Thomas Reinke Gloatingly Takes First, Won't Stop Telling People About It

1st Thomas Reinke was the only undefeated player in the room, and as such, was awarded first place with a 4-0 +297 finish. He started his run to perfection by defeating Aaron Bader, a player against whom he had a four-game losing streak. The score in that game was relatively low by their standards, 395-367; Aaron played DIGITATE to Thomas' REBURIES and TOADIED. Thomas picked up the scoring pace a little bit with a 439-368 win over Charles Reinke (no relation), but the game was marred by phonies from both sides. Thomas played the real-looking, very high-probability phony INTERLIE (to go with real bingos of LAMPASES and DILIGENT), while Charles' only bingo was a phony GEUMING. GEUM is a flower and is a totally different word from GAUM (which does take the -ING). GEUMING was played by Thomas a year and a half ago, which just goes to show what a disservice it can be to list the phonies that people play. This writer fully expects GEUMING to show up again in the next two years. The winning continued unabated when Thomas defeated Dennis Lloyd in a game that was close up until the very end (although the score doesn't quite bear that out), 412-358. Thomas had CLEANSED in that one, while Dennis found TALENTS. Thomas then cemented his undefeated record with his highest score yet, a 471-372 win against Dave Gilligan.

2nd Aaron Bader went 3-1 +412 (a way bigger spread than the first-place guy, but spread is not the sole determinator of placement in the standings) and had a club-leading eleven bingos. He showed considerable perseverance in getting those three wins after facing defeat in his first-round matchup against Thomas Reinke. He extended his current winning streak against Bryan Benwitz to seven by defeating him 493-371. Aaron bingoed early with SOFTEST, then got drown the dreaded bingo-bango-bongo with LANGUORS, TRIFORIA, and IDONEITY. Bryan had VENTRALS and IDEATING. Three more bingos were played against Charles Reinke in a 461-341 victory, but his extensive Collins knowledge again reared its head, and he played the Collins-only DAEDALIC in addition to the perfectly valid GREENIE and BEGONIA. DAEDAL, DAEDALIAN, and DAEDALEAN are all acceptable. Aaron finished off his comeback from a 0-1 record by defeating Helen Flores by nearly 200 points, 521-324. Helen got down REASONED, but Aaron again had a trio of bingos: ONSTAGE, GRACIOSO, and TAVERNAS. Hopefully Aaron was gracioso in victory.

3rd Mary Becker was the second-best of three players with 3-1 records (sorry Dave), finishing at 3-1 +99. Like Aaron above, Mary got her loss out of the way early, a devastating but not all-that-devastating defeat at the hand of Helen Flores, 481-311. Helen had two bingos (RENTING and UNALLIED), while Mary just had the one (REPUTES). Mary made up most of that lost spread in the very next round, taking out Sue Goldstein by a score of 433-276, aided by a bingo of ROUTERS. Her next two wins featured no bingos from either opponent, proving that a defensive style can pay off when executed correctly. The first such win was against Dave Kinzer, 354-270, putting her current streak against him at six wins. The second was against Dennis Lloyd, 339-311. Those two wins were the two lowest-scoring wins of the evening, but, last time I checked, players don't get extra wins just for scoring more points.

Dave Gilligan went 3-1 -10, and was undefeated going into the last round before he ran headlong into the brick wall that is Thomas Reinke. For his trouble he gets a small mention here.

Bryan's 98-point CHILIAST, played against the returning Richard Lauder as some kind of perverse "welcome back" gift, was chosen as word of the week.