| WSOP prediction |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|03:26 am] |
Eric Buchman.
Not sure if anyone cares, but there you go. |
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| poor cesar |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|01:40 pm] |
JAMES GIVE THEM BACK
SERIOUSLY
IT'S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:-( |
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| The reason I didn't cash in Lake George |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|07:31 pm] |
(alternate title: "The reason I've been crying for two-plus weeks")
Here's a position from the final round of Lake George the other weekend: me against Gabriel Shalom. Really frustrating game -- I started out down 110, then came back with three bingos in four turns (DODGERS, SABEING, POTICHES) and then fell behind again. The board:
While I've gone bingo-bango, Gab's last two moves have been short, somewhat fishy plays -- RYE for 28 and then NOON for 20. My post-POTICHES draw is a hideous one -- not just U and W, but a second W to boot.
Score: Losing 306-292
Pool: AAAABEEEEFGHIIILLLMMNOOSTUVYZ? with 23 in the bag
What do you do with this garbage? Is there a way to play through it that makes sense, or do you trade? And if you trade, do you keep any of these tiles for any reason?
Immensely enjoyed the quasi-heated debate over the board between myself, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) goldfishbw (the only person to agree with me, I believe), scrabblek8, ftangredi and a few others. Thought I'd open it up to a few more opinions.
Anyone got any ideas? |
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| grrr |
[Nov. 1st, 2009|02:12 pm] |
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why must I always type the wrong guess for MONIKER and TOKENISM? I think I'm like 0/8 on each one. |
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| Phonying |
[Oct. 19th, 2009|04:13 pm] |
A silly little tactical question that probably doesn't really matter at all:
When you play an intentional phony and get caught, do you even bother just walking up to the computer, or do you just pick it up and move on? Does it depend on the word, on the opponent, and/or on the game situation? Curious what people think about this. |
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| Fun little brain teaser, part 2 |
[Oct. 18th, 2009|11:21 pm] |
(alternate title: "opportunity #2 for skin_it_mahatma to lie and make us think he's even more of a freaking genius than he actually is")
So then, what do THESE words have in common?
BLABBERMOUTH (that one is sort of cheating, but sort of not)
REAUTHORIZATION
OVERADJUSTMENTS (wow, that one is so sick)
Also, if I'd done this five years ago, I'd be able to include SLAUGHTEROUSLY. But it no longer applies.
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| Back from Lake George |
[Oct. 18th, 2009|10:12 pm] |
Finished 3-2 in the early bird and 9-6 in the main event.
Losing was frustrating. I went from 6-1 to 6-5 in the blink of an eye... I can't believe the ways I managed to blow games. As ftangredi says, the golden rules of Scrabble are "if it's the only way to win the game, do it" and "if it's the only way to lose the game, don't do it." I violated both rules this weekend, and I'm kinda beating myself up over that.
I remember telling goldfishbw when I played him in round 9 that if any competent player had drawn the way I had, they'd be 8-0. I guess I just said that out of frustration, but it's still probably true.
Six losses in the ME:
-Got totally creamed in two.
-Had one where I lost due to a word knowledge mistake, but I'm not upset about that... because seriously, what the fuck is a gulfweed?
-Had one endgame where the win was totally and completely in hand, all I had to do was not pass a turn. Played a phony five, got instachallenged, lost by two.
-Had another where I instantly saw a 74-point bingo that would win the game easily, but I spent three minutes chickening out on it. I need to be less afraid of top players.
-Then the final game, when I actually had a good shot at cashing: was down 110, came back to take the lead, then drew IPRRUWW post-bingo. Part of me thinks I completely misplayed the rest of the game, but I'm still not sure.
So yeah. Scrabble is frustrating.
I had an absolute blast this weekend whenever Scrabble wasn't involved. It was a superb couple of days.
I'll post more specific stuff about games later. I might also post life updates surrounding things that happened yesterday, but then again I might not. Life is weird.
For now, congrats to gijoel666, cosmic nows to eurobikermcdog and Frescas to spherulitic. You people are good people.
Oh, and John Stardom is my hero. Really can't stress that enough.
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| LG update |
[Oct. 17th, 2009|02:01 pm] |
eurobikermcdog is nowing everyone at 6-0. scrabblek8 is 6-0 as well. wanderer15 started 5-0 but lost his last game before lunch. I won three straight this morning to get to 5-1. David Jones is 5-1 too. goldfishbw started out 4-0 but then lost two.
Other people have good records. I forget who they are. Oops. |
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| Club game of the week |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|11:44 pm] |
Not a strategy discussion this time -- just a straight-up board vision test.
Find the one play that wins this endgame:
Score: Losing 420-398
Opponent's rack: GIOR
Who can spot it? |
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| Fun little brain teaser |
[Oct. 12th, 2009|09:58 pm] |
What do the following words have in common?
BIODEGRADABLE
MELANCHOLIES
INEFFECTUALLY
TREACHEROUSLY
UNREALIZABLE
TRANSMUTATIONS
STEREOTYPIC
COUNTERCLAIMING
Hints are available upon request. :-) |
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| Club game pre-endgame fuckup of the week, part 2 |
[Oct. 9th, 2009|03:14 pm] |
Okay, so this one is kinda the opposite of last week's. Rather than being desperately behind and praying for a bingo, I have a small lead -- but the pool looks pretty decent, and I need to be sure to a) outrun and b) not get bingoed out on. The position:
Opponent's last two plays were both two-tile fishes: first OI for 12, then OW for 17.
Score: Winning 364-354
Pool: AAEEIISS? with 2 in the bag
Opponent is a solid 1500s-type player. Perfectly capable of finding easy bingos with blanks and esses.
Thoughts? What's the safest way to keep this lead?
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| Question for those better versed in Quackling than I |
[Oct. 9th, 2009|01:22 am] |
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Are there ever any pre-endgame situations in which Championship Player thinks passing is the best play? I've never found one, and I did quite a bit of tinkering this afternoon trying. |
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| Pre-endgame puzzle |
[Oct. 2nd, 2009|04:19 pm] |
From a club game last night:
Sort of a desperation situation. I've been stuck in fishing mode for a couple of turns, keeping good leaves but not hitting anything. I'm down by almost a bingo, and I'm looking mighty unlikely to get one down at this point:
Opponent's last move was QI for 28, which tells me pretty much nothing.
Score: Losing 399-336
Pool: AACENORTTVZ with 4 in the bag
Opponent, if it matters, is a 1200s player. Not a strategical genius, but certainly not clueless, and playing very well tonight.
Is there a way to steal this one? I like my way a lot better than Quackle's, but I'm not crazy about either one.
Or am I already dead in the water, pretty much? That seems quite possible.
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| NSC game |
[Sep. 25th, 2009|04:23 pm] |
This is almost two months late, but I still thought it might be fun to post one of my most exciting games from Nationals this summer: Round 8 against anendlessnight.
Thanks to Rob for the racks -- we both had some interesting turns. He out-bingoed me 3-0, but I kept lucking into crazy high-scoring plays. This one went down to the wire.
Play it!
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| Next tournament |
[Sep. 14th, 2009|06:11 pm] |
I think I'm playing Lake George!
Anyone need a roommate? |
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| Oh, NASPA... |
[Sep. 13th, 2009|05:04 pm] |
If I can figure out how to get a woadwage tournament rated between now and next May, I'm totally going to Can-Am next summer.
Mark my words. |
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