Thomas Reinke Halts Brother's Streak in Furious Fashion

1st Thomas Reinke put together a rather dominating performance, going 4-0 +634 and averaging 485 points per game. The best was certainly not saved for last when he devastated Dennis Lloyd in their first-round matchup, 549-310. Dennis got down BERATING, but a flood of bingos from his opponent (DEODARS, INSANER, PRERADIO, and SESTINE) swept away any changes of winning. Thomas then applied similar amounts of rage on Andy Bohnsack, just squeaking over the 500-point barrier with a 501-303 victory. Andy did attain Word of the Week honors with GHERKINS, but it was no consolation at the time as Thomas was able to play SAUCIEST, VIRELAY (n. a medieval French verse used in poetry, also VIRELAI), TRENDOID, and TROPICS. The 500-point barrier was just out of reach when Thomas met up against his brother Charles, but it didn't matter; a 499-349 final score is decisive enough as it is. Both combatants got down two bingos: SILTIER and PRAEDIAL for Charles, PACIFIER and FAINTER for Thomas.

2nd Charles Reinke won his first three games to build up an 11-game winning streak, but his luckless encounter with his brother in the fourth game put an end to that. for displaying the heroism necessary to end the streak, Thomas now has a fat wad of five one-dollar bills taking up space in his pocket, while Charles was awarded $6 for his efforts (10 wins = $5, each win after 10 = $1). Helen Flores might also be deserving of some money after losing a high-scoring game against Charles, 433-462. In a change of pace, she out-bingoed Charles, playing AUREOLE, ATONIES, and GELATIN to Charles' SUNBELTS and RETRACE. Charles' bingo mojo was restored, however, when he faced off against Andy Bohnsack and unleashed a firestorm of bingos upon him, winning 569-362 thanks to WAITERED, ISATINE, LOGGIAS, RIBANDS, and FLEECING. Andy contributed to the abundance of bingos by playing OUTEARNS and RELOANED.

3rd Gail Salm departed early due to work obligations, but made the most of her three games, going 2-1 -100. Things did not start of well for Gail, with a 275-477 loss to Andy Bohnsack putting her in a 200-point hole. However, she bounced back with a convincing 500-433 victory over Dennis Lloyd. A trio of bingos (FANTAIL, DEVOUTER, and SPONGER) was vital to securing the win, while Dennis' UNLEASED helped him snag one of his two losing scores over 400. Gail's second win came against Richard Lauder, 374-339. A pair of mid-game bingos (WINTRIER and TEENIEST) gave her a lead that would turn out to be insurmountable, even after Richard's LANCERS.

Two new bingos were played this week: HALIOTES (Thomas) and GATCHED (Charles). It is also worth noting that there were no phony bingos played for the entire session. It's easier to do with only 10 people, but still not very easy.