Date: 2008-07-14 12:04 Subject: Philly, 7/13/08, 7-0 +550 FTW Security: Public Current Mood: accomplished

Tournament wins, I'm learning, are cool. Going 7-0 doesn't suck either.

I wasn't even planning on going, until greatscott66 pointed out Saturday night that this time there'd be five divisions instead of four, and that I'd likely be pretty far down in division 4, not at the top of 5. So reillye being the accommodating sort that she is, let the lawnwork slide, and Matt, being the accommodating sort that he is, let me in when I called him at a bit after 9:00 Sunday morning.

I get there, and after the dust settles, I'm ninth seed out of 11 in division 4. It's a good place to be, because the ratings spread is only about 250--the top seeds aren't guaranteed to crush the rest of us.

Tile synergy is what did it. Not too much vowelitis, and very little of the Noah's Ark Syndrome that's been plaguing me at club lately. I drew above average on power tiles (8/14 blanks, 15/28 S, 23/35 JKQXZ), but it was made even better for me that my opponents got stuck with three esses and a blank.

My last game was won by pure luck. Late in the game I had SOAPIER on my rack, and opp closed what I thought were the two open lanes for it, and I completely missed another place it would have played. I also didn't see (V)APORISE. His final rack was AMOUY?? and he had ten minutes to search, but he (and I) didn't see ArMOUrY, AUtOnYM or MO(R)tUArY, playable outbingoes that would have given him the game. It wouldn't have cost me the tournament, because I had a 125-point spread cushion, but I still can't claim credit for that win.

I certainly don't mind taking home a check, but the real win is that my rating should jump to 1140 or so, which is the breakout from the bottom division I've been waiting for. The next step is 1200, which will get me into the top half of ranked players.

Edit: My Brawndo T-shirt is starting to make me believe in luck.

Edit 7/21/08: 1145. Neato.

Date: 2008-04-03 20:00 Subject: Two more things about Princeton Security: Public Current Mood: forgetful

I finally got to play one of my dream words: THIOUREA. And it got challenged: "Thee-yoo-ree-uh? Never heard of that."

Also, I forgot to publicly thank greatscott66, Lynda and Dave for another exceptionally well-run tournament. Proof for the NYC crowd that great tournaments in Jersey didn't die with Margaret Bauer Williams, Princeton is well worth a ride down the Turnpike. The timeliness with which everything ran, despite some nasty technical issues and one no-call-no-show, make for quite the contrast to the recent AC fiascos.

Date: 2008-04-02 10:12 Subject: Princeton 3/28-3/30 Security: Public Current Mood: frustrated

The good: 9-5 +859, 3rd place in Division 4 ($90).
The bad: I picked up four rating points in the Early Bird, and gave five back in the main event.
( The rest... )

Date: 2008-02-18 11:05 Subject: Philly, 2/17/08, 6-1 +530 FTW Security: Public Current Mood: accomplished

It took me 18 tournaments to do it, but I finally pulled off a win. (When I called reillye to tell her, she then told Himself, who said, "Yeah, but it was division 4, right?" Cheeky.) I should pick up about 27 rating points, putting me a few tournaments away from sinking back to three digits.
( Maybe it was the Brawndo... )

Date: 2008-01-29 12:35 Subject: AC Tournament synopsis Security: Public Current Mood: slightly disappointed

I'm not going to go game by game.

31st seed out of 36 in division C. Five wins, nine losses, and a very untimely bye. Spread something like -250.

Highlights: Winning by one point on a recount. Getting away with a couple intentional drek-clearing phoneys. Finding the winning outbingo in an after-hours team game. Beating a 1500+ player. Not losing rating points. Yummy food at Carraba's.

Lowlights: Losing a game solely by mistracking. Unproductive exchanges. Unproductive use of blanks. Playing unintentional phoneys. Drawing so badly in the other after-hours team game that we played OIDIA twice in a row. The win against the 1500 player being an unrated game. Not gaining rating points. Getting a bye at a very bad time.

Must: Stop seeing OUTRISE* first in EIORSTU, and relying on opp's graces to be able to play STOURIE on the next turn.

Noted improvement: Not automatically getting creamed, and sometimes even winning, when opp draws the bag. Not getting blown out at all--worst loss was to Glenn Filzer by 109 points, who outrated me by 400 points and drew everything but SQ. Went 2-2 in the first four games despite drawing just two Ss.

( Bingos... )

Date: 2007-04-02 23:45 Subject: Princeton 3/30-4/1 Security: Public Current Mood: sleepy

( If the three shorties weren't enough... )

Date: 2007-02-19 13:34 Subject: Philly tournament, 2/18/07 Security: Public Current Mood: meh

Date: 2007-01-29 08:51 Subject: AC tournament 1/26-1/28 full report Security: Public Current Mood: blah

Date: 2007-01-28 23:06 Subject: AC tournament 1/26-1/28 short summary Security: Public Current Mood: sick & tired

I. Got. Slaughtered.

I thought playing in an open would give me a chance to pick up some decent rating points. Instead, I went 4-12 -552, didn't beat anyone rated less than 200 points below me, lost to several blue hairs, and dropped my rating from 1017 to 920. That's 36 below my initial rating of 958 from almost three years ago, and 23 above my all-time low. I might have done a bit better were it not for the cold/flu thing that hit me full-force this morning. But even if I had gone 4-0 this morning, I would still have lost a few rating points.

OTOH, I got the third highest score in the tournament, 559, with my first-ever bingo-bango-bongo, and a 102-point fourth bingo a few turns later.

Lots of cool goings-on away from the board, including the chance to meet crosstables, kangarau and samhampton and many others. The team game in the after hours room told me that I need a Yoda. I need an expert to tell me what I'm doing wrong that keeps me losing in tournaments despite my regularly beating solid intermediates and near-experts at club and studying as much as I can.

And what's my mental block on the damn threes? I've been studying them until my eyes fall out, but I can never seem to remember if a three is memorable because it's good or because it's not.

More later. Need more Benadryl now.

Date: 2006-04-17 10:28 Subject: OK, not quite so bad Security: Public Location: IBM tech support hell Current Mood: relieved Current Music: Muzak-on-hold

I got an unofficial cross table for the Princeton tournament from one of the directors. It's almost certainly accurate, but I can't consider it official unless it's on the NSA web site.

Regardless, it shows my rating dropping from 1049 to 1017. I figured that being at the top of the division, I had to get at least ten wins to hold my rating, and that the eight I did get would probably kick my four-digit rating to the curb. Guess I only needed nine and a half or so.

Date: 2006-04-05 23:18 Subject: Princeton 3/31-4/2 games 8-14 Security: Public Current Mood: mostly over it

As promised, ( Here are the second-half game details... )

Lynda, Scott and Dave did an excellent job with this, and I'm not just saying that because they gave me a purple shirt (since I'm still considered a member of the Princeton club as well as the Bridgewater club). They dealt with some major glitches like the pairing software dying and making Scott pair rounds 4-14 by hand, and one player unceremoniously walking out after round 13, without a lot of visible effect. Thankfully they didn't have to deal with anything major at the venue, which was as amazing as everyone else has been saying.

I played a bunch of Scrabble, and had good fun with some great people. I'm going to do the same next year, and you should too.

Date: 2006-04-04 23:53 Subject: Princeton 3/31-4/2 games 1-7 Security: Public Current Mood: sleepy

I already posted a summary of last weekend's tournament. ( Here are the first-half game details... )

At the halfway point, I was on pace to win the ten games I'd need to keep my rating. You already know that didn't happen; stay tuned for the second half...

Date: 2006-04-03 11:15 Subject: Princeton, 3/31 - 4/2, Days 2 and 3 Security: Public Location: In my own head Current Mood: disappointed

[I'll post a full report later.]

I ended up in fifth place out of 14, going 8-6 +595. I would have done better, were it not for a few disappointing endgame losses:

• In a very close game, I needed a 16-point outplay to win, and I found MORESO for 18. Opp thought it was good, but it didn't survive the pro forma challenge; it's a phoney.
  
• In a game where I was up by about 30 at the end, I tracked perfectly, and saw that opp had IILRST?, but didn't see SILTIeR (also NITRILS which didn't play and STRIGIL which I didn't know at all) in that, so I didn't think I needed to block the only available S-hook.
  
• In another very close game with a completely shut down board, I was very low on clock, knew opp had low-point tiles and no productive plays, so I decided to pass and let her go out. I passed three times, she went out, I was still up by three, but I had gone over on clock by ONE SECOND. I got one more point on recount, but that wasn't enough.
  

spherulitic

jelite

satireblank

Date: 2006-04-01 00:33 Subject: Princeton, 3/31 - 4/2, Day 1 Security: Public Location: Back home Current Mood: tired

Just a mini-update, no full game commentary.

Right now I'm 3-0 +320, first place in the bottom division, which is also where I'm seeded.

Because of pairing quirks, these three games were against the bottom three players in the division, all unrated. The first two were easy, the third was tougher--she's been playing in club for a year, and it shows. I'd have lost that game had I not gotten away with two phoney bingos, JAILINGS* and OVERTEST*.

Now it's bedtime. Gotta be well rested to start at 9:30.

Date: 2006-02-27 11:45 Subject: Philly tournament 2/26/06 Security: Public Current Mood: so close and yet so far Current Music: User support calls

I already admitted to have caused the February Philly tournament to be snowed out. Fortunately, Matt was able to reschedule it for yesterday, the 26th. So after setting up the sound system at church, I left from there for Philly. I got there to find that I was not on the Division 3/Division 4 cusp as I usually am but that I was the third seed in the bottom division. Not only that, there were no unrated players. Weird. But I took my usual attitude towards Philly tournaments: In Division 3 go for rating points, in Division 4 go for the win.

( I didn't win, but it came down to the last play of the last game... )

For once it wasn't word knowledge that killed me. I really did play well; I don't think the wealth of power tiles was solely responsible for how well I did, but it sure did help. I did make a lot of good strategic plays, and in a few games, I pretty much owned the board. All I have to do is learn not to choke.

So it looks like I'll be walking into Princeton at about 1047. I've got a month now to purge all Division 4-ness out of my game!

Date: 2006-01-08 00:15 Subject: Bayside tournament 1/7/06 Security: Public Current Mood: tired Current Music: clanking radiators

When I go to a Mets game, I allow at least two hours to get there. I was not a little surprised when the nav tole me I could get to the Bayside (Queens) tournament site in just over an hour, when it's a good way beyond Shea Stadium. Well, as always, it was right. Part of that was due to my leaving at 7:00 on a Saturday morning, so I didn't hit any traffic anywhere, but the other part is that for as long as we think it takes to get anywhere around here, we forget that the absolute mileage is pretty small. It's actually closer for me to get to Bayside than Philly. I got to the site about 40 minutes early, and remarkably stress-free.

( OK, you know how to drive and take directions from a robot. Did you play any Scrabble? )

As is becoming my refrain, I could have done better. I'm still plagued by word knowledge, but it wasn't the threes this time. I just need to study satireblank's dreck-cleanup lists, the five-vowel eights, the threes-to-fours, a lot more top stems, etc. I liked a couple of my endgames, and I think I did really well controlling the board in a few others, even ones I lost (doing what I could with what I had). One thing I've got to stop doing is giving up in the endgame when I'm already losing badly. I probably forfeited 50 spread points on the day that way. Problem is, when I'm getting creamed, I just want the thing to be over.

In any case, I should pick up 5-10 ratings points, which is doubly good because for as few tournaments I can get to, I can't afford to backslide, especially as I feel I'm playing better. I really enjoyed playing in Bayside, and the drive was a lot easier than I expected, persistent SUNGLARE* (GRANULES, like the ones on my retinas) notwithstanding. For one-day tournaments, especially since Bayside's early schedule allows for going out to dinner afterwards, Bayside versus Philly is going to be a tough choice from now on.

Date: 2005-11-20 23:51 Subject: Philly tournament 11/20/05 Security: Public Current Mood: tired Current Music: clanking radiators

The more times I go to Philly, the better I get at actually getting there. Twice in a row now, I've managed not to make any wrong turns. I use a navigation system, so I REALLY have no excuse, but I'm just that bad at finding my way around. I can usually find my way by dead reckoning, but Philly is like every other major American city--make the wrong wrong turn, and the emphasis goes from "reckoning" back to "dead". I prefer avoiding those sorts of incidents, even if the nav shrugs it off with an understated, "Off route; recalculating".

( You were going to say something about going 3-4 -279 but still picking up a dozen rating points, right? )

So I think I should have done a bit better, but I'm still holding my own in this division. I'd like to build up 50-100 more rating points so I'm not on the bubble at every Philly tournament. If I set my sights on division 2, the obvious thing I need to do is learn the damn words. Who up in that room doesn't know the threes cold, plus all the high-point fours, plus the top few hundred sevens, plus the five-vowel sevens and eights, etc.? Two high-rated opponents of mine pointed out that word knowledge is my clear weakness, and I think they're right.

Man I wish I could memorize stuff like I could when I was a kid.

Date: 2005-10-17 15:02 Subject: Philadelphia, 10/16/05 Security: Public Current Mood: accomplished

After an eight-month hiatus, I got a day pass from reillye and went to the Philly tournament this past Sunday. XM, check. Navigation system, check. Full tank of gas, check. Even better, it looks like the construction on I-95 is pretty much done, so no backups.

After looking at the list Matt posted to CGP, I knew I'd be on the cusp between divisions 3 and 4, but I also know that there are always last-minute changes to the divisions at Matt's tournaments, so there was no way to predict which division I'd be in. I got to the PIC, and looked at the preliminary division list.

Top seed, division 4. D'oh!

Then the usual gyrations occur, including the minor traffic accident that eldritch_soul and 4goats got into. They're fine, and I'll let them give the details, but the weird part is that even though they came from Connecticut, the accident occurred just a few miles from my house in New Jersey.

Just a couple minutes before noon, they start handing out the score sheets. Gyration is good! 13th seed (out of 14), division 3. W00t! I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to play fe_cashier (hey Kaite, did you hit the self-destruct button your journal?), but I'm glad now--she went 6-1 and won the division.

Regardless of division, I had one specific goal for this tournament. I really REALLY wanted to walk out of there with a four-digit rating. Walking in at 983, all it would take is to win one more game than expected. Being near the bottom, I figured it would take three wins to do this.

For those of you who don't care about game details, I'll spoil it now and say that I did it. I went 3-4 against all higher-rated players, and according to the Metagrams ratings calculator, I should now be at 1013. [ETA 10/25: I am.] ( But I DO care about the games! )

I took two things from this. First, I belong in division 3, not division 4. Not only were my performance ratings for this and the February tournament both in the mid-1100's, it just felt right to be there. Second, if I'm going to stay in division 3, I need to get better with the threes and the short JQXZ words. I lost a lot of points missing those. In the Philly tournaments, division 3 tends to have a wide ratings spread (over 350 points this time), which means I'm going to be playing against people who will not let that weakness go unexploited.

Date: 2005-02-13 23:06 Subject: Philly Tournament, 2/13/05 Security: Public Current Mood: discontent Current Music: Selected Selecter Selections

Today, I came the closest yet to winning my division. I ended up 6-1, coming in second on spread.

I was seeded second out of 12 players, and there was an unusual number of unrated players, three of whom I would play in the five round-robin games.  This means this would be a go-for-the-money tournament, not the go-for-ratings variety.  Playing that many low-rated players, I'd have to win just about everything just to maintain my rating, much less increase it by any significant amount.  ( We'll See... )

I hope that this finally pushes my rating into four digits.  That's the next big milestone, and the one after that will be somewhere in the mid-1100's, the median of all rated players in the US and Canada.

So this is probably it for tournaments for awhile. Turns out that SWMBO had a harder time getting through the day unassisted than she expected, what with no breaks and all, so I won't be going to any more before Herself arrives, and for some indeterminate amount of time afterward.

Date: 2005-01-12 16:43 Subject: First Scrabble Tournament Security: Public Current Mood: nostalgic Current Music: My coworker's off-key humming

Last April, I played in my first Scrabble tournament, and posted about it to our club's Yahoo group, bridgewater-scrabble. I thought it might be useful to repost it here.

It's really long. ( Read the whole thing... )

Postscript: I ended up in sixth place out of 14, and my initial rating was 958. I've played in five more tournaments since then, my highest finish is second out of a division of 14, and I'm still in the mid-900's. Gotta study.