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Well my long-time rival Chan spoiled my goal to have a winning record (15-16 overall) by beating me in our last game. He opened with TELEXED which I challenged. It’s good - to send a message by a type of telegraph system (FEDEX is a verb too). I made a valiant comeback effort with HOIDENS and SNORTED, but ended up with some bad racks towards the end and was outplayed. My record was the same last year but spread was better (baby steps!), so gotta work on getting more Ws next time!

Waiting on the awards ceremony. Then I have to kill lots of hours before my flight ✈️ leaves!

Here we are in front of the giant Scrabble board:

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Not landing in the money this year, but I’ve got my sights on a D3 win some day! Just have to get more consistent overall and lock down the 4s and 5s. I’ve had some good moments, but then made tons of boneheaded mistakes. This check is actually for the expert division. My division has a smaller check. Signed by Scrabble inventor Alfred Butts from the grave!

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Ventured out to a delicious dumpling restaurant, Din Tai Fung, with Nancy and Diana. Randomly, Nancy’s nephew was in town for a real estate conference and we were able to meet him there. Turns out I got to have my celebrity sighting because he is a professional wrestler nicknamed, the Progressive Liberal (he’s even got a Wikipedia page)! His schtick is to rile up the audience by provoking them with liberal politics 😂. He got a ton of media attention after the 2016 election. Recommend this Vice news video about him. As a former wrestling fan (RIP Mr. Perfect and Randy “Macho Man” Savage) - it was fun to meet him!

The dumplings were amazing! The perfect way to close out my last night in Vegas. So grateful to have my Scrabble besties to hang out with!

Three more games today and then an evening flight home to Durham. Woke up at 3:30am, so my transition back to east coast time won’t be hard.

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Went 2-1 for the afternoon. Should’ve won my last game, but got a little wacky and tried a phony - HOOPNETS. No good and a really careless error. My opponent deserved that win.

The second to last game was interesting because I had totally given up and my opponent definitely thought she had the game in the bag. But I drew OCATION from the bag and hooked it on the L she had just played for a walk-off bingo. It was proof that miracles can happen.

Three more games tomorrow and then I’m heading home (via red-eye flight) to my boys!

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Oof, rough morning with 3 losses and 1 win by 3 points. I could blame it on the tiles (which were legit BAD), but also made mistakes. Quackled a game and got a pep talk from Diana. Ready for the afternoon!

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Starting out with an L this morning, but proud of my play. Turned in my tiles. He laid down VETOING (always demoralizing when someone opens with a bingo), but I answered back with EPISTLES (mom and dad will like this). He got all the power tiles back to back - X, J, and Z. I played a phony, LONESTAR which he left there. He got WINCERS and I came back with LARGEST. He got the last blank, so edged me out in the end game. 486-440 (a high loss).

We put it together that I phonied with SALAMIES in Baltimore for a come-from-behind win, so I guess it was his turn for a W.

He also gave me good feedback - apparently it’s very obvious when I’m unsure about a word, so I gotta work on my poker face!

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New favorite word I learned on Aerolith today, SAGBUTS. And no, it’s not the phenomenon that occurs when you’re old and haven’t worked out in a while. It’s a medieval trombone. Has a variant spelling of SACKBUT.

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Ode to David Gibson (1951-2019)

Being at a Scrabble tournament always makes me think of the late David Gibson who died suddenly of cancer right before the pandemic in November 2019 (obituary). David Gibson is my all-time Scrabble hero and was the best Scrabble player in the world. Gibson would not have come to Vegas (he didn’t like to fly), but his spirit is definitely present and many people here would’ve known him. He was active in the Asheville Scrabble club and generously mentored players (including myself!) from all over the world.

His last Nationals was in Fort Wayne where he started out his first morning 2-2 and then went on to dominate most of the tournament in Division I. I remember seeing him in between games (me, the lowly Division 3 player) and he would ask, how are you doing? Meanwhile he was mopping up the floor at Ft. Wayne - winning 1st place handily. In the Nationals appearance before that (2012), Gibson lost first place to another Scrabble legend, Nigel Richards (who famously won the French National Scrabble Dictionary without knowing French). Gibson and Richards had the same Win-Loss record (22-9), but Richards had an overall point spread difference in the tourney that was 16 points more than Gibson’s spread. In the course of 31 games where might he have picked up 16 measly points??? There are some really fun YouTube histories of Nigel vs. David that Will Anderson made.

Off the Scrabble clock, David Gibson was a math professor at Southern Methodist College and played Scrabble nightly with his wife, Nancy, in their “Scrabble Room.” This reminds me of my parents who have also had a nightly Scrabble game for as long as I can remember.

Gibson is described as modest, soft-spoken, and a "provincial mystic.” As a testament to his modesty and supreme awesomeness, when Gibson won one tournament he set aside some of the prize money for charity and divvied up the rest of the winnings in individual checks (along with a handwritten note) sent to every competitor not finishing in the top 10 of the tournament (from Sports Illustrated article).

The “Gibson Rule”. Gibson had such a knack for winning that an official Scrabble rule was created and named after him during the 1995 Super Stars SCRABBLE Championship. David had clinched the #1 slot with more rounds to play. No matter what, no player would be able to catch up to him. The Gibson rule was instated so that the #1 player can be “Gibsonized” and removed from playing in the final rounds. This allows the competitors vying for 2nd and 3rd and so on to play amongst themselves instead of damaging their ratings or shot for 2nd or 3rd by playing #1. Gibson was frequently “gibsonized” in local tournaments.

I had the good fortune of playing some friendlies with David Gibson in Knoxville, TN (image above). I can attest to his humility, kindness, and straight-up wizardry with words. We played as a team against Mia & Nancy. I was frustrated that we had 0 blanks in two games and pretty terrible tile luck. But David on the other hand was enjoying the games and said he actually thought it more fun to work with a bad rack. We lost those games, but I (humble jedi-master-in-training) learned a lot in the process. Playing with this Scrabble legend has helped me coin my mantra for Nationals (and for all Scrabble games) ... WWDGD (What would David Gibson Do?).

The short answer to WWDGD? is ... WIN. The longer answer to the question is: be humble, play your best, reflect on the games afterwards using Quackle (his advice to me), and think of each rack as a new, fun challenge.

Further Reading:

Price, S.L. “Your Words against Mine.” Sports Illustrated 83, no. 26 (December 18, 1995): 106.      

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Well it was fun being in the top 20 while it lasted. I won my first afternoon game. Played well and found PERVIEST. Then in the end game I stuck an S on to MANQUE and got away with it for a win with SILTY. My opponent was frustrated because he knew it didn’t take an S, but wasn’t paying attention.

The next game broke my winning streak. Played a VERY stupid 3, AWK, that got challenged. My opponent blocked a bingo and I came up with STARFISH at the very end to make up some spread. My last draw was XFCCLNR.

In the final game I got rack after rack of crap and kept trading without ever getting a blank or semi-decent tiles. It was an unwinnable game, but the REALLY dumb thing I did was opened up a spot for him to bingo out with SPICIEST - costing me 100 spread points which will be hard to make up later. Lesson learned - I need to get better at tracking tiles and not lose focus at the end of a game.

On the upside, I had a nice little run and I’m excited for the games tomorrow. Fingers crossed for a 😴😴😴😴.

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Went 4-0 this morning which has put me into the top 20! You can check it out currently on the enhanced scoreboard. May not last long because I'll have to play tougher opponents. I screen capped the enhanced board to remember this brief moment. I went from 50th place or so to 20th. In part due to my good spread. There are 15 other players with a 10-8 record, but I popped to the top because of my +433 spread.

Highlights from the morning:

GAME 1: Crushed this nice older woman. Felt a little bit bad about it, but have to go by the Cobra Kai mantra, NO MERCY. Got 171 points spread in this game.

GAME 2: Playing a very nice older guy named, Marvin, who I befriended in Reno many years ago. He happens to share a name with my regular Scrabble competitor and he also doesn't know how to use his smart phone :)

GAME 3: Played a very serious gentleman named, Jeffrey Moore. Got away with the phony, IRONISER. He didn't say hold (which you have to do if you think you might challenge), so I drew my tiles. A minute later he said, challenge. But according to the rules it was too late. This is a hard lesson I learned from a game last year in Baltimore. It's all about having a stone face and doing a quick draw.

GAME 4: This was a bit of a slog, but I found RADIANT and LOXES so I managed to hold a lead on a tight board.

The afternoon is anyone's guess and my sleep deprivation might get the better of me. But cross your finger for some more Ws!

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Good start to the morning with a 463-292 game. I played GAOLERS to draw a challenge, but she didn’t take the bait. Got lucky with getting a blank for TANGOES. I’m down at the bottom of the division with people who have had a lot of losses like me. Theoretically that means I have easier games, but I’m not counting anyone out!

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Woke up at 3:30 😭. Silver lining is that once the sun came up I took a nice stroll to Bagelmania where I encountered this good 5L word, BIALY. Can also be spelled BIALI. Games start at 9!

The purple sphere is a new concert venue that’s set to open on September 29th with none other than U2! They are doing an Achtung Baby residency here.

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Ode to Elvis

I once set off the Elvis fan detector with my cousin at Graceland while on the platinum tour. My mom found this picture for me (circa 1999). At the time, I was into Elvis, Ace of Base, Dinosaur Jr. and Green Day. I watched all his movies. It turns out the hotel I’m staying in was Elvis’s residency hotel. They have a giant bronze statue and a lot of memorabilia throughout the hotel. According the hotel history page, his first show here was on July 31, 1969. Elvis performed 636 sold-out performances in the hotel! This was fat, strung-out Elvis we’re talking about, but still. I wonder what Elvis would’ve thought about Scrabble and futsal happening under his roof? Would he have eaten a Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon sandwich at Sid’s (the overpriced hotel restaurant)? I like to think so.

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Went on an adventure to the Mob Museum in downtown Vegas. It was pretty morbid - saw the original brick wall where the Valentine’s Day massacre happened. It’s located in the old post office and courthouse in the older area of the city. Some good Godfather and Casino memorabilia. In the case on the left are props from Casino and on the right is an original manuscript of the Godfather.

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Dream game was followed by a dud. Realized I missed AQUATICS with my blank which would’ve been a game changer. I exchanged the Q and later my opponent used it for 50 points. Overall not a great day, but a few bright spots.

Living today like I’ll have more wins tomorrow! Over and out!

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Had my dream game. Opponent opened with WOK and I played IMAGOES. Then to make things nice and symmetrical I played SURFEITS, ASTONIED, and GENTILES. My only mistake was to challenge IXIAS when I should’ve just let it ride (it’s good). Challenged off COM - which is not good. Final score: 532-331. Still need more Ws!

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Arrgghh…another loss. Got the blanks, so can’t complain about my loss - played AUNTLIER and FORTUNES. But drew bad tiles at the end and my opponent edged me out.