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Bryan Benwitz: "11 Wins in a Row is Just the Beginning"

1st Bryan Benwitz enjoyed his second straight week of undefeatedness, going 4-0 +324, and more importantly, achieved his first-ever ten-game winning streak. Club elders have convened to discuss the disbandment of the club in the face of this terrifying new development, but have decided for now to let the winning streak run its course. The winning streak almost never happened thanks to a too-close 422-414 game against Richard Lauder, whose late out-bingo was not quite enough to pull out the win. Bryan quickly recovered from that scare to take out Gail Salm, 416-367, while playing three bingos of DIATRONS, EXACTOR, and STANINES (study your high-probability bingos, kids). Helen Flores didn't fare much better in the face of the Bryaniac's indomitable might, losing 342-457 as Bryan got down NOSTRIL and FEISTIER (anagrams FIERIEST and FERITIES) to secure that elusive tenth win. The winning streak was lengthened when Bryan outscored, outbingoed, and out-everythinged Andy Bohnsack, 459-308. There was perhaps some high-quality banter going on as Bryan unleashed bingos of BANTERS and VENETIAN. On second thought, yeah, let's just disband the club.

2nd Charles Reinke did not establish or lengthen any winning streaks, but still had a strong 3-1 +443 performance while averaging 467 per game. He built up a large, comfy cushion of spread in the first round with a 526-329 win over Dave Kinzer, thanks in part to a torrent of bingos including FINEABLE, BROMATES, ANTIWEED, and LUSTRATE. He then applied a major beatdown to his own brother, Thomas Reinke, by an outlandish score of 524-251. Thomas didn't manage to bingo, but Charles made up for that by getting down CONNOTED, GLITZES, and word-of-the-week VERRUCAS (a VERRUCA is a wart and can also be pluralized VERRUCAE). After a misstep against Andy Bohnsack, he finished up his night by beating Lynda Finn 427-389. Lynda played ROTARIES and RETITLE, but was matched by Charles' SLOSHING and CORELATE (apparently a British spelling of CORRELATE).

3rd Andy Bohnsack went 3-1 +60, his small spread total still being enough to place in third ahead of Helen Flores, who went 3-1 -7. The first of his victims was Lynda Finn, whom he defeated 410-367, thanks mostly to his 96-point BEDUINS (how does that word even score that much? seriously). He also played the word FIFTIES (paradoxically for 83 points), while Lynda had THUNDER and STERLING as her bingos. Andy then took a win over Dennis Lloyd, 419-316, playing LARGEST and UNHOLIER to Dennis' CURLIER. On the topic of streaks, Andy reversed recent trends against Charles Reinke, ending the latters' five-game winning streak against him by winning their matchup 455-390. Charles was held to just one bingo of PRESALES, while Andy enjoyed a relative bounty by playing IMBRUTE and UREIDES.

Bryan Benwitz Plays Words that are Worth More than His Opponents' Words

1st Bryan Benwitz, fueled by peanut butter granola bars, enjoyed his second undefeated club session in three tries, going 4-0 +401. He started off strong by beating Gail Salm 451-313, nailing the super-high-probability ARENITE to bolster his winning efforts (as well as the not-quite-as-high-probability STRAYING [anagram STINGRAY]). The large winning margins didn't stop there as Bryan downed Mary Becker 485-278; again, Bryan dipped into his knowledge of high-probability bingos with TENORITE and AIRSIDE. But those two wins, while impressive, weren't quite as impressive as defeating the two top players in the club back-to-back, a feat Bryan achieved in rounds three and four. The first victim was Charles Reinke, who lost by a score of 381-434. Bryan had SANDPIT, OVERSEE, and FUNCTORS (shades of last week's FUNCTOR by Bryan), easily trumping Charles' sole BATARDS. The next and final victim, Thomas Reinke, made the game considerably closer, losing by only three points, 442-445. Bryan again had a trio of bingos (GLOOPIER, PALTRIER, and STRANDS) to bring his total up to ten for the evening; Thomas had WEAKENS and ARBELEST (a medieval crossbow, also ARBALEST and ARBALIST).

2nd Charles Reinke finished with a 3-1 +317 record. Other than a disappointing round three loss to Bryan, he enjoyed relative success against a strong field of players. Michael David tried to make it personal with his bingo of UGLIEST, but Charles overcame adversity to win their match 420-367 (playing BRINIES and DINKIEST). Andy Bohnsack suffered the same fate as Michael before him, but wasn't even allowed the dignity of a bingo as he got shut out in a 316-538 loss. Charles, meanwhile, had DEAERATE, MACULES, and TENORITE, and has now won ten of eleven against "Mr. B". Such a bingo disparity was absent in a game against Aaron Bader (DERINGER and METAMER for Aaron, SINCERE and BIOGENIC for Charles), but it didn't matter as Charles emerged from the fray with a solid 485-390 win.

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +117, winning three close-ish games before falling to Bryan in the final round. His largest win was by 67 points over Aaron Bader, 450-383, a game that saw Thomas play a Reinke-esque three bingos of ESTRAYED, ALGINATE, and TROILISM. Aaron exacted some small measure of revenge by getting away with a phony ODORISED. DEODORISED and ODORIZED are good, but there is no third category for "words that are similar to other, valid words", so a phony it must remain. After that came two closer games for Thomas, the first being a 381-355 win over Dave Gilligan where each player just had one bingo (Thomas' APERITIF vs. Dave's ROASTED). The second, against Richard Lauder, was higher-scoring, but just as close: 446-419 was the final. Richard utilized all ammunition available to him with INDUSIA, FRISKETS, and VARIANTS, but just couldn't break through after Thomas' find of ECCLESIA (missing FASCICLE, but who cares?).

Andy Bohnsack also went 3-1 but his +5 spread means that he only gets one little sentence here at the end rather than an entire paragraph.

Helen Flores' great find of VAGABOND was chosen as word of the week.

Aaron Ain't Errin'

1st Aaron Bader had a perfect 4-0 +356 record and reversed his recent trend of disappointing bingo totals by playing nine of them in four games. His bingo woes were still present in his first game, however, as his sole SNARLING was kind of lonely in a 396-297 win over Lynda Finn, who played AEROSAT. Things began to pick up steam when Aaron was tasked with playing two players at once, defeating Mary Becker 412-348 (playing word-of-the-week MOHWAKS and URBANISE) and Betty Hasselkus 440-302 (playing COATEES and REGIONAL). All of these efforts culminated in a thrilling 513-458 win over second-place finisher Charles Reinke, where a late nine-letter bingo of TWITCHING for 98 points (preceded by a 60-some point QUIP) secured the win. Aaron's other bingos in that one were OUTGAVE, AUTACOID, and SNARFLED. Charles had MUSKIER, OVERSEEN, and LEADSMAN; his 458 losing score is not quite the highest this year, but it's close.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +461, and, excepting his loss against Aaron, had a very successful evening, with each of his wins having a margin of over 100. He had his own four-bingo game against third-placer Bryan Benwitz, unleashing TERRAIN, HEMATITE, FORESKIN, and SMALLEST upon the board to cruise to a 508-352 win (Bryan had HORNITOS and RELOANED). A game against Dave Gilligan didn't quite score as much, but the margin was much larger as Charles took a 489-254 win, playing AVAILED and STRIGILS along the way. Charles' ability to overwhelm his opponents hadn't faded by the fourth game, as he took down club director and grizzled Scrabble veteran Richard Lauder, 399-275. Richard got away with the phony RAGDOLLS (apparently a type of cat, and also a video game term, but still not in the dictionary); Charles didn't have to resort to trickery when he played the perfectly valid LENTISK (a type of shrub, because everything is a shrub).

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +203, overcoming a first-round loss to make an appearance in the top three. After starting -156 in the hole, Bryan quickly extricated himself from said hole by beating Lynda Finn by a score of 472-287. Bryan got down NONRATED, LURKING, and the nice find of FUNCTOR (97 points!); the only thing written down for Lynda's bingos was a sad face. Mary Becker was the one to give Bryan his closest game: a 350-380 loss isn't so bad considering the damage that we know Bryan is capable of doing. Mary got down TRUSSING to Bryan's ANECDOTA and NAILERS (the study of high-probability words paying off once again). Bryan returned to form in the final game by winning easily against Gail Salm, 456-312, again out-bingoing his opponent two to one (OVERBITE and NARROWS for the victor, SILVERS for the defeated).