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USSO 2006 Commentary: Round 24

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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 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Final Round 1, Final Round 2, Final Round 3.

round 24

It was an E-bingo fest! Or maybe better yet, just a vowel of a good time! John Luebkemann (Pineville, NC) defeated Ian Weinstein (Coral Springs, FL), 554-343, by virtue of his knowledge of bingos that start with vowels. He played: EGOMANIA for 88, EARHIER for 95, EUGENOiS for 68, EMITTED for 84, and AUTACOId for 72. Ian managed to get CANNULAS down for 72.

Don Drumm (Clinton, NY) admits that this hasn't been his tournament performance-wise, but he does admit that he got down back-to-back plays this last game: HEDONISM and PEVERSION. Didn't matter, however, Dave Balthaser (Skipperville, AL), won their game.

Jarett Myskiw (Winnipeg MB) comes over to tell say, "I want to thank Kurt Davies (Phoenix, AZ) for his help." I ask him why and he explains that he went to dinner with Kurt earlier in the event and Kurt asked him to anagram (EEIOCNRT). And today, in his last game, an anagram from that lesson came to his mind and he bingoed out with NEOTERIC for 80, winning the game, 401-350. I'm not sure the stunned Elana Lekach (Fair Lawn, NJ) was as enchanted!

I dare to pass the velvet rope and see Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) gesticulating toward the board and running her hands through her hair. I stupidly ask how the game went and she said, "Well he was balancing his rack with plays like SET. How do you think it went?" I nodded cautiously and looked down at the annotator's sheet to see that game score was 473-409. I said, 409 points, how did you get that? She said, "we don't understand how." I take from our convo that the game was a struggle. Later, looking over the annotation, I see that they both got down two bingos: his ENVIRONS and TETCHIER and her TOOTLING and HARDLINe.

At nearby table 2, I ask how Brian is doing and he tells me he won again, and is now 16-8 with a spread of -19. I exclaimed, "minus 19!?! What is going on?" He smiled and mumbled something about blowouts.

KC Frodyma (Silver Spring, MD) comes up to me and sweetly asks if I want to hear about a nice set of plays. I nod vigorously. She says, "I had two 9-letter-words earlier today." BILATERAL from BI for 62 and LEVANTERS through the ER for 64. This from a player in division 6!

Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX) and Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) are playing each other at Board 1 in Division 1. Steve Pellinen and Scott Smith are posting the game live.