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DO 2008 Commentary: Round 5

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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, After the Tournament.

Round 5

A nice long lunch break gave the late arriving Bradley Whitmarsh (Attleboro, MA) time to fit in a makeup game with Carla Cree (Dallas, TX). It was Carla's win, 436-331. Brad says he doesn't need to make up all the games he's missed, he is just so happy to finally be here. He hails from my neck of the woods in Massachusetts and it took him almost 24 hours to reach us here in Dallas.

Stefan Rau (Newington, CT) is the first to finish his game this round. After handing in his result slip, he bent down (had to, he's WAY tall) to tell me that the only other time he'd played Michael Early (Fort Worth, TX) was at Pigeon Forge about three years ago. He said, "I hung and F out in the triple lane and he triple-tripled and beat the snot out me. Well, this game, he played FRIZ, hanging the F in the triple lane, and don't you know... I played BAcLOFEN through the F for 167 and beat the snot out of him." I guess it's only fair in love and... er... SCRABBLE...

I see Ruth Hamilton (Lake Oswego, OR) challenge TONIGHTS, played by Keith Hagel (Auburn, ME). She was still shaking her head that it was acceptable.

Darrell Day (Richardson, TX) vs. Michael Willis (Midlothian, TX). Their board in progress: BEGUILED, PARENTAL, TRENDIER, INSTATE, and cAMeRAS.

Joel Sherman (Bronx, NY) and Chris Lipe (Rome, NY) are playing. I hear a lot of Chris' tiles go down, but I'm looking elsewhere that second. When I glance back at him, I see he's played SICKESt/BOTTS/TIt for 91. Joel replied quickly with VAUNTIE from the V. Other words on the board: DUXeLLES and ENGAGERS. They both are quietly laughing (or snorting) and I look around for the source of their amusement. Sensing my forest for the trees ability to figure it out, Joel says to me, "So, we traded 18 tiles this game and look what Chris got himself left with." I glance over and see AAAIIIY. Now, that is some awesome rack balance!

Perhaps the most quiet and most low-key players in the room play each other, Peter Armstrong (Milwaukee, WI) vs. Keith Smith (Austin, TX). I see DISrOOTS, HeTAIRAS, and UNGULAE on their board. Peter plays OVERGONE from the O, Keith holds him. A bit of time goes by. Keith finally decides to challenge and the play comes off.

Chris Cree (Dallas, TX) vs. Rich Moyer (Portland, OR): SAUsAGE, RETERING, and OVErWIDE are on the board, as is YUTZ. Chris tried ARKED* from the A and Rich challenged it off.

Sam Dick-Onuoha (Duncanville, TX) squared off against Jason Katz-Brown (Cambridge, MA) at the annotated board 1 this round. I later learn that it was Jason's win, 357-343, which must mean that Sam gave him a run for his money!

Jim Hughes (Austin, TX) is grinning ear to ear. From behind my keyboard, frantically typing I guess, "you won?" His grin didn't move, he just nodded up and down vigorously. Sensing that he wanted more interaction, I said, "want me to see your board?" More grinning, more nodding. As we walk toward the game, I see only one player sitting soloand it's Brian Cappelletto (Chicago, IL). He smiles as I walk up. He understands, it is a big deal to beat him. But, then again, he's got better things to do than listen to someone go on and on, so he makes a quick escape. A friend of Jim's pats him on the back and says, "You got to play Cappelletto, huh?" Jim said, "Well, I like to think that Cappelletto got a chance to pay me!" I see Jim's SLAtTED and RoOUsING nd Brian's fun play of RESIDUA. On his last turn, Brian played KEEL, hooking the L to make RESIDUAL. Nice, but not nice enough: Jim's win, 423-379.

I think it is fair to say that Conrad Bassett-Bouchard (Moraga, CA) pulled victory out of the jaws of defeat this round. Playing Paul Holser (Wylie, TX), and holding AIONST?, Conrad played a single T, to create the word OPT, and an unblockable board-opening spot. Holding a bunch of drek, including the Q and a bunch of dense consonants, Paul opted to play off several tiles, including the Q since he couldn't block the OPT opening. Conrad got a G out of the bag and was able to use this opening to play OrIGANS/OPTS to win the game, 487-437.