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Back to 2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Live Coverage

2005 National SCRABBLE® Championship Commentary: Anagrams Championship

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Go to: Anagrams Championship, 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 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3, Final Round 4, Final Round 5.

Anagram Championship

Wearing his "director" hat, Joe Edley (Coram, NY) sat outside the Silver State room, amidst torn bits of paper and a sign-in sheet, taking walk-in registrations for the Anagram Championship. There were many more people standing around an impromptu game than their were registrants. An oft-heard comment: "Oh, I'm just here to watch."

A few players killed time by playing a partial game at one table and at antoher, John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) ate his dinner while he and a group of players interacted with angrams on his laptop.

A total of 22 brave souls signed up and paid their $10 entry fee with rating ranges from 1648 Eric Chaikin (Topanga, CA) to 1991 Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand). Joe Edley separated the registrants into four tables, two table of six players and two tables of five players. Nervous energy buzzed in the room as the players found their seats and tablemates.

In addition to Joe, Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) agreed to codirect this event and John Chew is wandering around in an official capacity, too. At one point, it occured to Joe that we had four tables and three officials and an onlooker, Chris Lennon (Lake Oswego, OR) volunteered to work at table, too.

Helping a table requires sitting at a well-placed timer and hitting the timer set to 10 seconds intervals. During game one, in his capacity as table helper, John Chew noticed that Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) misarranged CATAMARANS and he let Dean know this and Dean immediately rearranged his tiles. Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) tried to make a word and it was challenged by nearly every player at the table.

At Joe Edley's table, Ben Withers (Houston, TX) J Goard (Foresthill, CA), Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR), Frank Tangredi (West Babylon, NY), and Robert Linn (Potomac, MD) faced off.

At John Chew's table, Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC), Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand), Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA), Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX), and Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) played.

At Chris Lennon's table, the players were Steven Alexander (Portland, OR), Mike Frentz (Seattle, WA), Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC), Trip Payne (Boca Raton, FL), Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand), and Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR).

Table Joel Sherman had Trey Wright (Van Nuys, CA), Ron Hoekstra (Grand Rapids, MI), [error: no such id: chuckarmstrong], Robert Kahn (Plantation, FL), John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI), and the brave bottom seed, Eric Chaikin (Topanga, CA). Eric directed a recent well-received documentary on the SCRABBLE^® scene called Word Wars. While I watched their game, progress had been halted as the players discussed a ruling. The problem had been a lack of "piling of papers," so that it was difficult to know the order of chances to steal. Stefan Fatsis (Washington, DC) arrives to see the issue wrapped up and everyone waves hi to our game's journalism star.

At table John Chew, Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) tried CURCULATED*, but John ruled it unacceptable. Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC), with his entire family standing around cheering, finds FOOTRACES. John tells Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) to flip and he finds AGORAE from the pool tiles (tiles in the middle).

About 60 people watch the games unfold and there is a lot more talking and laughter in the room than there is during a SCRABBLE^® tournament!

I'm skirting the rules because they are complicated, but each player takes a turn by flipping a tile over into the random pool of exposed tiles in the middle of the table. For ten seconds, any word that player can make from the exposed pool tiles or any of those tiles combined with the words already in front of other players at the table, is a one-person enterprise. However, if one or more opponents thinks of a word, they can write the first letter of the word onto a piece of paper and slip it toward the middle of the table. Time is called in 10 seconds, at which time, the pieces of paper slipped onto the top of the table are "read" in order of their submission. And the first paper to be a good word, is the only one to count, unless a subsequent one is longer.

Words must be a minimum of 6 letters long and they often get more than twice as long as that!

So, the trick is to anagram quickly in 10 seconds on turn, and think of steals when it isn't. Point being, time is of the essence in anagrams and quick thinkers are often the winners. "Stealing" is a term that means taking a word from another player in a legal way. For instance, a player could have the word HORNET lying in front of her. If an S should turn up in the pool, that word could NOT be stolen by simply putting as S at the end for HORNETS. That would be an illegal steal, because it doesn't change the order of the initial word. If an S was turned over and a player said SHORTEN, the base word could be taken because some of the tiles were shuffled around to make a new word, not just a simple pluralized word.

Of the five players at Joh Chew's table, only three of them have words in front of them. Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX) holds ABJURE and CULTURED, Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) has CATAMARANS, IMPIETY, and FOOTRACES. Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) has WEEINIE, BARONAGE, DAVENING, and TINGLY. On Komol's last turn he made BARONAGES from AGORAE and pool tiles.

As each player puts a tile into the center of the table, he announces it. I'm told this works well for Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand), who has misplaced his glasses.

Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) tries to make TIRINGLY, but is told he can't, as the word he is building from, TINGLY, had no letters changing their initial placement, an example of the rule mentioned above. Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) joins in with CODIFIER taken from DICIER and Komol finds DROWSING. During a turn by Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX), three pieces of paper flew out onto the table, one atop the other. Turns out all three saw the same word DROWNINGS*, but it isn't in our dictionary. Another non-acceptable word is found by Komol, WONDERINGS*, also not in our dictionary. John Chew, up for the fifteenth time to look up a word that is in the world dictionary, but not ours, gently reminds the players of the dictionary we are using. He was, of course, kidding.

Komol, tried to take another word with a blank that had just been turned up in the pool, but he had broken another little rule. To steal a word with a blank in the pool, a player must use two other non-blank tiles in the pool. It very soon went down in front of Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX) as FLEETINGlY (that should read FLEETINGLY).

I notice the players at this table are using two sets of tiles, aqua and yellow. Up to now, they have been using only half of the mixed set of tiles (the other half carefully guarded by John Chew). When all 100 of the first half of the mixed tiles are either used up in words in front of players or are languishing unused in the middle pool of tiles, halftime is called. The second half of the tiles are now distriubed face down. To determine the order of play in the second half, each player draws a tile and the lowest draw goes first but the direction is now changed. Thus, clockwise turns are now counter- clockwise for the second half of the game. At this table, Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) had the blank, so he gets to go first. The players are still using the same words and pool tiles, but are now integrating the new letters they have turned over determing who begins the second half, into the pool. Thus going first in the second half with fresh tiles is a huge advantage (that lasts for only 10 seconds!).

Speaking of Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA), he is donating a couple sets of SamTiles to the event organizers for them to use as auxilliary prizes in addition the cash prizes intended for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. John Chew is using a black SamTimer as this table's official timekeeping device. Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) finally makes a word: VAUNTY. Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) finds UnCLUTTERED from CULTURED.

Too much happening at once, so I take a break from table Chew to see the other tables. I just caught them at about the halfway point and have to say that Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) has the most words of anyone else in the room. He has a stack: WALLOPERS, OUTRIGGERS, WAXING, AMBITIOUS, ANTETYPE, VIDEOLAnD, and DISCONSOLATIONS. Also at the Edley table: CONSOLIDATIONS (stolen while I was there by Dave), WAXIER, and HOAGIE in front of Robert Linn (Potomac, MD), AGGRIEVE, DEFLAtIONARY, QUEUED, and VOIDED in front of Frank Tangredi (West Babylon, NY). Frank tried VIDEOED*, but it was ruled unacceptable. J Goard (Foresthill, CA) had VAUNTY, DRAWLIEST, and TOFFEE.

Table Chris Lennon (Lake Oswego, OR) has Trip Payne (Boca Raton, FL) with ADJUDICAtES and ZOOTIER, Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) with ATMOSPHERIC and IMPEACHES, Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) with EULOGIAE, OXYEYES, and ANTIQUARY, and Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) with PHALANGEaL, JAUKED, TOWAGES, and SULLYING.

Table Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) had an impressive play in front of John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI): iNTERGENERATION. He also had BROMINATES and WEDDED displayed. Robert Kahn (Plantation, FL) had EMBLAZE and VANDAL, Peter Armstrong (Baltimore, MD) had AUTOMATED and EOBIONTS, Trey Wright (Van Nuys, CA) had INJUSTICE, WHIMSEY, VINDALOO, and CLIQUE, and Eric Chaikin (Topanga, CA) had the second appearance tonight of HOAGIE.

Back to Table Chew and things are heating up. We hear intense discussions at other tables and John bends toward me and says, "Notice how I got the table with no lawyers at it?" I think that was a smart call.

A call for John Chew as Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) tried MISCONSOLIDATION*, ruled unacceptable. John has the only laptop equipped with the long words being used by a table leader, so he is called to rule on all the words too long for our standard word list.

At table Chew, both Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) and Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) stand as they play, while their tablemates remain seated, hovering over their steal papers, pens poised in the air expectantly.

From DROWSING, Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) steals and makes MISWORDING. Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand), losing a word, challenges. Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) and Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) with their fertile, young minds are doing very well as we approach endgame. Jason holds RECODIFIED, UnCLUTTERED, FOOTBOYS, PLANKTONS, DIVIDUAL, ande ANTHELIXES. Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) has GAZEBO, DENERVATING, CATAMARANS, IMPIETY, FOOTRACES, TRIVIALiZED, and MISWORDING. Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) tries to take AARRGHH, but there is only one R on the table. Showing he is a quick study, once another R is turned up, he calls out the word to the laughter and merriment of the table. Stealing WEENIES, Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) finds WEEWEEINg. Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) steals GAZEBO and makes GAZABOES.

The games wind up around the room and Joe Edley walks around explaining how to end games with tiles left unseen. We are going to play three rounds, each 75 minutes long. I verify this fact with Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) and he says, "Mr. Edley said 75 minutes, yes." I wonder the last time Joe was referred to so formally.

At table Chew, Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) ends up with 572 points for his words and Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) earns 617, taking first place at this table. Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) wins table Edley with 1053. Table Lennon was all Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) with 678 points. He won the style award for his two monster plays of EXTERIORIZATION and MAGNETOSPHERIC. Table Sherman was won by John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) with 587. Of course, these scores are hard to weigh. I can't help but think that table opponents affects winners at each table.

Round 2

Sitting at Table Sherman this round. Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) gets the first word: DRACHM. His opponents this round are Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand), Frank Tangredi (West Babylon, NY), J Goard (Foresthill, CA), and Ron Hoekstra (Grand Rapids, MI). The former Canadian SCRABBLE^® champ, Ron, has TROLANDS in front of him and [error: no such id: dave] makes DHARMIC. Joel punctuates his time alerts with a finger point. He is calling a tie between Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) and Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) for the steal. They draw and Dave gets to go first, his find is ruled unacceptable CHARMAIDS*. So, Komol got to steal and play CHADARIM. Dave is the quiet type and he is not announcing his letter. Joel wastes no time in announcing it for him. Ron tries to steal a word that isn't there, SQUINT, but there is no N in the pool and he smiles it off.

The game here is moving slowly as there are only two words on the table so far, CHADARIM and ARABIZES. As I type, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) impressed Joel by finding DISRELATION. I'm sent to John Chew's table to look it up: it is good. Joel gave him a pat on the back for the find, taken from Ron Hoekstra (Grand Rapids, MI) who held TROLAND. I ask Keith Valentine (Everett, WA), an onlooker, what the stolen word was and we think TORLAND*. Ever the multitasker, Joel turns to me me and says, firmly, TROLAND not TORLAND*!" I crawl back under my rock.

Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) has CHADARIM, ARABIZES, and JARGOON. J Goard (Foresthill, CA) has GOETHITE. While Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD) walks by, another table onlooker, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) finds REVALIDATIONS. He then tries another play that is shot down. I am beginning to see the key to his success. The way to have a lot of words is to try even more than stay down!

A flurry of papers come down after Ron Hoekstra (Grand Rapids, MI) makes his play and they encourage him to find a word in the pool: HOMING. I wonder if the papers coming down give more clues than they ought.... Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD) laughs as Joel tells the players a word they missed.

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) finds OOMPHING*, which Joel sneers at as he looks up. Frank Tangredi (West Babylon, NY) breaks in and finds OOMPAHING. Joel's clock style differs from John Chew's stopclock style. Joel keeps the clock running all the time and calls out turns every 10 seconds, pointing at the player whose turn it is, calling out the tile if they are too distracted to do so. This is easily the quietest table in the room. Joel runs a tight ship. On his turn, Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) finds INDEXED from the pool and receives a nod of approval from Joel. J Goard (Foresthill, CA) throws a paper onto the table, trying ORGANLIKE*. Frank Tangredi (West Babylon, NY) tries ORANGELIKE*, which is also no good.

Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) leads now with four words. While I run to another table to do a lookup, [error: no such id: frank] finds OVERWEENInG. Words tried: DRAGONLIKE* and OVERRENEWING*. Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) tries READIE* and Frank Tangredi (West Babylon, NY) gets DEARIE, which Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) quickly steals for READIER.

During Frank's turn, both Dave and Komol thrust out steal sheets. Dave found IRREDENTA. Joel is puzzled by it and Ron assures him it is spelled that way. Writing this color into one ibook, John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) tires of me interrupting John Chew for 10 lookups and gives me his ibook (better than mine), so I've got that one balanced on my lap as I type into this one on the tabletop.

We are now halfway through the tiles and Joel redistributes the second half of the batch, all face down and the players draw a tile, lowest going first. First half of game was played clockwise, this half will be played counterclockwise. Dave has the game's longest words so far, but only three of them: REVALIDATIONS,QUITTORS, and RETREADING. Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) has the most words and as I typed his name, he got another from the pool: TYPIFY.

Sensing what I was typing beside him, kidding, Dave blows our minds and finds NOMOGRAPHIES.

I leave to walk around the room and notice that the tables with lawyers who play have the most talking and rules discussions. John Chew was right.

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) has taken the lead with NOMOGRAPHIEs, REVALIDATIONS, TOURNIQuETs, and WOODSY. [error: no such id: frank] tries to take it with WOODNYMPHES*, but is shot down. Dave adds PAUNCH to his collection. Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) has added QUALIA to this list and he finds NOVALIKE from pool tiles and J. Goard's KAOLIN. Dave steals a word from Komol and plays QUILLAIA, taking the lead. He is oh-so-quietly steamrolling them all. Continuing his winning ways, Dave stole GOETHITE and played GHETTOIZE, earning a huge high-five from Marlon for the find.

From WOODSY, Dave finds BODYWORkS and Joel nods his approval. Komol has nine shortish words and Dave has 8 words, with three 12 letters or better. It is looking like his game this round, again.

Midway through round 2 and table Chew has Trip Payne (Boca Raton, FL) with POSSIBLY, AMERICIUmS, and OVERAWES; Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) has PAPACY; John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) has GAMBIA, IONOGEN, and JAILHOUSE; Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX) has EXAcTITUDE, WALLOPED, and FOZILY; Dean Saldanha (Richmond BC) has QUAKIER, ANTEFIXA, and UNQUIETS; and Robert Kahn (Plantation, FL) has REFRACTION and WHEYLIKE. Table Lennon has Eric Chaikin (Topanga, CA) with FEUING; Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) with UNCUTE; Mike Frentz (Seattle, WA) with REITERATIVE, DEWAXING, CARAVANS, and DEVOTIONALS; Trey Wright (Van Nuys, CA) has SLUMBERING, EVOLUTIONS, EPOPEE, and EPIZOA; Ben Withers (Houston, TX) has WADMOLL; and Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) has WEBFEET and QUOTHA. Table Edley and the players are Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR); Robert Linn (Potomac, MD) with DWARFEST; Peter Armstrong (Baltimore, MD) with DETERMINAtIONS, IMMIGRATES, PLASTRONS, and PECTORAL; Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA); and Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) with OBEDIENT, PERFUSED, LIFEWAY, and CAPFUL.

Table Sherman is winding up. Players ask about the lightning round and Joel thinks the game is over since the tiles are all turned up. Frank Tangredi (West Babylon, NY) ends with OVERWEENInG, FABRICATED, and UNSEEING. Komol Panyasoponlert (Thailand) ends with CHADARIM, SOLVATES, ARABIZES, JARGOON, INDEXED, BYWALK, TYPIFY, EFFLUX, NOVALIKE, and NEWCOMER. Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) wipes the board with them all, though, shutting out both Ron Hoekstra (Grand Rapids, MI) and J Goard (Foresthill, CA) with his finds of NOMOGRAPHIEs, QUILLAIA, TOURNIQUETS, REVALIDATIONS, DIATOMITES, GHETTOIZE, BODYWORkS.

FINAL ROUND

Six players made the final table, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR), Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR), John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI), Peter Armstrong (Baltimore, MD), Steven Alexander (Portland, OR), and Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC). Truth be told, the last round has taken more time to reach than some had anticipated and everyone but the final six depart for some rest. Our current NSC champ, Trey Wright (Van Nuys, CA), actually makes the final table, but opts for sleep instead so Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) jumps in.

Joe, a devoted gamer, is wiped out from a devilish and delayed trip from the East Coast earler today. Despite the time change and late hour, he is task-oriented, willing the event he conceived of to crown a champ despite the hour. About two dozen onlookers stay on, and since this room is going to serve as the after-hours lounge, a few SCRABBLE^® games are played at other tables in the room.

Final Round Anagrams

All the players turn over a tile, the closest to A goes first , Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) and Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) tie with a D. Then Travis turned over an A and got to go first. He found OLEATE from the pool. The players are sitting in a specific order around the table, based on how they did in the first two rounds. This is the first time I've been at table Edley. The room is quiet, the players serious. Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) takes OLEATE and makes TEETOTAL. Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) calls a phoney and loses his turn to Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) who finds ANOXIA. Dave turns over a tile and every player in the table slaps down a steal page. Alas, Dave finds ANNEXATION and the game continues.

The players who didn't make the final table (and some who did, like Trey Wright (Van Nuys, CA)), opted to sit out the last round and go to bed instead. Even though the hour is late, about thirty onlookers have stayed on to see how the final game winds up.

John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) finds POISON from the pool tiles and Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) steals it and makes POCOSIN. We still only have three words on the table and Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) makes SCORPION, but then immediately sees PECORINOS. He then finds NECROPOLIS, continuing to lap the others at the table. This guy is really good at anagrams. GUTODU in the pool and Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) finds DUGOUT before the others.

Due to the hour and growing fatigue, we are all having trouble keeping track of whose turn it is. Everyone is so good natured, though, that we figure it out and move on. Right now, we are up to only 4 words, two for Steve and two for Dave. Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) takes his turn and the papers go flying out before he announces OUTGUIDE. Steven sends over DUGOUT and Randy now joins the players with words. Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR), who has done so well up to now, remains wordless and quietly sighs when Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) finds PERCOLATIONS. Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) tries PROSECUTIONAL* and is shot down. Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) then tries OPERCULATIONS*. Also not good. John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) joins the game with DEAVED. Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) has OUTGUIDE, so four players have words now.

Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) finds EUCAINE and Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) now has DEVIATED. Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) gets AUDIENCE and then changes it to EUCLIDEAN to knowing smiles around the table.

John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) makes INEDUCABLE from that word and Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) points out that studying has benefitted John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) as that exact word came up on his computer earlier this evening as they were playing.

Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) and Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) turn over steal pages at virtually the same time, but Randy is ruled first and he gets AZALEA from the pool.

On his turn, Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) turns over and F and calls SQUIFF*, which is ruled unacceptable, and Peter Armstrong (Baltimore, MD) gets his first word this round: SQUIFFY.

John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) tries PRECOLONISATION*, but no go. Peter Armstrong (Baltimore, MD) tries DERIVATED*, no. Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) finds WORKINGS from pool and Steven's word.

I step away to get a new memory card for the camera and Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) finds UNDECIDABLE.

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) tries PRECOLONIZATION* and it is no good and John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) gets OXAZINE from the pool.

Continuing to amaze us all, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) finds OVERSPECULATION, stealing his last word from himself.

Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) turns over a tile and every player at the table flaps down a sheet, which didn't nudge Travis any closer to seeing it and John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) took YAKITORI from the pool. John says that the rest of the players had better not take that word from him. Onlooking, Joel Sherman takes the long word list out and shows me KARYOKINETIC from the book. I think he is insinuating that were he in the game, he might just figure out a way to take YAKITORI. We can dream....

Game reaches halfway point and the second bunch of tiles go out. Randy goes first and the game turns counter-clockwise.

The first find of the second half is BORAGE by Steven Alexander (Portland, OR).

Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) calls out BONDAGER*, but it is a no go and Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) finds NIDIFY.

Peter Armstrong (Baltimore, MD) steals a word and makes ABROGATE.

From the pool of AEIOMPY, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) finds PYEMIA.

Joe looks around the table and remarks how even is the game. Two players with three words, the rest with two words. I agree that there is a similar level of word knowledge here. When one knows a steal, they all seem to know it and it is just a matter of who can get it down first.

Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) steals his own OUTGUIDE and makes OUTDUELING. He later tries WINGWORKS* and jokes about getting his phoney out of the way before his turn.

Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) tries SWINGWORK* and then the table laughs with Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) tried VIEWDATED*.

Turn Travis Chaney (Van Buren, AR) again and everyone turned over a sheet as soon as he played. He found it this time, turning his word to DEIFYING.

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) finds BILLOW in the pool and is up to four words, leading the others.

For the fourth time tonight, I see HOAGIE, this time by Steven Alexander (Portland, OR) from the pool.

After Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) turns over a tile, both John OLaughlin (Hartland, WI) and Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) quickly slip out papers to get the steal. Dave, however, sees it too, taking HOAGIE and making ESOPHAGI. I shake my head and he next finds HYPErEMIA.

From DEIFYING in front of Travis, Peter finds UNEDIFYING and everyone at the table, including him, seem to be surprised it is good.

Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) gets THEMED from the pool and we are left with FUU and a few tired jokes.

Then Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) continues his steamroll and finds MURTHERED.

Travis tries OVERSPECULATIONS*, but it isn't there and Dave finds OVERWEARiES instead, taking him to a commanding lead with 7 words, most long.

Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) calls out COUPONS, which is overtaken by SOUPCONS, found by, you guessed it, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR). Sensing a theme here, yet?

Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) confidently tries DEDICATIVE* and I let him know it isn't in the dictionary. Sam Kantimathi (El Dorado Hills, CA) alerts us that it is in another dictionary we aren't using in this event.

FACTOID is the next word played by Randy Hersom (Morganton, NC) and then he gets BIOGRAPHiES.

Joe takes the rest of the tiles left and turns them over in front of himself then he slides them to the middle. From this batch, Dave Wiegand (Portland, OR) finds MARVELING. Peter finds SHOWIER from the pool. Steven then finds WORTHIES. The middle has MJVQJR left and everyone passes.

789 points for Dave and he wins the whole show.