Hi,

Here's my unabashedly intermediate report from Division II at Atlantic City. Several good lessons learned:
- Don't make a phony outplay if it's the only way to lose the game
- Don't steadfastly keep a closed board closed against an expert
- Don't forget entirely about the Q and then stare at it dumbfounded in your final rack
- Don't stay out till 3:30 gambling, partying, and scrabbling, or it will greatly increase your chances of breaking the first three rules.

First game against Maurice DeCanio, I feel jittery, but am ahead 149-40 after DIsRATEd double-double and SENARIUS (challenged). Unaccountably fall into an ugly pattern of silly rack-balancing plays for 18-21-22-12-24 etc., while Maurice hits a hot streak of 27-30-25-22-25. Somewhere along the line I run out of time, and draw the Q to my final rack. That nigthmarish feeling I lose 351-317 after Maurice takes 20 from my rack and I take 30 from my clock.

I bounce back strongly against Trevor Sealy, with a tight, lucky game, scoring with cOINAGE early and ARUGOLa late, to Trevor's natural BASINET. 444-305.

I continue with confidence, attempting PASTIES early, but challenged off because of T- hook to -OBEY. Mary Capalbi's next play gives PASTIES anyway. Later I play LOADERS to her RATiONED, and cement my lead with RAPTLy, 37, hooking T-WAE. 392-354 final.

George Warnock started slow with 49 pts in 4 turns, while I hammered on to 157. By the time he bingoed with dINETtE it barely brought him even. Along the way he taught me IROKO which I unsuccessfully challenged. I win 369-284.

Next is Harriett Lakernick whom I had played a few times online - a pleasure to meet in person. I play aggressively opening YONDER, and her next plays include CUM, AUTO, and IGLU. Clearly she is having a trying time. Nevertheless I only lead by 30 at the midpoint. Then I get SHITTERS*, and close the door with nATURES. My game 408-255.

Game six I lose to nemesis Tom Kelly, but without his getting ALL the power tiles to justify myself. At the midpoint I lead 250-217 after BlOODIED, JIMP and AZAN. After Tom lays E-UAL across the Q in his previously played EQUAL, I hit misery: "almost" racks of one-pointers, and I sucker myself into agonizing bingo-grooming at 10-pts a turn. When Tom bingos with RECITALs, I really do *need* a bingo, but my final rack of ATTESTS doesn't play. I lose, 369-318.

Day two starts against Paul Avrin, one of the few acknowledged "true" experts in this division (by account of other patzers like myself). We are neck-a-neck till I score with ANTHEMS (anagram? [1]) and CAJON, but he comes back promptly with EVIlEST. A couple of turns later I am pleased to extend SPARK with -LIER for 30. At 308-313, Paul passes 2 (Q unseen) leaving me to wonder whether he has ridded himself of the Q or done something more nefarious. The latter: next turn he bingos with ENQUIRE for 88. He lets my desperation play of WEDGER* go because he cannot lose otherwise. Final 403-378.

Back to the lower seeds, I do better: Victories against Mary Alice Lyons with OUTGiVEN and FRIARIES, 488-341; Glenn Filzer 492-335, scoring with UNSEATS, SOIrEES, HOOTIER, and GERANIOL. I even spot Glenn's going-out bingo in his rack - a 4-letter-overlap parallel play of PRORATE - but he is so demoralized he misses it.

Betty Burton, one of the jolliest players in this circuit, allows TETCH* 41, but then in a moment of amnesia I challenge PALIEST. She follows with ZIN and REQUITED and suddenly I am down more than 100. I struggle through intractable draws, hit CRONY for a 66 hi-non-bingo, and near the end play AdENINES to her SARDiNES. Still lose, 437-395.

Next I play the soft-spoken Steve Ozorio, who has been doing very well. He opens RAVINEs, while I exchange. He follows XI, and I am behind 111-19. But I quickly get down VERTIGOS double-double for 98, and shortly DOSAGES. He scores with the nice find AMNIOtE, but I run off with 27-25-22-31-35-26 and win 410-383 even after getting stuck with the Q and losing 20 for time. A nice lesson in not getting discouraged right at the start.

Game 12 I face friend Ben Loiterstein, who lives 4 blocks from my house and plays in Lexington with me. We have to come to AC to play each other! It's a thrilling slugfest, Ben's MEANERs, my ENSHRINE, then my LAETRiLS* [2], and his ZANDERS for 91. Even though I continue to score well with CECUM 42, VAT 38, he hits HARDEST, and clobbers another hotspot with FOUNT for 48. Ben wins 498-391.

Day 3, and I am buzzing from too much play and too little sleep. Bad bad bad idea. I am flung at Mark Berg, and I am dully aware of a swirl of sidebets going down. Larry Sherman exhorts me to win. I open TOLUATE which Mark holds. He hits a rich vein and hammers away with 33-55-49-42, but I'm back in it with SIERRAs, which he also holds. I stick with it to the end, using the 2nd blank to grab 17 points off Ab and bABA on a dws.... Mark challenges BABA, and I go out, appropriately, with DIE. My win 377-352.

I try to use the enthusiasm and adrenaline from this triumph, but am due to drop the next 4 in a mirror-image performance of Day 1. Bobbie Butterfield can do no wrong with SNIPpED and HAIRIEST, while I take 5 minutes to find TENANtED, then pass, then desperately attempt ISOBAND*, challenged off. Bobbie gets ZOOM 35 out of her final rack of DEJMOYZ, while I get the remaining 28, but I go down 432-337.

I can stay with Audrey Tumbarello only 3 turns after her APRONEd and my NITRILS, but her DORSALS set a new pace, and soon, unintentionally, the board is locked shut. By the time I am holding a bingo (forgotten what) I have not managed to open a spot, and the opportunity passed. Audrey was game and did not complain about my amateurish showing. My loss, 405-290.

Next I played Rod McNeil in the most awful heartbreaker - self-incurred. We both played powerful, open, aggressive games - his ROACHINg, my OUTBRAG, his TICKs 59, my EBON 32, his VAMP 22, my PARENtED, later his QUIPS 52, and we're neck-a-neck the whole way. Finally after he brackets AR with SW- and -T to make SWART at m10 we're tied 360-360. AFILORSZ unseen and the obvious threat of FRAZILS 15g for mongo points. I hold EELNOTY, and play YON 15m (SWARTY) for 30. Amazingly, Rod challenges - handing me the game or so I think. I draw the final O, and slap down a chimerical TELEON to go out. For a warped instant I really thought it was good, but Rod got a new lease on life with a successful challenge. I mentally hang, shoot, and stab myself. He plays TZAR to the triple (where my blocking play *should* have gone) for 36, I block his only outplay for 8,but his out-in-2 from that point on outscores mine, and I lose magnificently.

By now all hope of a money finish is lost, and I face juggernaut Doug Hoylman, a low seed who is having a terrific tournament. I play in a lackluster fashion, except for the natural LAZARET 94 where I surprise myself. But Doug has COnSUME, TAWNIER, and later TEASpOON, though I challenge off CUESTICK. I find myself tiredly makinghuge board-opening plays without any clear idea of how I will benefit from them, and Doug swallows each one up in turn: JOHNS 51, PHASE 41... I lose 464-370.

My final game is against Judy Steward, and we enjoy a sort of solidarity as a pair of also-rans. The game is relaxed, though far more enjoyable for me than for her. We start with four back-to-back bingos, her OVEREATS, my EAGEREST (missing a more defensive ETAGERES), her AMENDING, and my APPETItE. We keep strong pace, until my RUSTINg 79, and the tourney is over.

One other note: I experimented by leaving my (stock) board, Jerger analog clock, tiles, and racks out during much of the tournament, freely allowing others to use them while I played elsewhere. It was ok the first two days, but by the end of the third day, I found my tiles and board on the floor under a novice playing table mixed in with someone's pocketbook; I lost a rack altogether; and a piece was missing from the back of my clock, making it impossible to set one of the dials. Not an encouraging result, but I feel petty bringing it up. I'll just loan my stuff game-by-game from now on, and check it back each time.

All best, anyone who read this far.

John (loss of approx 16 rating points) Van Pelt

[1] HETMANS
[2] LAETRILES is the word I was thinking of. The legal (and easy) LITERALS or LATERALS would have done the same thing in this position.