAS and also IRRI(T)ANTS.
John's UNCOER ("more strange") was worthy of mention!

Game 10 - Mike Sigley (Wanganui)
My first rack: AAEORRT - I blew it! (swapped AOR). But I DID get lucky straight away as BROMATE arrived.From there on a steady game, but Mike was steadier than me throughout.

Game 11 - Blue Thorogood (Christchurch)
After 6 turns I was 225, not too bad!? Oh dear, but I was ALSO 122 behind - Blue doesn't muck around! A fun game to be in, though. :-)

Game 12 - Liz Fagerlund (Auckland)
An early bonus each, then a long slow grind. I reckon I lost it on a slightly deperate gamble, playing PERMA for a large 33. After her extra turn then she never looked back.

Game 13 - Jeff Grant (Hastings)
Quackle tells me I played the first 6 or 7 turns well, but then his 2nd bonus crushed me and I fell to bits.

Game 14 - Lawson Sue (Auckland)
I began with DIRIGES then FEAsI(B)LY, and was over 100 ahead after 6 turns. THAT's when I got DGINNOS. Neither DONINGS nor ONDINGS would go down (lol, I'd never heard of either anyway) but I thought (P)ONDINGS might be worth a shot. Hmmm, it wasn't. Nor was my D(R)ONINGS the next turn, so I settled for a "real" turn after that. Meanwhile he had COTiSED for 82 then OXI(D)E for 63 - I had AINOSSU and forgot that it made a 7, so I was 60 behind near the end.
But I had bonus possibilities, till Lawson stuck an AE in a prime spot to block many lines. Then his next turn HE fluked his own, TELLING (or GILLNET) which DID go down, and left me sitting with EARNIES*, no more bonus space, and no more tiles.
Another real fun game - but whatever happened to "winning" ?

Game 15 - Howard (Auckland)
Arguably NZ's best player, he had me beat before we started, I think. I missed a FERRET(E)D, then later back to back 7s that I USED to know - AAEGNRT then AAEEINT. Meanwhile he was throwing down stuff like THIO(U)REA, WIFIE, MM, (U)NDrOSSY en route to 500.

Game 16 - Lynn (Wellington)
I got ??SSS throughout - my luckiest game in that department. So bonuses kept me ahead, then I continued and tried to close bonus spots. But one still remained, and bingo! - my last rack was EIINOP? which makes 5 words, one of which I knew, to finish with a flourish.
Thank goodness - otherwise I'd have been winless for the whole day.

Game 17 - Murray Rogers (Nelson)
I played a weak turn 2, then played OPERATES when PROTEASE would have scored better, but apart from that my plays were good, until late in the game I challenged his TRIG. Well, I'm sure it USED to be bogus. Tough way to learn! I then 'forgot' NOX for myself, so rather threw the end away.

Game 18 - Joanne Craig (Sydney, Australia - but a kiwi!)
Dumb, dumb, dumb! Early on I played CORNS - seemed a good turn, scored 29, left S on my rack - but I completely forgot the obvious front hooks. It was vertical and of COURSE it allowed easy access along the top (TWS) row with A or S, but only when SHE put WAGON there for 39 did the penny drop. DOH!
I also missed AEIILST (man, I musta played that word dozens of times, back "then") - and Joanne threw down back-to-back 8's near the end to complete the trounce.

Game 19 - Glenda Foster (Wellington)
Level after 5 turns, I had THISTLE but didn't see it. What I DID see was LITHEST*, which seemed a fairly obvious word to me, so down it went. IF she'd challenged it then I may or may not have found THISTLE - but as it was I grabbed 7 fresh tiles: EEPSTX?. Next turn was EXPEcTS - but indeed Glenda's right saying later she wondered why I hadn't settled for an EX for 56, leaving a delicious EPST?
So, I deserved to lose, but didn't! (Makes up for a few times I reckon I "deserve to win", but don't! ROTFL)

Game 20 - Peter (Dunedin)
Hung in well till midgame he began to pull away. Time for a gamble: FANED* scored 47 - till it came off. Next turn (F)ANFED* for 42 suffered the same fate, as did (I)NFADE* next, also for 42.I'm sure Peter was wondering what my OTHER 2 tiles were! Well, for the record: JA.
Another game down the tubes then.

Game 21 - Paul (Christchurch)
He played ROGATES*, challenged off. I couldn't block the spot, so next turn GAROTES stayed on. Later I played SALUTIS* - I was sure that was ok, but blow me down, THAT came off too. (Sadly, unlike with Paul's one, I DIDN'T know an anagram [it's TISSUAL!]) so I fell badly behind.
But on a deadly clogged board I managed to catch up, but then a brain explosion played ARC, ignoring N-ARC, and he capitalised bigtime.
My only consolation is that Paul's V(A)GINaL at the end for 33 might have been more fun as R(A)VINGLy for 158 or R(A)VeLING 149.

Game 22 - Glennis (Auckland)
We traded blows till near the end... I played WIMP for a respectable 22 on a very closed board. I then found I had AABELNO, obviously making a word that could end under that W. But YIKES - Glennis then happened to block that (only) spot, quite accidentally I'm sure, with OF/F(AERY)/O(CREATES)* for an even more respectable 28.
If my bonus had gone elsewhere I'd have accepted that, but it wouldn't - I HAD to challenge, and it turned out OCREATE is ok, but not with an S. Poor Glennis - she'd been looking for that "O" for quite some time, she says.

Game 23 - Joan Thomas (Hastings)
I'd just reached my 'expected' wins of 6, but gosh, I wouldn't mind an extra one! At this point I was 2nd bottom, and Joan was the one below me! When she got (P)REENInG early on I commented that while I don't like opponents getting ANY good scores, at least it's nice to see a "squeaky clean" bonus, so one doesn't have to worry about challenging.
So - 3 turns later she played BLOTTER. Grrrrrrr.
I'm now trailing by 49-224, but ATRESIAS for 86 gets me back within 100. Later I'm still down 309-382 and try (L)OoTINGS. It survives the challenge, but she then grabs 41 for a simple QUA, and though I finish on 444 I still lose by 10 - and remarkably the highest combined score - 998 - of my whole tournament, between clearly the two BOTTOM players!
A nice way to end the day.

And - another tournament of all those ups and downs, twists and turns, yet it all finishes (for me) on basically exactly my EXPECTED number of wins. I often wonder why we all bother.
The "system" KNOWS how many you're going to win, so why then waste all that effort just to prove it right !? 

CHALLENGES and BOGUSes

Upper case = valid words, lower case = crookies

MY words challenged: UNAIMED  BOATLIFT  DOURA  DIF  EPINAOI - dier reclused soudain sedging fustion paronoid (lol, it was just a "try on", Anderina) powed perma choi vegs pondings dronings cofts faned fanfed infade alah flah salutis

OPPONENTS' words challenged by me: MYC  ZONER  UNCOER  RESH  POLENTAS  FEDEX  NOMADIES  COTISED  GAR  UNDROSSY  HAN  TRIG OHOS  VEXER  NENE  NARC - rejuiced soo rogates ocreates

MY boguses NOT challenged: lithest

OPPONENTS' boguses NOT challenged: kag triking daun whan




      C O M P L E T E   R E S UL T S    (courtesy Glenda Foster)

	Player	Club	Wins	Spread	Average	New             Rating	Rating             Change
1	Howard  Warner	MTA	17	1775	447	1987	-8
2	Andrew Bradley	MTA	17	702	420	1938	50
3	Joanne Craig	CHC	16	1456	452	1985	-40
4	Mike Sigley	WAN	15	1021	424	1915	-21
5	Steven Brown	KAP	15	717	422	1914	-21
6	Shirley Van Essen	CHC	15	168	402	1834	185
7	Peter Sinton	DUN	14.5	1356	429	1914	-41
8	Jeff Grant	IND	14	684	425	1982	-93
9	Blue Thorogood	CHC	13	593	426	1914	-92
10	Denise Gordon	WAN	13	287	413	1797	68
11	Lawson Sue	MTA	12	-31	408	1763	67
12	Murray Rogers	NEL	12	-307	388	1780	20
13	John Foster	IND	11	-256	394	1798	-76
14	Liz Fagerlund	MTA	11	-398	385	1720	102
15	Glenda Foster	WEL	10.5	-375	386	1727	21
16	Paul Lister	CHC	10	-708	377	1703	40
17	Anderina McLean	MTA	9	-157	397	1673	23
18	Glennis Hale	IND	9	-314	391	1744	-112
19	Rosemary Cleary	WAN	8.5	-425	369	1675	-31
20	Lynn Wood	WEL	8	-809	371	1657	-32
21	Marianne Bentley	TGA	7.5	-821	390	1629	-12
22	Shirley Hol	CHC	7	-1279	375	1565	79
23	Ian Patterson	DUN	6	-1579	368	1559	9
24	Joan Thomas	HAS	5	-1300	368	1455	73