Club nite
I returned to club last night for the final night of its statistical 'season,' my first attendance since July 8. Seven weeks' dormancy had dropped me out of the Top Ten (I hate seeing that 'A' for Absent after my name).

I wasn't idle all that time... I had a couple friendly sessions in July, including a 2-game set July 9 in which I played eight bingos, two of them nines (RE(ME)DIATE and LIGRO(IN)eS). Perhaps my optimism going into New Orleans wasn't entirely misplaced. In spite of results. Pfft.

But last night I felt 'on,' winning 4 of 4. Bingos were AUGUR(I)Ng, RAG(G)IEST, (E)MIgRANT (double-double), C(E)INTURE (where ENURETIC would have been stronger defensively), and SENArII. Opponents were two top-ten players, an up-and-coming intermediate, and a novice (well, she is enthusiastic and a long-time club attendee, but didn't know senarii).

In both of the first two games I made plays that I knew immediately were miscalculations -- both in the immediate pre-endgame (1 or 2 in the bag). It's a clear area I need to work on -- applying a strict decision-tree even under slight time pressure and with a more complex set of possibilities.

I tend to see that there are possibilities, but my brain short-circuits just shy of actually counting them up and evaluating them. Then I make a play that vaguely avoids or vaguely blocks or vaguely sets up, but without a really clear idea....

In both of these cases I was lucky, in that while my decisions hurt spread, the worst-case results did not occur.

In game three, I was happy with two positions: one where I played off W(E)B from BCEIRTW for only 12 (sacrificing as much as 12 points), but very enamored of the CEIRT leave in that position. My NU draw paid off with CEINTURE. 82 over two turns, instead of back-to-back 26-ish plays, w00t. (Maven didn't agree, by the way, preferring a different W*B play for a few more points, and opening a new alley for an S hook. Not having the S, I was loth to do this. Gratified to get the W*B dump idea right though.)

Then at the end, virtually tied, I seemed to do the right things with AEEEIINV (the last 8 tiles I saw), to make sure my opponent couldn't go out in two after emptying the bag, and doing so myself (HI, ZEIN, EAVE).

Oh, also in game 2, I had a nice TZIGANE non-bingo for 81.

Enough Scrabble?