Back To Scrabble

Okay, this is where I'm at.

I only played one Scrabble tourney in 2006 and that was Pasadena in January. I can't say I planned to play in just one tournament, but I knew I would be busy first getting the nursery ready and then with Bodie, so I didn't expect to play in many tournaments in 2006.

But it's 2007 now and I want to get back into it a bit this year. Nothing big planned, just some local tournaments and some word study.

I'm signed up for Pasadena, which is a one-day, seven game tourney on January 21st. I'm just doing some brushing up on my word study until then, but I did get a chance to play in my old Carlsbad club last Saturday.

It was fun to be back in it. I went 3-1 with a 380-something average and a 2 bingo/game average. I tracked 100% on all my games but really felt the crunch of the clock even though I didn't go over in any of my games. Still, despite my tracking, I made some bad end-game plays. I also made some bad mid-game plays, especially setting up come-back plays for opponents.

I was not able to track all my racks though and that makes it impossible to do a post-game analysis with Quackle, which is essential, in my humble opinion, to improving your game.

I felt good with bingo racks and my 2 bingo/game average, but my short word knowledge suffers. I got away with a phony, TUM, which was a hook play, and nearly played GUP* but played PUG for fewer points because I couldn't remember if GUP* was good or not. When my word study starts in earnest after the Pasadena tourney I am going to get those 3s and 4s down!

For bingos I played CIGARET, UNHEATED, SEXiEST, STORIES, tRIVIAL, TIRADES, DESTINE, and TARdIES.