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#player1 Brian_Bowman Brian Bowman
#player2 Jason Jason
>Brian_Bowman: AHW H6 WHA +18 18
#note Before the game, Brian said he had enjoyed the set ... first four games were all interesting. I agreed and said: "And if you win, I won't be upset, because the better player will win. I've won the two baggings, you've won the two close ones." And Brian said if I won, it would be deserving because of my dominant (read: lucky) Saturday. He also pointed out that I would have the most wins and highest spread regardless of what happened (PZ actually beat me on spread by a bit).
>Jason: ADEEEOY G7 EYE +19 19
#note Choosing the placement which will more likely lead to a closed board. Q likes YO(W)E. (-0.2)
>Brian_Bowman: DGJU 9C JUDG. +22 40
#note While some aspects of a Hudson tournament try my patience (esp. since my Myers-Briggs accurately describes me as a "quiet leader", one who doesn't like to take charge but will if the person in charge isn't doing things to my liking), I'll probably be back. Got my first Scrabble trophy (tho I wished it had been the bigger one) and think the medals for 100 career wins, paperweight for a +10,000 spread, etc. are cool. Maybe I'll get some shop to put "1930 PERF. RATING" on my second place trophy. :)
>Jason: AADEMOX 10B DOM +23 42
#note Dammit! I'd been removing the "tunnel vision" from my game. Never looked right, never considered (W)AX. Almost added the E, but I happened to notice Brian had all seven tiles on his rack together, which doesn't always happen. I thought it meant a bingo and didn't want it to be a double-double. (-10.4)
>Brian_Bowman: ?AABILT E2 LABIATe. +70 110
#note Only bingo.
>Jason: AAEKUVX D4 AX +35 77
#note U(L)VA, 2D. Interesting gambit, chance to score huge if I get the four ending in X at 1A. (-5.2)
>Brian_Bowman: IMP 3B PIM. +28 138
#note Like I said, the name "Aune Mitchell" seemed to be on everybody's lips, esp. since Silver/Mitchell's coach, Kevin McCarthy, was there. I like to think my performance gave me the last laugh, though. After my 7-0 Saturday I asked: "Do I have to fly Aune Mitchell in to get any competition here?"
>Jason: ACEKNUV 2A AUK +28 105
#note Missing UN(P)ACK. (-21.4)
>Brian_Bowman: EFR D8 F..ER +36 174
>Jason: CDENNVY C9 ..YED +39 144
#note Should've gone the rack-cleaning way with (E)NVY. (-2.5)
>Brian_Bowman: EET E11 TEE +21 195
>Jason: CINNPTV 6C PI.N +21 165
#note As I'm wont to do at post-tourney dinners, I ran my mouth so much that when the waiter came, I hadn't looked at the menu. In honor of our champ (and because it sounded good when Pete ordered it), I went with the Bo-man Bacon Cheeseburger.
>Brian_Bowman: IIII -IIII +0 195
#note The Winking Lizard (where we dined) is awesome. Free popcorn and many, many TVs to watch the end of Arizona/Philadelphia. And yes, George, I posted to LJ at dinner. It was about 6, realized the Australian Open started at 7 and I hadn't made my day 1 Suicide Pool pick. I figured I should prolly post to LJ, too, even though I kept Keller, Pianowski and Tangredi informed and they were prolly the only ones who cared.
>Jason: CINOSTV -CV +0 165
#note OK, time to get serious with this annotation. Short of knowing the obvious play (ONTIC, 10F), it's a tough call. VINO at I3's a clear second. Never considered it, prolly should've. After that, it's tightly bunched. COT at B12, exch. V, exch. CV, (E)VICT (which I nearly played), and VIS at F1 are all within two points of each other. (-9.3)
>Brian_Bowman: F A1 F. +15 210
>Jason: BINOOST 13E .OBIONTS +64 229
#note At least I'm blunting the impact of the inevitable bingo. This word impressed some lower-rated player, can't remember who.
>Brian_Bowman: ?AENRSV L6 VERSANt. +72 282
#note Interesting ... CP says pass on the bingo and play RAV(I)NE for 39 keeping ?S. Don't know if I agree. (Counted as 70.)
>Jason: EGIRRTT H12 G.RT +21 250
#note Did a little reset after this play: Down 30 through nine, but I'm drawing into TIRE, still two S's out and he's got a random rack from a vowel-heavy pool. I really thought I'd get another bingo down and it'd come to the endgame. Not quite.
>Brian_Bowman: HNO 14F HO.N +34 316
>Jason: EEINRTV 8L .IVE +21 271
#note I thought before going to bed that night that I'd missed REINVE(N)T ... forgot HORN blocked it. Whew. Mabye I don't totally suck at Scrab.
>Brian_Bowman: CDEO N6 CO.ED +21 337
#note Saw both C's out, knew the block was coming. There aren't too many more lines to open, either.
>Jason: EGLNNRT 10J GL.N. +11 282
#note Staying positive even after the GLN draw. -ING bingoes are very likely and both S's are still out. After my early equity hemorrhaging, I've made four Q-approved plays in a row.
>Brian_Bowman: ACIO 15C CIAO +13 350
#note OK, that solves that mystery of where the vowels got to.
>Jason: EINORTZ 6H .IZ +35 317
#note OK, bingoing chances not great, nowhere to fish off the Z. Let's go to plan B: "Run, Forrest, run!"
>Brian_Bowman: AAEIIST 12J AI. +6 356
#note Wasn't sure what to make of this play. Brian said in the post-mortem that he left the case AI, an S, an E ... T, I think. That's gotta be right, given the pool, what I drew, and his ensuing plays. Sim seems to favor AI at B6.
>Jason: ELNORTU J3 LUT. +13 330
#note Furthermore, Brian's play means the hope for (T)ENORITE or (T)ENORIST is just about gone ... he had to have the case I to play that, I thought. I played this way too fast ... this is a turning point and I had the time to take 5-10 minutes on it ... instead I slap this down hoping to draw the Q, either S, something, and worry about next turn the next turn. Can't punt in this situation. Simply can't do it. I estimated about 20 points lost equity ... indeed, 18.8 behind T(AB)OUR. CP likes NU at 11I (13.79% to LUTZ's 9.09%) ... don't understand that at all. NOT(AB)LE's an interesting gambit on the off chance both S's are in the bag. I think given Brian's rack, I was just a dead duck anyway.
>Brian_Bowman: AIQ 4I Q.AI +26 382
#note "That should do the job," I said.
>Jason: ELNORUW B12 WON +22 352
#note And my usual equity hemorrhage in the pre-endgame to cap it. RULE at M2 instead. (-17.8
>Brian_Bowman: EEORSST O10 STEREO +29 411
#note Brian put this down and looked at it a while before hitting the clock. "Well, I don't think I can S-stick you," I said. "It's funny ... I doubted myself on how to spell STEREO, a common everyday word." I laughed. "You get in this position, you doubt yourself on threes!" I said.
>Jason: ELRRU M2 RULE +22 374
#note Brian's on the c-t "leaderboard" for having won three tourneys this year, all on my head: Pontiac (choke job in the penultimate round ... could've played Lloyd for the title), Elyria (my 2-Bowman losses Sunday morning hurt my chances) and here (final game 3 choke job). I like the guy, but I'm getting a little tired of watching him take the winners' money while I'm left to rue what might have been. :)
>Brian_Bowman: S 4I .....S +15 426
#note Congrats to Brian, a worthy champ. Meanwhile, I feel like I'm starting to put it all together. The trick is now going from an overrated 1800 to a legitimate 1800 and I feel that the latter is just around the corner. I feel like my level of play in the final, while shaky of times, was worthy of the occasion.
>Brian_Bowman: (R) +2 428
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