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WPC 2008 Commentary: Round 11

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23.

Round 11

My favorite director type at this event is Bryan Pepper. He took some notes for me this round. On a Dave Wiegand (USA) vs. Geoff Thevenot (USA) game he observes Dave's INNTERLY for 76, OVARIOUS for 62, and SAUTEING. Geoff played WEETLESS for 79, COALMINE and then later got down FLEERED/COALMINER. Collins 5s played: MPRET, VAWTE, DUING, and LOZEL. Dave won, 494-422.

On a Michael Quao (GHA) vs. Marty Gabriel (USA) baord, Marty ends the game with 0:00. Michael thinks this is significant and I mention that John O'Laughlin (USA) ended his last round with 0:00 and that I see it more often than he would think. DIgITaTE for 70 is an impressive play as is GARDENIA for 63, and NECKERS for 93, and MONISTS for 86. Sadly, my shorthand denotes M played all of these and they are both Ms, so we'll just be moving on....

In the battle of the As, Albert defeated Amnuay this round, 430-376. Amnuay played three bingos: PREVIEWS, TrEATED, and ATOILES. Albert played ACAuDATE through the third A and LURINGLY to the Y, which drew a challenge. In a confessional mode, Albert said, "surprised me it was good!"

Sam Kantimathi (USA) is giggling loudly. I look over and Trevor Halsall (AUS) is bright red. About 2 mins later, this large note (well, it came from Sam, he does nothing small!) slid by me. It said, "Sam had TREVOR? againt Trevor and played TROuVERE, which drew a challenge. It is good." And this is giggle-worthy because at least for us here, we specialize in knowing things that are vain to us: like bingos with our names. As a matter of fact, due to John Chew being a traitorous friend, I know that NUTCASE plays through the consonants in SHERRIE.... As I type this, John Chew leans over (he's always reading my screen) and says, "in honor of this occasion, I've decided to create the Collins version of that anamonic. It is, 'NUTCASE plays through the consonants in SHERRIE SJ.'" Great....

Femi Awowade (Eng) vs. John O'Laughlin (USA). John is in full "gonna beat you" mode. H sees poor Femi is holding the unenviable endrack of DTIPAQM, so John scours the board and finds the only Q spot and blocks it. I see John's SOSATIE for 78. No slouch, Femi played UtILISE and GAUNTER on the triple lane which slotted the E to hook onto John's BENZOL to make BENZOLE. I also see REFALLEN and SENATOR. John won, 451-389.