Charles Reinke Plays Scrabble Good; Thomas Reinke's Streak Ends at 12

1st Charles Reinke averaged 478 a game over the course of his 4-0 +464 evening.  He started off strong with a decisive 530-276 victory over Gail Salm, playing BROIDERS and LIVELONG to Gail's INTONATE.  His high-scoring tendencies again manifested themselves when he defeated Andy "Bonestorm" Bohnsack in a high-scoring shootout, 524-473.  Their combined score of 997 is the ninth-highest since 2011, and Andy's losing score is the tenth highest lost since that same date.  Andy played CREATORS (a 90-point double-double), ELOIGNER, and ENDITER (combination of INDITER and ENDITE), but his three bingos were outshone by Charles' four: MARTENS, STYLITE, ABIDING, and MODIOLUS (n. a bony shaft of the inner ear).  Lynda Finn was closest to defeating Charles, but even that game was not truly "close", as it ended in a 407-330 Charles victory.

2nd Aaron Bader stayed for only three games, but made the most of his abbreviated evening, finishing 3-0 +289.  A sizable helping of smack was unleashed against Helen Flores in a game that ended 477-322, Aaron's win.  He played OFFERED (later extended to PROFERRED to a TWS) and RONIONS; Helen had LAMINATE but may have had more success playing its anagram, ANTIMALE.  That win may have been a moderately pleasant experience, but it paled in comparison to the $5 that Aaron was awarded for defeating Thomas Reinke 440-392, thus ending Thomas' winning streak at twelve games.  Thomas, meanwhile, was awarded $7 ($5 for ten wins plus $1 for each game won past ten), an amount that may have somewhat eased the agony of not making it into the top three.  Aaron pulled out the big guns to secure the win, playing the uncommon words BRONCHUS and ORTHICON while Thomas was stuck with the prosaic TAENIAE and LEISURE.

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +228, edging out the only other 3-1 finisher for an appearance in the top three and his very own paragraph.  He held two of his opponents to under 300 points, defeating Leslie Seltzer 447-269 and Andy Bohnsack 453-299.  In the latter game, Bryan had the nice find of EMISSARY as well as SOLOING; Andy was unable to bingo the whole game, a rare occurrence for a player who is widely acknowledged to be a bingo-finding robot.  However, not all was peaches and cream for Bryan, as he himself was held under the 300-point mark by none other than Richard Lauder, who whupped him 448-273.  Richard had three bingos: WINIEST, SOPRANI, and BLEACHED.  If it's any consolation, Bryan still has the edge in the lifetime series, 11-10. 

Richard also played the word of the week, UGLIFIER.

Today's Forecast: Chilly, with 100% Chance of Susan Vergeront Domination

1st Susan Vergeront went 2-1 +158 before calling it a night, thus guaranteeing a plus-.500 record for the night.  Bingos were absent from the menu when she defeated Sue Goldstein 298-287, a game that maybe wasn't as fun as a higher-scoring game would have been.  However, fun times were had by all (or at least one person) when Susan crushed June Scott 458-224, playing VIEWINGS for 68 points to further the cause.

2nd Sue Goldstein's 2-1 +65 record left her at an exact 50% winning percentage on the year.  She had the highest-scoring bingo of the evening, SQUARER for 99 points, while also securing the win against Barb Besadny, 347-314.  Sue's phony of ELIXERS (real spelling: ELIXIRS) stayed on the board against June Scott, a blight on an otherwise solid win for her, 364-321.