If Wins Were Losses, Bryan Would Have Lost All His Games

1st Bryan Benwitz went undefeated (adj. that means he won all of his games) for the first time in several months, going 4-0 +420. He started off with a 426-293 win against Mary, a win made possible by a rare bingo containing both a W and a U: REWOUND. Personally, I would have angrily played WUD as soon as I saw the rack, so good on Bryan for perservering. If you read the first sentence of this paragraph, you will know what the result of his second-round match with David was: a win! 416-302 to be precise, with Bryan playing the ever-useful ETOILES as well as FERNIER. A slow start for Bryan in the third round eventually ended up as a decisive 470-385 win against Thomas. Thomas got down GITTERNS and BOTTLER, while Bryan played RESITED, ANGIOMAS, and, with a rack of AENRT??, somehow navigated his plethora (194 in this case) of bingo options and settled with CARNETS. The final game was the battle of the three-and-ohs, Bryan vs. Dennis, and Bryan came out on top 421-333. He outbingoed his opposition 3 to 0, with GENESES (the only valid plural of GENESIS, no GENESISES* here), LINTERS, and EQUINES.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +439, foolishly attempting the "Swiss gambit" (losing the first round in order to avoid the toughest competition in future rounds) and coming up short of first place. He lost his opener against Dennis, 395-422, probably because he only got one bingo, UTENSILS. Dennis played TRAINED and ABALONE early, and was able to keep up the scoring just enough to get the win. Against Sue, Charles faced a tough opening-rack quandary: UPBUILD or BUILDUP? He picked BUILDUP, and apparently that was the right choice, because he ended up scoring 546. His high scoring continued in the third round against Dave, where he won 527-384. He opened with a natural MATCHED and never looked back, also playing NEWTONS (passing up the fancier nine-letter NEWSWOMEN), RETARDED, and ISOGONY. Dave got some small measure of revenge, getting away with the phony QUINELLE* (QUENELLE is the correct spelling), embarrassing Charles in front of everybody. Charles' last game of the night was a 6-bingo affair versus Lynda, with both of them playing 3 apiece. Lynda played BIRTHED, SCATTER, and STUDYING, while Charles played ADAPTION, NEURITIS, and AVOIDABLE. Charles ended up winning 488-426, proving that, uh, actually I don't know what he proved.

3rd Thomas Reinke came in third with his 3-1 +159 record. He won 427-404 against Gail, playing OMNIVORA and the phony LANTERNED*. Gail kept it close with DUALISES, NETTIER making four overlaps, FEARING making five overlaps, but couldn't find enough scoring in the endgame. Against Lynda, Thomas won 472-403 with the aid of UNBRAID, AUREOLED (v. to surround with a halo), and PRISSED (v. to act in a prissy manner, as in "Thomas prissed all over the board"). We already heard the happy (or sad, depending on which side you support, TEAM BRYAN ALL THE WAY!) tale of how Thomas lost to Bryan, so let us now hear the tale of how he beat Mary, 466-314. It's not the greatest tale ever told: he bingoed with OLESTRA, OMERTAS, and PANTIES, hogging all the good tiles and leaving none for Mary. And they lived happily ever after. The end.