Thomas Reinke Continues to Close Gap in Yearly Standings

1st Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +403, nudging up his yearly winning percentage, which stood at 72.2% before the night's games and 72.9% afterwards. He got losses out of his system quickly as part of a two-on-one game; while defeating Gail Salm 423-350 one board, the other board was not as friendly, with Peter Schmiedicke handing Thomas a close defeat, 339-350. Peter, in addition to coming out ahead in the score column, also came out ahead in the bingo column, playing TUBAIST and TANNERY while Thomas only got down INSERTS. That bingo deficit would be corrected in a 412-392 win over Aaron Bader; Thomas got down three bingos (SIERRAN, ERGATES, and AMATEUR) to Aaron's two (CUTTIES and NEGRONIS). Thomas took heed of the old adage and saved his best for last, devastating Richard Lauder in the last game of the night, 531-343. Richard had a bingo of TISANES, but it did little to stop his opponent's bingo torrent, which consisted of four bingos: SCOOTER, DWELLING, REPUBLIC, and TERPENES.

2nd Andy Bohnsack, like Thomas above him, went 4-1, but his smaller spread of +214 doomed him to second place. The evening started off eventfully as he entered into a bingo shootout with Richard Lauder, a shootout in which he came out victorious, 447-395. Each duelist had three bingos; SEEABLE, INANEST, and INCOMERS for Richard, TOSTADA, JIGGLES, and DUNGAREE for Andy. Another gaggle of bingos saw their way from Andy's rack to the board when Bryan Benwitz became the next victim, 502-316. Despite a 116-point play of BASKING from Bryan's end, the game ended up being a blowout thanks to Andy's ECHIDNA, PIDDLERS, WHEELMEN, and TRASHIER. Only Aaron Bader possessed the arcane knowledge necessary to overthrow Andy's might, and overthrow it he did, winning their matchup 447-373. Andy had two low-scoring bingos of SUGARIER and UPDATES, while Aaron's bingos were substantially more...substantive...TRADEOFF for 95 and DRONERS for 87.

3rd Charles Reinke also had just one loss, but not having the benefit of a fifth game, had to settle for third place at 3-1 +460. He handily took care of Dennis Lloyd, scoring 497 to Dennis' 315 despite their relative bingo equality; Charles had GOODIES, while Dennis was able to get down EXCITER. A vengeful win over Peter Schmiedicke, 479-359, saw considerably more bingo action, with Peter getting two (LOAMIER and VERIEST) and Charles getting three (MIRLITON, SESTINA, and INFARES). Alas, Charles' undefeated night was spoiled when he encountered Andy Bohnsack in the final game and dropped a close one, 415-418. Andy's monster bingos of REZEROES (118) and ECTASIS (96) towered over Charles' meek attempts of ANTLION (70) and OVERSTAY (83).

Dave Gilligan's 108-point JOINERY was chosen as word of the week. Helen Flores came away from club four dollars richer (two if you subtract the entry fee) thanks to a triple-triple of TRAINERS for 122. The 529 points she scored in that game was the second-highest score of the evening, and allowed her to average 413 for the night despite going 1-3. The list of new bingos was slim, with only Gail's SATINIER making the cut.