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1st Thomas Reinke demolished his competition, going 4-0 +545 and averaging 442 points per game to his opponents' lowly 306. He made easy work of Bryan Benwitz in round 2, winning their encounter 459-327 and playing three bingos: ELEGANCE, FIREMEN, and the phony-but-plausible MOLLUSCAE*, played through two letters already on the board. MOLLUSCA is valid by itself, but the only hook it takes is an N to make MOLLUSCAN. Thomas also defeated Mark Kenas in a pair of games, and in neither of them did Mark breach the 300-point barrier, perhaps indicating that Thomas' defensive board-control skills were on more prominent display than usual. The first of those wins ended with a 419-279 final tally in Thomas' favor, and the second was 435-283. Despite his commanding performance in those two games, Thomas played just three bingos total against Mark: TROUBLE, PERKIEST, and UNTAILED#.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +54, finishing in second in a reduced group of six players. In round one, he defeated veteran tile-slinger Richard Lauder by a scored of 425-308, getting down bingos of PINTOES and TURMOIL in the process. Richard got SABERED to help him crawl over the psychologically important 300-point threshold. Against Peter Schmiedicke, Bryan won again, 421-370, although the pair's usual bingoing acumen was not fully apparent, as each player got just one bingo onto the board: WEIRDEST for Bryan, TERNATE for Peter. In the final round of the night, Bryan squared off against Charles Reinke and won a quite high-scoring contest, 484-466. This time, both players bingoed early and often. Bryan played MURKIER, FITNESS, and NOBLEST, but was countered each step of the way by Charles' bonus plays of TRAILED, TUNICATE, and ANSATED. Only a previously-mentioned loss to Thomas Reinke, 327-459, stood in the way of Bryan and an undefeated evening of Scrabble.

1st Thomas Reinke crushed all his opposition and finished with a neatly-packaged 4-0 record with a blasphemous spread of +656. He toppled the mighty Mark Kenas in a pair of games to get two of his four wins. The first of those games ended with a final of 483-321, despite Mark's nice find of WORKADAY; Thomas, meanwhile, had slightly more conventional finds of SARMENTS and JOLLIERS. Their next game was closer, but still a win for Thomas, 462-388, thanks to another J bingo, JUNKERS, and a 95-point TYPIEST - Mark played DECURIES and AVOCADOS. Thomas also enjoyed a 495-242 win against Helen Flores, getting down RETINAL and GALERES, and probably some other good plays too given that those two bingos wouldn't be enough to get him almost all the way to 500 points.

2nd Richard Lauder had his fourth 3-1 performance in five sessions, going 3-1 +243. His round one game was a squeaker, but he came away with the win against Sara McLaughlin, 371-369. Sara got a bingo of DAILIES, but Richard had AUDITION and NIDGETS. NIDGETS is useful to remember for anybody who draws the letters DEGINST and faces the temptation of a phony STINGED*. Richard's best game was a 492-206 win against Sue Goldstein, perhaps most notable for the fact that the game was played in round four, when Sue usually stays until the end of round three. Richard's three-pronged assault of BESTRID, ANESTRI, and TIMBERED was more than enough to comfortably carry him to victory. Richard's sole loss was to Helen Flores in convincing fashion, 321-450.

1st Charles Reinke went 3-1 with a modest positive spread of +132, earning lukewarm first-place honors. His high game was played against Helen Flores, who he defeated by a score of 457-375. Helen had two bingos of NATURALS and BEADERS, while Charles had AWAITED and REVEILLE. Charles also enjoyed a win against his similarly-surnamed foe Thomas Reinke, winning their encounter 410-391. Thomas was uncharacteristically limited to a single bingo of DIALYSIS (albeit for 98 points), but Thomas played a total of thirteen bingos combined in the rest of his games, so he'll be OK. Charles, for his part, got down IDIOLECT and RENNASE. The sole loss on Charles' scoresheet was given to him courtesy of Mark Kenas, 401-417. Mark demonstrated his disconcertingly deep dictionary knowledge with the Collins-only NAVARHOS#, in addition to AIGRETS and GLOUTED, which are acceptable in the American dictionary.

2nd Richard Lauder kept his yearly winning percentage well above 50% with a 3-1 -36 outing. He fought a close battle against Sara McLaughlin, winning that bout 376-362 thanks to a find of TEATIMES (Sara had RERISEN). A game against Helen Flores was similarly close in terms of winning margin but was even more anemic in overall scoring output, Richard escaping with a 345-332 victory despite challenging a few of Helen's valid plays. Each player played exactly one bingo: ARTSIER for Richard, SUBTLER for Helen. The one game where Richard got two bingos was also the one he lost; despite getting down OUTFIRES and HORNIEST, the scoring power of Thomas Reinke was too much to overcome, and the final was not particularly close, 351-450. Thomas' trio of eight-letter bingos, AVERSION, TALCIEST, and DOMINEER, were vital in securing victory.