One catalyst for the relaunch of The Elusive QUETZAL was a good showing at my last tournament here in Baton Rouge.
I thought I had a poor showing at my last tournament in New Orleans, so I applied myself more in my pre-tournament study in the ramp up to the Baton Rouge tournament. I hit Jumbletime everyday. I worked with the Zyzzva cardbox. I studied flash cards (6 letter words with 4 vowels) while walking around the library during my breaks at work. I even reviewed every post on the QUETZAL to trigger my Scrabble memory. So I came into the tournament with more confidence than I had felt in a couple years.
But I thought all bets were off when I saw that the high tournament enrollment necessitated the addition of another division. With the change in divisional boundaries, I ended up being the lowest rated player in the second highest division. The highly rated players in that division included Helen, who usually plays in the highest division and uses about 5 minutes of her clock every game, and Conrad, who has beat me in every friendly game that I've played him in.
So I went into the first game with a "damn the torpedoes" type of attitude. If I was going to do well playing against players who I thought had better word knowledge than me, I would have to play aggressively. Thus I played a big fat phoney for my first bingo, AUXINES* (UNISEX and AUXINS are good). It stayed on the board. Ben played bIRDIES to take the lead late in the game. But I luckily drew a Z late in the game and played ZOOEY, a new word, for 34 points and went out on the next turn. Ben's unplayed tiles gave me 12 points to win by 9. I had just defeated the top-rated player in the division.
In my second game against James, I continued my recklessness by playing BLOND for 27, hanging the B in the triple column. Both blanks were still out. I breathed a sigh of relief when he played BURN. Come to find out, he had passed up the chance to play SNUBBIER for a 3x3 (120+ points), but he didn't think it was good. I played ACTIONS to take the lead for the rest of the game.
Game 3: I opened with YEARnER (which was the only bingo). Lindsay closed the gap with SENARII. But I had EINRST? on my rack, so I played STRaINED for 74. I lucked out by getting a late X for a 39 point EX, and won by 18.
Game 4: For some reason I thought NOONE* was good, but it stayed on the board, as well as my OUTMARRY* (84). (As in "NOONE* in Hollywood could OUTMARRY* Elizabeth Taylor"). With ENRSTT?, I first tried NiTTERS* which was challenged off. Then I tried SNoTTER* which likewise came back (STENToR was the word I was looking for). I unhappily played off the ?S for 45 points and was promptly rewarded with an EA to give me AEENRTT. I played ENTREAT for 72. Then I got AGLLORS. I entreated the Scrabble gods for an open I. My prayers were answered when Danny played NICE. His hand was still in the bag when I put down GORILLAS (the 70 point GORILLAS in the room). Then I pulled AADEFHT. Again I entreated the gods to look upon me with good grace. But Danny played PUL, blocking the only spot where I could have played FATHEAD. My final score was 491, within spitting distance of 500, but still probably my highest tournament game to date.
ABOVE: My highest scoring tournament game yet: 491.
Game 5: No bingos for me, but Broderick got down SOUpIEr. I phonied with ARRAK* (ARRACK is good) while Broderick phonied with PAVIL*. Not surprisingly, it was my first loss.
Game 6: I played a fun game with Conrad. He bingoed early with RENEWEd, and I answered with DIGESTER, which I played through the wrong E, allowing Conrad to make up some points by hooking an S on DIGESTER. I played NUDZH for 36 (what a fun word!) and somehow got down IDOLATRY the next turn. Conrad commented that IDOLATRY was a "cute" play. I let him back into the game by opening up a lane for his STOURIE. But his tournament-long bad luck streak stuck him with a Q and a J on his last rack and I won thanks to his Q.
ABOVE: Now that's a leggy board!
Game 7: Despite a big fat phoney: TAGLESS*, I couldn't draw a good rack to save my life. Juanita bingo-bangoed with PARTING and TEARING. My TUTTI or UNCIAE did me no good. I lost this one badly.
Game 8: My first game of the second day was against Helen, and I gave up tracking tiles against her about three turns in. I was lucky to get my hand out of the bag before she played. But we ended up playing a fun game. I stupidly set Helen up for a TWS bingo by playing LOUTS so she could hook the C for cLOUTS and cENSURE. Luckily I found REjOICE to keep it close (after passing up my first guess, which was just as good: REvOICE). Later, I had FATTING but with no place to play it, I opened up a bingo lane by playing AFT. She thought she blocked it by playing VOE, leaving ET hanging. Somehow I pulled the only H out of the bag and am able to bingo with HEATING. Under time pressure, I misplayed the endgame badly, and Helen squeaked out the win.
ABOVE: Oh, how I wish the J in REjOICE was a real J and not a blank!
Game 9: I drew the bag on Brenda, bingoing with RETRYInG and NaUSEAS. I missed a chance to extend LIMITED to become DELIMITED. I succumbed to the influence of Homer Simpson to play the phoney, DOH*. I thought it was a new one! The final is 397-237, a spread of +160. I'm sure Brenda will put this one out of her mind.
Game 10: In the first round of King of the Hill, I played Ben again. My luck continued as I drew the bag on him. I bingoed thrice with OILIESt, ARENITE, and SITTINgS (which he challenged unsuccessfully). I played the whole game thinking that I couldn't add an S to IXIA. Luckily I didn't need it.
ABOVE: Instead of SITTINgS, I could have played INSISTs, hooking IXIA with an S, IXIAS.
Game 11: Broderick had my number again as I couldn't draw a good rack. Everything I put down set him up perfectly. Finally he returned the favor late in the game by throwing a G into an open lane. I play RESOWING which he challenged and lost. At this point, I knew I was going to lose, but I needed to keep the spread from getting out of control.
Game 12: I got both blanks and bingoed with TrEATINg. Later I don't have much of a play with an X on my rack, so I purposely set myself up with an E next to a TLS. Juanita missed it and I played a 55 point EX. It's one of those rare tactical plays which usually doesn't work. I was actually thinking that she would see it and block it, but that in blocking it, she would open a TWS lane. Anyway, the trickeration* was enough for a win.
My record was 8-4 with a +279 spread. With my rating, I had been expected to win just under 4 games.
ABOVE: An envelope full of cash always puts a smile on my face!
At first, I thought I had come in third, but I had misread the standings. I came in second!
My rating went up from 1151 to 1270 which is a new peak rating.
Posted by Mike Waugh at October 17, 2007 08:15 PM | TrackBack