Andy Bohnsack Continues Winning Ways

1st Andy Bohnsack went 4-0 +176 after going 4-1 and 4-0 in the previous two weeks, launching him into the top spot on the yearly club standings with a 76.7% win rate. If he continues to build on this momentum we can expect maybe one or two more losses for the rest of this calendar year. However, his wins were not by huge margins; his first game against Susan Vergeront could very easily have been a loss, as he needed an out-bingo of LANCERS to secure a 433-418 win. Also played in that game were REBOOTED and STAYING; Susan got down TUNDRAS and GENERIC. Another close game, this time against Mary Becker, ended with the same score for Andy (433) but a slightly lower score for Mary (412). Andy again had three bingos (SNORTERS, CARATES, and GLISTEN) but was unable to turn those plays into a commanding lead. In his other two games, he ruined the undefeated aspirations of two players who went 3-1; their sad stories will be told in the following paragraphs.

2nd Bryan Benwitz finished at 3-1 with a sizable +464 spread total, thanks to his hefty 469 per-game average. He pulled off the always-impressive Anti-Reinke, holding the twins combined to just one bingo while Bryan played eight total in the two games. A win against Thomas was the most impressive, 510-313. Bryan didn't allow Thomas to play any bingos (always a sound strategy), but played five of them himself: TOWLINES, ISOLATE, APHIDES, FUSIONS, and SARDINED. A 463-381 victory over Charles saw the twin at least get down a bingo (the nine-letter PAGINATES), but Bryan's three bingos of SCORNER, TOMENTA, and BUSTLERS made easy work of last year's club champion. Carrying an undefeated record into the final game, Bryan ran into the indomitable Scrabble might of Andy Bohnsack, who easily claimed victory for his own, 443-351.

3rd Aaron Bader also ended up with three wins at 3-1 +174. He encountered the undefeated and undefeatable Andy Bohnsack in the second game of the night and lost 386-434, but did play the word of the week, SOFTCORE, as one of his bingos (the other bingo, GAUDIEST, was not even in contention for word of the week). After that loss, he, like Bryan, executed a flawless Anti-Reinke in his final two games. Rarely do two players beat both Reinkes on the same night! Aaron took down Thomas by a score of 462-386, then achieved a similar result against Charles, 460-397. His bingo list in the two games was not as large as Bryan's, but was still respectable: GRILLED, REDENIES, FARRAGO, CONDEMNS, and STROBILI.

Thomas Reinke got the second 600-point game of this club season when he scored 623 against Richard Lauder. The 248 points Thomas got for his triple-triple of MOBILIZE were almost enough to win the game by themselves.