Friday, July 16, 2010

Albany

Got to visit the Albany club while up here on vacation... it took me about an hour and fifteen minutes of driving on mostly small county roads, but I was able to make it for games 2 through 4, thanks to our GPS. I almost panicked when I got back into the van for the return trip, because the power outlet didn't work at first. I'm pretty sure that I would have been totally screwed, even if I had a map.

Anyway,  I went 1-2, which was a bit frustrating; I felt like I was the better player in most of the matchups, at least as far as word knowledge, but I'm still trying to learn the strategies of opening and closing lanes. I drew both blanks in the winning game, though the second blank was late in the game and not really a factor. In the two games I lost, I didn't draw either blank but was in contention for most of the game. Both times, I could sense that my opponent had one (or two) of the blanks and was close to bingoing, but couldn't find a way to close the board. I think the last game may have been winnable if I played my endgame right, but it was close to 10 o'clock, and I thought I had mistracked. (In reality, I just didn't see the Y that wasn't crossed off- maybe because the tracking sheets were new to me.)

I plan on posting the second two games, so please feel free to check them out and leave a comment if you have any advice. I'm also going to count tiles to come up with a tile turnover/ blanks acquired stat. I was thinking after the game about how the common 'I got horrible tiles' complaint is similar to the 'They got both blanks' complaint; in both cases, of course, the error often lies with the complainer. The first is often due to bad rack management, and the second due to smaller tile turnover. So I figure if I play through, say, more than 60% of the tiles in a game and still don't draw a blank, then maybe I have a right to complain. Am I off base here?

And lastly, kudos to the Albany club for running a great club- they have score cards that are tallied as the night goes on, with wins, losses, and cumulative score recorded, which they use to determine matchings as the night goes on; as well as the overall winner for the evening.  Maybe my home club is more relaxed in this respect, but I think it would be fun to do. They also keep track of a 'club rating', which I've seen in other clubs and wouldn't mind instilling in ours. There was a fun contest for best baseball-related word played (in honor of Steinbrenner). Hopefully I'll make it again next time I'm in town.

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