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Bryan "Opponents Cryin' " Benwitz Blows By Opposition

1st Bryan Benwitz averaged 456 points per game while going a perfect 4-0 +363. He scored above the 400 mark in all of his games while simultaneously holding all his opponents under that same mark. His closest game was also the only one where got three bingos, a 429-374 win against Mary Becker. Bryan held a monopoly on the bingos that game, playing MAFTIRS, CRAFTER, and the phony VINELIKE (VEINLIKE is good). The big score was saved for the final, deciding game against Andy Bohnsack, where Bryan prevailed 543-399. Andy fought hard with his triple-triple of GYNOECIA for 158 points, a strong candidate for word of the week, but Bryan had his own 158-point triple-triple, SWATTERS, to negate Andy's big play. Bryan also played GENITIVE and later drew a challenge by hooking an S onto it. Both players earned four dollars for the triple-tripling skills.

2nd Charles Reinke averaged a healthy 476 points per game, with his titanic +628 spread making him the top 3-1 player by a large margin. He offered his clock-cleaning services to Lynda Finn in the first game of the evening, triumphing in a lopsided 578-244 contest. The C-Twin had four bingos of GENITORS, CERASTES (a creature of Greek legend, CERASTES is the singular, so CERASTE is no good), DETOXIFY, and MINGLED. Charles also broke a seven-game losing streak against his brother in violent fashion, cruising to a 483-328 win. The bingos were somewhat pedestrian, but bingos are bingos: Thomas played DOOMIER, Charles played INANEST, STUNNED, and STIRRER. Andy Bohnsack was the player responsible for the unsightly mark in the "L" column, taking down the otherwise high-scoring Charles 381-327.

3rd Helen Flores continued her recent run of improved play with an impressive 3-1 +99 outing, beating Aaron Bader for third place by just six spread points. Her big win came against Sue Goldstein, 396-281, thanks in part to her bingo of SULLENER. One bingo not being enough, Helen then got two of them, AIRIEST and OUTFACE, in a game against Betty Hasselkus which she won 410-360. Betty had SENIORS to counteract Helen's own bingoing efforts. Helen's performance is even more impressive when you consider that she started the evening 121 points in the hole after a 279-400 drubbing at the experienced hands of Barb Besadny.

Aaron Bader and Andy Bohnsack also went 3-1. Aaron snapped a seven-game losing streak against Mark Kenas by winning his last three games of the night. Gail Salm played the excellent BULLDOZE against Thomas Reinke, earning her word of the week.

Mark Kenas Beats Up Aaron Bader for Lunch Money

1st Mark Kenas played three games of Collins against Aaron Bader and was victorious in all of them. He has now won eight of the last nine against Aaron. They fought to a high-scoring finish in the second game, with Mark winning 471-458, thus perpetuating the stereotype that all Collins games feature obscenely high point totals. Mark played DIMPLIER, DANCERS, and the collins-only ROTTENS# (anagram for us plebs: STENTOR); Aaron had SLOTTER, GASTRAEA, and METAIRIE#. Their final matchup somehow ended with nobody reaching the 400-point mark, a feat which should be impossible when you can play words like ZO, JA, and ETAERIO. A disappointing final score of 397-371 was due to only one bingo for each player: TEMSING# for Mark and AUCTION (now there's a normal word) for Aaron.

2nd Charles Reinke finished at 3-1 +330. He got off to a blazing-hot start, with his record after two games being 2-0 +377, but was unable to finish the job. In the first game, he took down Chris Vergeront 475-304. Chris had EGESTION, but Charles had a trio of bingos that trumped Chris': OCTROIS, INLAYERS, and UPDRAFTS. An even larger win was in store for Charles in the next round, when he faced birthday girl Helen Flores. Again, the bingo count was 3-1, and again, Charles was on the higher side of that equation. Helen played TEARIEST; Charles found ATTAINER, BEDPANS, and OVERTIME.

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +260 and averaged a cool 457 points per game in the process. He had two valid bingos in all of his games, but one phony marred the perfect symmetry of the evening. Not for the first time, he achieved the rare anti-Reinke by beating both Reinke twins, this time back-to-back. First, he took down Thomas Reinke 474-361 on the back of his bingos RETIRES and TENSILE (Thomas had EARINGS and DRAGONET). Then, amped up from that victory, he went into his game against Charles with all guns blazing and came out with a huge 545-414 win. That was the game where he phonied, playing OVERRIGS to go with the valid ASTHENIA and TONIEST. Charles let OVERRIGS go because it gave him a spot for his triple-triple LOCUSTAL (n. LOCUSTA, a type of flower cluster) for 149 points. Charles also had SECTILE in that game for far fewer points. Lynda Finn was the one who stepped up to the challenge of preventing a perfect night for Bryan, with Lynda getting a 412-369 win.

Peter Schmiedicke played the word of the week, PLANKTER (the singular of PLANKTON, although PLANKTONS is still a word).

Lynda Finn Takes Month Off, Probably Learned Whole Dictionary In That Time

1st Lynda Finn won four relatively close games to finish 4-0 +126, her first undefeated performance since March of last year. Mary Becker nearly changed all of that, with only five points separating her losing 396 and Lynda's winning 401. Mary played PACTION to Lynda's OBVIATE. The bingo train began to roll in earnest when Lynda matched up against Richard Lauder for a high-scoring 464-404 victory. Richard's three-bingo assault of REAGINS, DRUTHERS, and CRISPING was offset by a similar assault from the other side of the board; Lynda played DESTINY, PIONEERS, and EGALITE. One could say that it was destiny which led her to beat club leader Thomas Reinke in the final game, 392-350.

2nd Andy Bohnsack overcame a rough initial game to finish in second at 3-1 +354. That opening round loss against Charles Reinke, 438-241, was Andy's worst game since we started keeping track in 2011, but Andy proved himself a resilient competitor (with a short memory to boot) by winning the next one 542-304 against Barb Besadny. Four bingos found their way from rack to board: SENARII (n. SENARIUS, a Latin verse of six metrical feet), ROUTINES, SUNLIKE, and STEADILY. Only two bingos were on hand against Helen Flores, but Andy did not find himself too inconvenienced, and won by a score of 436-276 on the back of TAILORED and SOLVATE.

3rd Thomas Reinke looked to be headed for another first-place finish after three games, but lost the last one against Lynda Finn to end up at 3-1 +324. For the seventh straight game, he beat his brother Charles, this time with a final tally of 453-389. The bingos to be found on the board afterwards were somewhat uninteresting, with Charles finding SIENITE and Thomas unloading ENTHRAL, LENITED, and DUSTRAG, the last one being an out-bingo to win the game. A match against Susan Vergeront needed no such endgame heroics, with a final of 473-265. Susan had ATTUNED; Thomas played ISOLATED and TELAMON (n. a male figure used as a supporting column, plural TELAMONES).

Bryan Benwitz and Peter Schmiedicke also went 3-1 but failed to place due to inferior spreads. Because +311 +244 respectively are "inferior." Bryan enjoyed his second ever five-bingo game at club, beating Charles Reinke 543-408. His bingos were (deep breath) STATION, PRETTIER (anagram PRETERIT), METERING, LOUVERED, and DILLIES. Charles hoodwinked everybody with his nine-letter phony RATTINESS (TARTINESS was available, STRAITENS and RESISTANT are the anagrams) but was otherwise fully stymied.

Barb Besadny played JONESES for 85 and was rewarded with Bingo of the Week for her troubles.

Sue Goldstein Arrives Late, Departs Victorious

1st Sue Goldstein played three games against June Scott and won two of them for a 2-1 +141 night. Most of that spread was gained in the first game, when she clobbered her opponent 342-228, a score which included REBOUND for 72 points.