Scrabble 001: Big Apple 1-Day Tourney (2008)
Big Apple 1-Day Scrabble Tournament (2008)
After over 5 years and 14 tournaments, I finally won a Scrabble tourney! What's even more special is that the tournament was one of Ira Freehof's 1-Day Big Apple Scrabble tournaments. These tourneys are what one Scrabble expert described as one of the "most coveted of one-day shindigs."
I arrived early to the tournament site: The Comfort Diner on 45th Street. Inside, people were busy preparing the playing area, including unpacking 16 of the new SamBoard Apple Scrabble boards and tiles. When I learned that every competitor (there were 32 of us) would get to take home one of these boards, plus a set of "big apple" tiles (named thusly because printed on the two blanks was a little apple), I actually felt as if I had "won" already. These boards are beautiful!
http://www.samtimer.com/st-samboardAP.html
And so I relaxed through the games. I lost my first one because I didn't blink at all when my opponent laid down FLoORMEN# - and then I won my next three, including a win against Ann Sanfedele, a person who has been playing Scrabble at around the same time I started playing video games. That game against her was particularly pleasing because I played a word she didn't know and that she challenged. The word was AMBERINA, which is defined as "a type of glassware." That lost turn enabled me to go out first. I won by 28 points.
At the dinner break, I was in 1st place by spread points, the amount of points one receives (or loses) after a game, depending on the margin of victory. With only three games to go, I was in the driver's seat. I ate a veggie burger and fries and more water and proceeding to play terrible, terrible Scrabble.
My first game after the break was against Varney Senii, who I had beaten twice before, once in New Orleans and once again in Reno. I almost gave him the game by misspelling SECONAL (I switched the O and the A) and by hooking an S to a phony four, TOER#. Duh! Luckily, I was able to bingo three times and come up with an endgame that gave me a 15 point victory. I should've lost that game, though.
I won the next game to go 5-1 and a spread of +374 with one game to go. I was the only one at 5-1; two others were at 4-2, with the highest spread of the two being something like +67. It would take a blowout loss on my part PLUS a blowout win by one of the people at 4-2 for me to lose the tournament.
Well, I did my part! I lost by 154 points, playing scared Scrabble. Now, what did my opponents do?
One of the 4-2 people won her game by over 100 points, but she started at -60 and thus finished, like me, at 5-2. Her spread was lower than mine.
The other 4-2 person was still engaged in her game! I didn't want to be a dick and observe the game; so I just paced back and forth around the counter area, doing mad math in my head. I had lost by 154 points, so I finished with a spread of 220. That means that the 4-2 person had to win by something like 160 points. Considering she was playing against whom I had beaten by 141 points earlier in the tourney, it was entirely possible.
I risked one peek and saw that the game was a blowout! Oh no! The margin was around 140 points, though, but was the game over? The two contestants took the longest time filling out the forms, and when they were done, I found out that the blowout was not in favor of the lady in 4-2. Thanks, Stephanie Steele, for coming through in the last game for me!
Here's the bingo list:
sevens:
NEUTERS
SATEENS
SECONAL
eights:
DEsOLATE
LATHIEST
TeNDRiLS
URINATES
AMBERINA (chal.)
DISROBED
SAPONITE (chal.)
TUTOrING
...
My friend, Mark Buccheri, was there to witness the second half and to hang out at the Ice Cream Social (with beer and wine) afterwards. I downed two Stella Artois and a great apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. On the ride to the World Trade Center PATH station, I told Mark that one of my fears in playing competitive Scrabble is that of never winning a tournament. It is conceivable that one can achieve expert status and never win a tournament, and then, when one is an expert playing against people who have memorized the whole Scrabble dictionary (and who constantly look for 9-letter words to play), the chances of winning a tournament become that much smaller, and the effort it takes to improve, I imagine, becomes that much greater. So I've realized that the best chances for me to actually win a tournament is now. And now that it is done, the pressure is off.
Of course, I'm writing this the day after winning, so we'll see how it goes after my next tourney.
After over 5 years and 14 tournaments, I finally won a Scrabble tourney! What's even more special is that the tournament was one of Ira Freehof's 1-Day Big Apple Scrabble tournaments. These tourneys are what one Scrabble expert described as one of the "most coveted of one-day shindigs."
I arrived early to the tournament site: The Comfort Diner on 45th Street. Inside, people were busy preparing the playing area, including unpacking 16 of the new SamBoard Apple Scrabble boards and tiles. When I learned that every competitor (there were 32 of us) would get to take home one of these boards, plus a set of "big apple" tiles (named thusly because printed on the two blanks was a little apple), I actually felt as if I had "won" already. These boards are beautiful!
http://www.samtimer.com/st-samboardAP.html
And so I relaxed through the games. I lost my first one because I didn't blink at all when my opponent laid down FLoORMEN# - and then I won my next three, including a win against Ann Sanfedele, a person who has been playing Scrabble at around the same time I started playing video games. That game against her was particularly pleasing because I played a word she didn't know and that she challenged. The word was AMBERINA, which is defined as "a type of glassware." That lost turn enabled me to go out first. I won by 28 points.
At the dinner break, I was in 1st place by spread points, the amount of points one receives (or loses) after a game, depending on the margin of victory. With only three games to go, I was in the driver's seat. I ate a veggie burger and fries and more water and proceeding to play terrible, terrible Scrabble.
My first game after the break was against Varney Senii, who I had beaten twice before, once in New Orleans and once again in Reno. I almost gave him the game by misspelling SECONAL (I switched the O and the A) and by hooking an S to a phony four, TOER#. Duh! Luckily, I was able to bingo three times and come up with an endgame that gave me a 15 point victory. I should've lost that game, though.
I won the next game to go 5-1 and a spread of +374 with one game to go. I was the only one at 5-1; two others were at 4-2, with the highest spread of the two being something like +67. It would take a blowout loss on my part PLUS a blowout win by one of the people at 4-2 for me to lose the tournament.
Well, I did my part! I lost by 154 points, playing scared Scrabble. Now, what did my opponents do?
One of the 4-2 people won her game by over 100 points, but she started at -60 and thus finished, like me, at 5-2. Her spread was lower than mine.
The other 4-2 person was still engaged in her game! I didn't want to be a dick and observe the game; so I just paced back and forth around the counter area, doing mad math in my head. I had lost by 154 points, so I finished with a spread of 220. That means that the 4-2 person had to win by something like 160 points. Considering she was playing against whom I had beaten by 141 points earlier in the tourney, it was entirely possible.
I risked one peek and saw that the game was a blowout! Oh no! The margin was around 140 points, though, but was the game over? The two contestants took the longest time filling out the forms, and when they were done, I found out that the blowout was not in favor of the lady in 4-2. Thanks, Stephanie Steele, for coming through in the last game for me!
Here's the bingo list:
sevens:
NEUTERS
SATEENS
SECONAL
eights:
DEsOLATE
LATHIEST
TeNDRiLS
URINATES
AMBERINA (chal.)
DISROBED
SAPONITE (chal.)
TUTOrING
...
My friend, Mark Buccheri, was there to witness the second half and to hang out at the Ice Cream Social (with beer and wine) afterwards. I downed two Stella Artois and a great apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. On the ride to the World Trade Center PATH station, I told Mark that one of my fears in playing competitive Scrabble is that of never winning a tournament. It is conceivable that one can achieve expert status and never win a tournament, and then, when one is an expert playing against people who have memorized the whole Scrabble dictionary (and who constantly look for 9-letter words to play), the chances of winning a tournament become that much smaller, and the effort it takes to improve, I imagine, becomes that much greater. So I've realized that the best chances for me to actually win a tournament is now. And now that it is done, the pressure is off.
Of course, I'm writing this the day after winning, so we'll see how it goes after my next tourney.