A Hardscrabble Existence

Blugh.

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:56:12 GMT

Well, in trying to keep with posting the bad along with the good so to keep the humility factor somewhat in line...

George and I kicked off my vacation with 5 games. I lost 4 and won 1. Missed a couple of bingos: AEPRRRT to an E, and UNVoICE I just didn't see the spot to hook it. Not on my A game! Two bingoless games. Some relatively poor play--lots of 3-5 point errors. I got 4 bingos in the 5 games and averaged maybe 360--Outbingoed 14 to 4. I managed to keep fairly pleasant, I think, but I was a bit down by the 5th game. George only managed to complain about a game that he won by 100 once :)

ISOBARE, BARIl(L)AS / RODDING,MORELLE,ZOOLATER
none / DILUTERs,RASSLInG
none / ANaPEST,GANDERS,NORITEs
ELATERIN / ONETIME,AGITATOR
(A)GENESIA / OUTWEARY,OxYTONE,TURTLES,TuRBANED

Tomorrow is another day. Kinda down but trying to disconnect from even bad performance. Can't have your A game every day.

George trifecta: CILLOOT?

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:04:02 GMT

Getting through some rough games...

50 opening racks meme

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:33:35 GMT

Well, that took a while, since I spent a minute or two on most racks that were worth looking at. Total equity loss: 36.5 Missed bingos: 0 A reasonably easy set of racks--3 QIs, 7 bingos gave 10 free turns. This was simming, not static evaluator which is really wrong about many of these. STORAX vs OX was tough. I could see picking either one on a certain day vs a certain opponent. Happiest with INVOKE, EFfACES (puts the blank in the 2x2, the F on the DLS, both DLS by cons--defaces was a quick copout which I'm glad I looked past), OZALID. EIKMNW? was all right too.

EGHLOTZ	8d ZLOTE	8d ZLOTE	0
AOORRWY	8d YARROW	8g YARROW	0.1
DEHILMQ	8g QI	8g QI	0
ADFITUV	8g VATU	8g FUD	2
AADFNUV	8d VANDA	8G FAVA	2.7	tough choice
EIKMNW?	8F MIsKNEW	8F MIsKNEW	0
EFILOPQ	8g QI	8g QI	0
ADEGIRU	8d GAUDIER	8d GAUDIER	0
AGIRUU?	8d AUGUR	8d AUGUR	0
ACEEFS?	8d EFfACES	8d EFfACES	0
ABEMSWY	8h BEAMY	8H EMBAY	2.2	chickened out embay
EILOQSW	8g QI	8g QI	0
BEIIITW	ex BIIIW	ex BIIIW	0
CEJORRU	8d JUROR	8d JUROR	0
ADEIIRV	8d VARIED	8d IVIED	2.3
ACGOTTU	8h OUTACT	8d CATGUT	3.5	duh
EEEEHOR	ex EEEO	ex EEEO	0
AEIIIST	ex III	ex AII	2
AINRTUX	8g XU	8g XU	0
AEHIIIS	ex AII	ex III	0.9
EIILNOV	8f OLIVINE	8f OLIVINE	0
BNORUSY	8g BUY	8g BUY	0
GLRRTTV	ex GLRTV	ex GLRTV	0
FKNOOS?	8e NOOK	8h SNOOK	5
GIORRTU	8d GUIRO	8d GUIRO	0
LOOTUWY	8d WOOLY	8d WOOLY	0
ADEGIRV	8d VIRGA	8d VIRGA	0
ACELNTW	8e CLAW	8e CLAW	0
GGOORY?	8g GOY	8g GOY	0
AEIOTU?	8g AUTO	ex IOU	1.2
BEILOSS	8d BOILS	8d BOILS	0
ENNPTUZ	8g PUTZ	8g PUTZ	0
EIJKNOV	8h INVOKE	8g INVOKE	0
ADILOTZ	8c OZALID	8c OZALID	0
EILPRU?	8d PUERILe	8d PUeRILE	0.4
AOORSTX	8g STORAX	8h OX	0.9	tough choice
EEIKLOR	8h OKE	8h OKE	0
DEKORST	8h STROKED	8h STROKED	0
HINOSUY	8g YOU	8g YOU	0
CCFINNO	8d CONIC	8d CONIC	0
ADIILOT	8g OI	8h IDIOT	8.5	overvalued TIDAL
EELRSXY	8g LEX	8h EX	4.8	considered, too computery a setup
AAHNOTV	8f OVA	8f OVA	0
AABEIIS	ex AABII	ex AABII	0
AEOOTT?	8g OOT	8g OOT	0
HIILRU?	8g HILI	8G HILI	0
EHILLQR	8g QI	8g QI	0
AAIMTWY	8h AMITY	8h AMITY	0
ABENORZ	8d ZEBRANO	8d ZEBRANO	0
ADNNNOS	8d DONNA	8d DONNA	0
			36.5

9s paying off for anagramming brands and names, if not in games

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:28:01 GMT

I've started doing the thing where you look at names and start anagramming them. It wasn't a plan--it just happens. Last night while watching CTV Newsnet:

Some reporter with the last name SACHEDINA
ARCOSTEEL brand corkscrew opener
The new Boeing DREAMLINE

Repete after me

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:22:39 GMT

"Thankfully, we were right in the eye of the Open-era hurricane that started in 1968, when professional players finally were invited to compete with the amateurs at the four "majors," or Grand Slam events. That shift to Open tennis ensured that *all* the good players in the world could compete in the same tournaments, so you would end up with a true champ, and it launched a tennis boom that brought the game to millions of new players and potential pros."

-- Pete Sampras in "A Champion's Mind"

Why are so many Scrabblers rabid sports fans?

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:48:43 GMT

Some Scrabblers have Asperger's, or similar sorts of predilection towards stats and detail. Extremely deep focus on minutiae in an area of interest is valuable for Scrabble and this is selected for with general Darwinian pressure in our competitive community.

I have noticed that there are a lot of very serious sports fans out there in our community. I have more acquaintances/friends outside of Scrabble by a large margin, and yet I can think of several professional sports writers/fantasy writers in the group I know of Scrabblers, and none in my set of "normal" friends.

On a scale of 1-10, I am a 2 as a sports fan goes.

-- I like to watch individual sports: golf, tennis, darts, poker, etc., with a focus on the best of the best players and the majors. That is, I "cheer" for the best.

-- I watched the Grey Cup where the Riders choked, but in general will not go much out of my way (including turning on the TV) to catch up on most sports.

-- I know no stats to speak of. I would be an embarrassment to any Fantasy anything league (MAYBE golf I could pick an OK team, but that's just because I generally study with a golf tourney on in the background, because it takes zero effort to keep up with it, and over the hours the odd name osmoses in.)

So, bigtime fans? What's the allure? For me I have trouble getting much investment of self into vicarious performance... and when I do, I feel silly afterwards. My preference is to practice to get better myself at whatever I'm currently working on (Scrabble right now). Without that investment in a team or brand, what would keep you cheering?

Quitting Scrabble forever

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:26:23 GMT

If one allows Scrabble (or anything) to take a disproportionately large role in one's life, it can be really hard to roll with the punches--particularly when our game has so many ups and downs caused by tiles and short term variability.

In a book "Your Worst Poker Enemy", I read something about "euphoria when winning and despondency when losing" indicates too much investment in a game. I certainly have been prone to this... and worse, I know I get a feedback loop, where I play more strongly when on a relaxed winning streak, and more weakly when on a losing streak.

(In fact, you can calculate my instantaneous effective playing strength in a given tourney with the following equation:

Jasonstrength = 1800 + 25x - 75y, where

x=length of longest winning streak in last 10 games
y=length of longest losing streak in tourney in last 10 games)

I read on ChessBase today that Ivanchuk, one of the strongest chess players of the last 20 years, impetuously retired from professional chess after being eliminated in a 2-game minimatch at the FIDE World Cup against a unknown 16-year old who is no great shakes. Granted, Chucky's nerves have never been the best, and he's prone to become disillusioned after making a mistake (Mig once famously said of a position "Ivanchuk would resign here... as either color.")

Here are some quotes:

"Interviewer: It was just one mini match. You should not lose hope.

Ivanchuk: It was not just a match, it was a crucial match. I am sure that from now on I should forget about any serious aims in chess. I don't need anything from chess anymore. I will start new life with new goals. Chess… I will become just a chess fan now. I will follow chess, will follow the games of my ex-colleagues."

and

"
Q: It is well known – chess and Ivanchuk cannot exist separately.

A:This is right, but only in the past. And now chess is killing me. Chess is playing against me! Chess is destroying me! I would take it easy if my opponent would be much stronger than me, or he were better prepared. But my loss was so stupid, it is a sign of destiny, which screams: “Vasya, leave it, it is not your business”.

Q: There is an impression that you put all stakes on this tournament?

A: Maybe. But now I only feel that the world has crashed down around me. Everyone is against me, and I don't see the way out…"

I'd like to get to a place where I can be if not just fine with coming in close to last, at least at peace with it, ready for the next tournament. I'm not there yet. Similarly, I do feel like I have made some progress on the winning tournaments thing (nice, but obviously involved some luck as well.)

Chez Bing

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:22:47 GMT

In Portland. Dave had me over for supper (take out Thai... yum!) and then we played 5 games. He's prepping for Worlds, so I played Collins for the second time in my life (first being a couple of games against Blip in 2002). He creamed me 4-1 +quiteabit. I learned a lesson about fishing to ACEIRS (similar to AEINRS) in any book.

What a blast! Fun times. Great to see Chris and the kids and always fun to play Dave.

Thanks a bunch for dinner and the games, Dave! Next time is on me!

Califohnia Ohpen

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:14:41 GMT

Dear Contestants at the California Open:
All of my best wishes to you all for a
very competitive and challenging few days of Scrabble!
Everyone must be getting excited to play tomorrow morning.

When you awake in beautiful San Francisco,
I hope the sun is shining and the traffic is
easily overcome, given the Bay Bridge debacle.
Getting up bright and early is one of the
annoying things about tournaments, but
nobody expects perfection in the those first few rounds.
Don't know who's going to win, but I at least have an idea.

Outrageous fortune

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:58:43 GMT

Check out this Cinderella story.

So in every tourney you win, you've got to get a couple of pretty lucky breaks. In round 18, Dean was a couple of games back with 4 to play, and he gets to play me once in this game, and then would repeat in the last KOTH if we were close, so those 2 games are not that hard to make up. In fact, he has a really good chance if he beats me here and then beats me again in the last KOTH. Meanwhile I'd have a couple more games against dL and George and Eric, non of them gimmes!

So I'm losing by 90...


Jason: Turn 10
   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O   -> Jason                    AEINRS?   208 
   ------------------------------     Dean Saldanha            xxxxxxx  298 
 1|=     '       G       '     =| --Tracking-----------------------------------
 2|  Z A I R E   A   "       -  | UNDOECIHAAEFORT  15
 3|    R       Q I '       R    |
 4|V O i D     U N   B O L E   '|
 5|    E   P L I S K Y -   M    |
 6|  " T     " X     "   M I "  |
 7|    T O     O   '     A N    |
 8|=   A G O U T I     P U T   =|
 9|    S E L   E   '   A N '    |
10|  "   E D H       " C     "  |
11|        Y O         E        |
12|'     J   W   F I N D -     '|
13|  W A I V E R   '       -    |
14|  -   G   "       "       -  |
15|B L E S T     =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

I played VINEgARS for 80, to be down by 10 points with him to play, leaving one in the bag. He replied with 13j FA for 20.


Jason: Turn 11
   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O   -> Jason                    ADEENOT   288 
   ------------------------------     Dean Saldanha            CHIORU     318 
 1|=     '       G       '     =| --Tracking-----------------------------------
 2|  Z A I R E   A   "       -  | CHIORU  6
 3|    R       Q I '       R    |
 4|V O i D     U N   B O L E   '|
 5|I   E   P L I S K Y -   M    |
 6|N " T     " X     "   M I "  |
 7|E   T O     O   '     A N    |
 8|g   A G O U T I     P U T   =|
 9|A   S E L   E   '   A N '    |
10|R "   E D H       " C     "  |
11|S       Y O         E        |
12|'     J   W   F I N D -     '|
13|  W A I V E R   F A     -    |
14|  -   G   "       "       -  |
15|B L E S T     =       '     =|
   ------------------------------

Can you believe that I drew ADEENOT ?!

Dean's comment was "No way... NO WAY!" as I was putting down the tiles. He was really good about it tho. The spot is kind of hidden and he could have blocked it if he'd sussed out the danger, so he was disappointed. His play had set up a big H shot, and unfortunately the only problem with that play is it loses 1 in 8. Virtually anything sensible that addresses the 1/8 shot wins.

He said "When it's your day, it's your day." And I think that's pretty true. This was about the only way I was winning that game. Got lucky. Dean played a great tourney and I was very fortunate.

Missed bingos from Calgary

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:38:43 GMT

hebdomad mentioned he likes to see missed bingos, and tranonehalf just listed his missed bingos--so here they are from 21 rounds of Calgary.

I missed a couple of bingos where they were the best play:

1) DIOSW?? through an A for a 2x2, which I mentioned before. Found WOODSIAS and WOODSIA but they were worse plays than keeping S?? and 28 points. However the 90-point 2x2s were definitely best.

2) EEPUV?? : I had to hook to RUM (and of course look through other stuff). I found UPHEAVE and PREVUED, but I totally missed the ARUM hook (blah) and chickened out on PREVUED, thinking PREVUE was a noun. I was up by 130 with 2 blanks still in hand against Avrin. It was still a pretty big mistake.

Besides those, there were some other opportunities to bingo:

The next turn in same game:

 
Jason: Turn 14
   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O   -> Jason                    AELUU??   351 
   ------------------------------     Paul Avrin               xxxxxxx   220 
 1|=     '       =       '     =| --Tracking-----------------------------------
 2|  -       "       "       -  | RNDRCEEINNO  11
 3|D   T       '   ' P E R V    |
 4|A   W E N T   '       U     '|
 5|R   I   A A       B U M F    |
 6|I " G     B O O T Y     L "  |
 7|O P '       '   I       A    |
 8|L A N E S   J I N     ' G   =|
 9|E D ' M O Z O   Y O     '    |
10|S " H     "       E       "  |
11|    A   A I R I E S T        |
12|'   V I G     X       -     '|
13|  F E     Q A T '   T   -    |
14|H E       "   L   " I     -  |
15|O D   '   W R E C K S '     =|
   ------------------------------

I didn't find (or really look hard for) roULEAU in either spot here; but I played 7k LU(A)U 4 which sets up an unblockable outbingo on the triple lane, which sims about 30 points better.

There was also one time that I deliberately didn't look for bingos with EHMNOT? because I'd found 50 points keeping the ?. Seemed prudent and pragmatic to save time, and it turns out that the bingos that played were indeed worse than taking 50 and keeping the blank.

I definitely have trouble with 2 blanks though.

I also played a few bingos which weren't the best:

a) missed the other AILRTTY? starting from a T when I played TILTYARd (scored 8 points less). I had recently played TILTYARD against George a few weeks ago, it came up again in study in the car on the way down, and I fell in love with playing it early. I also hoped for a challenge, but only got a hold. A shame :)

b) played (O)uTPOWER at b1 for 90 with EOPRTW?. Only problem with this move was there was a C at a1! I must confess I just slapped it down without looking hard at the C. This could have cost me the game, since it was 14 points worse plus loads worse defensively.

c) played INNArDS instead of SANDINg for 8 more points. At the time I thought the board shape would have been a sure loss with an Sxxxxxx bingo, but probably should have done it, because things got all jammed up after INNARDS anyway.

Another embarrassing thing was my R(A)T(I)ONALS was a 2x2 starting at L4... and we scored it 70! Didn't even know it was a 2x2. Good grief.

Calgary bingos and brief stats

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:38:15 GMT

I got 42 bingos in 21 games. This isn't a particularly telling stat--in fact, the Div3 winner got 46! Whenever I'm playing well, or in the zone, I just make high scoring/equity plays and the bingos come anyhow, as a side effect.

Averaged 433.2 over 21 games. Highest game was only 500, but had only 4 games under 400, two of which I won. Opponents averaged 359.4, it would seem.

I counted just for fun--drew 20 blanks, which is about normal. The last day I drew 2/10, so 3-2 against Siri/Dean/Eric/dL/dL was just fine with me. I was pleased to have won 4 games where I got double blanked, and didn't lose any where I drew both. That's the difference between 13-8 and 17-4. Blanks aren't everything, but they sure do help.

Dunno how many bingos I missed... at least one, where with DIOSW?? I missed a 2x2 thru an A-- saw WOODSIAS which wasn't 2x2, but missed the other two ones which would have actually scored 90, in favor of a W-D 29 point play keeping S??. I definitely would have played the 2x2s if I'd found them. Was running low on time, and wasn't sure there was anything there, so just decided to make a pragmatic play. (Actually, I was pretty pleased with how I dealt with my perfectionism by being a little more pragmatic and making plays instead of grinding out really tough racks for 7 minutes.)

There were a few cute ones, but mostly standard fare:

LINDANE(S)
UnFRAME(D)
REGENTs
BOOTEES
ENDO(S)TEA
R(A)T(I)ONALS -- challenged
PEONIES
(T)ILTYARd
TOWLINE
dOOWOPS
ENTOILE(d)
DENTAL(I)A
RALL(I)ERS
ADENOID
GITTERN
(H)ONOREEs
R(E)LEARNS
kER(O)SENE 2x2
H(E)LLIONS
CREATI(V)E
AIRIEST
lANNERs
EUNUCHS
(O)uTPOWER
DElAINE
LIO(N)iSES 3x3
SUTURAl
TUNI(C)ATE
ACTIOnE(R)
ENTITLe
(C)InEOLeS
TUTELAR(S)
GUARDE(r)S
EARNERS
BU(L)LETIN
(V)INEgARS
ANE(C)DOTE -- Albert stole my fire
INNArDS
STANING
PRETENC(E) -- challenged
NONORAL
RETITLE

Woo hoo!

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:49:52 GMT

I'm (still) the Western Canadian Champion! :)

17-4, +16xx. Gibsonized in the last round -- and dL duly mopped me in the last round 500-405.

Should only take another year before my confidence drops to a massive low again ;-)

Thanks for all the good wishes during the tourney! We have a long drive ahead, and tomorrow I can talk a bit more. I was pretty nervous the whole time, but everything seemed to work out. Felt a lot like last year--I was scoring lots and there weren't many brutally bad games. I'll do some stats tomorrow....

Day 2: 14-2, +1495

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:33:01 GMT

Well, that was about as good a day of Scrabble as you can have without the initials DW.

Was a very happy birthday--out for supper, then to bed. I'm exhausted.

I am a bit disturbed by the fact that if I'd gone 1-7 I'd probably not have thought it was a great birthday--which is lame, since just playing should be enough. Something to work on.

Anyway--gotta enjoy it when everything is going perfectly because we all know it can be a drag when things are going poorly.

Off for an AYCE chinese buffet...

11-1, +13xx after 12

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:06:28 GMT

Wow, this was unexpected. Well, things get harder now-- Dean, George, Dielle back-to-back-to-back. Will be difficult games I'm sure, quite possible to lose them all. Regardless, I thought 4-4 would be a good/reasonable score for today so if it is so, it is so.

Beat Tran in the last game by 20, but he seems to be the real deal! He got no bingos to my 3 (including my 2 blank bingos) and just scored. I'm quite impressed.

4 more to go and then a dinner. Woulda been nice to be with the family to turn 35, but we'll hopefully have a nice time when I get back on Monday.

Closer to 70 than birth now!

Calgary after day 1

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:54:56 GMT

Nice to get off to a good start again. Lots of games left to play still.

7-1, +949. Eric Tran lost his last game and so is tied with 7 wins, but has a smaller spread (+700ish?)

I face a higher rated chunk of the field tomorrow, so it will be a testing day. Didn't play anything too special this afternoon. I'm only playing 2 bingos a game, but keeping lots of plays in the 30s and 40s. Feels a lot like last year, just score.

Time to sack out in front of the TV and veg.

4-0, +570 after 4

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:35:21 GMT

Well, a good start, mostly bag related. Was lucky and nervous... lots of mistakes didn't cost me, not getting megablanked. Played TILTYARD again :) with ALNORST played R(A)T(I)ONALS against Krueger... he challenged, and since I knew he wouldn't mind me bugging him, I told him he could look up ANTISOLAR while he was at it. (Wouldn't do that with anyone other than Krueger I don't think... he laughed.)

Playing just OK, tons of nerves for some reason.

Off to lunch....

More tournaments means more iron

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:30:04 GMT

Off to Calgary tomorrow for the main event! 21 rounds. Only losing 40 rating points would be a good result given 2009 so far :)

Should be internet available there, and I am treating myself to rooming alone--expensive, but hopefully more relaxing.

Will try to play my best and probably can't do much more than that. Will try to maximize resistance in every game even if doing poorly. Perhaps that will turn a game or two around!

Lesson of 2007: Knowing lots more words than your opponents is good and lets you move up the ladder.
Lesson of 2008: Knowing words and drawing well is good and lets you have good results.
Lesson of 2009: Knowing lots of words is good, but you don't know them as well as you could, and not drawing like a fiend exposes your at-times-poor play.

Pretourney projection: 11-10, +220, 1692 final rating.

Not to stir things up too much...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:36:08 GMT

Clearly Anna looks better in a dress than Nigel or Dave would.

It's the richest prize in history for US Women's chess... but the winner has about a 1700 scrabble rating equivalent, with the rest solidly in the 1500-1600 zone (that is, bing would be expected to win about 8/10 against 1500-1600 opp; Anand or Topalov would likely score 8.5/10 against her. Maybe even 9 or 9.5). Prize fund was $64K.

5 weaknesses in my game as I see them

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:51:33 GMT

Some of the more egregious problems in my game. Your comments or suggestions for improvements, or simply "you also have problems with..." are welcome.

1. S..l..o..w..n..e..s..s

I am slow at tracking and drawing tiles and picking my move. I run into time trouble in most of my difficult/losing games, when I need this time the most. The only games I stay ahead of the clock in are those games where there are lots of easy plays--and those are precisely the games I don't need the time in. I grind over tough racks where there isn't a great solution, or where I can't find the right solution, for way too long, then get into time trouble and play quite poorly after that. I think my slowness is related to:

2. Unable to generate very many plays in a reasonable amount of time/Board vision.

I'm not good at finding a bunch of candidate plays. Of course I still reject the best play sometimes and play something inferior, but my biggest reason for not playing the best play is not seeing it. I'm pretty weak at actually PLAYING Scrabble when there are no bingos to be found. And tight boards give me fits, because often there's only one decent play on them, or none, and I waste a ton of time trying to find something OK.

2a) Tunnel vision: related to 2. This happens a lot. Seeing something, falling in love with it because it's cute, or the first thing I see, and not seriously looking for something else. I actually *want* there to be no better play once I see something I want to play. So often I just go through the motions once I find a nice bingo or some play that achieves some of the goals I want for a turn.

3. Defense and board shape.

So I firmly believe that it is much better to be overly aggressive than overly defensive, particularly when you don't do either well. At *my* admittedly mediocre level, I would much rather be too aggressive / crazy than too defensive. Most players who aren't elite have a decent chance at missing their opportunities after aggressive plays, or react inappropriately, scoring not enough to shut down some spot. But while I don't play entirely without consideration for defense, I can play without enough concern for board shape. I have noticed often, for example, that when I have Ss there are no spots for them. I'm starting to think that this is because my opponents are controlling the board better than I am.

4. Comportment.

That 1-9 stretch at the NSC showed me I don't have full control over my game and emotions yet. Somewhere I hit the Threshold of Misery and lost a lot of confidence, failing to challenge stuff I just knew wasn't good. But I can't be getting all in a snit because of a 2-4 game losing streak. This is something I'm hoping to work on. I honestly think right now that on a winning streak I'm probably 100-200 rating points stronger than on a losing streak. When I'm winning, and things are going well, I look for 9s, do setups, the endgames are worth working at, etc. When I'm not, I spend time thinking about things not related to WINNING THE GAME, like tiles sometimes, losing the tournament, I'm a bad player, blah blah blah. Yuch. This is something I'm going to continue to work hard on--and maybe even find a sports psychologist!

5. Laziness/ Mental Toughness.

Some times I just don't work hard enough at the board. I get thinking about how I'm losing, or how this game wasn't meant to be, or I found some play which looks pretty good... and I throw in the towel on looking any harder, or on digging deep, or on analyzing the endgame to salvage spread, or playing some word that blocks that wastes spread because I don't want to check to see if they have no bingos. I can work a LOT harder at the board I think sometimes. I'd like to think more efficiently and be IN the competition to the bitter end, not thinking about couldashouldawoulda. I'm ultimately not a born competitor who is energized by competition--I find it very nerve wracking and draining. I am, however, a born preparer, in that I love to study and get knowledge which I can use in competition. Any success that I have at all is in spite of myself :)

5 weaknesses (not including word knowledge) to come

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:37:37 GMT

qaqaq's post meme is a good idea and I'd like to complete it soon, but here probably rather than on his journal. I noticed Trip mentioned not being too concerned that people would take advantage of this sort of info. Another user on a different matter suggested that he'd prefer not to tell people where he's weak. From my perspective, I'll lay out the book on me, and expect my opponents to take advantage of whatever benefit it may give them. Hopefully it will force me to work on these weaknesses. After all, if you know you have weaknesses, then you are halfway there to fixing them. This will just be motivation to fix them sooner, and might make me stronger in the long run. (Although the main reason I think most people, myself included, know about weaknesses they have and don't fix them is that the work needed is generally harder or less enjoyable than they want to do right now.)

Not sure if it was too easy, too hard, or just plain boring, or got bumped off the "radar" which in LiveJournal world is about 8 posts on the Friends page, but no bites on the puzzle position from yesterday.

The puzzle and the solution I've now posted in the comments to that page: http://synodalhaj.livejournal.com/42969.html .

Celebrating tourneys with a club night

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:29:07 GMT

I went to club tonight, riding the wave of enthusiasm :)

Lost my traditional game to George at the club, then played a game against Terry--I would have been in trouble with a blank, but a gross rack after fighting thru

EGIOOPU (B)OUGIE
EEEOOP? EPEE

down by 40 I had: BEGOOU?

I found the 6+2 unistem in BEGOOU?? and in fact, it was through a blank!

That turned the tide and I was able to pull it out. That definitely was the critical moment of that game. I'm trying to get better at recognizing those critical moments and spending a little extra time on them.

Then I played a game against Bill where everything went very well and was still fun. I had AHQSTU? and looked for AS, settling on QUASH for 60. Later I was up by 180 after playing n1 CLEAVAG(E), when he played STUNTeR*. I challenged, then spent a few minutes with MORIBUD trying to block iNSTRU(C)T for 140!

Now a puzzle!

In the endgame this position arose:



Jason: Turn 13
   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O   -> Jason                    DEGHIOU   502 
   ------------------------------     Bill                     INOOPRS   288 
 1|=     '       =       '   C =| --Tracking-----------------------------------
 2|  -       "       "   D   L  | INOOPRS  7
 3|    -       '   '     R E E K|
 4|'     -       '   D   U   A '|
 5|      B I O       E L M   V  |
 6|S Q U A S H     A X E     A  |
 7|T   '     M O P Y   A   ' G  |
 8|E     U     F I E   L A V E R|
 9|A   ' T W I T   '       '   O|
10|r "     A "       "       W O|
11|I     E N T E R I N G     I F|
12|C     - D     '       -   T '|
13|    -   S T E R N a L   J A R|
14|  -       "       Y O N   N  |
15|=     '     B I Z E   '     =|
   ------------------------------

Rarely do I try too hard in blowout endgames, but was pleased to have spent the couple minutes finding the optimal sequence here. It's a bit of a fun puzzle.

Scrabble is still fun!

I get to go to Calgary!

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:57:27 GMT

The major VIP presentation has been moved! I'm happy to do the presentation, but the timing was just unlucky. Now with it postponed, I can go play the main event in Calgary with a ton of pressure off my shoulders and actually have some fun and try to play well.

I'm also still going to Reno MLK!

:) Scrabble is fun!

George and Jason: The stats

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:38:36 GMT

Inspired by Joey to post stats for the year in a similar "Regular faceoff in a small Scrabble state/province" competition, I have tabulated my stats against George MacAulay for nearly the same season Joey used.

I consider our seasons to be the calendar years, and have them for the last half of 2006, 2007 and 2008 as well as this year. I'm not any sort of real stats collector--one morning I just sat down with my notebook which started at 2006 somewhere, which was also near where I started playing seriously again. So at the end of the year I'll post the "years in recap".

At any rate, for the period Sept 23/08 to Sept 22/09, the stats are:

These are mostly 4 game sessions that we play at my place on Saturday evenings. Any one-game entries generally involve a game which we play at the club, which it feels like I always lose :)

Summary:

Jason wins: 65
George wins: 44
Total Games: 109
Jason win%: 59.6%
Jason spread: +1577
Jason Avg: 412.8
George Avg: 402.8
Jason Bingos: 203
Jason BPG: 1.86
George Bingos: 196
George BPG: 1.80

JQZXSSSS?? distribution: Just kidding, only verbophage keeps track of this ;-)

Raw data:

Legend: Date, Jason Score, George Score, Spread, Result from Jason's perspective, # bingos in game for Jason, # for George


Date    Jsc    Gsc   Spread   JResult  JBing  GBing
9/23/08	388	433	-45	0	1	2
9/23/08	452	309	143	1	2	1
9/23/08	323	467	-144	0	0	3
9/23/08	469	364	105	1	2	1
9/30/08	380	329	51	1	1	1
9/30/08	375	358	17	1	2	1
9/30/08	455	381	74	1	2	1
9/30/08	386	373	13	1	1	1
10/18/8	526	386	140	1	5	2
10/21/8	340	355	-15	0	0	1
11/8/08	477	346	131	1	3	0
11/8/08	421	435	-14	0	2	2
11/8/08	385	258	127	1	1	2
11/8/08	504	379	125	1	2	2
11/22/8	379	400	-21	0	3	2
11/22/8	435	388	47	1	2	2
11/22/8	391	391	0	0.5	2	1
12/6/08	526	299	227	1	3	1
12/6/08	335	404	-69	0	1	2
12/6/08	438	406	32	1	2	2
12/6/08	538	356	182	1	3	2
1/3/09	349	430	-81	0	2	1
1/3/09	518	445	73	1	4	2
1/3/09	371	445	-74	0	0	3
1/3/09	466	446	20	1	2	3
1/17/09	488	318	170	1	4	1
1/17/09	500	422	78	1	4	3
1/17/09	395	430	-35	0	1	2
1/17/09	423	454	-31	0	2	2
1/31/09	406	452	-46	0	2	3
1/31/09	480	366	114	1	3	1
1/31/09	360	400	-40	0	1	1
1/31/09	389	376	13	1	2	2
2/14/09	422	439	-17	0	3	1
2/14/09	371	376	-5	0	1	2
2/14/09	379	379	0	0.5	1	2
2/14/09	452	408	44	1	3	1
2/17/09	334	471	-137	0	0	3
2/28/09	372	364	8	1	0	2
2/28/09	426	525	-99	0	2	4
2/28/09	376	390	-14	0	2	2
2/28/09	323	524	-201	0	1	2
3/7/09	306	415	-109	0	1	1
4/11/09	461	418	43	1	2	2
4/11/09	405	367	38	1	1	2
4/11/09	396	488	-92	0	1	3
4/11/09	458	418	40	1	2	2
4/23/09	375	309	66	1	1	1
4/23/09	367	372	-5	0	0	2
4/23/09	403	332	71	1	2	1
4/23/09	354	483	-129	0	2	3
5/2/09	341	395	-54	0	0	2
5/2/09	418	386	32	1	2	1
5/2/09	333	469	-136	0	2	2
5/2/09	322	395	-73	0	0	1
5/9/09	414	327	87	1	1	1
5/9/09	288	458	-170	0	1	2
5/9/09	413	407	6	1	2	2
5/9/09	414	306	108	1	2	0
5/16/09	499	396	103	1	3	1
5/16/09	390	438	-48	0	1	2
5/16/09	367	412	-45	0	1	1
5/16/09	427	393	34	1	2	1
5/23/09	386	296	90	1	2	1
5/23/09	387	333	54	1	1	1
5/23/09	446	350	96	1	2	1
5/26/09	277	425	-148	0	1	3
6/6/09	391	336	55	1	2	0
6/6/09	358	346	12	1	0	1
6/6/09	403	466	-63	0	1	4
6/6/09	511	456	55	1	3	3
6/6/09	462	386	76	1	2	2
6/6/09	297	454	-157	0	1	3
6/20/09	367	359	8	1	0	2
6/20/09	552	391	161	1	3	3
6/20/09	465	367	98	1	2	1
6/20/09	415	405	10	1	2	2
6/23/09	407	487	-80	0	2	3
6/27/09	353	331	22	1	1	2
6/27/09	400	537	-137	0	2	4
6/27/09	506	467	39	1	3	3
6/27/09	498	389	109	1	2	2
7/4/09	358	467	-109	0	2	2
7/7/09	358	458	-100	0	2	2
7/10/09	465	418	47	1	3	2
7/10/09	430	327	103	1	2	1
7/10/09	373	415	-42	0	3	2
7/10/09	451	364	87	1	2	2
7/17/09	416	386	30	1	3	2
7/17/09	452	365	87	1	3	1
7/17/09	647	334	313	1	4	1
7/17/09	412	393	19	1	2	2
8/22/09	347	292	55	1	0	1
8/22/09	394	405	-11	0	1	1
8/22/09	385	460	-75	0	3	2
8/22/09	463	462	1	1	2	2
8/29/09	446	518	-72	0	3	4
8/29/09	413	349	64	1	3	0
8/29/09	460	399	61	1	3	3
8/29/09	394	504	-110	0	2	4
9/5/09	388	474	-86	0	3	2
9/5/09	317	392	-75	0	0	1
9/5/09	469	390	79	1	3	2
9/5/09	488	389	99	1	4	2
9/9/09	420	315	105	1	3	1
9/19/09	444	421	23	1	2	1
9/19/09	464	332	132	1	1	1
9/19/09	321	448	-127	0	1	2
9/19/09	468	302	166	1	2	1

The first half of 2009 was actually a pretty rough run for Scrabble in general, while I could do little wrong in late 2008. We'll see what happens in the second half :)

Who's who of JT?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:29:13 GMT

Does such a thing exist? I'm not looking for anyone to be "outed" if they choose to be anonymous, but I was wondering if there was a list of folk on JumbleTime somewhere that I didn't know about.

Some are obvious ("Robin"), some are the same as ISC, but not all.

Is there somewhere to look?