Final Day of US Scrabble Open 2006

Day 4, final day of US Scrabble Open 2006. I feel nervous in the morning, like something is not right.... yes, I screwed up.... Something I did angered the tile-gods and they punished me left and right....

Round 22 - Opponent: Robert Collins, rated 905, seeded 31st

I meet Robert Collins again, whom I lost to by -11 points in Round 11. My first rack is FGHLMRX. I played 'F(I)G', and Robert immediately bingoed with 'VENDoRS'. For the next five racks, I get only 1 vowel each. Yet, amazingly, I managed to score 33, 26, 32, 31, 20 points, so I did not change my tiles. On my 7th rack, my rack became DLLRSSV, and with no where to play well, I changed LLVD to get AYII in return. Yeah, like AIIRSSY is any better. And in the end-game, I failed to catch the Q in his rack, because I missed the play-out of AIRIES(T). Anyway, I lost 305-384. And promptly dropped from 7th to 12th position. And Robert ended 2nd overall.

Round 23 - Opponent: Ben Lam, rated 1137, seeded 1st!

Now, if he is rated 1137, why is he playing in under 1000 raters? I guess he improved his rating after the cut-off date. Anyway, I lost to Ben by -11 points in Round 9, just like I lost to Robert Collins. I actually played pretty well this round, playing 'ZIL(L)s' for 66 points, and bingoed with 'TENNERS' later. Yet, Ben played a better game, maximing with 'J(OB)/JO' for 42 points, bingoed with '(JO)E/ErASION' for 74 points, (A)XIS for 33 points, 'VI(N)Y' across my TENNERS for 42 points. So, I lost 365-404. He played well. Ben ended 9th overall.

Round 24 - Opponent: Matt Canik, rated 906, seeded 28th

This is a young boy, who won several school championships. And he hoodwinked me thrice.... my own fault. He bingoed early with a phoney 'SLEETER' which is no good as well. It should be 'SLEETIER' but since it sounded feasible to me, I let it go. He later phoneyed with 'BEDY' which I did not challenge, since he opened up the triple-word lane. I replied with my own bingo of 'PADDieS' using 2 blanks, which is a waste. I also played 'OXEN/(JIN)X' for 40 points. Later, I had 'SATIRE+M' and he blocked my 'SMARTIE' bingo place with 'ORK' which I should have known is no good. But I did not challenge it. Worse, I totally missed another spot which I could have played 'MI(G)RATES' or 'MA(G)ISTER'. I played 'AM', and drew 2 tiles.... the 'A' and the 'M', the very same tiles I just played. What are the odds of that? So, I missed my all-important bingo. No doubt, Matt played well, with 'QUOINS' for 43 points and (Q)UIVER for 36 points late in the game. I could have won with the bingo. Lost 362-373, a mere -11 points. Guess what? Three of those players who beaten me by 11 points sat on the same table!!! Robert, Ben and Matt! Anyway, Matt ended 8th overall.

So, I lost the first 3 games in the morning! And dropped all the way to 20th position in 3 games!

Round 25 - Opponent: KC Frodyma, rated 931, seeded 48th

My luck finally turned here. I had some lucky breaks, playing 'Zo(O)/Z(A)' for 64 points, KEX for 36 points. I challenged 'CAJON' which was good, so I lost a turn. Later, my rack was 'AEEEEII', which I changed. 2 turns later, I bingoed with 'AWAITED' but I hooked A to a D, making 'DA', a British-only word! But she did not see it until too late, so the bingo stayed. She played a phoney bingo 'INCLOs(I)NG(S)' towards the endgame but I let it go, since I will win without challenging and playing '(C)UBE' at H12 to hit the triple word for 21 points to get ahead and possibly losing by challenging if INCLOSINGS turns out to be good. Well, I found out later that INCLOSING does NOT take the S hook. But I won 393-366, and got up to 17th position. From here, if I win my next 3 games, I can still have the chance to get to Top 10! Still hopeful. Anyway, KC ended in 6th position overall.

Round 26 - Opponent: Richard Hamilton, rated 880, seeded 39th

This was a close game, but I had the luck this time. I bingoed with 'RECITES', later played 'EXES/(JOB)S' for 50 points, and bingoed again with 'ENRAgED'. Richard bingoed also, with 'UnCLOGS' but was not enough. I won 411-377.

Round 27 - Opponent: Chris Nelson, rated 895, seeded 63rd

Another close game. Chris bingoed early with 'CASTINg', and I replied soon with 'SHOVERS'. He scored big with 'JEW(S)' for 30 points, 'FIZ/(I)F' for 42 points and 'oXE(N)/X(I)' for 38 points. And yet, I played close to lose by only 12 points, 320-332. Very very sad for me. Dropped to 18th position. And Chris ended 10th overall.

Round 28 - Opponent: Jeremy Hall, rated 820, seeded 61st

Now, this turned out weird. I wanted to play a good game to win 1 more game to remain in the top 20. If I lose, I know for sure I will go below 20th. And of all my luck, Jeremy was 'gibsonized' [note: not a good Scrabble word], and I am the 'gibsonee' [note: also not good in Scrabble]. Jeremy is from the Bay Area in California, so we knew each other. And he had already won 21 games to win the tournament in Round 27, so this game means nothing to his standing. Due to some rule in US, they don't play King-of-the-hill, but he is 'gibsonized' to play someone who, at best case scenario, will be the 11th position if he/she wins the final round. And that person happens to be ME!!! Man, how fair is that? Just so happens, there are a number of people at 16 wins and I have the highest spread, and for that, I get penalized to play with the champion? I don't understand Americans and their thinking. So, instead of me having a chance to get to the 11th position by playing others with 16 wins, I get to play the best player in the tournament with 21 wins!

The only good thing is, for the 28th and final game, I get to play in Table 1!!

Anyway, I have beaten Jeremy in club game in Palo Alto before, so our standards are not that far off from each other, I think. But I made my mistakes. We were scoring neck-to-neck. He started with 'ZETAS' for 48 points and in his 3rd move, bingoed early with '(T)ITTERED' but I played well to keep up to him. Then, I made my mistake. I bingoed with 'SOL(T)ICES', which he thought for a while, and then challenged it off. But he left the T-spot open, so I bingoed again with 'SOLS(T)ICE', the correct spelling. THis time, he did not challenge. At this point, at the 10th move, we were tied at 296-296. At the 11th move, we both scored 22 and tied again at 318-318. Then, he bingoed with '(BE)S/ STINGED'. STINGED sounds good right? That's because it is a British-only word!!! I thought about it and let it go, coz I have played it before. Turns out, it was not good in TWL2 and I let it stay. Sigh.... There goes the game. It ended in 13 plays, and I lost 352-402, a -50 point difference, coming exactly from the bingo bonus!!! Sigh.....

Dropped like a stone to 22nd position. Not in Top 10, not even in the top 20. And I have a cumulative spread of +1060! If I had won 1 more game, I'd be 15th, and if I had won 2 more games, I would have been 7th! And I really could have done it. My mistakes costed me. So, for today, I have 2 wins - 5 losses, ending the tournament with 16W-12L. Quite bad. Quite pissed, and quite disappointed. Sad. Sad. Sad. Maybe I should just retire from Scrabble.

Hey guys, from Singapore and Malaysia. I know some of you were rooting for me to be in Top 10, and I did actually thought I could do it too. But I screwed up. Sorry to disappoint you guys.

For the round by round standings, please see here.