Thomas Reinke Mourns Recent End of Win Streak With Another First-Place Finish

1st Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +289, a rather pedestrian performance for him given his recent results, but nevertheless good for first place. He started the night off on the right foot with a 516-359 victory over Gail Salm. Gail did get down two bingos in her losing effort, one easy (EASIEST) and one not-so-easy (word of the week VIADUCT); Thomas's, meanwhile, were all sourced from the "high-probability sevens" section of the dictionary (RETITLE, FRONTES, UNHORSE). Thomas followed up that win with another high-scoring victory, this time 478-350 over Andy Bohnsack. Andy got away with the phony EGOTISED (EGOTIZED is a new addition to the dictionary); Thomas punished him duly with another three-bingo barrage: THIOUREA, ENCHANT, and RESPIRE. The bingo spigot couldn't keep flowing forever, though, as Thomas found out in a 316-451 loss against Bryan Benwitz where he only got down one bingo of SCARLETS (Bryan had EASTERN, BOUNCERS, and MISTRALS).

2nd Bryan Benwitz finished with a record of 3-1 +188. His best game by far was the previously mentioned three-bingo game against Thomas Reinke; he didn't score above 400 or get more than one bingo in any of the rest, a strange occurrence given Bryan's high-scoring, frequently-bingoing tendencies. He took down Dave Gilligan in the first round by a score of 388-346, despite getting outbingoed two to one (Bryan had STRIDENT; Dave had PARLAYS and SPEARING). A game against Andy Bohnsack was even lower scoring than that, ending at 358-285. I thought these guys averaged over 400 a game and two bingos a game? What happened to that? The only bingo on the board when all was said and done was Bryan's INVITES.

3rd Mary Becker beat two of the club's top players on her way to a 2-1 +81 record. Before those exciting games are recounted, however, her opening-round loss against Helen Flores, 346-386, should be mentioned. Helen bingoed with PHONIES for 90 points, a much-needed infusion of points that lead to her victory. Mary came back from that loss with a strong 435-373 win against Bryan Benwitz, largely thanks to her bingo of BIALIES, which drew a challenge from her opponent (the likely source of confusion being another way to pluralize BIALY: BIALYS). Not being one to rest on her laurels, Mary went on to beat the club's second-place man, Charles Reinke, by a score of 393-334. The bingo-happy Charles was prevented from bingoing even once, whereas Mary got down MINISTER and a late CLAUSES to guarantee victory.