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USSO 2006 Commentary: Round 25

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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 25

Continuing his odyssey of great games, Ted Rosen (Rochester, NY) scored a 628 to his opponent's 351. Ted played OORANGS, DAMMERS/JIVES, AnTHENIA, and PROFAnED. His opponent, used to losing gracefully and smiling about it, Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA), played TABORINE and SINCERE. Alan runs NSA club #44 and he gave the players from his club incentives to spice up their US Open performances. In his memo, he says "For those playing in the USSP that also frequent Club 44 you will earn... 1. Free play for 2006 if you win your division. Win division 1 and receive a lifetime exemption! Or, until I stop directing Club 44. 2. Five free sessions for a top 5 finisher (other than first) in your division. 3. Two free sessions for each win vs. your division champion. 4. Three free sessions for high game of the tournament (not round) in your division. 5. $1 credit for each win vs. a foreign resident. Go USA! 6. One free session for each win over 19. It's up to you to make a good showing. Let's kick some butt!"

At table 1 this round, Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) defeated Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX), 427-327. I see that Geoff's first two plays were bingos: COPIhUE for 76 and NUISANCE for 74. Jim, also opened with a bingo, BARNIEST for 90 and then every other turn for the next four put down bingos: DRATTInG for 61 and TAMPERER for 74. See this game in the annotated game section!

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA) finds me in the hallway to tell me about his game this round against John Stardom (Ottawa ON). He says, "at one point it was 11-177, his lead." Then he got down GRIEVERs for 86, GRANDEST for 83, OPALINE for 64, FAVAS for 58, and HUNK for 49, pulling out a win, 470-450. Wow.

Jim Hughes (Austin, TX) approaches me to tell me how very proud he is of his Austin, Texas, clubmates. He reminds that Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX) from div 1, Jean McArthur (Austin, TX) from div 3; Becky Dyer (Austin, TX) from div 4, and Matt Canik (Austin, TX) in div 6. He went on to say that about 16-19 players are here from Austin, so he didn't mean to leave anyone out, but there are just so many of you!

Joel Elkins (West Hollywood, CA) and David Pearl (Long Beach, CA) had a great game before lunch. Joel played WASPIER and then David got down DERIDING through the R. Joel played DITHERED to the final D and David played MAQUI. Then Joel broke out and played ALIENER parallel to DITHERED, creating AD/LI/IT/EH/NE/ER/RE for 94 points! Not done, he then got down LInEATE, OZONES for 80, and STATELY for 91, to defeat Joel, 503-408. Great game!

Marlon Hill (Baltimore, MD) had a 15-point win over Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) this round, 418-403. Jason played ATTEMPER and Marlon's better plays were DEORBITS and LEvELERs through the L and third E! What a find!

I approach division 1's table 2 to hear Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL) say, I drew the bag." I see that he won, 454-318. Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ) admits that he was never in the game.

Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand) defeated Stefan Rau (Newington, CT) this round 456-412. No stories...

Joe Edley (Coram, NY) defeated Robin Pollock Daniel (Toronto ON) this round, 412-405, which means that Robin has lost all four games this morning. Ouch.

Kenneth Rubin (New York, NY) is gleeful. He just defeated Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) for the very first time, 417-379. He can't wait to tell me about it. Ken played RONNELs and then Joel played EYESTONE from the first E. Joel then kinda closed the board getting down VAGUS to the triple. Then DEVA went down, which gave Joel a two-point lead. Ken then played JAY alongside DEVA. On Joel's turn, fearing all the tiles that were out at that point, he extended JAY to DEeJAY to the triple. Ken then got down BOASTED and that was all she wrote.

Doug Brockmeier (Yorba Linda, CA) walks over and kind of smiles and pouts at the same time. He's lost the past six games. Ouch.

On his way to lunch, Darrell Day (Richardson, TX) says, "In my past 11 games, my opponents have averaged 460 points each."

As the results are tabulated during lunch, we excitedly look forward to the afternoon.

Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) is a game ahead in div 1. Five players are only one game behind: Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX), Pakorn Nemitrmansuk (Thailand), Mark Pistolese (Pahoa, HI), Scott Appel (Trenton, NJ), and Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL). It is such an exciting day!

Division two has two players at 19-6: Carl Johnson (Beaverton, OR) and Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Moraga, CA). Orry Swift (Dayton, TX) is only one game behind!

Rafi Stern (Seattle, WA), Greg Edwards (Minneapolis, MN), Kurt Davies (Phoenix, AZ), and John Gove (Sun City Center, FL) are all at 18-7 in division 3.

Division four has one player at 20-5. Sam Hollington (St. Catharines ON). Two players are three games back at 17-7-1, Brendan Sullivan (Shrewsbury, MA) and Becky Dyer (Austin, TX).

Michael Rhodes (Tucson, AZ) continues to dominate division 5, with a 20-4-1 record. Ricky Sirois (Overland Park, KS) is 18-6-1, and Jeff Cooley (Jacksonville, FL) is 18-7.

A 20-5 record leads div 6, too. Jeremy Hall (Menlo Park, CA) is at the top, but Matt Canik (Austin, TX) is two games back at 18-7-1.

Anything can happen!

Geoff Thevenot (Austin, TX) and Jim Kramer (Roseville, MN) are playing each other at Board 1 in Division 1. Steve Pellinen and Scott Smith are posting the game live.