Sanity Returns to Scrabble World as Richard Lauder is Finally Beaten

1st Charles Reinke faced stiff competition throughout the night, but managed to escape with four wins and a +193 spread.  Most of his games were rather close - the only one that wasn't was a 426-320 win against Mary Becker.  Charles played REGLAZES and SEAMING while Mary suffered a drought of bingo-prone tiles until the end, where her last rack of BISQUES was orphaned due to unfavorable board conditions.  Peter Schmiedicke came closest to felling the club leader, losing by a close score of 385-387.  Both players played just one bingo, well below the normal bingo output for them: EVASION for Charles and NICTATE for Peter.

2nd Richard "the Bearded Bruiser" Lauder went 4-1 +116, winning his first two games to extend his win-streak to 18 before Bryan Benwitz decisively put an end to the run.  The score in that one was a lopsided 292-484, but the payouts afterwards were tilted in the other direction; Bryan got five smackeroos for playing the role of spoiler, whereas Richard walked away from the loss thirteen dollars richer ($5 for the first ten games and $1 for each game thereafter).  Bryan unleashed a trio of bingos (TOLLERS, ENVIERS, and AWAITED) and was not perturbed in the slightest when Richard's VICTUALS came down.  Richard made up a good amount of that lost spread when he defeated Betty Hasselkus 460-271, playing three bingos of his own: FOLIATED (v. FOLIATE, to hammer into thin plates), SEASONS, and NOTIVES.

3rd Thomas Reinke got first crack at taking down Richard, but failed, resulting in a 3-1 +388 final record.  In a blaze of fury after losing out on the $5 prize, he averaged 466 points in his other three games.  He reserved an especially large amount of rage for the winner of that $5, Bryan Benwitz, whom he clobbered 479-256.  Thomas played MEASLIER and AGATOID (adj. resembling agate); Bryan managed to play WARTIEST amidst the chaos.

Bryan Benwitz played the word of the week, VAPOROUS.  It's always nice to bingo with such incompatible combinations of letters such as OOPVU.   

Dave Gilligan Bingos His Way to the Top

1st Dave Gilligan scored over 400 in each of his games while going 2-1 +382.  He played two bingos, SANDERS and ALLOTER (ALLOTTER and REALLOT are good) to defeat Sue Goldstein 423-278.  After his initial two wins, he was bumped up to the expert group, where he gave Charles Reinke a run for his money, finally losing 411-446.  Again, Dave was the proud owner of two bingos, ENABLES and ARROGANT, with Charles playing an additional two: DENTIST and STIBNITE (n. an ore of antimony).