Michael David... and Goliath! Nah, That Doesn't Make Sense

1st Michael David secured his first top finish since his long-awaited return to club, going 4-0 +222. In the first round, he survived a close match with Helen, winning 390-372 thanks to his bingo of ENDIVES (n. disgusting salad greens). His second game was almost as close, with him defeating Dave 363-334. Michael played OUTDONE (anagram DUOTONE), but, not to be outdone, Dave's FORCERS for 93 kept him in the game until the end. Michael's bingoing (and thus, scoring) started picking up against Richard, against whom he got down ACULEATE (n. a stinging insect) and INWARDLY in a 449-364 victory. He saved his great accomplishment for last, ending Aaron's 9-game winning streak, 487-391, saving the club a ton of money in the process. Not like we don't enjoy giving out money. Just saying though. Anyway, Michae's three bingos of SOLATED, RENEWALS, and ERASION were enough to counteract Aaron's nice find of BHANGRAS (n. a genre of Punjabi music, a noteworthy example of the style being "Tunak Tunak Tun" by Daler Mehndi) for 106.

2nd Thomas Reinke averaged 502, which is only halfway to a thousand, points per game on his way to a 3-1 +516 record. He dispatched Lynda in the first game with his bingos of FISTING (which takes an S, if anyone was curious) and CHALONE. Against Bryan, he won, 560-384, playing MYNHEER (n. a Dutch title of courtesy for a man, also spelled MIJNHEER), SOIGNEE, and DELUDED. Bryan did get down ABALONE and a late HISTONE, but it wasn't enough. Don't you sometimes wish that the bonus for bingos was like 250 points instead of 50? I bet Bryan does. At least in this case. In the third game, Aaron edged out Thomas, 440-422 with his bingos of ALDICARB for 95 and QUERIED for 90. Incensed by his poor luck, Thomas unleashed the fury against Gail, winning 545-335 with a barrage of early bingoing. In quick succession, he played ENISLES, SAPREMIA, STRIDING, and DENOTING, using up all the good tiles and leaving none for Gail. How rude!

3rd Charles Reinke edged out Aaron for third place by one spread point with his 3-1 +19 record. If it turns out that Aaron should actually be in third due to a data entry error, there will be no apologies. Typing numbers is hard! This paragraph will continue assuming that Charles is the rightful winner. Coincidentally, Charles lost to Aaron in the first round, 386-471, probably because he, at one point, drew a rack of a AEINST?. Racks like that are a bad omen. He bingoed with RETSINA, but when your opponent can bingo from a rack of DEFGITY with FIDGETY, it's easy to see who deserves to win. Charles made up for his first-round loss with a 458-411 win against Lynda in the next game, a game which featured his very nice find of PALEOCON (n. an extremely right-wing conservative). Against David in the third round, Charles withstood an early barrage of scoring by his opponent to win 403-358, playing a lone bingo, CENTIARE. Charles' 424-412 win against Bryan, combined with Aaron's loss, in the final game of the night was just enough to slide him into third. Again, there will be no refunds for mis-inputted scores.