2011 Bayou Bash — Houston, TX
Phillip Collier and Brent D. Beal attended the 2011 Bayou Bash Scrabble Tournament in Houston on May 28 – 30, 2011).
Here’s a link to some details on the tournament: http://www.cross-tables.com/download/2011/05/houston.pdf. The official results from the tournament are posted here: http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/tourneys/2011/lxt/05/031.shtml.
Phillip played in Division 3; Brent played in Division 4. Both Phillip and Brent finished the 18-game tournament with records of 7 – 11.
Brent’s Bingo List: STRINGS (67), TRAINER (73), DOLLIES (62), GLEANERS (60), TRAINED (70), BELTERS (66), SEEDING (75), PELTERS (77), RETAILS (61), WONKIER (75), PALISADE (78), NURSERS (60), RETINAE (60), RIBLESS (64), ENSLAVE (68).
Quick Post Mortem (Brent): First, some positives. Didn’t have many problems with 2s or 3s (although I did almost challenge OLE, and I played one phoney – *MIN). Now the negatives. I need to improve quite a bit in a number of areas. I need to know front and back hooks from the 3s, for example. There were several times when knowing these hooks would have helped me out quite a bit (MIR – >MIRI, for example). Although I tracked the top 7 tiles (JKQXZBB), I need to track ALL the tiles and use that information more effectively in the end game. I need to memorize more bingo “metadata” and learn how to use that information to increase my bingo frequency. For example, near the end of one game, my opponent played ATONERS, but formed a phoney when he hooked the word (and I challenged it off the board). He knew what letters combined with ATONERS to make an 8-letter bingo (BCEFGIMNPRSU), however, and was hoping I’d play a word he could play through to get his Bingo on the board (and he knew he had a good chance, given what was on my rack because he had been tracking tiles). I played RIBLESS – then he bingoed out by playing ANTRORSE through the R. This is a great example of a good endgame (careful tile tracking, good knowledge of bingo metadata, and sound strategy).
I had a few good plays. ENSLAVE and PALISADE, both natural bingos. CORS for 52 points near the end of a game (into a TW, forming three other words). There were a few more I was proud of. Over all, it was a great tournament. We met some great Scrabble folks (and it was nice seeing folks we already knew). I came away from the tournament realizing I have some studying to do before going to another tournament (because getting kicked around in the bottom of Division 4 isn’t something I want to continue doing, smile). Learn more at Themonstercycle.
Phillip's Bingo List and Quick Post Mortem are forthcoming. 
Brent — LOVE your website, love your commentary, your pictures.…everything! What a great director and overall Scrabble dude you are! Hope you never get tired of it as you are definitely on the right path for success! So glad you came to our tournament this weekend and sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk to you more. I predict big ratings increases for you from now on!
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. It was a great tournament – and it gave me some motivation to tackle some word lists.
I am so happy that you and Phillip came to our tournament, Brent. Thanks for promoting it and for posting your commentary and Phillip’s photos. He really caught the flavor of our tournament. Your commentary is terrific, and I loved that you analyzed your performance. You will keep getting better and better. Best wishes to you with your club. Hope to see you and Phillip at Nationals.
Thanks Judy. We had a great time (we’re both busy trying to improve our game so that we can compete with y’all). We appreciate all the work you put into the tournament. We’re thinking of trying to put on a tournament ourselves up here in October.