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NSC 2011 Commentary: Round 9

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.


Round 9

Mary Rhoades' assistant, Elijah, walked around the room this round, picking out pretty plays: AIRIEST, DESCENT, REPOSING, PlEASING, RELaXED for 118, IDONEITY, HOODIEST (which drew a challenge), LOOPIEST, TANNERs, ATELIERS, RETINALS, REGrETS, and LUNTIN?.

So, delighted at reaching a tie with each other, Sam Dick-Onuoha (Dallas, TX) and John Luebkemann (Richmond, VA) turned in their tie result slip together, each holding one side as they put it into the basket. Some folks are made happy by the simpliest things! I walk over to their board and John said, "He has a NASPA word!" I was puzzled and realizing he was talking to a real person, he went on to say "His bingo, PAISANO, is NASPA plus IO." I thanked him for the clarification! This is John's first tie in a Nationals. Sam Dick blocked John's hot X play, so he had to settle for INDEXeS for 89. Sam Dick played PUrSUED for 87 and the fun HALERU for 20.

Just a beautiful game is in progress between Joe Edley (Port Jefferson, NY) and Charles Reinke (Middleton, WI). I see DILUTER, AUxETIC, BITCHEN, SENECIOS, RESTRiNG, DAUBRY, AZOTE, and DUOMI on their board. Joe appeared to be in the lead as they were heading into the endgame.

So, David Koenig (Silver Spring, MD) is essentially on fire today. He just had his third 500 game in a row. This one, a 509-420 win against Eric Tran (Calgary AB), of the STUD T-shirt fame. Early on, there were three bingos in a row, Eric's BOUNTIES for 83 and then David's diabolical one-two punch of SMILAXES on the triple for 104 and CONIFERS for 101. I see David's RELIGHTS and Eric's pANGENE and FREEFALL*. The bingo he should have played was FAREWELL, but oh well, he got away with it!

Orry Swift (Houston, TX) is so ironic that half the time I miss his jokes. He scolded me for not seeing him yet in the championship. I explained that my pedicure was more important for surely I've been doing nothing. He explained that it took him 10 minutes to find a 176-point triple triple: REPAYING for 176. Seeing me write this he said, "I'm kidding!! That is an easy find, Sherrie." Not for everyone.... Orry, dear! His opponent this round, Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ), played HIMAtION (pretty) and Orry fired back with the cheap but effective ZIT/ZA/It/TI for 66. Two other fun Orry plays: OVERRIdE from the O and the 20-point U-dump of UREDIUM through the R (now, THAT is style!

Quiet, sweet Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) comes up and asks if I had heard of his round 7 game with Orry. I explained my steadfast refusal to check in with Orry and he nodded, understandingly. He said, "it was late in the game, there were a couple of bingo lanes open and then Orry opened another one. There was a G in such a spot that I knew he could play AGMINATE. And, like a good player, I took five minutes and blocked that play really good." I could sense the other shoe dropping, and it did. All good on the blocking of that play, but Jim failed to block the 7 on Orry's rack: AMENTIA. Orry got it down and won the game. Best laid plans...

Kevin Leeds (Austin, TX) had a fun game with Joey Krafchick (Roswell, GA) this round. Joey started strong with TROLAND and AERATION through the T. Then Kevin clawed back, getting down GETTERED, INTERNS, and EBOnIEs. In the end, Kevin eked out a win, 434-413.

Division 3 leader, Bennett Jacobstein, ran a Trivia contest last night. He is well-known for running successful West Coast events. And last night, he ran into the East Coast winner of all things trivia: Judy Cole (Concord, MA). She was a new name to him, but not to me! He had about 40 players show up and his system had all of them answer a 30-question written, multiple choice set. The four that did the best went on to the Jeopardy-like final round. Those four were: Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX), Nathan Benedict (Tucson, AZ), Dee Segrest, and Judy Cole. It was Judy's win! Grats to them all!

A tie at board 1 in divison 4 this round between Emily Lichtman (New York, NY) and Alexander Rivard (Austin, TX)!

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.



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