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PC 2007 Commentary: Round 20

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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, Award Ceremony.

This round's annotated game featured: James Leong vs. Lisa Odom.

Round 20

The first woman at table 1 in div 1, yeah Lisa Odom (St. Louis Park, MN). She squared off against James Leong (Vancouver BC). I find out later that it wasn't a fun game for her. It started strong with him playing DROGUES for 72 and her replying with TORCHING for 74. Toward midgame, he got two bingos: PEDALLED for 80 and LAcKInG for 83 to her one bingo: CINEASTE for 74. It was his win, 486-353, but like the Terminator, she'll be back!

Two of the young ones in div 5 faced off at table 3 this round. I see ENDITEs played by David A Brown (Lexington, KY) for 72 and URINALS for 68 and sERVING for 69 for Joey Krafchick (Roswell, GA). There was a fun block in the top left of the board:
BARE
ADIT
They both said the game was fun. It was Joey's win, 403-373. Worth noting is that Joey has won the past 11 games in a row!

Jeremy Jeffers (Milford, CT) had a big game with Marcia Wade (Muncie, IN) this round, winning, 448-351. I see Jeremy's OPERATES played through the T for 63, RERULES for 64, and SEEMING for 84. What I don't see is the play Marcia challenged off: FLEEBEDS*. Marcia played ORATION for 66 and ended up with both blanks, but at the same time in her last rack. She would like me to show up for a game she wins next time. We laugh about how this might be more possible.

Players are getting loopy already. And we have another round to go! I approach a game between Chuck Riordan (Des Moines, IA) and Mark Garrod (East Lansing, MI). Chuck points out that their favorite play was BOOGEr. I'm not sure he is kidding, but then maybe I am the loopy one. I see Chuck's RETAILOR through the E and SAPPIEr. Mark made a couple of nice plays that Chuck pointed out. One was playing VIDS/RETAILORS, earning more points for the hooked word than Chuck had earned himself. The second was a subtle play of AGA which opened up the most left triple lane. Sure enough, Mark came down the very next play with NATURES for 79. It was Chuck's win, 423-352.

Michael Wolfberg (Westford, MA) ekes out a win against Edward Stewart (Baltimore, MD) at table 1 in div 3, 391-385. I see Ed's BORINGS for 78 and REtAINED through the R and second E for 74. Mike specialized in the smaller plays like QUOTA, which brought him to the win.

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) and Glenn Dunlop (Brantford ON) faced off at table 1 in div 2 this round. I see Glenn's QUOTA for 48 and the nice tandem play of WHISK for 61, then VISA/WHISKS to the triple for 49. Rafi played TeSTUDO for 79 and ARENOsE for 69. For some reason, Glenn wanted to know why Rafi didn't challenge his play of WHISK. When Rafi explained that he knew it as a common word, Glenn continued to ask why he didn't challenge. I clearly wasn't following the subtext, so I moved on.

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) finds me on the other side of the room to tell me about an opponent's play in rd 17. Darin True (Pontiac, IL) played FREEBASED to the ED for 79. Rafi thought it was a good find and a nice play.

Orry Swift (Dayton, TX) and Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL) faced off this round. If my notes are right, Orry played CRUDITIES and SNIFFED, the latter for 101 points, just to stay in the game.

The ever-smiling Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) is bordering on morose right now. He just discovered a missed outbingo in his game with Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand). This costed him the game and he lost, 395-415 to Pakorn. Pakorn played SIGmaTE for 75, BURNOOSE for 63, and SELENITE from the S for 77. Jim got down LAMBENT for 71 and the much remarked upon by every single onlooker, PENNONED to the D for 83 on the top triple lane. Pakorn lamented that he had been trying to triple triple through that D that Jim played his second bingo to. One blank already on his rack, Pakorn picked the second one and finally had the right tiles to triple-triple and it was just the right time for Jim to block that spot. The pain for Jim stems from his last rack: EIILRST. He played DIRTIES along the bottom lane to the triple, leaving an L on his rack when Pakorn bingoed out. It was then that Jim saw the N in SELENITE calling out his name. He could have played NITRILES and he would have won if he did. Pakorn, who saw NITRILES decided he's mistracked when Jim played DIRTIES. But no, he just didn't see and the most painful part? The game ended with 7.5 minutes on his clock. He had ample time to look. Poor Jim.