All scrabble stats

Sowpods in 2021

2008-04-02T11:17:00.002+08:00

Disclaimer: The story below is purely a work of fiction and is not to be taken seriously at all.

- - - - - -

It is June, 2021. Since 2017, the world has been united under a single dictionary( yes, it did take the Americans that long to switch) From the last dictionary vote, pro-sowpods players outnumbered pro-TWL players by 50.5% to 49.5%. The committee pounced on this and initiated the switch. But lo and behold, the pro-TWL players revolted, immediately deciding to boycott all tournaments for a year, citing the presence of strange words which had absolutely zero relation to North American scrabble, like KAMOKAMO and MINIMOTO. But it was not to last as the players soon trickled back within months.

Even China and Hong Kong had recently joined the new world scrabble scene recently. Their top player, Mao Gong Fu, was even seen playing a rapid game of scrabble at a Starbucks outlet.

The technology of the era had been advancing rapidly too. Boards were now well-fitted with microchips and motion sensors. Every tile was ingrained with microchips storing the value of the tile. When placed on the board, the board would read the value of the tiles and score it accordingly, but the scores would not be revealed till the end. If a player announced his score wrongly, a computerized voice would immediately voice and correct the error. However, it was still mandatory for players to announce their scores. If a player took too long to draw his tiles, a voice would quickly remind the player to hurry up.

Timers soon became obsolete as they became integrated with the board. Gone were the days of carrying around bulky timers- a small digital timer at the edge of the board was more than sufficient to keep track of time. The boards were made of lightweight plastic and weighed only 500 grams each.

To be continued....

2008-02-21T08:58:00.000+08:00

My camera is working again, so the food blog here may be up soon.

My idea of a 30 day round the world trip

2008-02-14T10:21:00.006+08:00

Just an interesting idea..but for that, I'll definitely need a travelling companion.

Round the world tickets will be used- for 26000 miles and under, the estimated cost is S$4890.

Part 1- Singapore to Dubai (7hr30 min) Explore the flashy city of gold bazaars and shopping malls, and the Burj hotel (4 days).

Part 2- Dubai to Istanbul ( 4hr 15 min) İstanbul is one of the truly great romantic cities. Its history tracks back from Byzantium to Constantinople to its place at the head of the Ottoman Empire. Today it hums as Turkey's cultural heart and good-time capital. Visit the Hagia Sofia and the local scene. ( 3 days)

Part 3- Istanbul to Paris ( 3hr 45 min) Explore the numerous museums, Eiffel tower, and check out the fantastic French cuisine. ( 5 days)

Part 4- Paris to Rio De Janerio ( 11hr) Relax in the latin american culture of music and partying.

(6 days)

Part 5- Rio De Janerio to New York (11 hr) Explore the Big Apple and the Empire state building. Maybe visit the scrabble club there. (5 days)

Part 6 - New York to Tokyo ( 14 hr) Explore Tokyo and the interesting Japanese food. ( 5 days)

Part 7- Tokyo to Singapore ( 7 hr ) Back..

2008-02-13T19:25:00.003+08:00

One of the higher scores from facebook's typing test application..my best is 101.

long flights

2008-02-08T10:02:00.000+08:00

Some long flights-

Mexico City-Paris 12hr
Seoul-Frankfurt 12hr
Hong Kong - Johannesburg 13hr 20 min
Hong Kong-Auckland 11 hr
Frankfurt- Cape town 12hr
New York- Tokyo 14 hr 20 mins
Dubai- Sydney 14hr
Dubai-Houston 15 hr 30 min
Singapore- London 14hr
Singapore-New York 18hr (longest commercial flight now)

Click here to see a rather entertaining account of the longest flight ever from S'pore to New York

2008-02-01T10:55:00.000+08:00

My google map of scrabble locations here is actually getting more page views than my blog. Over a thousand already.

What is going on?

Just updated with scrabble venues anyway

2008-01-31T22:46:00.001+08:00

Becoming less active:	Ricky	JP	Andy
Becoming more Active:	Tony	Michael	Cheah

millenium cup- continued

2008-01-28T08:18:00.000+08:00

My opponents phonied quite a bit. The following phonies were challenged off
TWY*
EROGENY*!
YONDS*
NAINS*
SALTERED*
HETAIRI*
HETAIRII*
ATOKED*
DJINNE*

Managed to play some nice bingos like AAABCTW, ADFIMRSW, ABDITHRY etc

Then against marlon I was trailing in this position:

Obviously the only way to win is to fish for a bingo. With 2 As unseen, I reckoned that the A might be in the bag. I fished the A, hoping to go out with PRETTIER or even PATTERER. But the I was in the bag and if only I had played off the T, I would have outed with TERPENIC to win!

last game

2008-01-27T20:48:00.000+08:00

Mcup last game

The deciding game against tony

It sure looked bleak with my second-last rack of AANOWUU, but it was nice to pick up ?EX with a play of WAAC(17) to get the advantage.

Majors in 2008

2008-01-05T09:22:00.000+08:00

The millenium Cup
LBH
Singapore Open
Nationals
Bangkok
Causeway

Must win at least one of these.

New blog

2007-12-28T22:32:00.000+08:00

Started a new blog-the airline travel blog

Causeway travellers..

2007-12-17T10:53:00.000+08:00

10 teams at Causeway next year.

(Shortest) Travel times to JB are shown.

US- Boston- London (6hr 25 min) London- Singapore (13 hr 20 min) S'pore - JB 1.5 hr
Total- 21 hr 15 min

Dallas-Tokyo (13 hr 30 min) Tokyo-Singapore (7hr 25min) S'pore - JB 1.5hr
Total- 22hr 25 min

New York-Hong Kong (16 hr) Hong Kong - S'pore (3hr 50 min) S'pore- JB 1.5 hr
Total time: 21 hr 20min

Canada- Montreal-London (6hr 25 mins) London-S'pore (12 hr 40min) S"pore-JB 1.5 hr
Total time: 20 hr 35min

Toronto-London (7 hr 15 min) London-S'pore (12 hr 40min) S"pore-JB 1.5 hr

Total Time: 21 hr 25 min

UK- London- Singapore (12 hr 40 min) S'pore-JB 1.5hr
Total time: 14 hr 10 min

NZ- Auckland-Singapore (10 hr 30 min) S'pore- JB 1.5 hr
Total time: 12 hr

Thailand- BKK- S'pore (2 hr 30min) S'pore-JB 1.5 hr
Total time: 4 hr

Philippines- Manila- S"pore (3 hr 40 min) S'pore- JB 1.5 hr
Total time: 5 hr 10mins

Nigeria- Lagos- Nairobi (5hr) Nairobi-Mumbai (6hr) Mumbai- Singapore (5hr) Singapore-JB 1.5hr

Total time: 17.5 hr

2007-12-16T23:01:00.001+08:00

created a map of scrabbler locations here

View Larger Map

WSC finals game 3 analysis

2007-12-14T07:42:00.001+08:00

An important game. Nigel needs 1 more game to win. Win% and equity will be shown..

Note that although there's a championship player report on the site, the report is done with relatively few iterations and isn't very accurate.

See the game here

>Nigel: BCEOPSZ H7 BEZ +28 28

Best. Playing POZ(28), leaving BCES isn't best as the COPS combo is better. An interesting situation where keeping the E isn't the best move.

Move Score Win% Equity
8G BEZ 28 59.28% 41.2
8G POZ 28 57.52% 37
8G ZEP 28 57.49% 36.9
8G COZ 28 55.85% 33.0
8G BOP 14 54.51% 29.8

>Ganesh: CGIKNRT 8F TRECKING +66 66

Best. This rack combines with every vowel so he is virtually assured of a bingo.

TRECKING 66 59.7% 69.3

>Nigel: CEEOPRS K3 RECOP.ES +74 102

Best. Nigel plays the only playable bingo.

Move Score Win% Equity

RECOPIES 74 57.7% 73.5

>Ganesh: AABGNNN 4J BEGAN +16 82

Ganesh's choice isn't the best here- I8 CANN/ZA, undoubling the Ns is 6.5 pts better. It also makes for a more open board which is favourable as he is trailing. Also superior are CAN and CANG in the same position. Keeping 2 Ns is unproductive.

Move Score Win% Equity

I8 CANN 19 33.27% 19.5
I8 CAN 18 30.34% 12.5
I8 CANG 20 30.32% 13.2
6J GONNA 12 30.19% 13.0
4J BEGAN 16 30.16% 13.0
J2 BAN 15 30.13% 12.5

>Nigel: DFIJOWX 3M JOW +46 148

A very obvious choice. Nigel surges ahead quickly with his pickup of several power tiles

Move Score Win% Equity

3M JOW 46 72.0% 44.2
3M FIX 38 69.32% 39.1

>Ganesh: AADINNO F4 ADNATION +63 145

Best. Despite having 2 bingos to 1, Ganesh is down by only 3 points and is back in the game

Move Score Win% Equity
F4 ADNATION 63 39.29% 64.9

>Nigel: AADFIUX J6 DUKA +26 174

After 10000 iterations, Nigel's choice is the best. DUKA scores decently and keeps a flexible AFIX for a potential high-scoring move later. Other choices like FAUX and CAUF are close, but DUKA is definitely superior in that it keeps the X. If Ganesh opens the board, Nigel will have no trouble capitalizing on it with a good play. Also, DUKA keeps the board tight- aver opp score is 5 pts lower after DUKA than FAUX.

Move Score Win% Equity

J6 DUKA 26 56.14% 27.1
G10 FAUX 29 56.13% 27.1
I8 CAUF 22 55.37% 25.6
G10 FAIX 29 55.32 % 25.6
11E UNFIX 30 54.93% 24.9
E5 AUF 25 54.8% 24.6
G1 FAUX 24 50.97% 17.7

>Ganesh: EFMNOST E4 FOEN +29 174

FEW (27) is marginally better here while FOEN is quite close. Also of consideration is FON(12), which combines with quite a lot of tiles but the board is not very conducive to bingoes. Also, Nigel is very unlikely to open the board at this point. FEW's advantage is that it keeps 1 vowel. MNOST could also become quite bingo prone if 2 vowels are picked up. However it doesn't open the board much.

Move Score Win% Equity

O1 FEW 27 46.85% 42.2
e4 FOEN 29 45.93% 40.8
N2 FON 12 45.5% 39.7
4D FOAM 18 43.54% 36.6

>Nigel: AFGIUXY 11E UNFIX +30 204

Nigel's play of UNFIX is almost best. N2 GONIF, keeping the X, is slightly better. Despite opening a TWS line, it outscores UNFIX and keeps the X for a potential 11D YUNX next turn. Also playable is the new word 11C GUANXI(28), which is not a bad play either. Other plays do poorly as they open too many hotspots.

Move Score Win% Equity

N2 GONIF 34 56.11% 29.2
11E UNFIX 30 55.98% 29.1
11D GUANXI 28 55.46% 28.3
E10 YUGA 25 54.97% 27.4
11B FAXING 34 53.62% 25.3
G10 FAUX 29 51.12% 21.2

>Ganesh: EEHMMST L10 HMM +25 199

Quite a mediocre play from Ganesh here. HMM doesn't score much and instead creates an even more blocked board. Superior are N2 MONTH for 36 pts or even O1 MEW for 24.

N2 MONTH 36 48.61% 46.7
O1 MEW 24 47.8% 45.6
D5 HMM 27 43.97% 39.3
J11 THEME 32 43.88% 37.5
N2 MONEME 32 43.81% 39.1
5M MEM 22 42.17% 36.4

>Nigel: ADGNOOY 2N YO +27 231

Interesting array of moves available here. Nigel's move is 3rd best, after 5K COGON for 25 and O1 YOW(27). COGON keeps the board tight while scoring, despite keeping the Y.

Move Score Win% Equity

5K COGON 60.55% 30.3
O1 YOW 27 59.24% 29.0
M11 YOGA 27 59.02% 28.9
5K COY 24 57.63% 26.2

>Ganesh: ?EEHSTW O1 W.. +27 226

Best. Nigel's play allow's Ganesh an easy dump of the W in WOW.Other options include J11 THEW/UNFIXT (34) which is slightly risky as there is a blank and 2 Ss unseen. Other plays don't come close.

Move Score Win% Equity

O1 WOW 27 66.85% 77.2
J11 THEW 34 65.02% 73.4
O1 HOW 27 63.42% 71.4
G3 WHEE 30 61.74 67.8

>Nigel: ADEGNOV 5K .OG +20 251

The scores are extremely close now and Nigel makes the best move which doesn't open any bingo lanes. Other moves like 12A VEGAN(28) AND G4 VADE do poorly as they open the board up.

Move Score Win% Equity
5K COG 20 57.63% 26.0
12A VEGAN 28 57.03% 24.1
G3 VADE 26 55.65% 23.4
3I VOR 14 53.12% 19.2

>Ganesh: ?EEHIST M10 HE +18 244

Ganesh misses a difficult bingo, mETH(OD)ISE for 63 pts but surprisingly this isn't the best move, as it opens a few lines for an opponent comeback. M10 HIE for 23 pts, while keeping the blank, is better though taking the bingo may be better as the board is not conducive for bingoes. Bingoing first also increases the chance of picking the last blank.

Move Score Win% Equity

M10 HIE 23 67.37% 69.0
M10 HIES 31 66.1% 66.5
M10 HEIST 33 64.59% 64.7
M10 HE 18 63.67% 63.8
5A METHODISE 62 60.78% 59.8

>Nigel: ?ADEINV H11 IVIED +39 290

Best. Opening up the board now is fine as the play scores well and keeps the blank.

Move Score Win% Equity
H11 IVIED 39 85.39% 69.1
m10 HEAVED 30 79.6% 57.8

>Ganesh: ?EIISTT 15H DIrTIEST +77 321

One of the best plays. Ganesh chooses not to stick the S in the TWS lane with plays like DIETISTs for an easy comeback.

Move Score Win% Equity
DIThEIST 77 57.93% 76.2
DIrTIEST 77 57.69% 75.8
DIETIsTS 77 54.43% 72.0

>Nigel: ?AEINQS 13C EQuIN.AS +86 376

Ganesh's small advantage is rapidly vanquished by Nigel's bingo.

Move Score Win% Equity
13C EQUINIAS 86 81.8% 88.7

>Ganesh: AELRUUY D7 AYU +13 334

Ganesh is trailing by 55 points on a fairly closed board. The sims aren't very accurate here as quackle doesn't always block the right spots. He chooses to play AYU(13), which could set up RANA, TANA or even NANA. However this might not be necessary. 6M AYU(26) only puts him down by 29, within striking range. It is worth noting that there is already 1 bingo line along column C

6M AYU 26 7.75% 16.5
14M YU 19 7.69% 14.6
D7 AYU 13 5.88% 7.2

>Nigel: AEOPRTV C1 OVERAPT +81 457

Ganesh's play instead provides a place for Nigel's bingo to fit. If he had played 6M AYU, Nigel would have no bingo.

Move Score Win% Equity
C1 OVERAPT 81 97.33% 77.7

>Ganesh: EEELLRU 12A LEE +6 340

With 6 tiles remaining in the bag now and also trailing by 123, Ganesh has no choice but to open a triple-triple lane. With 2 triple-triple lanes open, he has a small chance of catching up.

Full game sims-

2A LEVEL 16 2.11% 1.1
12A LEE 6 1.64% -8.3
14L LEU 0.64% 6.8
N11 LURES 15 0.52 -1.5

>Nigel: AILORRT 6M AR +16 473

By leaving 1 tile in the bag, Nigel nearly guarantees the win, by going ahead by 135. This play also sets up another bingo line possibly allowing him to bingo out. However a comeback IDOLATER (140) could still be possible.

Move Score Win% Equity

6M AR 16 99.22% -15.4
M10 HEIL 18 94.63%

>Ganesh: AEILRTU A8 TAILLEUR +122 462

Ganesh plays the bingo but it is way too late.

>Nigel: DILORST 1B T.ROIDS +27 500

Best. Nigel seals it.

>Ganesh: L 11L ..L +5 467

Best.
>Ganesh: (L) +2 469

Equity loss- Nigel 2 Ganesh 30

Ave loss: Nigel 15 Ganesh 48

Nigel wins the game and is the champion.

Overall both players played quite well. Nigel had the better tiles overall and easier rack choices.

WSC finals game 2 analysis

2007-11-27T08:54:00.002+08:00

Nigel now leads 1-0 and plays Ganesh again. This game is definitely more interesting than the previous one..

>Ganesh: AEEOSUY 8G YOU +12 12

Best here is h8 YOUSE(24) by about 6 pts, althought I doubt most players would play off their S for a mere 24 pts at the beginning. Even so, h8 UEY is about 2.5 pts better- AEOS is better than AEES.

>Nigel: ACIIJNP 9F CAIN +19 19

Nigel seems to have had a penchant for keeping the J and this is what he does yet again. F7 JAI is about 1 pt superior, as it dumps the J, but CAIN also sets up the J in the form of JUN. CAIN is a rather defensive move with an average opp score of just 29.

>Ganesh: AEEHRST J3 AETHERS +82 94

Best.

>Nigel: BIJKLLP 3I PALKI +28 47

Another interesting choice. Again, Nigel holds back playing off the J. Slightly surprisingly, it sims best, superior to 4I KELP or 7I JELL (37). PALKI scores while keeping the J for JUN next, which was exactly what happened.

>Ganesh: EEGIIIU -IIEGU +0 94

Ganesh changes all but IE. Keeping just E is 1.5 pts better though.

>Nigel: BIIJLOR 7I J.RBIL +42 89

Best by far.

>Ganesh: EEFIOTW L1 WO.E +30 124

Also best.

>Nigel: GGIMORS O3 OGRISM +49 138

Best, finally using the S for a good score.

>Ganesh: EFGISTV 1L .EFT +30 154

Best.

>Nigel: ?BCEGOO N6 B.OG +27 165

Best also.

>Ganesh: GINRSVZ 5H RI.Z +26 180

After a 4-ply sim, 7J TING (22) superior to RITZ by 3 pts. VIGS/BLOGS is also not too bad

>Nigel: ?ACEOWY 6F WYE +19 184

Best.

>Ganesh: DGMNQSV -GVNQDM +0 180

Best. Ganesh has no choice but to change.

>Nigel: ?ACNNOR M9 ACORN +20 204

ANCON in the exact same position, keeping ?R, is better by 6 pts.

>Ganesh: AAEENST 5E EA +9 189

Best for it creates 2 openings for a bingo later.

>Nigel: ?ADENOO 4A ODONAtE +73 277

Best score although it is slightly risky. 12H wANDEROO(68) would have been slightly safer.

>Ganesh: AEINSTT D3 A.TIENTS +62 251

Best. With such a nice rack, the only bingo is through the N.

>Nigel: AGHNOQU 11I QUOH.G +38 315

Also best.

>Ganesh: DEEILRU A4 .URIE +15 266

HUE(18) is about 8 pts better here. Better score and leave, while leaving the TWS open for a possible comeback.

>Nigel: AAFNNTX 3A TAN. +21 336

Yet another unexpected move from Nigel. Playing B8 FAX(28) to block the main bingo line would be better.

>Ganesh: ?DDELPU B8 DUPLiED +85 351

Ganesh plays the bingo to lead by 15.

>Nigel: AFIINVX A13 FAX +47 383

Nigel leads by 32 now and there 9 tiles unseen- ADEEMLSTV. From the pool Ganesh could have MALTEDS, DELATES or even VELETAS to bingo out.. As he is trailing now, blocking is not the right thing to do. FAX here is best as it doesn't allow a parallel play hooking AD. FAX wins 58% of games, while FIX wins just 40%.

>Ganesh: ADELMTV K10 M.VED +11 362

Best, blocking VISIER for 50 pts.

>Nigel: EIINSV E10 IVIES +18 401

Best also.

>Ganesh: ALT N13 ALT +8 370

LEAT is 3 pts better not that it matters now

>Ganesh: (N) +2 372

Equity loss Nigel 11 Ganesh 22

Quite a well-played game for both sides. Nigel played the endgame well to win. No bingoes were missed.

WSC finals game 1 analysis

2007-11-24T09:33:00.000+08:00

I have decided to do an analysis of the final games, using Quackle, also because the Championship player reports are not fully accurate. Sims will be 2 to 4 ply with enough iterations.

See the game here.

Nigel starts game 1.

>Nigel: AAGOTVZ H6 GAVOT +18 18

Nigel makes quite an unconventional start, playing GAVOT in the middle of the board for 18 points instead of 22. He aims to double the Z on the next move right beside the A or O he has opened. Also this is rather defensive as it doesn't directly open any double-double lines (except for a bingo hooking GAVOT).

After 6000 iterations, 8d GAVOT is about even with nigel's choice, surprisingly. Other choices like ZAG don't do well as they use the Z for too few points. Ave. opp score is 37.6 after H6 GAVOT compared to 39.8 for the more open H4 play.

>Ganesh: AEEFGOU I9 FEAGUE +26 26

Best, although it is extremely open. Other choices like FEU or FOU don't do very well due to the vowel-heavy leave.

>Nigel: AAERXYZ H13 YEX +46 64

Also best. The best score available, while finishing off the TWS.

>Ganesh: CDNOPTT 11I ADOPT +16 42

Inferior by 3 pts to j7 POTT. The disadvantage is that POTT leads to very closed boards, and Ganesh is already trailing.

>Nigel: AAARTUZ L9 ZUPA +30 94

Best. Other choices are 6H GAZAR (35) and L9 ZUPATA (34) which are both inferior by 2 pts. Keeping the U is quite unproductive..

>Ganesh: BCDNNRT -CNDBN +0 42

Exchanging isn't best here. Ganesh is already trailing by 50 points and 7g BAND(11), 7f BRAND or even 14F BREED(18) would be slightly better. Simulation backs this up.

>Nigel: AAHRRST G5 RAH +22 116

2nd best. M8 HART(22) is slightly better. Other good choices include M8 TARTAR(30) and M11 THAR.

>Ganesh: IILNRTT 13K INTIL +26 68

Best. Trailing by 64, Ganesh opens a triple-triple line..

>Nigel: ADLORST I5 LOD +19 135

3rd best. 14l SOD and F4 LOD(19) are very slightly better.. F4 LOD results in a slightly higher score next turn, as any bingo hooking LOD could fit easily.

>Ganesh: ACORTUW O8 COTWAL +36 104

A bad miss. OUTCRAWL would have brought Ganesh ahead by 34 pts and given him an advantage. COTWAL is some 67 pts down.

>Nigel: ?AIRSTV 4H VARSITy +81 216

Best, also VASTIeR in the same place.

>Ganesh: ?BBFRRU 3L BUB +25 129

Best. Other options include 9e RUBOFF for 17 pts which is 5 pts back as it opens an easy TWS line.

>Nigel: DDMNOPR M7 DROPT +25 241

Best also, in score.

>Ganesh: ?AEFGRR O1 FRA +26 155

Inferior by 2 pts to J4 RAGER, but this is quite overrated as it doesn't open the board and Nigel is quite unlikely to open it now that he has a good lead. H1 GRAV for 24 pts is better as it opens the board a little and keeps ?FER

>Nigel: DIJMNSU 14L SIN +29 270

A very strange move by Nigel to say the least. 8 pts inferior to JUD. F4 JUD(30) would have effectively closed the board down and prevented any possible comeback. If Nigel had played JUD, Ganesh would have to play dENIGRATE (63) which opens the board quite a bit

>Ganesh: ?AEGINR F7 sERINGA +66 221

Best.

>Nigel: DHIJMNU 8A INHUME +36 306

Best. INHUME scores well and keeps the J for a decent score later. Also worth considering is k7 JUD which scores 24 and keeps the board closed. There are quite a lot of Es left- 8/29 tiles.

>Ganesh: EEIKMOS F2 MOKE +18 239

An attempt by Ganesh to set up SMOKE, even if there is still 1 more S out there. However it is inferior to E8 MOKE(32) by 16 pts, keeping a better leave of EIMS.

>Nigel: ACDIJLY A8 .CILY +14 320

Another strange move from Nigel. ICILY doesn't score well or block effectively. Much better is 7b ICY 28. It blocks a few lines and also threatens JA atop for 59. There are many other better plays too- 2M JAR (38) and G1 JAY (30).

>Ganesh: EEEEISS E8 .ESE +20 259

Best.

>Nigel: ADEJNRW K4 SWEARD +33 353

Ganesh blocked Nigel's UNDERJAW for 96 ! G1 JEW(30) and 2M JAR (38) are much better- keeping the J at this stage isn't very good.

>Ganesh: EEEEIOS 1F SEE +20 279

Ganesh picks up too many Es and has to play some of them. As there is only 1 tile in the bag, fishing for a bingo now is quite pointless.

>Nigel: IJLNOQT N6 QI +34 387

Best.

>Ganesh: EEINO J3 IRON +20 299

Best too.

>Nigel: JLNOT G14 JO +28 415

Best.

>Ganesh: EE 4D EE. +14 313

Best.
>Ganesh: (NLT) +6 319

Overall I felt that Ganesh played fairly well overall despite his miss of OUTCRAWL, but really one mistake is enough to decide the game sometimes. Nigel, despite making some strange plays, played quite consistently throughout the game to win.

Equity loss- Nigel 31 Ganesh 94

WSC day 3 and 4

2007-11-19T12:05:00.001+08:00

With 11 wins so far, I needed 7 wins to make the finals..

I was due to face Suanne first, who has been doing quite well this tournament.

Game 17 vs Suanne- Suanne starts slow with AHI(12). I play BIO(18) below while she plays PERIA*(22). I neglect to challenge it as I can get down DERAIL(E)R(61). The score is close until I bingo again with FATIGuE(84), while she replies with MISDIET(91). TUNY(46) and REZ(32) for me give me an advantage while she struggles with few vowels. At the end she is unable to play off her J and Q, having no vowels, giving me the spread I need.

W 443-364

Game 18 vs John Olaughlin.

I start off strongly with CORNETs(72) and PERTHITE(72) to his BIJOU(28). John finally bingoes with ERINItE(61) while I maintain my lead with STERVES(78) and other high-scoring plays. John gets down SALINAS(66) later, but I have the tiles to win easily.

W 460-378

Game 19 vs Panupol

Panupol opens with a blank bingo- AgISTED(68). I havfe BEJOOSU and play JOBED(30). We both exchange tiles at the same time but after that I reply strongly with LAVeERS(98) and HERDER(42) to counter his STARRIER(60). AMNIOTE(82) for me followed by a nice ZOEAL(91) with 5 overlaps 2 turns later give me a good lead. At the end Panupol gets OX(51) but I out with TISANE(13) to win.

W 463-436

Game 20 vs Tim
Excellent tiles this game- My first few moves are PRAISED(76), FISSULAR which was challenged, FISTULAS(61), ENAMOUR(91), CERATOID(63) and LACKEY(54). Tim has ENROOTED(68) and JOINtERY(101) which I only discovered was phony after the game.. A late SaLIGOT(84) for me extends the spread.

W 589-384

At this point I have 15 wins and have a chance at making the finals, if I win 3 of the remaining 4 games..

Game 21 vs Charnwit- Charnwit is a rather defensive player. He opens with JEE to which I play JUCO(14) and his PENMEN(14) blocks my ACIERAGE(92). The rest of the game was unfruitful- KNIVED(51) and TINNY(49) to minimize the spread of his DEVIANTS(64) and ReALIsT(70)

L 340-372

Game 22 vs Jighere

A crucial game. However it was not to be. This is one of the most closed games I have played.
Jighere gets 2 easy bingos with the blanks later to win while I can't do very much.

L 283-438

Game 23 vs Nigel- Another important game which would definitely have some consequences on Nigel's chances of making the finals....He started with FIREDOG(77) but EXO(58), HITCHER(97) and JEW(49) gave me the advantage. See the board below

Game 24 vs Akshay- Not much chance this game either. Akshay gest 3 bingoes straight- VISITEE, MeTICAL and vELIGER. I have ZOOEA(42), CURDIEST(76) to narrow the spread.

L 370-443

Fairly satisfied with my 7th place finish, especially as it was my first WSC...The finals were well played overall and Ganesh' miss of OUTCRAWL was a waste.

Congratulations to Nigel.

WSC- day 2

2007-11-17T08:29:00.001+08:00

Day 2 dawned, and I was to play with Dean Saldanha, not an easy opponent.

Game 9 vs Dean who finished 47th

I start with WOW(18), keeping 2 Ss. Dean replies with JEW(14) followed by an exchange of tiles. I continue scoring well with OHS(34), CIG(23) and AYES(40) atop his nice RELIEVO(68).. Dean changes yet again later while I rush ahead with OSTIATE(75) which Dean held briefly. But Dean bingoes with MATIlDA(74) while I DEEITTQ and put down TIED(27). I hold on to the Q for a few turns, and finally get rid of it in SQUAIL(35). Close to the end I hold EGIPOV? and play TAV, leaving 1 in the bag. I pick an R and bingo out with PiEROGI(81).

W 482-328

Game 10 vs Patrick (Kenya) who finished 6th

Patrick opens with the unassuming AVA(12). I have AAGENKU and play KAGU(21). Patrick fishes off the Y for 10 points and bingoes next with SODAINE(78), missing a better bingo. REEARNED(63) followed by ROSINATE(69) get me back into the thick of things. A series of high-scoring plays from me- FIX(58), CHARD(40) and ZEA(40) increase my lead to 80. Patrick then gets a double-blank bingo- lITERaL(75) but I have the tiles at the end to win narrowly.

W 435-419

Game 11 vs adam Philpotts who finished 51

Open with FOXY(34) while Adam overlaps BIMA(30) atop. I take the lead with TENPINS(73) next. Adam has ADMOTT? and phonies with STOMATeD. I choose to block MATTOiDS to play safe while Adam has to play TOM(25). I phony with CARAPE* next while Adam narrows the gap with IKAT(42). But later I get SCAURIES(83+5) and FRESHETS(92+5), as well as ELOINEd(79) to win easily. Adam only has PRELOADs(72).

W 500-349

Game 12 vs Nigel who finished 1st

My win against Adam has brought me to 4th and I face nigel next on table 1 to be annotated for the first time ever. I have STAGIEsT(82), AIRBOAT(74), AWN(45) and JEU(47) to his HEROISE(85) and ANOTHER(75) to win narrowly.

W 432-408

Game 13 vs Joel Wapnick who finished 4th

Open with JEW(26) and rush ahead with FREITIER(94) next turn. Joel has ENORmOUs(70) and ERMINES(76), but I have LEAPT(30), REALISTS(70), EH(36) and even ZOOT(48+5). Surprised to see Joel challenge ZOOT. It seems that many of the american players aren't that good on the Collins words- even Tim challenged NAS. However my ZOOT gives him an easy ZEBU(45). He has a late SCANTIER but I have good enough tiles to win. This is my 9th straight win in a row.

W 500-473

Game 14 vs Jighere who finished 3rd

Open with LAW/AERT. Jighere bingos with OLIVInES(63). Jighere is also one of the most defensive players I have played. He plays to close the board down, and will slowly block every opening if he is leading. Another extremely blocked game. I made several openings only to see them being blocked quickly.

L 340-369

Game 15 vs Ganesh who finished 2nd

I start with UPLAY(28) while Ganesh plays GUM(17) and CREEPERS(64). 2 turns later, I get ROTENONE(64) only to see him play BAKERIES atop for 124. I attempt to narrow the gap with WIZ(44), BAIRDS(26) and VULN(34) but it is quite futile as he plays CHOOSES(68) and REcITINg(74) later for a large win. Not much chance here.

L 357-551

Game 16 vs Edward who finished 13th

Edward is one of the fastest opponents in the room. I score consistently again with HUB(21), WOO(31), GAZAL(35) and BoYSIER(79) to his GOATIEr(68). ANTACID(70) from me, followed by OX(48) several turns later make for an easy win.

W 421-339

Pleased to finish the day joint 6th. We venture down to the Indian restaurant again for some more delicious food After that I meet up with Adrian for 2 games of scrabble. I won the first one handily but lose the next one.

Photos up

2007-11-16T08:36:00.000+08:00

Finally managed to get some of the photos up to facebook.

View them here. You don't need to be a member to see them. More to come soon.

WSC report- Day 1

2007-11-14T19:01:00.000+08:00

I reached the Taj President early at 7.40 on Friday morning for the first day of WSC. We were staying at the Ascot Hotel, a well-furnished hotel not far from the venue. Other players- Tim Adamson, Jim Kramer and a few Brits were also staying there.

The pairings were already out and I was matched with Gerry Carter.Having played with him many times before, I knew that he was not one to be underestimated

Game 1 vs Gerry (Thailand) who finished 38th

Start with the unpalatable AIIIMTV after his opening YAULD(26). I decide to play ATIMY for a handful of points while Gerry bingoes with TORSADES(86). I have AIIIOVZ and play AZO(48). More mediocre racks of several Is follow. He blocks my SINICISE on move 5, while I get down INCENSE(82) to trail by 50. A late HASTIER(86) narrows the gap by much. The scores are 392-388 to Gerry but he holds EFIRM?? to my AADFWR to win rather easily.

L 422-436 Current position: 59th

With that loss I am paired with Greger from Sweden who is a rather nice guy.

Game 2 vs Greger Nassen(Sweden) who finished 103rd

I begin with AEGINRU which has no 7s so I change the U. Greger plays GLARY(26) and I play REARNING(86)* which I now realise is phony. It stays though and he plays QI(31). 2 turns later, I get down BlOVIATE(76) folowed by FrONTAGE(74). Greger plays a late LANDERS(74) but I play FAIRIES(74) to further extend my lead. A comfortable win.

W 526-361 Current position:33rd

Game 3 vs Michael Gongolo(Ken) who finished 30th

Michael changes 3 tiles while I hold EEMRSUU and play UMU. I bingo with TUYERES(65+5) next followed by RADIX(47). He quickly plays AERATING(70). Scores are close till the end when Michael plays COZ/OB/ZA for 69 points, effectively finishing the game. My last rack of DMGNS?? is not useful.

L 375-434 Current position-72nd

Game 4 vs Wajid Iqbal(PAK) who finished 58th

I have BDJIMRU to open and play JUD(22). Wajid plays WOP and I play IMBRUE(25), keeping another I..Later I get TAILBONE(74) and STIRRES(88) to surger ahead while he has ANOTHER(77). I play FIND(35), BENTY(34) and VLY(22) to lead narrowly. At the end, he has SEDATiNG(72) to draw close. I set up a TWS score with ZEE which he blocks with AA(8). I play SAiGH(69) which I am surprised to find invalid while he outs with AURIC to win by 60. A waste indeed.

L379-415 Current position -76th

Lunch break- The buffet spread is pretty good, much better than the typical Indian food you would get in Singapore. Dhal curries, chicken masala, mutton curry, salads and even some sinful deserts like rasmalai and kulfi

Game 5 vs Mohan Chunkath(IND) who finished 80th

I begin with FOREL/EH(24), while Mohan plays LOZEN(28) to which I reply with HEFTY(45). Later I get down BITTERER to the R for 72, and follow up with EXORDIAL(67) and DUSTINGS(64) to take the lead. But Mohan attempts a comeback with mAIDANS(70), picking the last blank. On a closed board, I have HINNOLU to his AADIPO?. Fortunately there is no bingo for him and I win easily

W 413-359 Current position- 57th

Game 6 vs Sam (US) who finished 29th

A cracking game. I reply with KAIE(22) to Sam's opening OX(18), while he plays LINDIES(72) which I reply with a double-double DENOTING(90). Sam takes the triple with HOUSED(32) while I play COVERING(78) to his ROQUE(45). Then I get down another bingo-INLAYER(72) which Sam replies with JOHN and TENURIAL(72). After the 6 turns, I lead 356-284. A series of high-scoring moves continue-GET(45), FADS(57) and ZEsT(77). Fortunately I manage to bingo on the 2nd last turn with PROGrA(M)S for 69 and out with QUEP next.

W 565-434 Current position- 42nd

Game 7 vs Chris Ntege (UGA) who finished 100th.

Chris opens with THUD(16) while I have an easy FEERINS(79). I play GOLI(AR)D for 36 next, followed by QI(35) and ECTOzOA(70) to his STONIER(69) and ZOEAE(48) More consistent scoring-XU(40), VODOU(26) and NEW(40) further extend my lead. A late ARSENAL(79) brings my score above 500..

W 529-367 Current position- 28th

Game 8 vs Ralph Lobo who finished 41st

Lat game of the day. I had played with his brother, Douglas several times before but it was my first matchup with Ralph. I hold ABEENIW and play WEB(16), missing a few superior plays. Ralph dumps both Vs with VIVE(18) The game is close until I bingo first with SCRUPLeR(2), immediately drawing a challenge. I have a surfeit of As later- AAAAILZ, AAALSZ?. At the end, Ralph is stuck with the Q, which is a boost to my spread.

W401-324 Current positon -22nd

Pleased to have won all of the afternoon's games to finish 22nd for day 1, despite a rather shaky start. After the games we venture down to Konkan Cafe, an Indian restaurant in the Taj which serves very good Indian cuisine. The steamed pomfret fillet with spices is absolutely delicious. Very good service too.

After the first day, Paul Allan from Scotland leads the field for now, followed by Nigel and Charnwit

Comments welcome.

PS: I'm on facebook.

Mumbai

2007-11-08T04:55:00.003+08:00

Leaving for Mumbai now. Hope to finish in top 20. WSC here I come !

2007-11-07T16:36:00.000+08:00

WSC looms.

mumbai

2007-11-06T10:09:00.001+08:00

Leaving for India on Thursday. Hope to do well and finish in top third.

JG mini- again

2007-10-29T07:40:00.000+08:00

Finished 3rd with a record of 5-3+565, one of my highest spreads at minis ever.. Fairly balanced racks this time, and more than a few opponent phonies..Good practice for the WSC indeed

Ave score: 475-404
Bingos:17-17
J:5/8
Q: 3/8
X:1/8
Z:6/8
S:17/32
Blanks:6/16

Total moves:101-102
Ave. moves per game: 12.63-12.75
Score per move: 37.6-31.7

2007-10-23T11:07:00.001+08:00

There are 4 types of pple. Those who don't blog and don't read blogs, those who don't blog but read blogs, those who blog occsaionally( 1-2 wks) for the sake of posting and the enthusiastic ones who post every few days.

BTW, the answer to the previous puzzle is SIC(KNURS)INGS.

For those who don't know, I do have a food blog here. Do check it out..

High game

2007-10-22T10:58:00.000+08:00

Had a high-scoring game against Dorai with 5 bingos without any blanks. 648-339

Find the best play

2007-10-20T11:21:00.003+08:00

New food blog ( u guessed it)

2007-10-18T22:49:00.000+08:00

On my birthday, it is an appropriate time to set up a new food blog:

http://www.heavenlyfoods.blogspot.com

2007-10-14T08:29:00.001+08:00

I love cheesecake.

Mini

2007-10-08T08:18:00.000+08:00

Another disappointing finish, somewhat due to some strange racks and a shortage of power tiles (not blanks). 0/8 Xs, 3/8 Z and also 14/32 S. Lost the last game by 2 pts, and might have a better chance if I had challenged off ESPIEGLES*/SUB, but I had a good place to play the J so I didn't bother. Ended up losing just 36.8 equity pts that game, in several small plays. Played some nice words like DIGERATI and UPTOWNER, not gonna talk much about the games.I did manage to extend a play of VANQUISHING from VANQUISH against Cheah though. KB won the divison, surprisingly despite a slow start.

Too many strange racks-
BEGLPW? (BOWLEG 24)
CDIIIER (ETIC, 24)
BCFKMQ? (FERM 17)
BFGJMSY (GYM 18)
CDLRSTY (STY 31)
ELMOOQR (QI 11)

After it all ended, me, GH and WB followed Cheah for dinner aat the Guild house at Bukit Timah. Pretty decent food.

This was soon followed by ice-cream nearby.

Sunday- again

2007-09-29T17:14:00.001+08:00

Lunch at Macau express in Expo. This eatery serves chinese food with portugese influence, like baked rice, portugese egg tarts, tea and other stuff

Some noodle soup with prawns-

Chicken chop baked rice ($7.90). Not bad, with many ingredients. The sauce was quite tasty. Fairly good value. 7.5/10

Baked rice with pork chop- another tasty dish, but the chicken baked rice is still tastier.

Laptop

2007-09-29T15:23:00.001+08:00

Just got my new white-covered dell Laptop today. Excellent delivery- less than 4 days. Just installed Zyzzyva, Lexpert, Quackle and several other programs. Finally back to Windows, at least for now.

Memes

2007-09-28T14:33:00.000+08:00

This is in response to Henry's tag.

1 .5 Things In Our Bag
-Sweater
-Water bottle
-Umbrella
-Pens
-Bags

2. 5 Things In Our Wallet:
-Coins
-IC
-transit card
-receipts
-library card

5 Thing We Like Most In Our Room:
-Air con
-Fan
-Apple computer
-high-decked office chair
-another chair

5 Things We'd Like To Try:
-travelling to france
-travelling to italy
-travelling to japan
-travelling to new york
-travelling to Bangalore

5 Things We're Doing Now:

-Posting to the blog
-surfing net
-sitting down
-drinking soup
-stuff

Tagged-

Marcus
Victor
Cheah
Chee Meng
Yi En

WSC goal

2007-09-28T08:50:00.000+08:00

WSC primary goal- To get at least 1 of my games annotated at the top table.

Sunday

2007-09-23T21:30:00.000+08:00

Lunch at expo's food court:
Beef fried rice ($4) with carrot, lettuce, egg and black beans. Rice is soft and fluffy and quite tasty. 7/10

After that, I headed for Orchard and by my powers of persuasion managed to convince Cheah to come over. We went to a cafe just outside Takashimaya for a drink. I had a mango lassi ($5) which is an interesting concoction of mango, yoghurt, milk and honey. It is very thick but not as sweet as it seems. 6.5/10 Cheah talks about WYSC issues and tiramisu recipes.

Alas, my powers of persuasion weren't great enough, and Cheah left early at 6 to go back to nap, due to lack of coffee. And when I asked him why he didn't have coffee, he said it would be too strong for him.

Dinner at Wisma's food court: Spaghetti with cream sauce and grilled fish ($5.80). This one was quite delicious. The sauce is tasty and goes well with the fish and spaghetti. Fish was rather well done too, quite good value indeed. 8/10

Cream puff for $2 from Beard papa in the basement. The cream puff craze started here some time agao but has since died down. It is still extremely popular in Japan though. It is still a very tasty snack- the pastry is crispy, while the vanilla filling is very good.

Sowpods in 2021

2007-09-21T10:26:00.003+08:00

Disclaimer: The story below is purely a work of fiction and is not to be taken seriously at all.

- - - - - -

It is June, 2021. Since 2017, the world has been united under a single dictionary( yes, it did take the Yanks that long to switch) From the last dictionary vote, pro-sowpods players outnumbered pro-TWL players by 50.5% to 49.5%. The committee pounced on this and initiated the switch. But lo and behold, the pro-TWL players revolted, immediately deciding to boycott all tournaments for a year, citing the presence of strange words which had absolutely zero relation to North American scrabble, like KAMOKAMO and MINIMOTO. But it was not to last as the players soon trickled back within months.

Even China and Hong Kong had recently joined the new world scrabble scene recently. Their top player, Mao Gong Fu, was even seen playing a rapid game of scrabble at a Starbucks outlet.

The technology of the era had been advancing rapidly too. Boards were now well-fitted with microchips and motion sensors. Every tile was ingrained with microchips storing the value of the tile. When placed on the board, the board would read the value of the tiles and score it accordingly, but the scores would not be revealed till the end. If a player announced his score wrongly, a computerized voice would immediately voice and correct the error. However, it was still mandatory for players to announce their scores. If a player took too long to draw his tiles, a voice would quickly remind the player to hurry up.

Timers soon became obsolete as they became integrated with the board. Gone were the days of carrying around bulky timers- a small digital timer at the edge of the board was more than sufficient to keep track of time. The boards were made of lightweight plastic and weighed only 500 grams each.

In 2018, A new world scrabble body was formed, headed by Albert Hahn, who was unanimously voted by players from 10 other countries. At long last the WSC could return to America again.

But, it was not to be.

To be continued....

Woohoo!

2007-09-19T19:59:00.000+08:00

Australia's CSC team this year is significantly weaker than last year's. The team is Edward, Chris, Michael hornung, Bob Jackman and Trevor Halsall. Details are here. Missing are David eldar, Naween and Andrew Fisher. Just the break I need.

Poll

2007-09-19T08:12:00.000+08:00

Created a new poll at the side. Please vote.

Random stuff

2007-09-18T14:53:00.000+08:00

Another busy day today. My camera ran out of batteries half-way, so no photos except a new one for the wsc. . Also went to Tekka mall to have lunch and collect the visas which were pretty overpriced as usual at $90 each.

My 10 first and last racks at last wk's mini:

Game 1: EEORRTT (OTTER 12), ??DEEIR EAtHE 9
Game 2: BEEINTU (BETAINE 36), DEFNPRW WIFED 12
Game 3: JORSTUX (JOURS 40), LNNRTTV VANT 15
Game 4: ABESOUV (JUVES 30), AEELRTT RIA 17
Game 5: AEEOQRU (QUARE, 48), RSTZ ZOS 24
Game 6, AAEGIRS (AGA 8), DEIINPW XI, 18
Game 7: AABCENT (BANE 21), ADENN DEMAN 27
Game 8: DHIPQT? (QOPH 26), BCOOIJN JOB 29

Fairly decent racks to start with, but more mediocre at the end.

Miscellanous

2007-09-17T18:46:00.000+08:00

7 Oct 2007 -The Serangoon mini tournament
28 Oct 2007 -Jurong Green CC mini tournament
* 8-12 Nov 2007 -World Scrabble Championships 2007, Taj President Hotel, Mumbai, India
11 Nov 2007? -Thomson Sin Ming Court mini tournament
25 Nov 2007 -Yew Tee Scrabble Open Championship 2007
* 30 Nov-2 Dec 2007 -6th Causeway Challenge, Zon Regency Hotel JB
* 4-6 Dec 2007 -2007 World Youth Scrabble Championship, Zon Regency Hotel JB
16 Dec 2007 -Jurong Green CC mini tournament

Just finished quackling my games. Missed 3 bingoes in 2 games, 2 of which were in the first game against Ben. Apart from that mainly non-bingo misses here and there. EQ loss around 50 a game.

G8 mini

2007-09-17T08:24:00.001+08:00

Didn't win it this year, due to mediocre tiles among other things. Interestingly, the blanks were split in only 1 game. Too many consonant-heavy endgame racks resulting in some close losses.

Some interesting happenings:

Quek opened with a bingo, WRONGER, but it below the opening star. He was surprised to see Victor challenge it.

Andy drew 10 tiles to start against Yen Nee, who had to open 4 tiles to choose from..

Stats:
Record:4-4 +179

Ave scores: 419-397
Bingos: 13-16
J:3/8
Q:6/8
X:6/8
Z:6/8

S:15/32
blanks:7/16

CSC

2007-09-13T19:48:00.000+08:00

Who will qualify?

The players in contention for the 3 spots are:

JP 1860
Tony 1859
Andy 1846
Yen Nee 1834
Weibin 1814

Quackle game

2007-09-12T08:29:00.001+08:00

4 bingos to 2. Quackle even leaves me a 60- point outplay.

Adventures

2007-09-11T18:42:00.000+08:00

Started off the day with breakfast at Bedok Market- I had wanton mee from this recently opened stall- it was fairly tasty with the chili. The noodles were soft and full of flavour but the roast pork was just so-so. Service however was slow- waited over 10 mins even though there just a few pple in front. 7/10

We then headed over to the Botanic gardens for a walk:

Before stopping at the food court there for lunch. The picture doesn't look too appetizing, but it's actually more tasty than it appears. The beancurd is very soft and melts in your mouth, while the egplant and sweet and sour pork and well-seasoned and tasty. Very reasonably priced at $3.

Then I drop by at Borders where I read up on French cuisine and other stuff ( France has more cheeses than days in the year and there are over 35000 bakeries in Paris.)

After that, I head over to Venezia at Takashimaya's basement for ice-cream- 2 scoops of hazelnut and dark chocolate icecream for $4.20- which is fairly reasonable compared to $7.90 at haagen Dasz for similar quantity. The dark chocolate is quite rich and the hazelnut generally quite nice with bits of hazelnuts, but lacking the extra kick. Should have opted for a more interesting combination, like lemon and mint chocolate. 7.5/10

2007-09-10T11:14:00.001+08:00

Can't wait for G8 mini next week..

ISC

2007-09-06T22:25:00.000+08:00

Tony has a rather nice rack...

But plays FEISTY, missing many bingoes. Best is dESYATIn for 86.

Finally after several cheap plays, it comes..

WSC qualifiers

2007-09-03T20:29:00.000+08:00

Malaysia's WSC qualification has just ended and Ganesh and Suanne will be representing Malaysia. Congrats to Suanne. From M'sia and S'pore, 3 of the 5 WSC reps are playing for the first time.

Puzzle

2007-08-31T13:45:00.000+08:00

Taken from an NSA blog:

A round-robin tournament is being held; in every match, each player has a 50% chance of winning.

a. (Warmup). If there are three players, what's the probability that each ends up with a 1-1 record?
b. (Not too bad). If there are five players, what's the probability that each ends up with a 2-2 record?
c. (Harder). If there are seven players, what's the probability that each ends up with a 3-3 record? Can you come up with a general formula for n players (n odd)?

Anyone?Andy?

Penang final report

2007-08-31T10:39:00.000+08:00

The last day of the tourney. 6 KOTH rounds were to be played today. Ganesh was still 3 wins clear of the field, followed by Nigel and vannitha with 11 wins each. It was crucial that I beat vannitha as she was already 2 wins ahead. After a quick breakfast we head up to the playing room.

Game 15 vs Vannitha. I open with DIETED/I. She replies with QUERN(36), which I reply with JIVED(32) and CIG(25). Again she bingoes first with EVASIOn(83), but I have ROPIER(33) and SERAFILE(82) 2 turns later to naroow the gap. She scores well wtih RIZ(33), TIMED(39). PYX(41) and TORCH(35) and later I reach the following position :

The bag is empty. I spend quite some time on this move and fashion an easy out in 2 to win. But I missed the superior MENTO/GO which limits her scoring and leaves an easier out. I could have lost if vannitha had at least 1 vowel. I note that Vannitha's endgame is weak as later she missed an easy out-in 2 win against Tony.

W 407-395 Equity loss:56 Best moves:5/13

Game 16 vs Vannitha. Vannitha again as she is still leading. Ganesh has just lost to Nigel, surprisingly. She opens with another blank bingo- LOADINg(66), not going for maximum points. I have CEFMNPY and play COMFY(30), best but draw 3 Es and play EPEE(24). The unhandy Q comes along which I play off in QI(11). Later I get down SNORTED(65) but the board is getting more and more blocked while she still keeps a steady lead. At the end, I attempt to open the board up but she cleverly closes it. I settle for a late EXtANT(43) and lose narrowly..

L 380-391 Equity loss:22 best moves:10/15

Game 17 vs Cheah- Open with QI/BEEIV. Cheah plays the extremely defensive IF below. I change and play DELATES/QIS (74) to his NAIF. Then Cheah bingoes with COmPLINE(74), but missing many superior bingos through the T which would have blocked by APHOLA(T)E (102+5). Steady scoring from me- JUVE(48), NIM(31), XI(40) give me a comfortable lead. Then I try KIROROS*( chee meng's ISC username) I am surprised to see that it is invalid. Dang.. Cheah gets REMASTER(80) to pull close but I run away with TROWS(31), ZEIN(45) and GLUNCHES(32). At the end he bingoes with ABORiGINE(61) giving me a place for SNORTED(94) (played SNORTED earlier too!!) when he could have just played BRAVOING.

W 550-407 Equity loss:45 best moves:8/13

Game 18 vs John- A great game, the coffe I had earlier also helped. I have MOrTICER(86), XU(38), FENURON(75+5), ACIDOSES(76), LOZEN(34) to his ANTIDORA(65) and REELiNG(73). At the end I phony with QIVUIT- he doesn't challenge and adds an S to it. But I still win big anyway.

W526-390 Equity loss:49 Best moves:6/13

Game 19 vs Tony- Ranked 4th now with a 12-6 record. and I am matched with Tony next. He opens with ZIP(28) and a really blocked board develops which I can't do much about. I get a late EARLIES(85) only to see him bingo out with YEARNERs(72)..

L 371-508 Equity loss:49 Best moves:6/14

Game 20 vs Cheah- Another important game- Cheah opens with GAUGE(16) while I have the lousy DFKLRTW to reply. I settle on TURF(15) while Cheah plays LOGGiEST(72), missing a better bingo to the TWS. The scores are really close till the end- my WOLFED(37), DATA(34), VEX(26) , STATUES(73), HENCE(39) and HAO(45) to his UNIQUER(209), MY(28), ZINC(30) etc. At the end, with 1 S among 11 unseen tiles, I choose not to block the bingo line for a miserable 3 points only to see him bingo out. I actually missed a clever 6-letter setup which would have had very good chances. Sigh.

L 374-414 Equity loss:23 Best moves:8/11

So the tourney has ended and Ganesh has won it again, with 18 wins. I drop to 7th, winning RM300. The Singapore contingent didn't do too badly with 3 of its 5 players in the top 10. I hope to finish in the top 3 next year.

That night, we venture to an Italian rstaurant down the road with Henry, Dianne, Cheah and yen nee for the set dinner (RM30++). I had a starter of scallop salad, soup, main course of salmon and dessert which was a long tray of tiramisu, fruit salad and ice cream. I found the
salmon too soupy- the chicken would have been a much better choice. And after dinner we went back to the same place as the previous night- I had a strawberry milkshake(RM8.80) which was really large and creamy.

Later we find out that Tony missed several bingoes against Ganesh- ?AAELMNV and DIIIFNV? which could have altered things.

Stats

Record:12-8 +626
Ave. score: 445-414
J:12/20
Q:12/20
X:12/20
Z:11/20

S:37/80
Blanks:16/40

Bingos:43-39
Ave. EQ loss: 48 pts

Penang open- part 3

2007-08-30T08:10:00.001+08:00

This is the 3rd instalment of the Penang trip, comments welcome.

Saturday quickly dawned and I was to be playing with Nigel first. And I hadn't defeated him since the LBH 2004.. But first we went down for breakfast at around 7.20am, which was really mediocre. If it was a 4-star hotel, the spread on weekends certainly didn't match up.

The range was just lousy and the choices unappealing- coconut rice with hardly any coconut, faded hash browns, canned baked beans, yam cake, toast and fruit. Only the omelettes were worth trying . Quite a far cry from the buffet spread at the Novotel Bangna bangkok where I stayed in 2005 which also claims to be a 4-star hotel..The variety was fantastic there with all sorts of dishes including noodle soup, cereal, fresh juices, fried rice, cookies.

So after breakfast we went up to the playing area, which was well-air conditioned but the area outside was really stuffy. At 8 I begin my game with Nigel who opens with MACED(26) I hold ADELORR and play RELOADER(63) (best). Nigel dumps with OUIJA(30) while I surge ahead with INTERMAT% (72). Unfortunately I don't block the floater for his B(E)AUTIES (72) which he quickly plays. Then I hold DEFLMOO and settle on MOFO%(40), after deciding not to block the L in TWS lane for fewer points. Sure enough he comes back with SI(L)ICULE(80) which wouldn't have happened had I played there. After bingoing he changes 6, followed by ZOCAlO(72) which I counter with ROOTIEST(82) to lead 323-307. His moves of AVOW(32) PHONE(41), KY(36) give him the lead while my I play WYNN(30), HOGG(34) and BANG(21). My last rack is DNQTX to his EGIPVR?. Yikes.

L 419-473 Me: QSSX Nigel: JSSZ?? Equity loss:35 Best plays: 6/12

Game 6 vs yi En, another Malaysian teen who I haven't met. I open with BIVIA(26) while he plays BOXIER(30) creating a nice open board for my HEXAGOnS(80) to go down, followed by BRU%(20), giving him UPGIRT to the triple. Fortunately I get FU(E)LLING (64) to lead, which is quickly replied by his AiLETTE. Then I play DIARY (34) atop AILETTE, but he overlaps with DOZE/ZIT (51)! Should have played DAIRY instead..goes to show how the small things add up. I maintain the lead until the end, when his opening of OD(10) gives me KNITTED(85). He replies with ORIOLES(73) but it is not enough. Yi En sure seems to be the strongest of the Malaysian teens (not counting Suanne)

W 457-403 Me:SS? Yi en: JQXZSS? Equity loss:88 best moves: 7/14

Game 7 vs Aaron- Aaron opens with WUS and I have only 1 place for EDACITY! He replies with OUTSEEN(68), while I reply with VI(S)IEINg(72+5), missing a better play in that spot. Aaron takes the TWS with FOE(40) while I have drawn BEGJRQ?- not good, despite the blank. I unload QI(22) and JUGA(24) when he bingoes back with ELONgATE(70). I chicken out of the bingo in ?DEGRRT and play DREG(24) instead. Aaron covers the other TWS with HOP(45) (what is it with these high-scoring short words!) I have a large shortage of vowels- ?BBERRT which comes back again at the end. Aaron dumps OBIA(12) and DWINE(18) while I play OAK(19) followed by the only bingo INcLINE(61). I have AHLMRST after the bingo, Aaron plays DEV and the unseen is AEGIPRRS. I lead 397-395. There is a spot above OAK for his bingo, but another hotspot below DEV. So if I block the bingo line, Aaron would take the hotspot with a 30+ play, going out next turn and I would still lose. So the only way was to play HARM(47) and hope he didn't have SOAK/SPAIRGE. Sadly he did. pfft.

L 444-481 Me: JQXZSS?? Aaron: SS Equity loss: 73 Best plays: 3/12

Game 8- Kong Chock heng. Haven't played him prior to this.After his turn I realize something is not right- he has just played IMLPY. Probably a nifty misplacement of the tiles and he has already drawn his tiles. To make things worse, he bingoes HEEDING(68) next. I hold ACFORT? but take the points with COFT(43) first before bingoing jAUNSED(82+5) to take the lead. He exchanges 6, then comes back with VALETEs(73). The scores are very close until the end, and so is the board. At the end, I hold EEEJSWX with AAEINNRST unseen. The only decent play is JEWEL, but that opens a floater. But he has AEINRST and takes 5 minutes to see the bingo, ARSENITE to bingo out.

L 356-445 Me:SSXZ? Kong chock heng: JQSS? Equity loss: 94 Best plays:3/12

A much needed lunch break at last. Mediocre plays, partially due to the lack of fresh air, see me win only 1 of 4 games all morning. I venture down to the Japanese restaurant Waka (waka is good too) with Cheah and Yen nee. I have the cod fish set (RM25++) while Yen Nee and Cheah have the Cod and chicken set (RM45++). It comes with rice, soup, fruits and a concoction of tofu with prawns and cubes of chicken inside. Pretty decent, but preferred the Japenese food in Siam paragon bangkok- salmon steak set for a cheaper price. As usual the food takes forever to arrive.

Game 9 vs Suanne- I have DEGFNVS to start. is exchange FGV even worth considering? I doubt so. I play VEND(16) and have just 1 vowel a rack for the next 4 turns. Suanne has PENNIES(77), ZOO(32), HOURS(30) to lead 185-114. But then I bingo back with GENITURE(70), followed by DEALATEd(70+5). She draws close with FENITARS(65) but I pull away with ETOURdIE(61) to win.

W448-356 Me:JSX?? Suanne: QSSSZ Equity loss:14 Best plays: 7/12

At this point in time I am 4-0 against M'sian kids and 0-3 against M'sian adults.

Game 10 vs Tengku- Coincidentally, we were to celebrate his birthday the next day. I was feeling pretty confident going into this round, especially with Tengku. However I have IIIIQUW to start- the first reaction was to change, but decide on IWI(12) with a reasonable leave. But he replies with TaTTLER(65), followed by ZATI(45) and FOY(41) while I have lousy racks (IIIPQUX, EEGIIUX, EGGIIIU). I change and draw the blank and use it in FArDENS(79), but still trailing by 49. With ABEIOLU I play ABOULIA(24). A lucky break comes when Tengku plays CEIL/ABOULIAE* (37). Very funny. I paly GOPAK(32) in the same spot, followed by BRAILLES and HOVED(25) I maintain the lead till the end. Tengku captured 5 of 6 TWS this game..

W 438-367 Me: JSX? Tengku Asri: QSSSZ? Equity loss:26 Best plays:10/14

Game 11 vs Jin Chor. Jin Chor opens with OLIVE 8h, instead of the superior VOILE, allowing my IONOGEN(63) to play. Next he plays VIVO, blocking my LEAVENED(94) throught the V. He bingoes next with dRAGOON(75), while I keep pace with ZA(46) and TEMPERA(77). My WEX(44) is quickly countered by his QIS(44). Jin Chor later holds DENORS?, missing the 96 point 4-timer through EN, hooking HAW. CAN YOU SPOT IT? He plays DONSiER instead, followed by ENACTS(33) and JUTTED(37). But I have a timely HOKUMS(60) to cruise to a narrow win.

W 436-414 Me: SSXZ Jin Chor: JQSS?? Equity loss: 33 Best plays: 6/12

Game 12-vs vannitha- After my GYBE(20) and JAUNCE(21) to begin, she plays SOIlAGE(84) followed by OCReATE(63) 2 turns later. I have ZOL(39), FRY(32), NEXT(41) and YOMP(22) to trail narrowly. Just when I am about to catch up, she bingoes with ATHEISE(71). I make the worst blunder of the tourney with UNWeARS, missing UNSWeAR(105) in the same spot. Sigh. It's UNWARES that was good. She plays HOOD(49) in the same spot and the game is lost. My late SUNNIeR(69) only narrows the spread.

L 382-471 Me:SSXZ? Vannitha: JQSS? Equity loss:119 Best plays:4/13

Game 13 vs Pui. I have gone out for some fresh air, and return to play Pui. He opens with BITTE(20). I quickly play EPENDYMA from the E to the triple for 104. He immediately challenges. It is good. However he bingoes back with MOODIEST(94), neutralizing my lead. I sneak another phony past Pui (COOSE), it is fortunate as I picked the blank after.Pui scores well with NIFTILY (28) and HYENA(34), while I bingo with SALTIrE(76). Then 4 consecutive turns of 40+ plays using the power tiles- RIOJA(43), ZIG(49), LANX(42), SUQ(43) give me a nice lead. Apparently I also happened to block his CIR(C)LING, which could have lost me the game. I am pleasantly surprised to draw the last blank at the end which gives me an easy win.

W 480-419 Me:JQXZSS?? Pui: SS Equity loss:20 Best plays: 6/11

Last game of the day. The schedule has been revised so we would be playing 6 games the next day.

Game 14 vs Jocelyn. I open with WOOFY/AI (36). Jocelyn plays YONT(29), I am aware that it doesn't take S. 2 turns later I get down ETATISTE(62) while she replies with GOrSIER(80) 2 turns later. I draw the clunky HKLUUVW after the bingo and play HULK(27), followed by WIVED(18). I am fortunate to get DENORRUU(74) next turn- to regain the lead. Later, Jocelyn bingoes PLENISH/ROTI(82) to take the lead but I have AIM(37) and LOX(41) to get it back At the end, Jocelyn is under some time pressure and misses the bingo in AEGIINS?, otherwise I would have lost, reminiscient of the game where she stuck herself with the Q against Cheah. But she won away. This win completes my 8 game winning streak against Jocelyn.

W 422-382 Me: SXZ Jocelyn: JQSSS?? Equity loss:44 Best plays:6/13

It is already 8pm and we venture out for dinner. Halfway Henry and Tony wander of to eat nasi biryani while we settle for a chinese restaurant. We order sizzling beef, sizzling black pepper chicken, prawns with cashew nuts and vegetables. The food is pretty tasty. The bill for 4 comes up to RM85. After dinner we descend on a cafe near the hotel for coffee with Cheah, Dianne and Yen nee. I opt for the hot chocolate(RM8.80) which was extremely rich and delicious. After the enjoyable evening we head back to the hotel to rest.

Day 2 summary:
Record:6-4 +85
Ave. eq loss: 55
Ave. score: 429- 420
J:5/10
Q:4/10
X:9/10 (2 unplayed)
Z:5/10

S: 19/40
blanks: 10/20

Penang open - part 2

2007-08-29T08:40:00.000+08:00

Friday

Hurriedly left the house at 6.15 am to meet at Tony's house at 6.30. When I reached there Tony was still nowhere to be seen! We soon left and reached the causeway in an hour. Then we went for breakfast in a Malaysian coffeeshop where I had my pork buns. Michael was busy talking about his grand plans for scrabble tourneys- holding them in disneyland and various exotic places etc. We then left for Senai airport, reaching at about 9 am with some time to spare, since the flight was 10.30. We descended on a deserted food station and started playing anagrams. I had some nice steals, including EFIJLOT and ABEETXY while Yen nee took CEIIKQU. Eventually we left for Penang and reached at 11.30 am after a short 1 hour flight. We quickly made for City Bayview and arrived at around noon. The check-in procedure went quickly and we went for lunch after.It turned out that Jocelyn was the first Malaysian player to be spotted. I reckoned it was too balmy to go out so me and Yen Nee settled for an easy lunch at the hotel coffeehouse.

Yen Nee ordered the Penang Char koay teow(RM19 ++) while I had Chicken rice (RM19++) which was their signature dish. The rice actually turned out to be coconut rice- the dish was tasty overall with all the sauces and spices, but not considerably better than what I would get in S'pore for a mere fraction of the price. Yen Nee said hers was fairly good too. At least we saved the trouble of walking out in the humidity.

After lunch we returned to our rooms for a short rest before going to the playing area to register. The playing area was a nice carpeted ballroom on the sixteenth floor which was the same as last year..We collected our name tags, a free penang T-shirt and began to settle in. Soon the players started trickling in. Curiously enough Ganesh was one of the last few players to enter the room, and to most people's surprise, he was bald.

Soon the games started and I was paired against Leroy ong, a Malaysian teen who I hadn't played before. Leroy opens with CAVE at 8g which was surprisingly precarious considering it's numerous hooks- D,L,R,S. I hold ADEEIOO and decide to change, as quackle agrees. He replies with GOAS(20). I immediately reply with DELI(C)ATE (63) followed by PENANCED(65) 2 turns later. 2 turns later, he bingoes with RESToRE(75), quite surprisingly not playing TEaRERS/WINGS(81). It gives me a niner- LAMITE(R)S (149) and he challenges to be sure. This brings my score to 337 to his 161. He gets down QUOTA(46) and RIZ(41) while I have NIFTY(61) and a string of good scores to win comfortably. He gives me 10 pts of overtime penalties.

W 543-341 Me: JSS? Leroy: QXZSS? Equity loss: 36 Best moves: 9/11

Game 2- Not surprsingly, I am paired against Ganesh. Yen Nee and cheah are paired, much to Yen nee's distress.I begin with CEEETTZ and play ZEE(24). He quickly replies with KIAUGHS/ZEES(83).. I manage to sneak past a 5-letter phony- CABOT past him- probably confused with CAGOT which is good.But his ECLOGUES(94) followed by VATS(40) and JIRRE(40) give him a big lead..Later I hold AEINRTT but the board is too closed for any bingoes. Later I have AAAINPU with an open F in the triple, but APIFAUNA doesn't play! I get AMNIOTES(68) and QI(64) just to narrow the spread of his LONGERs(63) and DANDIES(67)

L 383-582 Me:QZ Ganesh: JXSSSS?? Equity loss: 7 Best moves: 10/12

Game 3 - After losing most of my spread, I drop to the middle of the division and play Sue Ann next. Sue Ann opens with CUN* which I quickly challenge off. I hold DEEINTT and play DINETTE(70), followed by QADI and ZO(46) while Sue Ann plays VIE(14) and VAU(6). 2 turns later, I play OLIPHAN(T) (98), and would have had APH(E)LION as a niner had she not played over there. 2 turns later, she bingoes witrh SLANTER%(73) but I reply with ORARIONs(64) and follow up with BAETYL(39) and SYRAH(53). After 10 turns, I am leading by 270. 2 turns later, I get AWNINGED (80) and pick up EIFPRUU. The bag is empty and she has EGSSTX? and plays TEX%(40) next. I go out in 2 to score 609, which was coincidentally the high score of the tourney. Surprisingly she didn't challenge any of my words at all.

W 609-307 Me: JQSZ? Sue Ann: XSSS? Equity loss: 32 Best moves: 11/14

Last game of the day, and we decide to play it before dinner so the night would remain free. For game 4 I am matched against Tony. Begin with DIFNRR? and play FIND(16). He replies with JADE(28) while I bingo with SNaRRED(75) immediately followed by LAETA(R)ES (68). Tony later gets WARTiEST(78) to close the gap while I reply with MYC%(30) and REV(18). A lucky break comes when I play CIRROSE(76) in the last bingo line, effectively sealing the game.

W 466-332 Me:QSSSSZ? Tony: JX? Equity loss: 99 Best moves: 4/12

Day 1's games are over and we wait for the VIP to arrive who appears late at 7.30pm. After his long speech we go to the coffeehouse for the buffet dinner. The spread is fairly decent- I find the fried fish the most tasty.

After dinner we go to Henry's room- see Yen nee's blog for the details.

Not a bad day considering below average power tiles.

Day 1 summary:
Record: 3-1 +451
Ave. score:503-391
Ave. EQ loss: 43.5
J:2/4
Q:3/4
X:0/4
Z:3/4
S:7/16
Blanks:3/8

Penang report -part 1

2007-08-28T13:36:00.000+08:00

So it was another fun tourney, won by Ganesh yet again. Ganesh started the tourney with 14 straight wins and only dropped 2 games to Nigel in the KOTH rounds. He was drawing extremely well again like in Causeway- quoting from Andrew's blog here "Ganesh snared both blanks and four S’s in our game, and although he didn’t quite get this game his tile-picking spree continued throughout the event – he had eight blanks out of ten against Australia by the end of play, and an amazing 100% of the S’s, and it was a similar story against the rest of the field."

The field this year mainly consisted of Singaporeans and Malaysians, and i managed to play 3 Malaysians who I hadn't played before- Leroy, Gan Yi En and Kong. I also played some fun words- MYC%, MOFO% and ADEEMNPY.. Also the 9-timer of LAMITERS for 158 against Leroy in the 1st game. But overall the tiles were below average- 16/40 blanks and 36/80 Ss, despite above average JQXZ. I actually was the leading S'porean by the end of day 2, in 4th place, but was overtaken by Tony and Cheah on the final day who had 5-1 records ( Cheah lost only to me and Tony to Ganesh). Only 3/12 blanks on the final day- but with a decent number of power tiles. Ending up 7th was fairly disappointing, considering I would have been 4th had I won the last game. Cheah wasn't playing too well either, missing CEEINQRU among other stuff. Suanne climbed up, winning 5 games too to stay in contention for the WSC.

The situation now is quite interesting- Suanne's ranked 2nd with vannitha 15 pts behind, follwed by Aaron 58 pts behind and Henry 19 pts behind Aaron. I hope Suanne goes.

The food was decent too- apart from the meals provided, we dined at the hotel's Japanese restaurant, an Italian restaurant just down the road, a Chinese restaurant and had coffee and hot chocolates after dinner.

Thanks to dianne, Yen nee, Cheah and Henry for their company and Michael for organizing the efficient transport both ways. More details on the games later.

Back from penang

2007-08-27T16:59:00.000+08:00

Just got back from 3 days of scrabble and dining. Ended up 7th overall, should have been 4th had I beaten Cheah in the final round with a clever 6-letter setup play. More later. Also had a delicious cheese baked rice on the way back. Tasty with a nice layer of melted cheese on top of a large plate of fried rice, with a thick, creamy sauce and pieces of fried fish and prawns.

See some photos of my game here..

See my facebook page here.

Leaving for Penang

2007-08-24T05:50:00.002+08:00

Leaving for Penang soon..Hope to finish in top 5!!

2007-08-18T08:33:00.000+08:00

Being a food journalist isn't easy. By the way, I have the game record of a club game between Victor and Marcus. Who wants to see it?

Bread talk- reviews and analysis

2007-08-17T12:42:00.001+08:00

Having begun to patronise Bread talk outlets recently, due to the declining standard of products in competing bakeries like Four Leaves etc( the slice of ham and cheese toast was dry and slightly hard)

What is it about Bread Talk outlets that distinguishes itself from other bakeries?

IMO Bread Talk surpasses its competition in most areas- especially in branding. The bright orange-coloured logo is attractive and seen from far. Although the quality of its products might not be significantly higher than other bakeries, Bread Talk boasts a large and interesting variety of items with unique names, like Crouching Tiger, hidden bacon, moshi mushroom and Curry Curve not to mention many more. It constantly leads the field in innovation and creativity. Its outlets are brightly lit and have the open kitchen concept, which is said to boost consumer confidence. Bread Talk's stores are also in excellent locations, often at the main entrances of shopping centres or prominent landmarks to capture as much traffic as possible. Also it has opened a new outlet at Paragon, Bread Talk silver which has more varieties of products at steeper prices.

It has 73 outlets in the asia-pacific region including places like Dubai, Phillipines, China and Hong Kong. It is also part of the same group which owns Republic food courts and Din Tai Fung. From its Annual report, it says that Bread Talk had revenue of 123 million and profit of 4.3 million for 2007, an improvement over 2006.It is also a listed company on the stock exchange.

Most of the info can be obtained from its website here.

I bought several items from Bread Talk- a bun with cranberries, sunflower seeds, raisins and some rum for $1.50. Quite tasty but slightly too sweet. The moshi mushroom which was apparently the best selling item, a puff-like pastry with a chicken filling but was too dry and had hardly any mushrooms contrary to what the name suggested. And also a Nacho cheese bun with cubes of fried potatoes. Fairly tasty, and not too dry unlike the chicken puff.

Bread Talk's prices are generally higher than the market average, and depends on turnover. Although the basic ingredients are cheap, the bulk of the operating costs go to rental, staff wages and bills.

A rough estimate of the operating costs of an average bread Talk outlet:

-Raw materials ($0.20*1000 buns/day *30 days $6000)
- Staff wages ($15000- Bread talk outlets are well-staffed, usually at least 7-8 per shop)
-bills ($1000 including aircon, lighting, etc )
-rental ($15000, assuming an average of $15 psf and shop space of 1000+sq ft, considering that bread Talk outlets are quite large and in good locations)

Expense: $37000

Assuming an average item costs $1.50, that would mean selling about 25000 items, over 800 a day just to break even. This may seem a lot but 800 items a day actually isn't that much if you have a constant stream of customers through out the day. Bread Talk also sells cakes but the majority of its revenue comes from the run-of-the mill products.

Food for thought indeed.

Update

2007-08-16T17:38:00.000+08:00

Added numerous links at the side, including some of S'pore's most well-known food blogs.

Endgame

2007-08-16T12:24:00.000+08:00

Resurrecting the close endgame against tony in the July mini which I scraped through by 1 pt. Play was far from perfect. In the position below the scores are tied at 381 and the bag is empty, Tony's turn to play. Can u find the winning moves?
Answers far below.

Bonus question: Spot the 2 unchallenged phonies on the board.

P.S Blog visits are at another all-time low of 15 a day. Sigh.

Tony has several winning moves here, all of which he failed to spot.

- CLERGY b3 32 413
KANEH 13e 46 427
OU 1n 8 421+ 4 425

This doesn't win, but it might as I didn't see KANEH. Tony played GIRNEL for just 8 pts to block a potential HANK(46), but overlooking the many other high-scoring plays I have -KOI m7 (35), or KHI c2 (36)

- GREY 13f 33 414

This should be the winning move - Tony can go out with LOU m6 (19) or CLOU(12) to win easily even after my 40 pt play. GIRNEL just didn't score enough.

JG winner's report

2007-08-06T12:00:00.000+08:00

So I won again, after 3 tourneys of not winning anything.. It was really close at the top- and anything short of a substantial win over Tony would have meant that Cheah would win. I am suprised to see JP who is usually quite inactive.

Game 1 vs Cheah- Quite surprised to draw Cheah in the first round, as it usually doesn't happen. I open with PRIEF(28) keeping CW, while Cheah plays NOON(15) atop.I hold CEIIOUW, not terribly nice and play WICE/PRIEFE(23). I follow it up with QUOD(45), PIC(28) and VIOLIN(26) to his IDANT(22) and WAW(30). Then I get down IDEATES(87) followed by KARNS(58), bringing me ahead by 150. Cheah appears to have a lack of vowels, i surge ahead with ROYALETS(62) and FUGLE(22+5), not expecting the challenge. Later I play ISOHYEt(69) to lead 473-200. But Cheah has AGLRTU? and later bingoes out with GUTTUrAL (64). My biggest win against Cheah so far.

W 528-302

Game 2 vs Tony- I have EGOOPSS to open and choose GOOPS instead of POGOS, for defense. He only has IVY(15). I play COVERT(22) keeping 2 Ss, while Tony scores mediocrely. On the 4th turn, I have BFLSUU? and choose not to play BUSFULS* and get down UNLoADS(77) next turn. Tony soon comes back with RAGOUTS(73). Later I play JAG, hoping to play JAGA later. Tony has the A but doesn't spot the hook, allowing me JAGA/MATERIEl(92), giving me a decent lead. But he plays BOK(41) while I hold EIINOOT and EHINORT, just maintaining a very small lead. At the end, I have the bingo prone DEEINRT which doesn't play. I choose to play DINE(R) to go ahead by 20. I am surprised to pick QUIZ which gives me the firepower to win.

W 413-375

Game 3 vs Yen nee- Yen Nee opens with HAVEN(30), keeping the blank as she said later, while I have AAFLRUY and play FAY(28) followed by AURAL(12) and HAJ(39) to her DEPRIVe(79). I hold BEEIORU and have to play ROQUE(28), followed by VIBE(18) while she exchanges 4. Then I get down TROTLINE for a measly 62 points, still trailing 207-230, but follow up with MISLIKE(90), neutralized again by her ZEAS(54). Her late sOOTIER(79) almost seals the game. At the end I mistakenly phony SOO/OX(54) and lose by 27.

L 388-415

Game 4 vs Guo Cong- Guo Cong opens well with QOPHS(58) followed by ANGIOMAS(89), to my JIB(35), and CALL(20). I finally close the gap with the 4-timer DUSTIER/CALLS (89), but he rushes ahead with DIVOT(18) and vANTAGES(70). However I score well- ZEX(40), DAINE(28+5) after his DERATInG(62). At this point I am trailing by 100 but a series of high-scoring plays, FEW(34), ATELIER(78), WISP(51) see me win narrowly. Guo Cong would have won if he hadn't challenged my word. Phew.

W 467-464

Game 5 vs Marlon- I am more than ready to play Marlon. I open well with ZAKAT(56), while he plays CLICK(15). HOX(38) and CLY(12) give me a good lead. On turn 5, I get GEnTIER(73) to lead by 80. The game is close until he bingoes with STINGED(86), but I reply with OVERrAN(83), and follow up with EYELIAD(74) and BARNIEST(68+5) to win.

W 534-383

Game 6 vs JP- JP opens with CHORD(28). I hold DGHSUUX and play DOUX(28), which is best but miss EGHLPSU the next turn. However I play TELOSES(71+5) next to take the lead. JP gets down EQUIPEs(89), but I have FI(L)ARIAS(79+5) to lead narrowly. The endgame is close until I pick the blank. Howver the game isn't won yet as the pool is still bingo-friendly. I choose the most defensive bingo, TOLIDINE (70). he has EIMNRST but can't play any bingo. I win by 35, including the 20 pt time penalty.

W 425-390

Game 7 vs Andy- Despite drawing the blank on the first turn, it is with mediocre tiles- IKLRUV?, IITTRV? and ABITTW?. Andy scores with wINCES(50) and PENTAD(35). By the 4th turn, i am down 69-135 already. I play BLiTHEST(64) just to draw level, but he plays TORTONIS(61), missing NOTORNIS(70), while I play VID(21), GROVE(30) followed by PLEATING(67). His AMIDONES(74), IXORA(62) and JIZ(35) are more than enough

L 344-495

The situation now is quite interesting. After 7 games, 4 players are on 5 wins and could win the tourney. The spreads are all very close. So for the last game I am paired with Tony..

Game 8 vs Tony- A great start- ACIDEST(76), followed by JAY(26) and AGENETIC(72) to his HEIL(26) and DEF(24). XI(51) extends my lead. Later Tony opens up a spot for my DILATOR(71), which I follow up with HOStELS(94) 2 turns later, with 4 overlaps. This is countered by his GROUSErS(77), just to reduce the spread. At the end, tony has the Q, but sets up an outplay which I fail to block, costing me some 63 pts of spread. But he still racks up 20 pts of overtime penalties.

W 507-386

This timely win vaulted me up to first by virtue of spread. Cheah beat Yen Nee by just a bit, fortunately.

Record: 6-2 +395

Bingos: 22-12 (2.75- 1.5)
Ave. score: 451-401
Total moves: 103-103
Ave. moves per game: 12.88-12.88
Ave. score per move: 35.0- 31.1

J:5/8
Q:2/8
X:5/8
Z:4/8

S:19/32
blanks:8/16

2007-08-06T07:56:00.000+08:00

Won the mini yesterday by a bit, thanks to JP and Tony's overtime which gave me 40 pts. Report later.

The Player's Championship is still being closely contested- Panupol is at the top after 14 games, but barely with just 11 wins. Pakorn is at 16th and could make a comeback.

1 11.0 +903 Panupol Sujjayakorn
2 11.0 +809 James Leong
3 10.0 +699 Dave Wiegand
4 10.0 +658 Nawapadol Sayavesa
5 10.0 +580 Sammy Okosagah
6 10.0 +578 Joe Edley
7 10.0 +503 Nathan Benedict
8 10.0 +366 Ron Hoekstra
9 9.0 +1008 Brian Cappelletto
10 9.0 +979 Jim Kramer

PC 2007

2007-08-02T13:58:00.001+08:00

The player's Championship in Ohio starts on Friday- 9pm S'pore time with a top prize of US$12000. Several Thais are going, including Pakorn, Panupol, Amnuay, Thacha and Nawapadol. It will be interesting to see how they fare, especially Thacha and Nawapadol who are playing in the US for the first time. 31 games will be played, but there are no playoffs.

Live coverage here .

Nats

2007-07-23T14:54:00.000+08:00

So I was 5th, 5th and 6th in the last 3 nationals. Despite being 3rd after day 1 and 9-3 +889 after the first 12 games, I dropped to 5th. And if Andy hadn't beaten Weibin in the last round, I would have finished fourth with Kb just after me. Playing Ben 4 times in a row isn't too easy..

A brief overview of my games:

Game 1 vs Kb- EIIIMQW to start, but my rack quickly matures to AEGIIR? and play IRrIGATE(74) after his OVeRFAT (74) and follow up with AEROLITE(70). ANTIROLL (64) 2 turns later seals the game on a fairly blocked board.

W 463-346 Record: 1-0 +147

Game 2 vs JP- Finally I get a game with the defending champion who hasn't played a rated game in some 6 months. I get off to a roaring start with OBLIGED (83) under his QUA, but he replies with ZHO(47) to the TWS. I play DOJO for 17 followed by EXTASIES through the I for 93. He doesn't challenge, surprisingly. But he replies with OUtWAITS(74) , while I score with FANNER(20) and MENT(20) followed by TOLUOLE(77), opening another TWS spot. Sure enough he gets YETI for 47 there, nullifying my lead. I lead by just 27 now. After that, he gets INDITERS(74) to surge ahead. The last 2 tiles for me were VW, unfortunately, while he has CEILPRT to finish easily. I lose by just 11.

L 405-416 Record: 1-1 +136

Game 3 vs Cheah- Not the easiest start to the nationals.. I start with a great rack and lay down FLICKEd(90), while he dumps with VERT(11). Next I play HAJ/AVERT(37) (should have played TAJ) and he gets INTROiT/HAJI (85)to the triple- The next few turns are very close until he gets FRAILEST(86), but I reply with ALAMOD(E)S (78+5) A surfeit of vowels see me play UFOS(35), YEA(23) and CUNEI(14). End up losing a close endgame by 8.

L 429-437 Record: 1-2 + 128

Game 4- vs Weibin- Weibin is next who is also not to be underestimated, despite his lack of play in tourneys. HE opens with WITAN(24)m while I hold the unpromising ELNNQTT and have to dump QAT(23) followed by HINNY. However on the 5th turn the tiles start flowing, and I get a bingo bango bongo of TETANIES(82), PICRATED (80+5) and SERIFED(93+5), bringing me to 351 points in 7 turns. I follow up with ZO(54). Weibin tries to stage a comeback with KITH(61), EX (52) and BARNEYs(83) but my late OARAGEs(70) and FOIL(48) clinches it.

W 572-351 Record: 2-2 +349

Game 5 vs Tony- I start off great with HELIMEN(78+5) undeneath his QUA( JP also played QUA against me), followed by GNARR(20) and OFTEN(36). Tony scores with XENIA(40), JOLE(42) and CURTAILS, missing CURTAIL/ADITS which wouldn't have given me SEEDIEST(78) from the S. He immedately regretted it soon after. Later I spend some time deliberating whether to open the triple with COZIER(54) or to play safe with something else. I take the points, while he bingos with CARNIEST(83), allowing me to bingo out with OVErSO(O)N (76). He challenges in desperation but to no avail . A satsisfying win indeed.

W 477-370 Record: 3-2+ 456

Game 6 v Yen nee- Yen nee is next. I start with AEFOOOU and change 6. She opens with the low-scoring CODA(14) to which I play KIVA(18). Her WEB(31) gives me BONDAGES(89) to surge ahead. Immediately after I play QATS(23), blocking the TWS line. I maintain the lead until her JADES/SNUFF(52) gives me AUDITIOn (74), opening another 9 -timer line. Fortunatel she doesn't take it. Later she fishes for RANTERS(69) but I reply with oCEANIDS(77) to win.

W 451-365 Record 4-2 +542

Game 7 vs Benjamin- A bingo fest. His STROKED(84), VAMP(47)and ENATIONS(66) to my JaUNTIER(82) and PLAYpENS(98) start off an interesting game. 2 turns later, I get RELIANCE(64) followed by ZO/ZA (47) later. Ben gets down SWATTED(77), missing YOGIS/WADSETT for several more points. I paly a close endgame to win by just a few points.

W 459-456 Record: 5-2 +545

Game 8 vs Guan hui- 4 straight wins have boosted me to 3rd place, so I play GH next who is doing quite well. I start with ADEFMP? no bingo, so I play FAMED. But I pick up PLRRT and have to change next. He scores well, racking up 115 points in 4 turns to my 123 after my DRAGSTER. After that he gets YPSILoN(91) to take the lead. I gain ground later with my only Collins bingo this tournament : EATERIE (73), followed by TAKE(41), missing a potentially better KLUTZ(36). But I lose by 30 on a tight board later.

L 390-427 Record: 5-3 +508

Game 9 vs Marlon- Bye- Marlon would be skipping the first 2 games of Sun and asked wheteher I wanted to play on Saturday, but I declined as I wasn't feeling good about my chances. Perhaps it was better to take the free win.

Game 10 vs Gan After observing the round's games, I am charged and ready to play.Gan bingoes first with AROINTs(72), but mid-game I get 3 straight bingos of OESTRAL(59), KEYsTONE (92) (has another anagram and INNARDS(69). I win comfortably.

W 470-364 Record: 7-3 +664

Game 11 vs Han Ei- Quite decent tiles this game. I bingo first with HOSTERS*, which I thought was good, and score well with RATTED(36), RIZ(34) and OVALS(31) while Han Ei gets just 191 points in 8 turns. I get down a double-blank bingo later - VEsTIGEs (70) and follow up with JISM(60) to seal the game. His last rack of ACEINRT can't play.

W 437-293 Record: 8-3 +808

Game 12 vs Andy- I open with KNAG(18) to which Andy replies with GRANDEST through the A. I reply with ALIENEEs (78) through the E. He quickly plays TINROOFS, which I have no choice but to challenge. Fortunately it is disallowed. I hold BEDINOR but no place for the bingo so dump DOB(23). I play RETAINeD(70) next to go ahead by 100. Andy changes 7 while I have AGLOSTU- no sevens or eights, so FOUL it is. GELATOS(74) next extends my lead which I maintain till the end.

W 485-404 Record: 9-3 +889

I am quite pleased to have won all my games in the morning, but i am still 3rd !

After lunch, I play Ben who lost only 1 game that morning. Little did I know that it would be the first of 4 King of the Hill rounds against him. Much was at stake- wsc qualification and other prizes. I was behind JP by 1 win so there was still a faint chance of catching up with him.

Game 13 vs Ben- He opens with UNCIA, U on the starm while I reply with DOUCE/ES (19). He bingoes with (I)NTENSER (68). I hold BELNNOS and rplay ENNOBLES(70), missing UNNOBLES for 19 more points. I play BOGART% (33) next while BEn plays another bingo- WAGGLIER(78) which I challenge to be sure. I old EDHLRR? but HURDLER isn't playable so I have to play off EDH(35).I get WARdMOTE(74+5) 2 turns later, only to neutralize his MATY(54). But Ben gets VERIFiER(73) and I try to make a comeback with JAPE(40), NAZE/ZA(47), YEAH(30) and KUTI%/KIWI (42), but it isn't enough.

L 430-485 Record: 9-4 +844

Game 14 vs Ben- I had to play Ben again, as Cheah and JP were ahead on wins and other pple's spread were too low. Couldn't have done much. Ben gets sHATTER(75), QUARREL(52), SORDINE(86) and JAUNT(62). I have to narrow the spread with CINEOLS(72) and DEVISEd(85).

L 414-476 Record: 9-5 +782

Game 15 vs Ben An important game. If I lost this game I might not make the wsc.. But the tiles flow well and my first 2 moves are RANDIER(68) and ACIErATE(77). Later I get another 2 bingos ATHElING (83) and TROLANDS(80). Ben only has PEERING(68) and can't do much. Despite a clunky last rack, I still win.

W 546-379 Record: 10-5 +949

Game 16 vs Ben- Ben opens with QUAIR(48), but I immediately reply with ANATASE(76). AXMEN(28) and VOMER(20) give me a small lead. I chicken out of UNVESTED which would have given me a better shot at winning. Later Ben uses the first blank for BIvVY(48), he had the 2nd blank too. He gets PASTiES(80) on a blocked board to win.

L 373-405 Record: 10-6 +908

Apparently the last game didn't matter that much, as I still qualified for WSC anyway. Although I played fairly well overall, there were a few unwinnables.

Stats:

Record: 9-6 +858
Ave score: 453- 396
Bingos: 40-23 (2.67- 1.53)

J:7/15
Q:7/15
X:9/15
Z:8/15

S:32/60
Blanks:19/30

WSC07 !

2007-07-23T08:36:00.000+08:00

Finally made it to WSC 07 by just 4 points, after Ben despite having to play him 5 times and losing 3 of the matches.. I didn't win, despite having my highest ave (453) and 40 bingos in 15 games. Too many unwinnables. Cheah wins a long overdue title. Sadly, i didn't have much chance to to challenge Cheah as he was stuck with JP due to his high spread. Also worth noting that Ben missed a niner against me in the final game with AEIBY?? through a V in 4th place, playing BIVvY instead. But he still won anyway. In the end, Andy caught up in the last few games and I was displaced to 5th.
Report later if anyone is interested

2007-07-20T08:01:00.000+08:00

It's time to do it.

Also booked my air tickets for Penang open. WIll be flying on friday and returning on Monday.

King's Cup game 27 vs Panupol : A closer look

2007-07-14T10:52:00.000+08:00

This was the final game of the 4-day King's Cup tourney.. Much was at stake- the winner would finish 3rd or 4th, but the loser would end up 7th or 8th. Having played Panupol several times before in the past, I knew he was a formidable opponent. It also helped that I had defeated Panupol 2 years ago at the King's Cup. We were seated at table 1, and the tension in the great hall was quite electric- the Crossword song was playing noisily while interested onlookers crowded around to see the result of the decisive Nigel/ Jakkrit game.

Click on images to enlarge.

>panupol: AEW 8F AWE +12 12 A harmless start, or so it seems.
>Hubert_Wee: AADLLNR 7F LAND +18 18 Not a fantastic start. No I for LANDRAIL. Quackle agrees.

>panupol: AEGNU E3 GENUA +18 30 Another dumping move, likely keeping another A.

>Hubert_Wee: ?ADLRRR 4A LARDER +16 34 3 Rs. I played LARDER, missing LARDEReR.

>panupol: ADGJO 9F GADJO +38 68 Panupol plays a Collins word which is also in TWL06.

>Hubert_Wee: ?EMRRRT A1 MERL +18 52 3Rs again.. Several options here, such as B2 REARM, TORR and changing. Contemplated changing MRR but decided to take the TWS with MERL which wasn't a very good move. After a 4-ply sim. REARM is clearly best. As of this point, only 1/6 Rs are unseen.

>panupol: ADEORST C4 ROADSTER +62 130 Panupol finally bingos, suprisingly passing up DOATERS/ALANDS (69) which opens a triple-triple line. Quite ironic since he played a bingo in the same position later, which allowed me a strong comeback. GADJO doesn't take any back hooks.

>Hubert_Wee: ?MORRTZ B6 ZO +65 117 An easy comeback play.

>panupol: ABF B10 FAB +31 161 Dumping clunky tiles and keeping up the scoring.

>Hubert_Wee: ?IKMRRT 10J MIRK +26 143 Best. Quackle agrees too.

>panupol: ILSV L8 VIRLS +24 185 Probably keeping another S.

>Hubert_Wee: ?HIORTV 8L VIVO +30 173 I played VIVO, missing OVeRHIT, which seemed to be Collins-only (it's OVERFIT) and TOVARISH.

>panupol: ENY N10 YEN +36 221 Panupol doesn't have TE or TA, which could have scored quite a bit more.

>Hubert_Wee: ?HLRSTW M6 WHISK +23 196 Being about 50 points adrift, there's still plenty of room for comeback, but there's still a vowel shortage. I played WHISK(23)/ ?LRT, . A short sim favours WaSH(50)/ LRST, which scores and keeps unduplicated consonants. The bag is quite vowel-heavy now, 22/42 vowels unseen.

>panupol: ?CINNSU J1 uNCINUS +69 290 Panupol bingos yet again, hanging the U in the TWS lane..also playable is NUNCIoS (69), which Panupol rued about not playing after the game, as it wouldn't give me a triple-triple. But who knows..the U sure seems safer than the N. A quick check reveals that there are 1865 8-letter bingos with the U in 3rd place, but 3026 bingos with the N in 3rd- so the U was definitely safer overall..

>Hubert_Wee: ?ALOORT 1H ALumROOT +113 309 I quickly play ALumROOT(113) to retake the lead, by just 19 pts. From this point, the game is extremely closely fought..

>panupol: IX 2N XI +38 328 An easy X play by Panupol brings him ahead narrowly.

>Hubert_Wee: AEOOPTU A12 AUTO +20 329 A difficult choice. The collins words POTAE% and OUPA% are not playable due to the different lexicon, so I settle on AUTO(20) instead. Quackle seems to favour POSE/ZOO (33) or even TAUPE(32), but I definitely didn't favour keeping OO..

>panupol: A7 GIF +26 354 Barely staying ahead.

>Hubert_Wee: BEINOPT 3M BOP +29 358 Quackle agrees. Best score and leave overall.

>panupol: N10 YENTE +16 370 An interesting play. Definitely not a setup play, as there are no esses left.

>Hubert_Wee: EIIINTT 4J INTI +12 370 Not an easy rack. Quackle recommends 14A TITI(8), but I decided to block the potential threat of H4 QU(I)CHE (64), which would immediately seal the game for Panupol

>panupol: M13 EH +19 389 Another tactical play to block a possible high-scoring TWS play from me.

Finally, the endgame position below.

It sure looks bleak, with an unimpressive rack and being down by 19. My tracking is on par and I see that Panupol has the Q, which doesn't play for much. If I can go out in 2 I might just win this..

>Hubert_Wee: EEEIITY 5H EINE +12 382 Eventually I work out the best endgame sequence and eke out a close win. His Q plays in only 2 spots-H4 QUEENED (18) and 06 QUOP (15). However, if I take the points with D10 YETI (26), his QUEENED(18) would block my outplay and I would lose. So I play H5 EINE(12) first, which threatens to go out in 2 spots- D10 YETI(26) and H12 YETIS (12). Panupol can't block both effectively and play off the Q at the same time. I win 418-404.

>panupol: CEEPQU O6 QUOP +15 404
>Hubert_Wee: EITY D10 YETI +26 408
>Hubert_Wee: (CEE) +10 418

Thanks to Panupol for a good game. This also shows that the game isn't all about bingos, but good endgame play is just as important. This much-needed win bumped me up to 3rd overall.
Side note: In Causeway last year against Panupol, he played a 9-timer fRO(W)STED (149) against me, but I had 3 bingos, NIRLIEST(68), LOBBIES(74) and PRONATED(69) to lose by just 50. This time it was may turn to play a 9-timer.

The final position-

2007-07-13T12:41:00.001+08:00

8 more days..

Yet another reason not to trust quackle-

2007-07-08T16:41:00.000+08:00

Look carefully at the position below.

I have a decent bingo-sized lead. There is only 1 main bingo line along row 2- A-GUE (There is also another from the E of AGUE, but that is insignificant) After 3000 iterations, quackle favours FREAK/AGUE (35). i don't quite agree with this move as 1) it opens the TWS for a potential bingo or comeback score 2) keeps IJ, an asynergistic leave So why not JAK or JAKE, which is what I played? JAK extends the lead to nearly 100 pts and denies the opponent of both TWS. It also keeps a much nicer leave of EIRF. The bag is quite consonant heavy- 9/31 vowels, perhaps the chance of a comeback is small.

Mini

2007-07-02T12:26:00.000+08:00

Had a long day yesterday, winning only 1 in the morning but winning the last 3 games to come back to 4th. Just finished analysing all my games and it seems I couldn't have done much. Had 2 close games against Andy and Tony, winning by 5 and 1 respectively. Missed just 1 bingo and lost just 30 eq. pts a game (excluding the phonies YOLDS* and BREADERS). I also played my 500th game, which was a resounding win over Yen Nee, with 3 bingos, TITIANS, PERIGONE and TARWHINE with big plays JnANA(57) and ZABRA(50). I still reckon that Marcus and Guo Cong are overrated- Marcus missed ACGHILNT and ALORRST.

Record: 4-4 +80
Ave. score: 432-422
Ave moves a game: 12.38
Ave. score per move: 34.9- 34.0
Bingos: 17-18 (2.13-2.25 )

J:3/8
Q:2/8
X:5/8

S:14/32
Blanks:7/16

King's cup report -final part

2007-06-28T11:29:00.001+08:00

The final day of the King's Cup 07 is finally here. After a quick breakfast, we make for the venue which is again extremely crowded.

At 9.15 am, the games start and I am paired against Leonora Labog, a middle-aged top Phillipino lady who has a rather defensive style. Another player not to be underestimated. I start with AHIOTT? and play THO(12), missing no bingo. She plays AY(17) atop. I hold ABDIIT? and play ADhIBIT(75) with hesitation, as it left the I below the TWS for a potential comeback. Fortunately she has jsut AGATE(35). I play JOT(26), DANCE(36) and reply her C(A)VILLER (80) with ENVISaGE(86) to lead 235-144. 2 turns later, she bingoes again with SOURNESS(68), but again I reply with PEREIRA(72), maintaining a healthy lead. Strong scoring at the end, AX(52), ZAG(26), DEFRAY(43) to her small plays give me a good win. W 534-355

This win now earns me a matchup with the extremely fast Alastair Richards whom I haven't played before. I open with DEFT/KNG (16) while he changes 5. I have no vowels next and have to change also, only to see him put down QUO(T)IENt (70), followed by OVINE(42). But I have drawn GISTYZ? and play ZYG(O)SITy (98) to catch up, the nicest word all tournament. Alastair keeps up the scoring with GAZER(48), BROMINE(44) and VUM(24), while I play AIDE(7), EMBAIL(39) and TROPE(36) Nearing the endgame, I eschew playing a 63- point bingo, preferring DUNCH(33). I am rewarded with CUESTAS/BROMINES (86) next turn to lead by 47. I empty the bag drawing AFSTX while he has AEILOPN and win narrowly. W 432-403

After 2 straight wins, I am up against Chaiwat, whom I beat by 130 in the first game. Again, having a shortage of vowels, I start with GJU(22)/CHNT. Chaiwat plays HOE(14) and EPEE(28) followed by ROSEOLA(73) to which I reply with RAINB(O)WS (64). The score is close until the end, until he plays pAWNING(67) to open the board, but I play RELEaRNT (64) and TEAROOM(85) in succession to take the game. W 497-353. This win brings my spread above 1000 for the first time, an important milestone indeed.

Tony is next. I open with VAIRE/AO (24) to his FRONTAL(20). My rack matures into PAN(N)AGES (69) on turn 3, followed by some vowel-heavy racks. I get down VErITIES (74) a few turns later to lead by 70. However his REdUCING (89) soon gives him the lead. At the end, he sets up a AD-Z with QI/ID/AD which I couldn't block, without any vowels. Instead I play PHT(36) only to see him lay down ADZ/ZORRO for 71, sealing the game. L 380-417
Time for a lunch break- a satisfying lunch of fish noodles is what I have. The soup is extremely tasty and flavourful.

I am quite pleased to be in 9th, with a 15-8 +1031 record. After lunch, I face Apirat, another Thai who has good bingo knowledge whom I have played several times in Bangkok before with mixed results. Apirat starts with HILI(14), while I hold AIIMPZ? and play ZIP/PH (27). The last chance to play PH!! I am rewarded with AtOMI(Z)ES (86) next turn. His OUTEARN(69) on Turn 3 followed by ORGANIST (68) 2 turns later keep the scores close. later, I unfortunately phony with SETTED*, while I could have played SETTER for less. With the blank unseen, this could have cost me the game. But fortunately I get down RADULATE(74) later , which he regretted not blocking. I draw AEEEOS? to his CINNRV and win narrowly again. W 454-429

Now with 16 wins, I have to win at least 1 of the next 2 to make the top 10.......

For the next game, I play Cheah/ I dump FENT/BBN at the start , not sure whether to change, followed by QAT(32) and EBB(13). The scores are close until I play SERENITY(86) to the triple to go ahead. I reply his NEURINES(60) with RETURNED(72), followed by JUDS(60) to lead by 120. Cheah tries desperately to open lines, which I block with COZ(45) and KI(22). I have a late CONGaING(76) to increase the lead. Eventually he gets down ERECtION(76) but the game is lost. W 523-373

The last round is KOTH and I am indeed thrilled to be playing Panupol at table 1, a formidable player indeed. I was fairly confident at the start having beaten him 2 years ago in the King's Cup too. At this point, the crowds are gathering around table 1. Nigel and Jakkrit, both on 18 wins, are playing each other for a berth in the finals while I stand a chance of bettering by 5th position so far.

A close game ensues. Panupol opens with AWE(12). I hold AADLLNR but there is no I for my bingo.. So I play LAND(18). I draw the blank next turn but with unfavourable tiles. Meanwhile, he plays (R)OADSTER (62) to which I have the easy ZA/ZO (65), scoring more than his bingo!
A few turns later, the scores are still close until Panupol opens up a TWS with uNCINUS (67). I hold ALOORT? and immediately play ALumROOT (113), much to his dismay. The scores are now 309-290 in my favor.Vowel- heavy racks see me play AUTO(20), BOP(29) and INTI(12), to block a potential QUICHE 62, while he has XI (38), GIF(26) and YENTE(16). At the end, I play the correct endgame sequence to out in 2 and win narrowly by 14, from behind. W 418-404

The winning board

I quickly check on Jakkrit's game- if he loses by more than 20, then I am third. Sure enough, he loses and Nigel makes the finals with Komol.
At 4.30, the 2 finalists begin playing on the stage to a large audience.Komol wins the first game 459-345. In the second, the score is close till the end. Komol missed a winning endgame move (AXLED) and lost by 5.. In the last game Nigel won big, despite the 109 pt deficit and won the tournament. The finals was generally well-played, although I didn't agree on some of the moves - in the first game, Nigel was turning over too many tiles for too few points, even blocking his bingo on one occasion. Also prefered FUERO/EW instead of FEWER/OU for Nigel's opening move, game 3

So I finished 3rd overall, by virtue of spread. Overall my opponents weren't that tough, as it was fortunate to not meet Nigel. The S'porean contingent had its best finish overall, with 3 in the top 10 for the first time, and Gan and Michael finished well in 18th and 23th respectively. Pakorn surprisingly had a bad day, dropping all the way from 2nd to 11th.
Congrats to Komol and Nigel who has defended his title numerous times. Before the prize presentation, Nigel was joking to me that I would win it next year- sure, man. So I won 40000 baht (US$1100), a hamper of chicken essence and a nice unique trophy. Anyway I hope to return next year and improve on the 3rd placing. The King's Cup is truly an event that one should not miss- the excitement, pomp and chance to play opponents from different countries.

S'pore's top 10 finishers -

King's cup- stats and bingos

2007-06-28T10:01:00.000+08:00

Record: 18-9 +1189
Ave. scores: 444 -400
Bingos: 62-44 (2.30-1.63)
High word: ALumROOT (113) vs Panupol
High game: 534 vs Leonora Labog
High non bingo: ZA (65)

J:12/27
Q:9/27
X:14/27
Z:17/27

S:57/108
Blanks:33/54

Managed to play bingos of all letters except starting with J, K, M, Q,W, X and Y

Bingos for: (62, 40 8s, 22 7s )

ABOITEAU (74)
ADHIBIT (75)
AIRDATES (83)
ALUMROOT (113)
ANTIATOM (74)
ARACEOUS (72)
BACKLIFT (90)
BANDORES (74)
CONGAING (72)
CUESTAS (86)
DISHPAN (111)
DODGIER (80)
ENATIONS (59)
ENVISAGE (86)
EXSECANT (88)
FENNELS (63)
FLASHIER (65)
FLAVOUR (85)
GUNTERS (73)
GARRONS (79)
GROANING (74)
HABITUE (85)
HERALDIC (74)
IMBRAST (86)
LEALTIES (77)
LANOLIN (75)
NUMERAL (66)
OARIEST (79)
ORBIEST (92)
OREIDES (84)
PANNAGES (69)
PENNONS (72)
PENTISE(75)
PEREIRA (72)
PETALOID (77)
PETERING (72)
PREUNITE (63)
POETIZES (91)
RADULATE 74)
RAINBOWS (64)
RAISONNE (62)
REENLIST (77)
RELATES (67)
RELEARNT (64)
REPRIEFE (69)
RETAILS (70)
RETURNED (72)
SERENITY (86)
SETTLORS (66)
SOAPLIKE (70)
SPOILING (68)
TARTANED (61)
TEAROOMS (85)
THYROXIN (64)
TOERAGS (66)
UNPITIED (62)
URANISMS (76)
VANITAS (65)
VERITIES (74)
VILIFIES (65)
YARDAGES (71)
ZYGOSITY (98)

Bingos against: (44, 24 8s, 20 7s )

AGUIZED (70)
ALLODIUM (72)
ANOINTED (80)
ASSERTED (68)
AVENTRES (76)
BINARIES (72)
CAVILLER (80)
DECRYING (86)
DENARII (85)
DENTINE (70)
DEPICTS (66)
DERIVING (92)
DISPUTE (76)
EATERIES (68)
EBONIES (88)
ERECTION (76)
EVANISH (101)
FLAVINES (70)
GROUTING (62)
JANGLERS (69)
MESQUITE (90)
MUSTIER (74)
NEURINES (60)
NUNCIOS (69)
PAWNING (67)
PRALINE (63)
QUOTIENT (70)
ROADSTER (62)
NOVENAS (86)
OUTEARN (73) ( OUTEARN TWICE!)
OUTEARNS (66)
ORIENTED (73)
ORGANIC (80)
REDUCING (89)
REUNITE (66)
ROSEOLA (73)
ROUTERS (72)
SEARING (86)
SOCIABLE (65)
SOURNESS (68)
SPRINTS (76)
TASTERS (70)
TRIPEDAL (77)

King's Cup report- part 3

2007-06-27T22:51:00.000+08:00

Day 3- We were to be playing at the Siam Paragon for the first time, a 5-minute walk from the previous day's venue. This was a very good thing as the plethora of shops and restaurants meant no shortage of things to do after the games ended. The tournament was in a huge ballroom on the fifth floor, with a high ceiling and spotlights. A special area in the center of the ballroom, a elevated platform, was reserved for the King's Cup participants. The rest of the room was full of other children playing sudoku and other games.

There was also a grand opening ceremony to be held, which the princess was to be attending. So we had to be there at 9am for the parade rehearsals. It was to be my first time attending the parade in 4 years. I arrived at 9, attired in a striped long-sleeved shirt and tie, and finally got through the crowds to the ballroom. After a short rehearsal, we begun playing the 14th game while waiting for the actual ceremony to start at 11. I was matched up with Thavachai, not a very strong player. I surge ahead with NUMErAL(66), TOeRAGS(73) and OXY(54) , while he racks up only 104 points in 5 moves. Later, to my surprise, he phonies FI*, which quickly comes off while I start fishing. I eventually get down A(I)RDATES (87) to lead by 220. He has no reply. I play the fourth bingo, UN(P)ITIED (63) on the 2nd last turn to seal a huge win, 524-235.

At 11.30am, the grand opening ceremony finally gets underway. The players are grouped by their countries and begin a grand parade, marching past the observing princess and other important dignitaries present. A nice ceremony indeed. After a short display of fireworks and confetti, the ceremony ends and it is finally time for a lunch break.

After a hurried lunch at the basement food court, I face Odette next, another fairly consistent player. She opens quite harmlessly with TWO for 12 points while I hold DEEGMNT and play DEEM(20) undernath. 3 turns later, I play the first bingo, URANISMs (76) to lead 138-49 and follow it up with ZOA(39). She quickly comes back with AVENTRES(76), but I reply with DISdAIN (77) for a comfortable lead. At the end, she plays PRALINE(64) instead of the superior PEARLIN (70) while I stay ahead with FLEXED(48) to her YEAH(51) to win a close endgame. W 416-382

Again, 2 good wins have vaulted me back to the top 10 and I face Thacha for the 2nd time. Nothing much I could do this time either, as he stays ahead with short plays EYOT(45), DOUX(38), MEAD(41) and QUOTA(45). I set up an opening for rELATES(67) but it is a bit too late.. At the end, I inappropriately open another line with HELVE(45), only to see him bingo out with JANGLERs(69).

Gerry Carter is next up. He opens with the fishy OH(10) while I start with the improbable-looking GSTVWXZ and change keeping SZ. Sure enough, he has DENTINE(70) next, but giving me ZEE/AEGS(38) He scores well with EX(38) and RAVED(36) while I play LI(N)AGES(32)/ I and the nice THY(R)OxIN for a measly 63 points, which is quickly challenged again..Later he gets an easy ORGAnIC(80) and NOVENAS (87) while I set up a bingo to the TWS, ORBIEST for 92 to narrow the gap. I still lose by 130.

Marlon P is next. Another exciting game. Marlon opens with MUSTIER(74), to which I reply with YArDAGES(71) and DODGIER(80). He gerts ANOINTED(80), RAWN(34), KINGLY(38) to my MOOLI (36) and TARTANED(61). I get down my 4th bingo, FLAVOuR(85), but he stays close with CUZ/ZA(67). After 6 turns each, the scores are 357-315 in my favour.. Marlon plays JETE(38), but I counter with JILTER (39) to the triple and WEX(31). Later I block the wrong opening, giving Marlon MESQUITE(90) (missing EQUITES 124). I am trailing 447-471 and hold DGIFOSV to his AEO, which outs in only 1 place. I promptly block the spot with GIF(27), followed by SOV(22) but still lose 499-500. A further recount shows no mistakes.

For the last 2 games, I play the other 2 players at the table, Weera and Thavachai. Against Weera, I hold ACEEOUU to open and dump EUOUAE(14). Amusingly, he replies with MIAOU (7). On the fourth turn, I get down DISHPAN/JOULES(111) and never look back. I also manage several high-scoring plays - DISHPANS(42), XI(51) and a late FENNElS(63) to secure the win. His ORIENTED(76) is insufficient to close the gap. W 473-360.

Against Thavachai, he opens with NONE, strangely exposing both the O and E beside the DWS.. I phony with CUNEI% which comes off, but play HUIC(19) next. I get down consecutive bingos of EXSECANT (88) and SOAPLIKE (65) followed by FIQUE(44) to lead. Later he gets BINARIES(74), but I reply with GROANinG(74). Again, he phonies with IA*, losing a turn. But he soon gains ground and bingoes out with ROUTERS(72) to lose by 15.

So, after a 4-3 +120 record today, I am now 12-8 +679, in 14th place and ready to stage a comeback tomorrow. Out of the 20 games, so far, I have played participants from only 3 nationalities- 16 Thais, 2 Philippinos and 2 Singaporeans..

Top 10 after day 3-

1 NIGEL RICHARDS (NZ) 15 - 5 1282
2 PAKORN N. 14 – 6 1430
3 KOMOL P. 14 – 6 1133
4 JAKKRIT K. 14 – 6 872
5 THACHA K. 14 – 6 721
6 GERRY C. 14 – 6 708
7 NAWAPADOL S. 13 – 7 1193
8 TONY SIM (SING) 13 – 7 738
9 PANUPOL S. 13 – 7 666
10 CHEAH SH (SING) 13 – 7 656

King's Cup day 1-2 pictures

2007-06-27T17:25:00.001+08:00

In order: Opposite the MBK shopping complex,

Opposite the MBK shopping complex

Cascading waterfall at Siam Paragon's entrance

Siam Paragon basement

Thai dancers at the opening ceremony

The playing area. The youngster is Chaiwat.

King's Cup report- part 2

2007-06-27T09:39:00.000+08:00

Note: see new pictures here

NOTE: Anonymous comments will not be entertained. Leave your name if you wish to comment.

Day 2 soon came, and it was to be another long day. 8 games were to be played, starting from 11, in sets of 2, 3 and 3 games. After a breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs, we depart for the venue at 10.30. The players start to come in and the games get under way quickly. For the sixth game, I am matched against Amnuay, who is also busy helping to run the tourney. Amnuay opens with CURIA(20), while I hold EEIPTU? and play PREUnITE(64), missing a superior bingo to the C. He quickly replies with FADER/PREUNITED (50) which I challenge to be sure. The next few moves are quite uneventful and the score is 260-208 to me after the ninth turn. On the tenth I get Se(T)TLORS (66) to strengthen the lead. I end up winning by 109.

After defeating Amnuay, I earn a match with Thitipol, another relatively new Thai player. He starts with the fishy LI for 4 points, while I quickly play VANiTAS(65), which was quickly challenged. He replies with MEANIES(20) while I play CORM(30), (IN)TWINED (39) and OXO(26) to maintain a lead. Later I get down SpOILING(68) to seal the game. He failed to draw the last tile in the bag, which I quickly pointed out to him so I could go out first.. I win 437-298.

After these 2 good wins, I am quite pleased to be ranked 4th overall, with a record of 6-1 +656. Komol is still topping the leaderboard, with 6 wins and a higher spread.

The players are paired again and now I get Tony, Komol and Thacha at table 1. I am indeed pleased to be playing at Table 1 for the first time so far. Against IKomol, the eventual finalist, I start with IIINNNY and change IINNY, missing a slightly better NINNY. He opens with DOURAH(28). I have AEEIINQ and play EQUINE(26), which sims best. Komol races ahead with THROB(44) while I plonk down the first bingo, OARIEST/DOURAHS(79), to which he plays RAJA(37). I have AKNNTTU and am pleased to play the double-double NUN(A)TAK (44) which scores well. Sure enough he challenges. A few turns later, he bingoes with DECRyING(86) to lead 260-237. But I have AACEOS? and reply with ARACEOuS(72) to lead by 40. After a few turns, this is the position:

I play LOD d6 (20), setting up ALOD, but unfortunately he comes back with (D)ERIVING (92). On hindsight, I probably should have blocked the TWS with OD a2 (15) or similar. He empties the bag, and I hold AILSSTW with no playable bingo. I end up losing a close game 413-450.

I play Tony next and open strongly with ZONER(48). He replies with DJIN(26) followed by CLIVERs(77) to take the lead. He phonies with PRUHA, missing its anagram and the scores are very close after. Later I get down REENLIST (77) while he tries to create openings on a blocked board. At the end, I wrongly play DENOTE(12) to empty the bag in an attempt to block the bingo lines, only to see him go out with DeNARII (85) with 5 overlaps. Lose 411-430.

Next up is Thacha, the WYSC 2006 rep who seems to get everything at the right time. He opens with ECU(10) but , fplays TASTERS(70) next, folowed by GLOVER(24) and KAZOO(44). I play BROOD(24), intending to partially block the S hook of KAZOO, but ironically giving him EVANIsH(101), which wouldn't play otherwise. I reply with GUNTERS(73), still 110 down. He plays FAYED(36), PEONY(48), PRISM(24) and AX(56) while I get down ABOITEAU to the U for 74, only for him to play QUILT(78). I draw the last blank and play it off in HERaLDIC(74), blocking his SEROTINE, but still lose 407-519.

At this point I am 6-4 +488 and there are still 3 games to go. We then have a much needed coffee break, with drinks and tuna/ ham and cheese sandwiches provided.

After the break, I play Charae, another young Thai. An exciiting game follows. I change on the first rack but play 3 bingos in succession after. I end up playing 4 bingoes to his 3. The score is close until the end, but my flexible last rack of DENOOR gives me the advantage to win. He has ABBCGVX and can't do very much. I win 507-470.

The final position:

(click to enlarge)

Taewan S is next. I open woith VROUW(30), keeping SZ, while he plays QUEEN(28) I draw EITOP and play POETIZ(E)S (91) next. Later I get IMBRAsT(86), SEXY(44) and a satisfying VILIFIES(65) to lead by 180. However he plays TRIpEDAL(74) , blocking my bingo with AEGNORT from the T. I mistrack at the end, allowing him to bingo out, but still win by 50.

For the last game, I play Charnwit, who is ranked 3rd in Thailand at the moment. However, I still have yet to find his play impressive. I open with TWIRLY/R(32). With a surfeit of vowels, I play LIE(12) and RUDIE(16) while he bingoes first with ASSERTED(68). Later I get down a nice bingo of BACkLIFT through the L for 90 points, but he counters with DEPiCTS(67) followoed by AXITE(60). I have MOZE(57) but am still trailing. At the end, I hold EHJMPTV to his AGILNU and lose narrowly. The J is playable for only 10 points.

So, for day 2- I have a disappointing 4-4 +162 record, despite playing 17 bingoes to 10, dropping to 18th place, but on the bright side it means easier matchups on the next day.

At the end of the 2nd day, I have already played 11 thais in 13 games ! Definitely not as international as I expected. It is already 8 pm by the time the games end and we adjourn to the food court in the next building- again, rather mediocre food- the duck rice was cold and rather unappetizing, as was several other dishes.

Check this out- Panupol, Nawadapol, Atitrtuh, Thacha and several other Thais are playing in the player's championships in Ohio in August.

Stay tuned for more.

King's cup report- part 1

2007-06-26T09:21:00.000+08:00

It was to be my fourth consecutive year attending the King's cup, and I had decided to go again to better my previously mediocre finishes. What's more this year's competition would be held in the city central, in a new shopping mall so it was all the more reason to go. I was to leave at noon on Wednesday, just 1 day before the tourney. It was to be an interesting tourney with the new lexicon. After an early lunch at the Budget terminal, I was rather surprised to bump into Cheah who happened to be taking the same flight too. More conversation about previous King's Cups. The Singaporean contingent appeared to be scattered around thee venue, unlike previous years.
The flight got off smoothly and we reached Bangkok at 3 pm Bangkok time. After getting out of the airport, Cheah left with Han Ei to the Pathuwan Princess and we took a 45-minute cab ride to the Reno.

The Reno was a modest establishment, less than 10 minutes walk from the venue, equipped with a cafe and swimming pool but rather old. I also find out that Ricky, Tony, Henry, the Richards and some other Australians are staying at the same hotel. After a short rest, we ventured out to the nearby shopping centres- Siam Discovery center, the tournament venue which was mostly filled with upmarket fashion shops. Then we crossed over to Siam center, which was slightly larger, but still filled with trendy shops and nice cafes. Eventually we walked over to Siam Paragon which is a fantastic mall full of nice aesthetics. It boasts bookshops, a cineplex, numerous fashion shops, numerous restaurants and ice cream parlours, a huge improvement from the tournament venues of other years. Around dinner time, we bump into Nigel, Jocelyn, Dianne Ward and Henry in the Paragon basement who are also going for dinner. Eventually we don't join them and go to a Japanese restaurant where I have a tasty salmon fillet set for 235 Baht (S$11). I enjoy a stroll back to the hotel to retire for the night.

Thursday: We go over to the venue at 10.30 after a western breakfast. Soon the players start turning up, but we skip half of the opening ceremony for an early lunch as there was no lunch break later. Pairing style is Swiss for first 2 games followed by a RR for the last 3. I am matched against Chaiwat in the first round, with Ganapathy and a Thai also at the same table. I start with a shortage of vowels, TAX(20)/DNGS while he scores mediocrely. On turn 3 I get down OREIDES(82) to take the lead and follow up with QAID(34) and PENTIsE(75). He has DISPUTE(76) but steady scoring followed by a late bingo of GaRRONS(79) seals the game. An easy win by 130. I play Ganapathy next who has also won his first game. We start slow but he opens a B for BANDORES(74) and I get RETAILs(70) later to seal the game. He has no reply Another comfortable win by 109.

The players are being paired again now, and I get Simon, Gerry Carter and Chollpat at my table, 3 Thais which I have to play. Against Roongroj, he opens with AGUIzED(70), but I have AFHILRS and put down FLASHIER(65). He attempts a phony with AUDOMAn, but I promptly challenge it off. I spend several minutes trying to block his bingo reply and settle on SCALY(20), but he comes back with AlLODIUM(72). I keep up the scoring with BORAX(36), VIN(26) and REPRIEFE(69) which he challenges. The score is close until the end, where I get a lucky break in the form of WAID(49). However it is still not won as he could still have DRACAEN(A).He doesn't, instead playing SCAD allowing me to go out with ANTIATOM from the A. Win 487-394.

Gerry Carter, a multiple top 10 finisher, but not a terribly strong player, is next. I open with PENNONS(74), which is immediately challenged. It is good. Gerry scores with UGGED(16) and OE(16) and SOCIABLE(65) while I race ahead with FEZ(41) and STRAY/SOCIABLES (75) which he challenges and is surprised to find it acceptable. Later I get down RAISONNE(62) and draw the last blank to win big. Position below.

With this win I am vaulted to the top 5, but have to win the last game for a shot at the 1250 baht prize. I play Chollapat, another young Thai. I open with BLAND/PR, not having much choice. He immediately replies with FLAVI(N)ES (70). I try to stay close with AXE(35) and YAWPER(28) but he gets OUTEARNs(66) , JIG(44), HABIT(49) and a late CONSIDER(62) to win. Nevertheless, I am still ranked 8th after the first day.

After the first day, the only undefeated players are Thacha, Thien and Komol. After the games, we head to the Novotel for the Hall of Fame dinner. I sit at the table which is practically occupied by the S'porean contingent. The dinner starts late 7.30 after numerous long speeches and the food left much to be desired-the quality seemed compromised- only the pan-fried snapper was good. After more prize-giving and a short anagrams session with the Thai groupies, we leave for the hotel.

What would day 2 bring? Check back to find out.

Full results here, scroll down to the link.

Bangkok

2007-06-24T23:47:00.000+08:00

Finished third. Went 6-1 on the last day to jump from 14th to 3rd.. As usual, Nigel won the finals versus Komol in 3 close games. Quite pleased to get a prize of nearly 40000 baht, a hamper of Chicken of essence and a nice trophy. After it all ended we went to a Thai restaurant for a feast, followed by some dessert later.

Report later....

BKK

2007-06-22T08:22:00.000+08:00

A temporary update from the hotel. Started off with a real bang yesterday, beating Chaiwat, Ganapathy, Roongroj and Gerry Carter by 131, 109, 93 and 181, only to lose the last game to another Thai youngster, couldn't do much in that one. Played some nice words like EEEFIPRR from the R and ENNNOPS. So should be somewhere in the top 10 for now..Singaporean contingent isn't doing particularly well, Tony has 4 wins with better spread (and easier opponents), Michael 4 and the rest below them. Thatchai and Thien on 5 wins. Nigel apparently lost a game to the thai WYSC rep.

2007-06-20T09:27:00.001+08:00

Leaving for bangkok soon..

Hope to make the top 10 this time !!!

Another jumbleshot

2007-06-05T12:55:00.000+08:00

So close...but #1 again at least.

Some comments

2007-06-04T09:19:00.000+08:00

Surprisingly was the bingo king for the first time in a major, even beating Nigel with 37 bingos. But finish wasn't so satisfactory.. 478 bingos were played, an average of 26.6/player and the ave. bingos for the top 3 finishers was only 28.7!

The importance of bingos with collins seems to be decreasing, as more short words come into use. This is not a good thing. Also surprisingly few Collins bingos being played, only a handful while most players didn't even play any.

Miscellany

2007-06-02T08:26:00.000+08:00

Marcus reads blogs. I know because he told me so. Was watching some of his games at the HDB session and noticed some bingos he missed, ADENORS+ M against me, both playable and DDEILW? + E. He seemed to be drawing quite well again..

Nothing too spectacular last night except that I found and played OrNITHINE through IN against Dorai..

S'pore open analysis (sort of)

2007-06-01T14:36:00.000+08:00

Quackled 13 games so far. Missed 7 bingos in 5 games, most of which were in the first few games. Even missed DEIINSST, AEEGIMNR, EEHNNORT. Sigh.. Not challenging phonies ABLUTE* (16), INBIRTHS(92) and PHOLADE(52) was not good.

Ave. equity loss: 56.3 pts
Larges non-bingo loss: 28 (QI) against Marcus
Largest bingo loss: 48- UNMESHED against Yen Nee

S'pore open report and some observations

2007-05-28T07:29:00.000+08:00

Finished with 9 wins and a healthy spread. Didn't start off well but warmed up quickly, winning 4 straight at the end. Slightly disappointing considering I had the 2nd highest average of 438 pts, only 11 pts behind Nigel, but with too many high losses and difficult games. The blanks also appeared very late, and in 12 of the games I didn't see them until the last quarter (after move 9). Though it is worth noting that I achieved a high 3-game running average of 1606 pts against Marlon, Cheah and Ricky, getting down 11 bingos and chalking up 603 points against Ricky. I also managed to play (T)EAHOuS(E)S against Yen Nee, my first disconnected 9 and the sole bingo on a tight board. It was amusing to see Nigel phony with OYA* against Victor, and such a shame to see Marcus not play his 9-timer against Nigel. Nevertheless he still bingoed out with both blanks to win..

Also it was one of the more exciting tournaments in a long while, unlike LBH 06 where Nigel was the runaway player. Nigel and Marcus lost a couple of games on Sunday morning to keep the situation tight, and the title was not decided until the last round. On another note, this year's event has been really low-key, surprisingly....a room on the 3rd floor, compared to the hall for last year, and just medals instead of trophies. Quite the opposite of the King's Cup, which is just 3 weeks away now.

A brief account of my games-

Game 1 vs Yen Nee- I start with AENOTXY- nearly ANOREXY, play ONYX(28). She dumps the Q in QI(13). I get down OVULATE(72), placing the E precariously beside the TWS. She has DIORTY? and plays aDROITLY(80). There was no niner, quite fortunately. I play BAGEL(33), ZA(37) while she keeps up the scoring with COOK(30) and FAT(30). I decide not to play UNMESHED while bingos back with REAMIEST(72). I play BOA(R)DERS (80), wasting the D hook but no sevens there anyway. Later, with a few tiles remaining, I spot T(E)AHOuS(E)S (71) to go ahead by 30 pts and win a close endgame

W 423-393 Bingos: 3-2 Me: JXZSSS? Yen Nee: Q?

Game 2 vvs Victor- He starts strongly with YACHT(34). I have the unpromising AGGLNNR and play GRANNY(20). He changes 5 but I mistakenly phony PEG/PH which quickly goes off, sigh.. He gets RITEnUTO (58), missing several higher-scoring bingos to the TWS.. I have EILMOST and play MESOLITE(70), but Victor immediately responds with LIVERIEs(74) to which I reply with HOWF/OQW(55) . He plays ZONED(46) while I stay close with QAT(40) and JUD(29) I play SKETS% (49+5) at the end but still lose narrowly.

L 396-398 Bingos: 1-2 Me:JQSSS Victor: SXZ??

Game 3 vs Suhaimi- Suhaimi, who I haven't played before, is up next. I have AHLRTUV to start and plonk down VAULT. He plays YOURT(18) and I hold HHILRRT with very few options available. I play TRITH*(16) which goes unchallenged while he plays JIGS(33) and ZHO(30). I have GHKLPRS and play KOPH(26), following it up with LARGEST/TRITHS*(91), unchallenged yet again. Sure enough I draw AAEEETU after the bingo and slowly dump the vowels for measly points. Meanwhile, he has INDEX(44) and CRAB(21) to go ahead 196-191. My rack matures into ABEIOST, giving me ICEBOATS(70+5) while he gets REINSERT(70), opening up the board even more. 2 turns later, I get DEsINING(72+5) to seal the game despite his QuAD(47)

W 453-387 Bingos: 3-1 Me: SS? Suhaimi: JQXZSS?

Game 4 vs Marcus- Not a good game. I start with FAMOUSLY (71) and it goes downhill from there. He replies with OUTSWORE(74) while I have to change with ELNNNQT and 2 more times later in the game. The board gets very blocked up and I fail to get the blank at the end.

L 347-393 Bingos: 1-2 Me: ZSS Marcus: JQXSS??

Game 5 vs Ricky- He opens with AIRTH(24) while I hold another 1-vowel rack, but with much more scoring potential. ACNSTZY, playing CRAZY(39) I go for score and turnover with TAXONS/T (36) while he scores with HELMED/ZOL% (48) to narrow the gap. I get MIB(36), WIPE(38) and COG(23) to his FLED38) and ARIA(17). He bingoes to the triple with RENVOIS(90), so I have to settle for the lower-scoring LATINOS(61) to trail by 10 pts. Later I get HAJ/JA for 50 pts. At the end, I have DEGINT? with another blank unseen, quite similar to the LBH game I had against Ricky. I play off 1 tile and bingo out with IDENTiFy(80) to win comfortably.

W 467-357 Bingos: 2-1 Me: JSSSXZ?? Ricky: QSS

Game 6 vs Andy- Open with DEX keeping DATE. He gets NOONTIME(72+5) while I have CRINGES(82). Later he plays HAH(25) giving me URALITE/HAHA(78), but bingos RESINEd(98) underneath with 7 overlaps followed by LINEATE(66) to put winning out of the question. I get down a late RAtIONS(73) to narrow the spread some.

L 430-463 Bingos 3-3 Me: SSX? Andy: JQZSS?

Game 7 vs Liwei- Liwei opens with ROILY(24), giving me a good counterscore of POZ(50), keeping ADES. I draw the J and play it off for 29 pts, followed by DESOLATE(70). He replies with the double-double PHOLADE(52), which is actually phony (it needs the S). Dang.. Later he plays INBIRTHS(92) which I neglect to challenge, seeing that it looked good( it isn't) I get INTItLED(77) and set up an unblockable out-bingo of URINoSE(74) to win.

W 460-449 Bingos: 3-1 Me: JSSZ?? Liwei:QSSX

Game 8 vs Nigel- last game of the day, and I still can't escape playing Nigel..So here it goes- another unreal game. I get TOSTADA(78), RONNIeS(67), my first Collins bingo, AXON(40) and UNERASED(63), while he has ThEMATA(72), ZED/ZA(70) and OPHIOLI(TE) (68). Also he plays QUBIT% (32) and AVEL% (31), making it the most Collins words in one game. I lose narrowly by only 26.

L 442-468 Bingos: 3-2 Me: JSSSSX? Nigel: QZ?

Day 2

Game 9 vs Cheah- I open with MOTTE/IN while Cheah plays GAJO(24) giving me DUX(55). He bingoes with SPOILER(68) but I have HENT(44). 2 turns later I get BIOCIDES(71) and OUTEARNS(68) to lead by over 100. I follow it up with steady scoring0 DRIP(42) , VEINY(38) and GOODY(10) just to block. My last rack is AAEHU?? but there is no place for any bingo, so I just play ARUHE(26+5) to win.

W 444-336 Bingos: 2-1 Me: QSSX?? Cheah:JZSS

Game 10 vs Tony- Another high-scoring game for both sides. Tony starts with JIGOT(42), but I reply with JIGOTS/ELYSIAN(79). He plays FIXED(54) and MURAENID(74) to my JOCKO(36) and HAVENS(55) to lead. Later, he gets FIACRES(79), but I stay close with BEZ(35), AZIDE(34) and WAD(25). But he gets a late EQuIP(75) followed by a natural INTONERS(70) which denied any chance of a comeback. I bingo out with OUTEARn(78) to narrow the spread.

L 441-520 Bingos: 1-2 Me: SSZ? Tony: JQXSS?

Game 11 vs Quek- One of the tougher games, Quek starts with an easy SEAMIER(70) while I play AYU(23) and score just 180 pts in the first 8 turns to his 262. He has iNANEST(82), QIS(33), ZEA(44) and other small plays to win on a tight board. Nothing much I could do about this game.

L 315-421 Bingos: 0-2 Me: JS Quek: QXZSSS??

Game 12 vs JoBeth- Last round before the KOTH pairings and I am pleased to draw JoBeth. I open with PUTZ/ODE (30), she replies with HEAR(27). I get down GOATEED/HEARD (79) and draw ADEEMOS but there isn't any place for the bingpo thanks to UH. A really tight board develops, until I get down ANTLERS(71), but JoBeth replies with UrEDINES(63), still trailing by 67.
Steady scoring till the end secures me the win.

W 463-359 Bingos: 2-1 Me:SZ? Jobeth: JQXSSS?

Game 13 vs Marlon- Starting first, I plonk down NEEDING(72), but Marlon counters with CYAN(I)DES(102). I draw ENRRRU? and reply with REtURNER for a mreager 58 points. A few turns later, Marlon takes the lead with LEGATION(72) but I stay close.
Later I get down PRECISE (78) while he plays WARLIN(E)S which I immediately challenge off, quickly putting down SAGINAT(E) in the exact spot. Sweet. Later I manage to score and block at the same time with OMOV%. He tries to set up a bingo line with DALT but I leave it open anyway as there is only 1 vowel unseen and bingoing there would stick him with the Q. I play ZOAEA% (37) at the end and it is just enough to break 500.

W 501-412 Bingos: 4-2 Me:SSZ? Marlon:JQXSS?

Game 14 vs Cheah- Flowing tiles. I rack up 271 points in the first 4 turns in the form of TROLL(I)NG(68), YEN(40), FORGIVER(101+5) and WEXE(57) but Cheah isn't far behind with FIACRE(30), ZING(34), KILTED(32) and NOYADES(79). I top it off with GADJE(42) and SNARReD(68) at the end to win.

W 502-404 Bingos: 3-1 Me: QSX? Cheah:JSSSZ?

Game 15 vs Ricky- An excellent game. I start with 3 straight naturals- BOTHOLE(80+5), FORESEES(65) and PINECONE(67+5) while Ricky racks up 179 pts in 6 turns. On the 7th turn, I play GRAVIDaE(98) to lead 403-199 and follow up with ZETA/JA (60). Ricky has NEXT(42), QUYTE(51) and OWL(29) but cannot catch up. I barely make 600 at the end. Incidentally, this was also my second 600+ game against Ricky.

W 603-365 BIngos: 4-0 Me: QSSSSZ?? Ricky:JX

Game 16 vs Tony- Last game, and even if I win this the highest I can get is 4th. I bingo first with EROTICAL(72) and it goes downhill again as he gets easy bingos SEATING(81), BOZO(45), SANDLoTS(68) and even QuARTERN(101). Very little I could do about this match.

L 317-528 Bingos: 1-3 Me: - Tony: JQSSSSXZ??

Record: 9-7 +352
Ave. score: 438-415

Bingos: 37-26 (2.31-1.63)

J: 6/16 ( 28/56 50% )
Q: 4/16 (22/56 39.3% )
X:6/16 (26/56 46.4%)
Z:8/16 (27/56 48.2%)

S: 33/64 (130/224 58.0%)
Blanks: 15/32 (56/112 50%)

More JT..

2007-05-25T16:18:00.001+08:00

100% on 8s for the first time..

2007-05-16T10:07:00.000+08:00

One of the better games against Quackle..

Quote

2007-05-10T10:45:00.000+08:00

"The things that one most wants to do are the things that are probably most worth doing."

2007-05-07T09:07:00.001+08:00

19 more days.

I really need a breakthrough tourney.

Game

2007-04-28T11:11:00.000+08:00

Scheming quackle attempts to set up a high-scoring play but it is foiled easily. Of course I don't play TOYS which leaves me with an unplayable V.

some anagrams

2007-04-24T11:12:00.000+08:00

Just for fun here are some existing words with Collins solutions.

HIERATIC = ?
BUDDLEIA=?
TESTABLE=?
CHEMISES=?
ATROPHIED= ?
BASEBOARD=?
BRUSHLAND=?
CENTENIER=?
DRAFTABLE=?
MARIALITE=?

Friday's activities and 2 puzzles

2007-04-21T10:12:00.000+08:00

Another busy day- went to the HDB club at 5pm to squeeze in 2 Collins games against Li wei and Weibin. Collins was again quite unuseful to me- only played PAV% and ALF%, still no Collins bingos in 5 real life games, but none for my opponents either. Lose by about 40 to Liwei- mediocre early racks- ADKNQSV (KAVA, 20), then change 6, then SOUTERLY(62). He has cheap scoring plays like DAZE(42) and REJOIN(69), and the easy bingos LAIRIESt(74) and EXTRaITS(78) to my LINEMAN(75). Didn't play any collins stuff this game.

Against Weibin- I start with h8 BIRTH/LN, quickly regretting as he gets QUEER/QI(55) atop. I probably would have played the h4 position in a tourney anyway, just to play safe. I hold EELLNNO and can't do much. He phoneys LECTURAL* and I play DELaTION(68) in a safe position just to deny him the needed floaters. Later I get DIORISM(73) followed by ZONKS(36) to which he replies with TOASTIE(85) to pull within 30. I play PAV(20) to block but he continues the scoring with ENOUGH(31) while I start fishing with NURL/EINRS(6) and WIVER(11). He bingoes with FATIGuED(86) on the penultimate turn, drawing the last 6 tiles but I bingo out with RESUPINE(62+5), missing SPENDIER% for 149! End up winning 414-400.

Cheah turns up soon after and we head to Crystal Jade restaurant, a short walk away with Liwei, wb and Andy. It is fully packed as usual. We get seated by 7.45 after a short wait and the food comes by 8pm. There is continuous talk about new Collins words and other unimportant matters. I quickly finish my shrimp dumpling noodles, having to rush off to another gathering near Somerset.

I join in a KFC feast of sorts at 11pm - original chicken, popcorn chicken, coleslaw, whipped potatos, winglets and some other goodies and a large slice of delicious Oreo cheesecake. I don't get back until nearly 12.30 am.

On a separate note, I solved the weekend Today's super sudoku for the first time.. Satisfaction indeed...

Missed a nice play here, and yes, it's collins-only. Hint: computer-related

Next move against liwei- another nice move, but not in the more obvious spot..

A brief look at the site visitors

2007-04-20T13:46:00.000+08:00

Of the last 100 page loads-

	33		Singapore
	15		Australia
	14		United Kingdom
	12		Malaysia
	10		Philippines
	7		United States
	5		New Zealand
	3		Ireland

Seems that my site does draw a fair amount of overseas visits.

WSC in Mumbai

2007-04-19T09:36:00.000+08:00

Looks like it's in Mumbai this year-not exactly my favorite place but not that we have a choice.

WORLD SCRABBLE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Mattel Inc. are delighted to announce that the 2007 World Scrabble
Championships will be held in Mumbai, India. I do apologise for the
delay in notification.

The venue will be the Taj President Hotel, 90 Cuffe Parade, Mumbai -
400 005, India. The tournament dates will be Friday 9 to Monday 12
November.

Another one

2007-04-17T23:35:00.000+08:00

Guess what quackle played.

Computer-related CSOD words

2007-04-11T13:43:00.000+08:00

%BLOG
%BLOGGER
%INTEL
%INTERNET
%LINUX
%EBOOK
%WEBMAIL
%TOUCHPAD
%SPIM
%APPS (an application program)
%ARPA ( internet domain)
%WAREZ
%EMACS(EN)
%LUSER
%SYSADMIN
%GEEKDOM
%GEEKSPEAK
%CYBER, many CYBER- words, CYBRARIAN
%DIGERATI
%WEBCAM
%WEBINAR
%WEBPAGE
%WEBMASTER
%WEBLISH
%WEBLOG
%WEBCAST
%PODCAST
%USERNAME

What else?

JG report

2007-04-09T12:39:00.000+08:00

I was looking forward to this tourney as it would be the last one using Sowpods. I managed to win narrowly with 5 wins and just 3 blanks for the whole day. There were also many close and hard-fought games, and several where my opponents lost the advantage by playing phonies or missing bingos. Tony's loss to Marcus on time cost him the advantage, and a good chance at finishing better.

Game 1 vs Yen Nee- Open with JIAO 8e, keeping AMI, but giving her JAZY(46). I get down MAUDLIN for a modest 66 points which quickly draws a challenge. She hooks it with MAUDLINS/VOLTS (35) which I just realized does not take S ! I have DIILRTU but the Y is in the wrong place, so DRUID it is instead. A few turns later, she plays sTIPEND(71), opening up a spot for my LAIK(35). She plays OHO to lead 206-187. I play BEANO(29) followed by INOsITE(71) to reclaim the lead. At the end, she gets down ANGARIES(80) to make the scores level at 335. I have the better tiles and initiative to win in the end.

W 422-390

Game 2 vs Andy- Start with DILL/ERN, perhaps RILLED would be better. He responds with GRIM(10). I hold CEINRSU and play SCUNGIER(65+5). He replies with CHORDS(24) and WYNS(20) while I draw BJMPQTY and make do with LYM, missing YMPT. He plays SPITTER(77). I hold EELOPQT but play TOQUE(18) instead of LEEP to block the triple-triple line. So he gets down GUARDIAN(158) next to lead by about 120. I play PRUNELl(A) next, allowing him BOOTH(60). I get RATIFIES(63) and WEXE(45) later while he tries ATAVICS*, but still lose.

L 436-474

Game 3 vs Marcus. Quite an interesting game to say the least. He starts with ZOOgELA which I quickly challenge off while I consider my options, with CENRSTU. It seems inevitable that a bingo reply is unavoidable, so I play ENCRUST(74), sure enough he comes back with ZOOgLEAE(86) but I score with A(Z)IDO (51) to retake the lead. He plays off EUOI(11), TONIC(14) and VUG(14) while I have WHIG(27), VIRGIN(22) and KEG(33). Then he bingoes with ACETINs (74), but I have VOX(46) to stay ahead. At the end, with no tiles in the bag, he has AEENRST and I hold ABELQST, leading by 91. There is a floating E and a N in first place. I could have blocked the E but it would not score and it would leave me with the Q. I play QATS(32) instead to take the sure win. He outs with SERENATE but it is insufficient to win as he is too far behind.

W 431-388

Game 4 vs Marlon- He opens strongly with SQUAB(38), I have DEEHIIN and play HIN(26). I play INDEX(26), PEE(19) versus his PAX(28) and AINE(28) before trying MIDSIZES* which gets challenged off (good without the S. ) He plays VELD(23) then CHOKERs(79) blocking my MADERIS(ED) (102). So I have to settle for SIDEARM(79) instead.. Then I play DOGY(27+5), missing a bingo AEGINORTY through EN, which I knew but wasn't looking at that spot. What a waste. Several turns later, he gets COLOrMEN(83) to lead by 90. I get down NITRILE(67) a few turns later but it is too late.

L 371-419

Game 5 vs Tony- I open with the classic QI/COONS, while he plays WINO(23) underneath. I get NOSTOCS(69) next, but change next turn. I get JIRGA(42), FADGE(27), ZANTE(48) and HELPS(41) over the next few turns to lead 270-184. Close to the end, I get down VERtIGO(66). I draw ABEHLOT, with EENRSUU? unseen. There are 2 spots, a T in 1st position and another starting with S. I decide not to block, playing HEAT(24) instead while he outs with TRUENESs(74). Curiously, there was nothing in EENRSU? starting with S.

W 432-351

Game 6 vs Tony- The first KOTH round, and it is Tony again. Tony opens strongly with ZAIRE(48), but I reply with DEXY(35). I play DADA(19) next to his VIN(20) and DOM(24) which allows me a very fitting CLARIES(87). I play YOWL(45), NEWT(35), GRAT(23) and BOATINGS(69) to his QuINIC(51) and JUPON(37). I also get LAKH by the TWS for a cool 60 pts. He gets a late BOTTlERS but is too far behind to win.

W 459-394

Game 7 vs Marlon- I play Marlon next who has just beaten Andy, by virtue of a late bingo. I start with AEIIIOS and change 5. He plays PEAZE(38) but I have SWEETIE(81), chickening out of the safer WEEPIEST. Sure enough he gets OX(55). I alternate between scoring 22 and 26 over the next 4 turns only to see him play another blank bingo, FANTeEG(77). Now I hold GIIINNU but no L for LINGUINI, so I change again. I get TAHR(47) and SURLOIN(76) to trail by 45. He scores well with DOGEAR(46) and NINJa(38) at the end.

L 380-455

Game 8 vs Marlon- Decider game. He begins with ZEE(24) with the Z on the star. I hold AEIIOSU and have to change again. He replies with a change also. I have CEIMRUV and play CUVEE(16). He responds with VARICoSE(76) . I dump MIAOU(23) while he plays off the Q for 15 points. Now I hold EIMORSX- a rack with good potential, I play off OX(45) then QUOTERS(48) while he plays DREG(31). I hold EIMRSTW and play WE(28), missing MISWRITE. However I get ORGANIST(80) to lead 266-215 and play HILLY(42) next to extend the lead. At the end, I slowly block the bingo lines and eke out a close endgame to win the game. Marlon could have won had he spotted NONaGON.

W 420-391

I am quite pleased to have won this tourney despite getting few blanks and several unbalanced racks. There were several situations where opponent blunders gave me the needed edge.

Record: 5-3 +89
Ave. score: 417-406
Bingos: 15-13 (1.88-1.63)

J: 4/8 (22/40 so far)
Q: 3/8 ( 18/40)
X: 4/8 (20/40)
Z: 2/8 (19/40)

S: 18/32 (97/160)
blanks: 3/16 (41/80)

A very close choice

2007-03-26T16:57:00.000+08:00

A game against Li wei- I choose FAITOR to start. After over 3000 iterations, FAITOR and OF are nearly equal. I think OF is still the better option overall, although it depends on players' styles. The main virtue is defense- after OF opp averages only 31 vs 39 after FAITOR, we reply with 50 vs 42 which isn't as big a difference as I thought. The thing is that after OF, the board could potentially become quite blocked up later.

Stats so far

2007-03-21T09:51:00.000+08:00

Record: 23-9 (72%)
Ave. score- 446-385
Bingos: 72-43 (2.25- 1.34)

J: 18/32
Q: 15/32
X: 16/32
Z: 17/ 32

S: 79/128
Blanks: 38/64

A closer look at the last game

2007-03-19T09:26:00.000+08:00

I had to win the final game by 60+ to win the tourney..The verdict- there was little I could do in this game. He started with an easy bingo, giving me an uphill task to climb as the board got increasingly blocked. I didn't miss any bingos or major plays, though I'm not sure if that's the case for him..

>guo_cong: ADEIRRV 8H ARRIVED +80 80

Obviously best. I note that 8h bingos result in blocky boards as play tends to develop in the bottom corner, as was the case later.

>Hubert_Wee: BDEFNOT 9M FOB +24 24

Best after a short sim.

>guo_cong: EIQTU 10J QUITE +48 128

Another easy high-scoring move which extended the lead

>Hubert_Wee: DEENRTT H8 ATTENDER +80 104

Best. Only bingo which hits the TWS.

>guo_cong: CIKTW 11D WICKET +30 158

An interesting position. Couldn't find any good scores so settled on KAIM. AUK is definitely best here- decent leave and leaves as many lines as open as possible to allow for a comeback. Surprisingly KAIM only 3 pts below AUK.

>Hubert_Wee: AAIMOSU G11 KAIM +21 125

>guo_cong: HNO 12C HON +24 182

Easy scoring.

>Hubert_Wee: AIOSUUY -AIOUUY +0 125

Quackle recommends IO here which I have to disagree. Trailing by 60 pts, playing IO keeping that leave is not the way to go, it is granted that it lowers opp. score by 10 pts compared to changing, but it's not good in the long term. Another reason not to trust quackle sometimes.

>guo_cong: INN 13C INN +25 207

Another defensive move..

>Hubert_Wee: ?AGRSTY B6 GRAYeST +71 196

Changing worked as I got the blank and played the best bingo to narrow the gap.

>guo_cong: A8 LO +17 224

Possibly fishing? Was expecting a higher score there.

Considered WAUR, but felt it was a bit too open and scored too little, not realizing that WALI was pretty open too. I think WAUR is superior by a few points.

>Hubert_Wee: AAILSUW C3 WALI +17 213

>guo_cong: AEM D4 MAE +24 248
An average play.

>Hubert_Wee: AEHLSTU 4B HAMULATES +65 278

Tried a desperate bingo here, which was unfortuantely challenged off. It is good without the S. My rack looks nice until u find out that it combines only with F and P, which isn't so good.....

>Hubert_Wee: AEHLSTU -- -65 213

>guo_cong: GOS 11K GOS +23 271

So many esses..?

>Hubert_Wee: AEHLSTU E4 UH +27 240

Best. Considered AH as UH takes too few front hooks- ELSTU is a decent leave and at least the L hooks it..

>guo_cong: AEY C8 YEA +21 292

>Hubert_Wee: ACEGLST 14B ACT +25 265

Best after a sim. The CG combo doesn't go well together. The board was getting really blocked up- the only floaters are Rs !

>guo_cong: FU J6 FUR +14 306

Slowly blocking the board up

>Hubert_Wee: BEGIILS 15A BI +14 279

Best. No T for BILGIEST, which I saw. Very limited options on this board.

>guo_cong: EEN I11 .EEN +18 324

Blocking the TWS line, which is appropriate for him at this point.

>Hubert_Wee: EEGILSV J12 SEG +28 307

Best. Combines with R for VELIGERS, but R wrong place. Dang.
>guo_cong: OOPR 6F PROOF +16 340

>Hubert_Wee: ?EILRVZ I3 ZERO +23 330

I considered VEZIRs(44), opening up the board and shooting for the X and S, but decided to hold the blank. I think OYEZ is inaccurately rated as quackle doesn't play strategically and would open up a bingo line. exch LV is interesting, shooting for an O or S which gives SEGO/OoZIER(77) or SIZERs(77). But the chance of that would be slim with only 2 tiles changed.

>guo_cong: EJPS 4H JEEPS +44 384

This seals the game, unfortunately. It would have been much closer if he didn't have the S.

>Hubert_Wee: ?DILOVX 5K hOX +26 356

The ending position- nothing much I can do here. VOE doesn't work, as DOULEIA/UNOILED is possible from the pool.

>guo_cong: AAEILOU 6L LIEU +18 402
>Hubert_Wee: DDILNV O5 LUV +6 362
>guo_cong: AAO 3I .O +13 415
>Hubert_Wee: DDIN 2J DID +17 379
>guo_cong: AA B2 AA +9 424
>guo_cong: (N) +2 426

2007-03-18T21:46:00.000+08:00

Disappointing finish today. Ended up getting bumped to fourth since the situation was very close at the top, obtaining a trophy for my efforts. Blanks: 16/32. S: 40/64 Bingos: 34 to 21.

JT again..

2007-03-10T12:23:00.000+08:00

100% on JT fives for the first time..

NTU Winner's report

2007-03-05T09:10:00.000+08:00

The day just before the tourney, we headed to Peach Garden restaurant in town for some sort of a reunion dinner. It was on the 33rd floor with commanding views of the city skyline. The dinner was not bad- 9 courses including 2 desserts - a delicious cold dish, suckling pig, abalone, shark's fin, steamed fish, prawns and lots of other interesting assorted stuff.

On Sunday, we headed to the NTU Venue with Dorai, Marcus and Victor at 9.10. The organisation wasn't very good and it didn't begin until 10 am.

Game 1 vs Dorai: I have AIIFNOQ to start and play QI. He changes 7 and I hold AEFINO?- no bingo so play IF which really blocks up the board. He changes again and I get to play FORtIES(73) several turns later followed by ABRIM(36) and WIZ(35). I play SiLENCE (95) on the tenth turn, going up by 148. He gets down STEANED(76) but it is too late. Later on I seal the game with some decent plays.

W 490-326 Record: 1-0 +126

Game 2 vs Kb: KB opens with CREED(22), an unusually open move for a reputable blocker..I reply with HOWF(33). After his YUG and my PIETA, I hold CEILORT but there is no place for its anagram, so play COLIN(24) instead. I get down CENTERED(86) next turn which is unblockable as there were 2 Cs available. Later I follow it up with DRAINAGe(80) and TOPSaiL(76). He has no reply.

W 463-335 Record: 2-0 + 292

Game 3 vs Ricky- I start with ELLPRR? and change, keeping EPR?, missing the seven. He begins with a very open POKEY(36). I hold EEPJRV? and play PERVE(20), he replies with DOGSLED(85) which I challenge just to be sure. Sure enough it is good...fortunately I counter with JEFES(54) and follow it up with HUMANeR(63). He dumps AUDIO(18) and I immediately play HET(A)IRAI(65) to go up by 20-odd, a good comeback from being 100 down at the start. He plas ZEA(41), blocking my QUOIF in the same spot for 54 pts, so I make do with TEF(38). I have a surfeit of vowels over the next few turns, but I manage to get down LIMONENE(74) to which he replies with SINGLET(72), instead of BELTINGS(86) which would have won him the game. This allows me AVOWS(54). He has CGNR at the end and I eke out a winning advantage to win by 8. A close match.

W 458-450 Record: 3-0 +300

At this point, we break for lunch. Jobeth and myself are the only players on 3 wins, which makes for an interesting match the next round

Game 4 vs Jobeth- She opens with MACED(24). I have TOYOTAS but of course it isn't valid, so I dump TOY for a measly 17 points. The scores remain close until the fourth turn, when she surges ahead with STILlER(67). I reply with EMETICS(80) and draw HNNNORT, but dump TINHORN(20) instead of NINTH for turnover. After that I get QUOdS/WEFTED(77), KEPI(41) t and NOW(39) to win comfortably.

W 435-337 Record: 4-0 +398

Game 5 vs Ben- I knew it was inevitable I had to meet Ben at some point, so here goes..I have BEGORVW and pla VOWER(30). He replies with JOT(28), I have BGIOPST, no A for AVOWER or ATE, so just go for turnover with BIGOTS(25) only to see him counter with DETOX(67). I now hold DPRRUW? and have to dump GOWD for 18 pts. I follow it up with PARURaS(87), hooking VOWER only to see QUEUEINg(88) go down. I play SKAG/QUEUEINGS(30) and DITSIER(78) to go up narrowly. At the end, he incorrectly opens up a TWS spot for my H, for 56 pts which I follow up with RECOINED(86) to seal the game.

W 506-398 Record: 5-0 + 506

Game 6 vs Liwei- He opens with DITT(10), telegraphing a shortage of vowels to which I reply with a 4-timer GUESTEN(88) . 2 turns later, I get down SEAFaRER(74) followed by FAINTEST(76) to go up by 130. He has QUALE(54), YID(50) and OX(33), but I immediately counter with GUZzLE(75+5). At the end, he incorrectly pluralizes QUALE, allowing me to block his outplay of SURNAME.

W 508-342 Record: 6-0 +672

Game 7 vs Ben- At this point, I was 2 games ahead with a good spread advantage, but I needed 1 more win to clinch the title. I always seem to meet Ben in KOTH rounds....Not a very good game- I begin with AAAIORT and finally decide on AIA 8f( Quackle likes the 8g position). He counters with LUNGYI(25) atop. I hold AAOPRST but nothing would play, so it has to be PRAO(24). He takes the early lead with BRITTLE(79). I have ANSTXZ? and can't find a spot to dump for 30+ pts, so I play ZEX(19). I draw the J and play it off in the form of JOT(20) then follow it up with NASiONS(81) next turn. He plays ZIT(36) to lead by 50. I hold EEIGOOR and play EGO(19), but change the next turn while he dumps EAU(13). I manage to get down PURIFIER(101) right after that to lead by 30. However later he gets PREaCHER(94) while I have CEOOOVW. I get CONVEYS(86) on the last move but he bingos out with GELIDEST(90) catching me with the Q to win..

L 410-506 Record: 6-1 +576

Game 8 vs Ben- The 3rd time playing ben in 8 games. . I simply have to not lose the game by about 130 to win the title.. Ben starts with KINDA(30) while I have the unimpressive AEOOWWY. I make do with YOW(24). 2 turns later, he gets down a 4x EDIFIES(106) but I reply with FAXED(51) to trail by 40. I get LITANIES(70), ZAG(47) and STaRTER(71) over the next few turns to lead by 80. At the end I get down DINOSAUR(82).I protect my lead for the remainder of the game to win on a rather blocked board.

W 483-373 Record: 7-1 +686

I am rather pleased to have won the NTU championship for the first time, receiving $140 of shopping vouchers and a nice trophy for my efforts. This win also brought me one step closer to a 2000 rating..The slightly unusual thing was that I didn't play at all with the no. 2 and 3 finishers ( Victor and Andy) who both won all their games in the afternoon to sneak to the top.

Stats:

W/L: 7-1
Ave. score:469- 382
Bingos: 21 -9 ( 2.63 - 1.13)
No. of turns: 104- 104
Ave. score per turn: 36.1-29.4

J: 3/8
Q: 4/8
X: 3/8
Z: 5/8

S: 20/32
Blanks: 11/16