Charles Reinke "Wins Some", But in Defiance of the Old Adage, Fails to "Lose Some"

1st Charles Reinke's 4-0 +433 performance put him easily atop the expert standings.  This per-game average of 443 was actually lower than his yearly average, but his opponent's average of a lowly 334 is quite a bit lower than their yearly average of 370.  Richard Lauder felt the pain when he fell 298-417 despite his bingo of EARLIER, although he did enjoy a different sort of success: that game was the only one in which Charles was held under two bingos (his only one was MUSICALE).  Charles reversed his bingo fortunes when he played four of them in his game against Barb Besadny, a game which he won 531-264.  The four bingos were REPTILE, MAILMAN, SEAPORT, and NIDIFIES (v. NIDIFY, to make a nest).

2nd Mark Kenas finished 4-1 +515 and averaged 481 points per game, in line with his traditionally high-scoring ways.  The challenges of playing as the "one" in a two-on-one game did not seem to faze him, as he handily turned away the best efforts of both Susan Vergeront (503-295; OVERTRIM, RACIEST, FINNIEST) and Lynda Finn (454-297; MUTTONS, NAUSEAS).  Mark then played a three-game Collins dictionary series against Aaron Bader which ended in Mark's favor, 2-1.  One of these games, a 490-466 barnburner that ended in victory for the Bearded Behemoth, featured several Collins-only bingos: SEARNESS for Mark; TOWNIER and ORLEANS for Aaron.  Unless you are planning on switching over to a new dictionary, it would be wise to banish those words from your mind as soon as you finish reading this sentence.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke ended up at 3-1 +407.  He slapped around Thomas Reinke to the tune of 472-328, thanks in part to three bingos of IODINATE, IRONIST (n. one who uses irony), and OVERSTEP.  However, he was not so lucky against the other twin, and lost by a mere four points, 389-385 - the closest game of the evening.  Peter played GREASIER, but was countered by TRIOLETS and OTITIDES (plural of OTITIS, inflammation of the ear).  That was the low point - now let's talk about the high point, which was Peter's merciless pummeling of Helen Flores, 490-263.  Somewhat surprisingly, Peter had "only" two bingos in that one: OVERNICE and RESTERS.

Of note was a game between Andy Bohnsack and Bryan Benwitz.  The game ended 505-477 in Bryan's favor, with each player playing four bingos!  Even more impressive, Andy's four came in his first four turns of the game, but Bryan never gave up and managed to run off four of his own before the game ended.  Andy's did not use a blank or an S: CARDIAE, OUTFIRED, OTALGIA, and ARPEGGIO.  Bryan's did: VERNIXES, ASTONIED, RESLATED, and a phony OUTSURF.

Sharlie Miura Also Fails to "Lose Some"

1st Sharlie Miura has now one six of her last eight after going 2-0 +124.  She narrowly defeated Sue Goldstein 327-310 thanks to a timely bingo of COINING.  Building on that success, she not-so-narrowly defeated June Scott 340-233.

2nd Sue Goldstein went 2-2 -158.  Things were looking good for her after wins over Aki Miura and June Scott, but then Betty Hasselkus had to come in and ruin everything, winning 443-255 with the assitance of her bingo, DOILIES.