Bad Qoph

No game is EVER unwinnable.

Versus Brad: http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=5442

Someone shoot me.

Ugh. 2-2 in the morning, lost to Stefan and Ian as I should have. Beat the other two who I should have. No surprises there. On the afternoon, a bit of the same. Blew two people outta the water, lost a third 'cause karma will kick your ass for trying BEEL(I)NER* on your opening rack. Oh well. Only lost by 40, and 'cause he drew both blanks later on on a board where I really couldn't close things down. I'm now 7.5-6.5 +464 (!), feeling extraordinarily mediocre 'cause oxymorons are fun.

What was most frustrating of all was my 4th game in the afternoon. Opponent, the organizer, was talking on her cell, kept getting up, kinda -- no, very -- distracting. I don't want to blame, that, though, on my loss. But playing like I did, I think I kinda coulda.

There are two positions that are key here, plz take a look. PICTING and KINGCOT racks. Thanks.

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=5411

Feuch, even QUACKLE suggests KIANG for the second position.

But Quackle also points out that if I DON'T go out (meaning, I have to have had her tracked right), I can play COT, and then she plays the W, and then I go out with EAU and we tie. Haha, irony of ironies, two ties possible in a tourney. I played like that to lose by one. Apparently, Quackle says I lost by 3, don't know where my math mistake was.

Quackle found a win there, too. I am humbled by the duck. I had tons of time left over and it just goes to show I suck at endgames. I'll be very impressed by anyone who finds it, starting from the rack I played KIANG. Hint: I win by 2. It IS my fault I didn't count to check if COT would be any better, or to see if I could find the crazy setup Quackle found.

Yeah, it has 5 Es, what of it?

Got blown out in my first game, tried to keep positive, and won my next three, including beating Sam Hollington who I've never beaten. Then, ended the day with a TIE @ 382 versus Dominic Grillo, so, whereas I WAS sitting at the top of the 3-1s, now my spread won't matter, and I don't quite know where I am (besides 3.5-2.5 +251). Gained about 18 imaginary ratings points so far.

Aww... it's baby's first tourney tie:

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=5406

I'll have it bronzed. Thoughts or something? EDIT: I think if I put the S on LOINS that's 4 more points, and if I have him tracked right and am 100% on my 6es I'd see he can't play through the S, would go out with TELIA, and I'd win! Silly knowing words letting you win Scrabble games!

EDIT: Stefan Rau and Marjorie Schoenboom are 5-1, as are Evans and Winter. Evans beat me by like 30. Interesting game. I'm only 1.5 back, 10th of 28, still lots to go.

Cornelia asked me to write about the badqoph directory for The Last Word newsletter. So I did. :)

...has moved.

http://www.charlottescrabble.com/badqoph/people/

I figure... why do I need a whole other domain for it? *shrug* :)

Pass it on if you've found it useful.

So my brother completed a working demo.

http://www.arcimpulse.com/wordfoo/index.php

Say stuff, tell a friend. He's really excited about this, and hopes people will have fun with it and offer good suggestions. Thanks! :)

I was like a producer for the game, coming up with the concept, design, scoring system, features, and he did the implementation. My best score under the current system is in the low 900s. It'd be fun to see what strategies people come up with. Once we get steals working, those scores will definitely get higher.

So my brother is an up-and-coming programmer and I gave him an idea for a game I wanted to see. He called it Word Foo. It will be an online version of Anagrams one day, something I've been waiting to execute for a very long time. Right now, the single-player version is pretty fun. This is a tease. Questions, thoughts, words of encouragements?

Yesterday I went to David Gibson's house and played some games with him in preparation for Dayton. After starting off 0-4 (and drawing like 70 Us and no other vowels), I went 3-5 (comically blowing the 6th game, and redeeming myself nicely in the 7th and 8th). My record lifetime is now 5-9 -- 0-2 in tourneys, but still).

Fun fact: a 1906-rated player is expected to win 3.0014 games versus a player rated 2066. Was happy to see I performed way above standards, though the projected change from my winning the games I did isn't nearly as glamorous.

Score Bingos (Mine/His)

L 377-429 dISABL(E)D, (R)EATTEST* / (G)YNOECIA, FERMION
L 382-409 STEAMIL(Y) / (N)ATTERED, VALgOiD
L 392-447 GE(N)ERAtE / BADDeST, LINGIER
L 397-479 RECITAL / BEAvERS, (R)EASONeD, DIVISOR
W 414-361 INEpTLY, INDITER, tINW(A)RES / ASSERT(E)D
L 319-443 none / TRIAGIN(G), ULTIMAS
W 444-372 BaN(I)STER, LARYNX(E)s, AIRIEST / SINTERS
W 460-447 rE(B)OOTED, PAVIORS, DI(A)GONAL, TAENIAE / CHIRRES, (M)ATURERs

3-5, -202, Averaged 398.12. Spread a bit misleading 'cause of the last game's chaos. Ideally, Oeillade should do all these calculations for you. When I scored 400+ I won. Almost the case that whoever scored 400 won, save the last game where he bingoed out for like 112 points equity.

Including all games as part of my fun "humility moment." Play along! :)

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4238
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4239
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4240
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4241
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4242
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4243
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4244
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4245

An interesting idea I had after Hartford. For whoever reads this, lemme know if you like it, would like to use it, have any input. It's a Perl script that mimicks a shell much like tsh and will analyse a folder full of GCG files and give you, first, tile distribution for the tournament, and in the future, bingo counts and any other stats you can think of that can be gotten by reading a GCG file. Ideally, it will automagically post a game to your blog with comments and details of your liking specified. Thoughts? Pass it along to anyone interested to comment as well.

( Screenshots follow... )

Hehe. Wow, whatta crappy, disappointing weekend. Crashed and burned in the early bird (had game 3 in the bag had I taken the last 30 seconds on my clock to find the OTHER blocking play -- lesson learned, a la Jerry Lerman). Then got bagged in game 4 (even though I played DRUM(GIRL)* for 45 to save spread and face). No fun, that. Started ME day 1 7-1 only to get bagged another 4 times and finish in 4th place. I don't usually make that claim, but this time around, I'm fairly confident: I won all the games I should've (and 1 I shouldn't have), and got totally bagged in 5. It was ridiculous. Didn't draw that hotly either, but Quackle will be the judge of that, too. Just venting now 'cause my laptop is down so I can't do anything else yet.

The stats kinda speak for their shirtsleeves. Even after getting obliterated a couple times I had the highest spread (over 800 at one point), and averaged about 15 points higher than anyone else in the division. 419 or something. THREE 500 games outta 14. My new style is working, save a few kinks. Just trying to find the silver lining.

At least I only lost 12 points. The new curve works. Good to know that bad performance was "meeting" expectations. Can't go to BAT anyway, so it doesn't REALLY matter that I'm still over 1600 for the time being.

I DID, however, get to play a few decent words, such as OTIOSITY and VERSEMAN. Some others I'm sure I'm forgetting but will come screaming back to me in due time. Mentioned to Oliger in our game I blocked my own TENUI(TI)ES which woulda turned a rack of crap into gold. Blocked my own ANTIWEE(D) versus Eliza which mighta made things interesting, but I probably shouldn't have challenged her DEcOCTS (?!) considering she had DOCkETS and STOCkED among others anyway -- just thought she was trying to milk a few points, considering she'd tried such crazy stuff as DETERGIC* and PREHIKE* before. More to come once I get my comp back. The duck is fun. In the meantime I'll have some cheese with my whine. It's GOUDA good. Geddit?

97.6% on 4v6s
Missed:
ACEILU
AAAGIP
ADEILO
DKOOOO
DIIOMU
EILOOT
AAEILR

misguessed:
caulei* ooh, so close
agapia* I can get AGAPAE, why not this?
apagia*
(no guess on eidola)
dookoo* (ugh)
iodium* Now say "d'oh"
toolie* Ugly.
arilae* -- AERIAL is easy, REALIA is tough.

recently reviewed 4v+(y/w) 8s, an extention of the 5v8s. Was like in the high 90s on that, and whipping 'em out pretty fast. If all alphagrams could look like that, it'd be much easier. Recently looked at 19k-20k 8s, inspired by Day's ABCMOORT find. Cool stuff in there like AHIPRSST and BDEEGRSV. Only got like 50% on that, a lotta work to do. I studied the last 1000 8s too a while back, only for shits and giggles.

I'm 100%, more or less, on power 6s.

Time to tackle power 7s and 8s again, and maybe learn a few bingos that I could actually play for once! But where's the fun in that? And what should I study. Really. I just try to make it fun, which is WHY I reviewed the 4-v/yw8s for the umpteenth time. Finding them over the board is a bitch, though.

Debating going to Myrtle Beach (and I have like 3 hours to decide). Dreading being the second seed and stuck in the 1500s for the rest of my life. Too many people could surprise you (but isn't that always the case), don't much care for the format. Got a new job, so BAT's not outta the question, but I gotta stay over 1600 for it to be worthwhile. 's'why I like unlimited play-ups so much.

First, the bings!

( Read more... )

vs Rahn McKeown

Rahn had been having a really rough tournament, getting drawn out on left and right. Me, I had never beaten him. So a great game was to be had, and this one is no disappointment the whole way through!

vs Robb Griffith

Playing an obscure 4 and lucking into a double-blank 95-point-er gives it to me.

vs Sandeep Bala

Change of pace, a defensive one.

vs Liz Gottlin

Kinda got lucky early on with this one too and shut it down.

vs Eve Engelbrite

Ran away with this game kinda quickly. Really lopsided.

vs Bruce Shuman

Vowelitis early on and a zugzwang position I have no idea what to do with. Help! :)

So I won! Just a one-dayer, but it's been awhile (okay, besides the Gibson home extravaganza). 6-1 +793! :) Estimated rating 1635 (was like one play away from a perfect 7-0 and a 1667; made a play blocking 3 lanes, only to make one more through which my opponent bingoed out with CA(B)ErNET to win -- oh well). Games to come.

Round 1 vs Francis Anum

Decent night there. Some new blood. I played two games with Susan. Quackling stuff is awesome even when you have a great game. I knew I didn't play perfect, but it's kinda sick how much stuff I'm still missing, juxtaposed with what I'm finding.

Bings:
Me:
ZO(I)SITES (missed (A)ZOTISES)
PHILTRE(S)
-
MINTAGE
NITR(I)LES
PRoJETS
COMITI(E)S (missed MIOTICS for 103! -- blah, I thought it was MEIOTIC, which it is, but MIOTIC is different... I think). Also missed STOICISM for 95.
... and I effin' missed LI(B)RATED at the end for a FIVE BINGO GAME. Wow.

Her:
HAU(N)TING
geNUINE
-
AUDI(E)nCE

Yeah, that's the stuff of dreeeams!

Play along!
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=3102
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=3103

Psyched for the EC. Is anybody out there?