Charles Reinke's Streak Ends, But He Gets A Good Start On the Next One

1st Charles Reinke had his winning streak halted at 13, but then won three in a row to start the journey anew, going 3-1 +419.  Richard Lauder came away five dollars richer as he soundly defeated the C-Twin 415-330.  Charles successfully got away with the phony SHOALERS (SHOALER is good), but this dishonest bingo was surpassed by Richard's bingos of NOSTRIL and COMEDOS (n. COMEDO, a skin blemish, also COMEDONES).  The drought of bingos was only one game long, however, as Charles got at least three in each of his three remaining games.  He got the highest individual game score of the evening when he defeated Susan Vergeront 577-301, unleashing an avalanche of bingos along the way: CROWNETS (n. CROWNET, a small crown), FOUNTAIN, ANTHESIS, and AMENTIAS.  The 500-point mark again proved easily reachable for Charles as he beat Andy Bohnsack 508-379.  Andy got RECOATS and a double-double CERTAIN, but his scoring attempts where overwhelmed by Charles' CARDOONS, VITIATED, and VINTNER.

2nd Michael David continues to enjoy his summer off, finishing 3-1 +264.  He revealed his true, uncaring nature when he trounced Mary Becker by nearly 200 points, 510-312.  His three bingos of TERRANE, BLONDES, and DENOTES comprised much of the difference.  Michael also improved his lifetime record against Bryan Benwitz to a perfect 2-0 when they battled to a 402-364 finish.  Bryan got down the useful-to-know SANTERA but found Michael's WANTERS and HALOIDS to be insurmountable.  Only Thomas Reinke managed to uncover the secret to beating Michael, doing so in (relatively) low-scoring fashion, 387-332.  Thomas had PALETTE and TOMENTA (n. TOMENTUM, a network of small blood vessels) to Michael's SOUNDED.

3rd Aaron Bader, in the absence of his regular British-dictionary sparring partner, was forced to switch back to our "normal" dictionary for the evening, but still found success, going 3-1 +206 and scoring above 400 in all of his games.  Andy Bohnsack proved to be his foil, with Aaron ending up on the wrong side of a 404-457 final score despite bingos of AGOUTIES and HOLARDS (Andy found RAINOUT and a nine-letter TABORINES through the 'IN').  Aaron's closest victory came against Barb Besadny, 418-370.  Barb had TOPPLES to Aaron's REFLATES and BANDEROL (n. a narrow flag or pennant, usually spelled BANDEROLE).  On the other side of the spectrum, Aaron crushed Thomas Reinke in their first-ever matchup, 466-320.  Thus, he joins the select ranks of players who have a winning record against the T-Twin (including the never seen before or since "Dan Hoffman").

Andy Bohnsack and Mary Becker both went 3-1, but their lower cumulative spreads prevented them from cracking the top three.  Mary Becker played the word of the week, SQUAWKS for 128 points, as part of her 480-351 drubbing of Peter Schmiedicke.