Surmounting Near-Insurmountable Adversity, Thomas Reinke Wins 'Em All

1st Thomas Reinke, befalled by misfortune on his way to club (Acute garage door malfunction), shook off the universe's agenda against him to take first place in the expert division, 4-0 +448.  He and Mary Becker rushed through their first-round game due to their late arrival, and Thomas consequently ended up with a low-scoring win, 346-322.  By the fourth game, however, he was firing on all of his multitude of cylinders, crushing his twin nemesis Charles, 496-316.  Thomas got TENDRILS and SOLUNAR (adj. of or relating to both the sun and the moon, e.g. a solunar calendar), with the lowlier twin finding SWIPLES (n. SWIPLE, a part of a threshing machine, also SWIPPLE).  As an extra bonus, Charles had just reached the ten-wins-in-a-row threshold that made every game against him worth a potential five dollars.

2nd Averaging 415 points per game, Helen Flores finished at 3-1 +139, edging out Gail Salm by seven spread points for second place.  She scored 400 or more in every contest and has now won six of her last seven.  Returning from a long absence, Buffy Hogan was shown no mercy as Helen beat her 416-317; Helen played SENATES and was countered by Buffy's FEASTING.  Helen was also awarded "most creative use of a phony" when she extended Thomas' phony OVERFUN with a D to make OVERFUND, while simultaneously playing her own bingo of GRIEVED.  Unfairly, that game was her only loss, as Thomas bested her 474-400.

3rd Gail Salm went 3-1 +132 and averaged two bingos a game en route to third place.  She capped off her evening with a 448-367 victory against Andy Bohnsack, finding three bingos on the way: CROPPER, RELATION, and SNEAKER.  Andy bingoed with QUOTABLE and ROSETTE, then soothed himself after the game by reminding himself that the NBA season, and thus fantasy basketball, is only a month away.  Not in every game were the tile gods smiling upon Gail; she was defeated by Bryan Benwitz 336-491, with Bryan playing a career-best FOUR bingos: MOISTEN, PREOWNED, REATONE, and LABORING.  Gail played WILIEST, but only rarely will one bingo outdo four of them.

Spread Always Matters, and Sue Goldstein Can Attest to That

1st Sue Goldstein went 1-2 +50.  She nearly cracked the 400-mark with a 395-263 drubbing of June Scott, playing PEALING and STRAINS to take control of that one.

2nd June Scott also had a 1-2 record, but her spread of -198 relegated her to second place in a diminished intermediate group.  She did beat Sue Goldstein 358-318 before calling it a night.

We found out via Mary Becker that Barb Besadny recently broke her hip and will be undergoing surgery soon.  If there's ever an excuse to miss Scrabble club (there isn't), this would be it.  We wish her the best!