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It Seems Like Thomas Reinke's Winning Streak Just Ended, And Here He is at Eight Again

1st Thomas Reinke won all four of his games for the second week in a row.  He made quick work of Dave Gilligan, 448-318, despite just one bingo of MORGENS for 94 points.  Dave played BOULDER for a fair share of his own point total.  He put together a similar performance against Andy Bohnsack, again playing fewer bingos than we are accustomed to seeing from him (just REBOOTS), but snagging the win anyway, 439-337.  The bingo train got back on the rails when he unleashed four of them against Charles Reinke (no relation), easily walking away with victory in hand, 471-372.  Those four bingos were NOISOME, DANEWORT, VALETING and NONWORD (is that irony?); Charles played ALGICIDE for a helpful 94 points.  With this undefeated performance and Aaron Bader's absence, Thomas is now in first place in the yearly standings.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +339, amassing plenty of spread points even after a near-100 point loss to his similarly-named nemesis.  He started off his evening with back-to-back 500-point games, guaranteeing a successful outing.  Against Bryan Benwitz, he pulled out all the stops, delivering a sizable walloping with a final score of 566-308.  Bryan got NERVOUS in his losing effort; Charles played STAIDER, GAUFFERS (anagram SUFFRAGE), and the highest-scoring bingo of the evening, METALIZE for 108 points.  Then, versus Peter Schmiedicke, the score was a slightly less dominant 502-342.  Peter got fancy with REALIZER and DEVIANTS, but it was no use: Charles played ADEEMING, TRIHEDRA, and ISOLATE.

3rd Bryan Benwitz took the anguish from his first-round loss and used it as fuel for his future Scrabble conquests, ending at 3-1 +145.  Helen Flores was not spared, and suffered a 467-304 loss brought about by Bryan's SENARII, BLINDER, and MANIFEST.  Bryan's cumulative, which remained negative through the first three games, was finally pushed back into positive territory following a severe whupping brought down on Peter Schmiedicke, 560-354.  Peter played STEARIN (one of the less-popular of the nine words in AEINRST), but it hardly mattered as Bryan coolly laid down four bingos of his own: FANCIES, RETCHING, URANITES, and word-of-the-week YEOMANRY.  Bryan and Charles were tied for Bingo King with ten each.

Sue Goldstein: Undefeated, Perhaps Undefeatable

1st Sue Goldstein easily swept her three games, finishing 3-0 +272, her highest spread total since a +397 in 2012.  Sharlie Miura came closest to defeating Sue, but the nature of the word "undefeated" indicates that it wasn't meant to happen, with Sue pevailing 310-293.  A much bigger score was needed after that low-scoring affair, and the tile gods agreed, with Sue defeating June Scott 422-267.  A bingo of TRAINERS for 74 points certainly helped in that regard.

2nd Aki Miura went 1-1 -22.  Sue Goldstein beat him by an even hundred, 264-364, but redemption was partially achieved in his defeat of June Scott, 313-235.

Thomas Reinke Is Not To Be Messed With

1st Thomas Reinke made quick work of his opposition, winning each game by over 100 points on his way to a perfect 4-0 +588 record.  An average game score of 467 effortlessly eclipsed that of all others present.  Thomas hit the ground running with a 519-364 victory over Susan Vergeront, holding his opponent to a lone bingo of INTEREST while himself playing three: COARSEN, OUTBULGE, and ELAPINE.  Another three-bingo effort was in store for Andy Bohnsack, who was probably wishing to be anywhere else but that Sunday School room as Thomas laid down the smack, 526-334.  DARTLES was Andy's contribution to the bingo pool; Thomas had UTENSIL, MARTINIS, and PEONAGES (n. PEONAGE, the condition of being a peon).

2nd Charles Reinke pummeled opponents not with his fists, but instead with the power of his word knowledge, ending the night at 3-1 +442.  Barb Besadny took the most punches from that word knowledge, with Charles playing four bingos (AUREOLAE, BRAINIER, INTRIGUE, and EDITION) en route to a 556-260 rout.  Andy Bohnsack was the one person who managed to interrupt Charles' winning ways, the two word warriors dueling to a high-scoring 469-450 final.  Charles played OVERTIPS and NIGELLA, but Andy one-upped him with DECEASE, TANGRAM, and SUSPENDS, the last one for a juicy 92 points.

3rd Bryan Benwitz finished with a 3-1 +284 record to land in the coveted top-three.  He defeated fellow up-and-comer Peter Schmiedicke 422-335 in a game that featured less bingoing than would be expected: Peter got GRANTORS to Bryan's TOWARDS.  Uncountable riches awaited Bryan when he played the triple-triple ALIENATE for 131 points, part of a 508-358 over Andy Bohnsack (boy, that guy gets mentioned a lot, doesn't he?  I want some kickbacks).  Bryan's single defeat came at the wrathful hands of Betty Hasselkus, 369-361.  Betty's FOLDERS for 91 proved to be just enough to overcome Bryan's RENEGADO (60) and COMBINE (81).

Bonus 4th paragraph: Mary Becker was 3-0 going into the last game, an impressive feat that earned her a matchup against the fearsome Thomas Reinke.  That game didn't quite go the way she wanted, but she still finished at 3-1 +136.

Mark Kenas played the word of the week, PROGNOSE, meaning "a smelling organ who is a fan of progressive rock".

Sue Goldstein Triumphs Again

1st Sue Goldstein went 2-2 -32.  She took down both members of the Miura duo, Aki 339-263 and Sharlie 303-293.  However, she lost a fair amount of spread when she faced Gail Salm and lost 394-301.

2nd Sharlie Miura split her two games for a 1-1 +21 record.  Her win came against June Scott 279-248; sympathy cringes are in order.

Aaron Bader: "My Assimilation Into Their Club is Complete; Next Step: Total Domination!" [maniacal laughter]

1st Aaron Bader strengthened his iron grip on the yearly standings, going 4-0 +475.  He is now at eight wins in a row - we are all hoping that Mark Kenas shows up and smacks some British-style sense into Aaron before it is too late.  Mary Becker attempted to do some smacking of her own, but fell just short, 351-374.  Aaron had the high-scoring DIPNETS for 92, but Mary had the even higher-scoring INQUIRED for 103, the highest-scoring bingo of the evening.  Aaron followed up that too-close-for-comfort win with a more decisive win against Leslie Seltzer, 525-201, a match that saw Aaron monopolize the bingo tiles for ACROTISM, SNOOPED, and VEALIER.  Three bingos were again in store for Aaron in his deciding bout against Bryan Benwitz, but two of them turned out to be phony: AUDIOED and METAFILE.  He did play the valid YEASTING to leave his phony percentage for the game at a brazen 66.6%.  Bryan played RATOONS and NEARSIDE, but his triumph in the "number of valid plays" category was not enough to secure the win, with Aaron prevailing 414-349.

2nd Bryan Benwitz averaged a club-leading 438 per game on his way to a 3-1 +268 finish.  He pulled off the elusive "Anti-Reinke", defeating both members of the high-powered duo.  Against Charles, even the twin's flagrant phony of ROBUSTO (only ROBUSTA) could not stop the Bryaniac, who won easily, 458-376.  Bryan's bingos of UPLANDS, RESTRUNG, and TAENIAE were instrumental in locking up the victory.  Domination even more ruthless than previously displayed was reserved for Thomas Reinke, with Bryan cruising to a 466-327 win.  Thomas had JILTERS, but it was no match for LOGIEST and PATINAS from the other side of the table.  Lynda Finn, despite not being a Reinke, was not spared, losing 365-477.

3rd Chris Vergeront continues to make the most out of his limited appearances at club, going 3-1 +153.  I bet that kickball team doesn't even do writeups.  Anyway, Chris improved on his yearly average by averaging 395 over his four games (scoring 400+ in each win), but hindered his bingo average by only playing four.  The scorecard tells no lies, and his told tales of big wins, not-so-big wins, and even a 345-417 loss against Helen Flores.  Dave Gilligan was the target of Chris' vengeance, the final score being 402-272.  Chris had SETTLES and EASIEST in that one.  Gail Salm was the recipient of Chris' highest-scoring output, their game ending 434-354.  Gail won the bingo tally, playing UNRAISED and TABORINS to Chris' TERMING, but sometimes bingos aren't enough by themselves.

Lynda Finn played OXAZINES to score word of the week.  An oxazine is a heterocyclic compound containing one oxygen and one nitrogen atom.  Thanks Wikipedia!

Sue Goldstein: "Losing is for Losers"

1st Sue Goldstein took all three of her games, finishing with a 3-0 +178 record and pushing her current streak to five wins, halfway to the magic number of ten.  She got her highest score of the year, as well as her highest winning margin, when she put the hurt on Aki Miura, 390-251.  A subset of that hurt was SALUTER for a cool 79 points.  June Scott was also made to know Sue's wrath, falling 311-293. 

2nd Sharlie Miura came back from a few-week absence, reminding us that she still knows how to play with a 1-1 +80 record.  She was merciless in her dismantling of June Scott, 344-235.  A score that high seemed unattainable in her matchup against Sue Goldstein, with a closed board resulting in a 250-271 loss.