Mo' Money (But Not Really)



Sunday, October 11, 2009

AARRGHH!!! I had the plan down. Get up no later than 7:00, pick up Woodward no later than 7:15, and visit three Starbucks on the way to an on-time arrival in Port Jefferson. But since when do my schedules ever work out?

First problem stupid Queens and its stupid street addresses (who the fuck thought up those stupid hyphens in the addresses). Granted, Microsoft shares the blame, because Streets & Trips should be able to understand the awkward addresses regardless. The upshot was, instead of being parked near the Tower Square Starbucks, I spent the night miles away in Flushing, and that cost me and Woody a good 30 minutes.

I found the new Queen store just fine, but the Hicksville store was also misplotted, and that cost us another 10 minutes. And finally, the Deer Park store, in an outlet center, was hard to find and did not open until a few minutes past 9:00--another 10 minutes lost.

Oh, and gas--I had forgotten the gas. With the needle on empty and 20 miles still to drive, I probably could have made it, but I had to weigh a 5-minute delay versus the delay that would ensue if the car ran dry.

No worries though--Ginger's tournaments hardly ever start on time, and the Port Jefferson ones, because of the ferry, often start late. Steve Sikorski was waiting for me, but my clock hadn't started. Not that it mattered given my tiles, which might just have been better than anything I saw in Rhinebeck, Cambridge, or even Mountain View. I did jumpstart my game with TURACOS, but given how long it took me to find it, and that I failed to see COURA(N)TS, I'm not exactly going to brag. N(O)NSOLID, however--I am proud of myself for that one.

Crap, crap, crap. All that complaining to myself that I was doing about how lucky Dale Jordan (or is it Jordan Dale--double first names are annoying) was getting, when I had only myself to blame for screwing up early. The correct opening play would have blocked his easy bingo, and after finding OVE(R)SEED, I burned my S to score 42 when I could have scored 40 and kept it. Bah.

Annotated Game


Can't say I hadn't drawn well in that second game, and my tiles continued into my third game against Marie Puma, but my attention was focused on Jordan's (or Dale's) game. Because of Ginger's format does not include a KOTH round, I would not have a second crack at him. I needed somebody else to beat him, and I hated that feeling of powerlessness.

Interesting, interesting rack is the first thing that came to mind when I started off against Woodward (Chen, not Bob) with AEIJRST. TAJ? Trade? Or? I traded, drew a bingo, of course, and despite drawing just one more S, and a blank I could not use, I managed to post nearly another hundred spread points. I would need them, because over on another table Adam had allowed Dordan to nearly double his spread. No way could he win all seven games, I thought. If he were that good he wouldn't be rated where he is. Somebody had to get some tiles that could beat him, but opportunities for this were running short.

Grrr... don't like Ginger's Port Jefferson lunch setup. The sandwiches are pre-made, which means I had to take a couple of forks and use them to inspect the sandwiches to make sure they had not been contaminated with stuff like mayo, mayonnaise, ketchup, butter, etc.


Next game Sue Gable, I started off with ADJUReD and quickly shifted my focus to how Stan was doing against Jale. But Sue immediately got STANCES down, and I had to start worrying about my own game. It was back and forth, back and forth for several turns and then Sue got COLlIES down on one of the last bingo lines available. The game looked pretty bleak up until the very last turn. I had ENQUIRE on my rack, and I was sure Sue was going to block. My heart beat faster and faster while I willed to block the 31-point Q spot instead, and, blessed saints, she went for it.

Annotated Game


My final round turned out to be much tougher than I had imagined, in two different ways. I had only been following Jordale's record, and I had not realized that Stan Williams was trying to be the Man himself and had a 6-0 record. I had hoped that even if I lost to Stan, I could still on spread win if Dalejor lost, but with Stan at 6-0, I had to win.

Before our game I commented that there were many different ways I could lose the tournament, and Stan replied "yeah, I could outplay you!" Well, guess what happened. He outplayed me. Our first two mistakes canceled each other out. He challenged off my L(E)VATION but immediately gave me a hook for VOLANTe. Later, he challenged off my (S)ABLED, a flat out mistake on my part. At that point I probably deserved to lose, and my equity loss will show I played like crap, so Stan would be perfectly justified in claiming to have outplayed me. I was saved by the tiles, but I feel no guilt--how many times have the tiles handed wins to my significantly weaker opponents, eh?

Those finally two games really took a lot of out me, more than the strength of the field would have indicated. If my nerves were close to being shot after my game against Sue, they were frayed to smithereens after the Stan endgame. As I searched for my final play, I worked out that Stan would tie the game if he found D(OD)O, but I could do nothing to block it. I made my play of (H)OWK hoping he would challenge, and when he didn't I watched his block tick down from about 90 seconds to 20, heart beating faster and faster, until he finally made the play. Disaster.

Of course we recounted, and once again I had to deal with nervous uncertainty as we found two extra points for me and then recounted the rest of the game. I was sure I'd find a mistake that would tip the game in Stan's favor, but in the end I won it by those two points. I think the last time I felt such relief was when I managed to visit Starbucks stores in Santiago, Chile, and Price George, BC, before they shut down.

Annotated Game


Actually, I was quite relieved that morning when I woke up from a nightmare and realized that I had not in fact hit a cow with my car and then backed over a man. That dream really sucked.

But anyway, I won the tournament, and that glorious $80 check and $18.50 profit. Mo' money, mo' money. Not exactly. I cleared $75 at Cornelia's tournament. Big difference.

Seriously, though, it was a rough couple days. To play in such weak fields and lose 4 games out of 15 and just barely win both events--that's really nothing to write home about. Had it not been for the money I won, I would have been complaining a lot more.

On the bright side, I am definitely playing better bingoes with each tournament. If that trend keeps up, it's going to pay off in the long run, so you playa-hating bitches who don't give me no propz betta watch out.



Monday, October 12, 2009


AARRGHH!!! I finally had a chance to play HRY(V)NA, against Sue Gable, and I missed it!!! I hate life.



Opponents' Bingos
cAJOLER
INTITLE
ALIENER
DEBA(S)InG
(R)ETINOLS
STANCES
COLlIES
LEaRNER
AETHERS


My Bingos
TURACOS
N(O)NSOLID
DARkLES
OVE(R)SEED
ROMANIz(E)
SETTERs
(U)RINATES
REENG(AG)ED
REKNOTs
DUTIA(B)LE
GUSTIlY
A(R)TISANS
AIGRET(T)E
ADJUReD
ENQUIRE
SEIC(E)NTO
VOLANTe


Missed Bingo Turns
AmOE(B)EAN,ANAErO(B)E
OT(I)OSELY
BA(L)LADES



Analysis

#1 - W - Sikorski    
-----------------    
4.1 -FGJQRW (S) keep R too
0 TURACOS  
0 N(O)NSOLID  
1.3 A(L)AE  
0 JIG  
2 P(A)TER  
4.9 (R)ELUM* M(I)TRAL
1.3 S(A)D  
1.7 D(I)G  
0 DARkLES  
5 EFF miss E(DIT) hook
3.5 BY  
0 LEVIN  
5.5 A(W)A  
3.7 TOUT  
0 (D)AH  
5 TOI(T)  
     
     
#2 - L - Dale    
-------------    
11.5 GOY  
0 OVE(R)SEED  
19.3 DE(Y)S/(OVERSEED)S (OVERSEED)ED/(Y)E would have left ADEMS
0 MAU(V)E  
0 DEIFI(c)  
0 VIS(I)TOR  
0 FAQ(I)R  
11.4 A(G)ONE AmOE(B)EAN,ANAErO(B)E (AARRGHH!!)
0 Z(I)P  
0.4 KEAS KAAS
2.4 AT  
67.1 (E)M  
     
     
#3 - W - Puma    
-------------    
13.7 ROMANIz(E) MORt(M)AIN
0 WOW  
50.3 LOO(E)Y OT(I)OSELY (though spelling was with E, so didn't even look thru I)
8.8 SETTERs RESETTe(R) (unsure),(D)ETeSTER
8.2 HEX(ER)  
0 BIDER  
2.1 HO  
0 AGONE  
2.3 BANK BUNK (say what? keep AAL instead of ALU???)
12 ILEAC LEUCIN,NUCLEI,ACULEI
0 ZO(O)  
2 V(AW)  
0 UNLIT  
     
     
#4 - W - Chen    
-------------    
3.3 -J (AEIRST)  
0 (U)RINATES  
7.1 KO(R)E BE(T)AKE,BO(S)KAGE
3.2 VO(L)ED  
7.9 MAB(E) AMEBA
0 (J)AGS  
0 H(E)FT  
0 CRA(V)E  
0 OI  
0 UNROV(E)  
0 REENG(AG)ED  
1.8 YE(W)  
0 AHI  
     
     
#5 - W - Townsend    
-----------------    
7.5 MEW exch should have been obvious
4.6 VUM  
8.1 REKNOTs NETwORK,KNOTtER (unsure)
0 DUTIA(B)LE  
7.1 GUSTIlY (R)UGOoSITY
4.8 BOIN(G) BA(G)NIO
0 A(R)TISANS  
0 CALI(X)  
0 WO  
0 AIGRET(T)E  
0 HOOP  
0 SINNED  
     
     
#6 - W - Gable    
--------------    
0 ADJUReD  
26 PU(T)Z ZEUGM(A)
23.2 MO(U)LAGE MA(N)G(AB)EY
9.4 HA(I)RY HRY(V)NA
10.3 XI EXIT (I don't understand this one)
1.8 WITT(Y)  
1.8 PO(S)ING  
13.8 GEE (N)E (puts me so far behind only a bingo will win)
3.7 TOILET  
0 ENQUIRE  
     
     
#7 - W - Williams    
-----------------    
0.8 PIU  
1 QIS  
6.4 PAW (CEST) CAW (come on, how is PEST better than CEST???)
1.8 SEIC(E)NTO trying to draw challenge
2 (R)UDER (R)ULED
27.1 lose turn (L(E)VATION*)  
0 VOLANTe  
12.9 YOD DO(O)DY,DO(O)LY
37.5 lose turn ((S)ABLED*) BA(L)LADES
34.1 SA(V)ABLE  
28.1 MURE (R)E(S)IDUUM
0 (A)DIEU  
1 (H)OWK  


1 - W - 2.2 (38)
2 - L - 9.3 (112.1)
3 - W - 7.6 (99.4)
4 - W - 1.8 (23.3)
5 - W - 2.7 (32.1)
6 - W - 9 (90)
7 - W - 11.7 (152.7)


Avg: 6.3


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