meezerman's Journal

Another couple of Reno games
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4110#0

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=4111#0

Lot's of tough decisions in my game against

wantonhalo . See if you can do much better than I did.

As promised, a Reno Game
Against Cynthia Seales, ME R3.

See if you can figure out my best endgame sequence. Here, theoretically best (i.e., loses by least against perfect play) probably gives you as good of winning chances against likely actual play as anything.

Reno Report
Well, obviously Reno went quite well this year, especially considering what a poor start my trip got off too, and then almost having to cancel out of the main event due to illness.

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Couple of interesting SWILLNS positions
Endgame against Chris Cree: http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=3935#20. He has a 1 point win with perfect play, but it's a tough find. I did manage to work out the main line in the post mortem.

My other game against Chris. I made a very cute play; Quackle found an even cuter one. See if you can find either. http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=3936#12

The endgame against Lester that he mentioned. Unwinnable with best play, so I have to try to complicate matters and steal it some how. What's the best sequence (loses by 5), and what do you think is the best realistic shot at stealing it, given that he's moderately short on time?
http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=3937#24

Interesting position
From a Collins game against Quackle today. I don't have the position saved, but the only relevant part is that the word OUTEDGE# is at 9a, wide open. You have ?EHJPSW. Your choices:

JOW a8 39 --- ?EHPS
JOSEPH a8 63 --- ?W
JoSH 8a 90 --- EPW

Do you go for max points, crummy leave with JoSH, max leave, crummy points with JOW, or split the difference with JOSEPH?

If you're going to cheat, at least make it plausible
Just played a game on ISC against an unknown. He made the highest scoring play on every turn, once burning a lone S for an extra 1 point. He bingoed out with pARAZOAN. Seriously, what's the point? Why do people waste their (and my) time doing stupid stuff like this?

Beat the computer
This would be a lost endgame against even a minimally competent human opponent, but lucky for me, we've got an ISC Bot. So find the win.

Find the great bingo
Not that tough if you know it's there. I missed it during the game.

Clusterf**k to the WSC
Ugh, what a mess.( Read more... )</div></div>

Oregon Tile positions
Not too pleased with my performance here, as two of my losses were easily winnable, and probably a third as well if I challenge an early phony. Here are positions from two of my losses. Yes, there's a phony bingo on each board, which indicates the state of my word knowledge these days.

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63 games of Collins Scrabble wrapup

I’m finally back from my seven week odyssey through Southeast Asia. Those of you interested in the travel aspect of it can read my travelog at http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/meezerman/11/tpod.html. I’ve posted text for most places I’ve been; pictures are forthcoming.

As for the Scrabble, I quackled all my games yesterday. Overall, I gave a decent performance given that Collins was my second language. I can forgive myself for missing # bingos like GLADWRAP# and SAFRONAL# that I had no chance of knowing given my limited Collins exposure. Anyway, here’s a rundown on all of my losses and some interesting wins. First third posted here; rest coming in the next two posts.

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I'm rich, bitch!
Just withdrew 4,000,000 dong from the ATM. How many xu is that?

First 3 games today: 0-3, -689.
Next 3 games today: 3-0, +28.

Nigel and I each have 8 wins after 12, but he has me on spread by about 1000. Howard Warner is leading with 10.

Ugh
Start of the day: 5-1, + 634
Now: 5-4, -55

Brutal.

Day 1
5-1, as are David Eldar and Howard Warner; Nigel is at 3 after 5. I assume he'll win his last game because he's Nigel. Dinner tonight in a few minutes--shorts are a no-no, but I'm doing laundry today and have no long pants so I'll just have to go underdressed.

Live blogging from Penang
Tourney field here isn't quite as strong as Causeway, but still pretty good. We've got David Eldar, Nigel Richards, Pakorn, Sam K and Tim Adamson, the whole Nigerian team, Howard Warner, Ferdi, and myself. Probably some decent Malaysian players too, although I don't know them too well.

First game in 15 minutes.

Game position from Causeway
I've got a laptop, wifi, and a digital camera, so let's give this a shot. This is an endgame position from game 4 of the Causeway. I was short on time and unable to find my winning play. I think I've found one, although without Quackle and given my shaky Sowpods knowledge, I can't say for certain.

Apologies for the poor picture quality, but I think you can still make out all the words. Ignore the letters under the position; those are from another game. In this game, I'm down 9 with CDEHIOT on my rack; my opponent has BLOPS?

Epic trip begins in 2, 1, ...
As some of you may know, I'm playing in the Causeway Challenge in a week. I've also scheduled a massive trip around my trip to SE Asia.

I'll be flying into Singapore this Saturday, staying there for 2 nights before moving across the strait to the Zon Regency for 5 crazy days of Scrabble. I then fly to Penang for another 18 games of Scrabble! After two days on my own in Kuala Lumpur, it's off to Saigon, where I begin a 22 day South-to-North tour of Vietnam, which I then follow up with a 12 day trip through Laos down to Bangkok. I fly back to the U.S. on January 18, assuming the Bangkok airport is open by then! I'm bringing my Asus laptop with me, so I should be able to post fairly frequent updates from the road.

Fun Collins only acronyms
JAFA--Just another f***ing Auklander
YABA--Yet another bloody acronym
KYBO--keep your bowels open (scout slang for an outhouse)
WYSIWYG--what you see is what you get

Probably a lot more--these are just the ones I can recall offhand.

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