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Light bulbs are flashing left and right in this room and I'm not out there taking photos yet this round. The poor players will be blind!

As we start this round, I'm keeping my eye on Division 5's match between Rebecca Soble, whose record is 15-5, and Rob Matthews, who division high 17-3 is pretty impressive.

Division 6's Leland Fidler started out today 5-9 and ended the day 10-11, which, he is quick to tell me, means he's won 5 of 7 games today. In his last game with Brian Schwartz, Leland bingoed out with OUTEARNS to the S for 77 points, winning by 11. Final score: 377-366.

In division 3, Kaye Kiker lost her last game of the day to Tom Wood, 320, 388. Kaye got down CORnIeR and Tom played MELDING.

Division 1's Jan Dixon didn't have to wait long to get revenge on Pat Barrett for the huge defeat earlier today. The two women were re-paired and this time it was Jan's turn to win, 375-366. Jan got down IRONSIDE for 60, SPEILING from the S for 62, and Pat found the lovely WATERIsH to an H on a triple lane for 92, and WuRZEL for 38 points.

In an incredible day of games (he won all 7!), division 1's Adam Logan defeats John Luebkemann, 384-382, and moves into 3rd place in the division! After a recount confirmed the scores, they told me about their plays: John got down NARRATE for 80 and Adam played LAUNDERS through the A for 74 and FINALISE from the F for 5. John' s last draw from the bag? III.

In a division 1 game between Steven Alexander and Gerry Carter, Steven pulled out the win. Starting strong, Gerry opened with COINING. Steven responded with OVErDOGS through the O and later in the game played UNSWEAR and FLEeING. Toward the very end, Steven had QINTSRD and he passed QD. He lucked out in the pick and got the RETANSI rack from which he played RATLINES.

David Weisberg (div 1) has had the honor of being victorious over Lester Schonbrun twice today! In the later game, the score was 506-379. Hoewever, all Lester could talk about was the first loss, 434-384. Lester played SOLARIUM, thinking the game was all but over since David held the impossible rack of AIBHKST. Lester was floored with David found and played BHAKTIS for 97 points. I remarked, "who would know that is a word?" and Lester said, shaking his head, "no one knows that is a word, no one." David smiled ear-to-ear across the table. Lester ends the day 10-11 and David is 11-10.

In the cute racks worth mentioning division, Joel Horn (div 2) had QATBIRD on his rack yesterday and today held Q?TBIRD.

Well, Rebecca Soble thought she had the division 5 leader by the lapels, but he was able to win by the tiles on her rack after tieing the score. Earlier in game, he played UNITERS for 68 and she responded with ARENITE for 78 a triple lane. His last play was NIfTY, and he got the 8 points from her rack (AEOS), for a 373-365 win. This win puts him three games up on the field, 18-3 +1511.

Division 2's Ann Sanfedele tried to tell me about a loss she had yesterday to Pam Grazette. Shaking my head to clear out the cobwebs, I made her repeat her story because I assumed I was too distracted to be hearing properly, thus jumbling her facts. Turns out I heard right. Pam had a MONSTER game against Ann yesterday, 594-178!! That is a 416-point spread!! Ann claims that she only lost two challenges.

In a low-scoring, division 1 game, Jerry Lerman pulled out a win over Christopher Sykes, 322-317. Jerry was drawing out a diagram to submit for best strategic play or some such. I guess we'll hear more about it later if it wins!

In another division 1 game, Rita Norr defeated Karen Merrill, 440-409. Rita opened with IoNIZES for 100 and Karen played ERECTED, DARNDEST to the T, and LISpERS, which goes to show that more bingos don't always correlate with guaranteed wins.

In the tightest game I've seen yet this tournament, division 6's Adam Fleming pulled out a win against Sharon Downing, 306-277. Adam got down the game's one bingo for 67. Both players were left with a pile of tiles on their racks, which they had to deduct from their end scores.

Well, the run for the$25,000 division 1 first prize is sure exciting! We end today with Joe Edley in first place, 17-4 +1472. The three 165 players are Brian Cappelletto +1205, Adam Logan +1102, and Sammy Okosagah +934.

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