Stats for February 28, 2024
1st Bryan Benwitz enjoyed a second straight 4-0 performance, and with those four additional wins, has now reached ten wins in a row. His +446 spread was by far the best of all players, although his average of 471 was not (we'll get to that later). His night was also notable for a multitude of obscure bingos each deserving of word-of-the-week status. Bryan started off strong by deploying three bingos (PERINEAL, OLDSTYLE, DIEBACKS) against Helen Flores in a 472-291 win. He then faced a considerable challenger in Sara McLaughlin, but escaped with a 435-412 win, despite Sara's funereal finds of MOURNED and WEEPING (Bryan had AVIATED and GLUEPOTS, which do not seem to be related thematically). A 442-418 win over Thomas Reinke, who must be getting pretty sick of losing to Bryan (three wins in the last sixteen attempts), saw Bryan get word-of-the-week HELLHOLE in addition to GENOISE and AGITATO. HELLHOLE is notable for being in the bottom 1,000 of eight letter words by probability, right between BUZZARDS and UNCHANCY (ZYZZYVAS is, of course, the lowest-probability eight letter word). Bryan's best was saved for last when he whomped Richard Lauder, 535-317, getting DETAINEE, CORSETRY, PRIVETS, and the odd-looking BAUHINIA.
2nd Thomas Reinke averaged 481 points per game despite suffering two losses in a 3-2 +351 effort. His high-scoring ways ensured a finish ahead of two other players who also had 3-2 records. Richard Lauder was again the target of some misplaced wrath as Thomas used four bingos (NIDATED, ATOMISTS, VIRTUOSA, HOLLERS) to beat him 551-311. Thomas followed that up with a two-on-one match where a 483-407 win over the other Reinke was offset by a 433-490 loss to Mark Kenas. Thomas' round two bingos were ESTATED, ANTICKE#, MESSING, TRICLADS, SPLUTTER, and BESTIRS. The aforementioned loss to Bryan Benwitz put Thomas out of contention for first place, but he nonetheless rallied for second with a big 520-404 rematch win against Mark Kenas, this time bingoing with STILETTO, ANILINE, and AXONEME.
3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2 +140, well back of Thomas but well ahead of Richard Lauder's identical 3-2 record with a -209 spread. Charles took a big loss early when he was handily swept aside by Mark Kenas, 385-501. While that loss was in progress, Charles managed a 397-345 victory over Francesca Lazio, overcoming a 2-1 bingo deficit where Francesca played INGRATE and SHUSHES against Charles' ESTRIOL. Charles later got his revenge (and then some) against Mark Kenas with a devastating 594 score (to Mark's 359) - a bingo frenzy of CODRIVE, SULFURET, TAPERING, and INTERIOR got Charles to his highest game of the year up to this point, although it is well short of Mark's own 650 as the club's highest score this year. Charles finished the evening with a fireworks-filled 473-428 against the latecoming Dennis Lloyd. Dennis fought valiantly with finds of RANGIEST and BARRIERS, but was turned back by Charles' MIAOUING, ANODISES, and INVEIGLE.
| Thomas Reinke | 14 | NIDATED ATOMISTS VIRTUOSA HOLLERS ESTATED MESSING TRICLADS SPLUTTER BESTIRS CUTINISE STILETTO ANILINE AXONEME anticke |
| Bryan Benwitz | 12 | PERINEAL OLDSTYLE DIEBACKS AVIATED GLUEPOTS HELLHOLE GENOISE AGITATO DETAINEE CORSETRY PRIVETS BAUHINIA |
| Charles Reinke | 12 | INCENSED ESTRIOL HEAVIER CODRIVE SULFURET TAPERING INTERIOR MIAOUING ANODISES INVEIGLE reastier otaries |
| Richard Lauder | 9 | NEOTERIC FORESEE UNCAGED VIOLONE PROTECTS TRANNIES ERASION AEROLOGY foilers |
| Mark Kenas | 9 | OBTAINER UNCLEAN TRANSFER AMICABLE UNITARDS EULOGIES FAIRIES hoasting ignomies |
| Sara McLaughlin | 4 | BIRTHING MOURNED WEEPING SMARTIE |
| Helen Flores | 3 | TENDERS WESTERN TIRADES |
| Francesca Lazio | 3 | INGRATE SHUSHES TURTLES |
| Dennis Lloyd | 2 | RANGIEST BARRIERS |
| Avg. Game Score | 401 |
| Avg. Intermediate Score | 0 |
| Avg. Expert Score | 401 |
| Avg. Winning Score | 452 |
| Avg. Losing Score | 350 |
| Avg. Bingo Score | 76 |
