1st game...
Opening rack GANNIES. Your guess is as good as mine... I suppose AGIN is best, I went with GAIN. She tries TOADInG*, I challenge it off, and block the obvious 8 DONATING with PUN, drawing a rack of ABESSUW. I jump on WAB for 31, draw QAN, play QUA/AGAIN for 38.
Now with both blanks, she has InsTALL and her first lead.
I bingo in the 7th turn with WEARIEST for 88, get a 34 point lead... same spread after 10.
At some point I missed SEICENTO thru the C, I think. I didn't think of extending HEARD to MISHEARD till after the game. I was getting a pretty hopeful rack at the end, and regarded her bingoing ability as pretty shaky, so risked creating a mildly useful bingo hook... without counting tiles... emptied the bag. Held AERIEST/SERIATE, watched her bingo out with the hard to miss BAILERS.
375-437. Wouldn't do that in a tourney...but that's the last free club game she gets from me. Went for the bingo instead of the win, and took her too lightly.
Game 2... Dave H
Rather motivated now, I open for 32, he replies 30, I get ELECTORS for 70 (Also CORSELET, ELECTROS, SELECTOR). The SELECTORS hook never ended up being used.
He's banging back pretty steadily... 42, 36, 31, 16, 71 (ATONIES... sigh), 38.
That isn't enough... after ELECTORS, I throw in turns of 30, 14, TARWEeDS for 86 (ironic word to play on a botanist!), followed by REGULINE for 70. After 10 it's 410-298, ends up 459-366.
3rd game...
He exchanges all 7 (This isn't the erratic fisherman, by the way). From that point on, he plays at least one premium tile every turn for 30+ points for 5 turns. I get ALIENER in turn 5 to stay close, he exchanges all 7 again in turn 10, at which point it's 233-219 for him.
Now he tries OUTHATE*. These horrible OUT- words again. I knew for a fact OUTLOVE was good, tho it sounds at least as silly as OUTHATE*. And given recent events, OUTHATE seemed less preposterous than usual. I stupidly accepted it after a brief hold.
After 13 I'm down 345-260, holding ADVISER and no hooks in sight. He makes one... SORT, where the T can hook ADVISER either way. Oddly, I'd missed ADVISER in an opening rack somewhere back around club stuff 14 or so... perhaps having written about it saved me from overlooking it again.
Now 358-344 for him. His last rack is CAPTI?E. So much for that.
Game 4
Going 1-2 is quite motivating.
But my opening rack is a little screwy. DOOQRSW. I take WORDS for 26, keeping NONWORDS in mind. (Lex says KEY- and MIS- are the other 3-letter -WORD extensions)
The draw gives me QOOTIES. I exchange QOOI, and now hold SLITHER, which plays off the opening S for 95.
I'm off to the races now.
44, 27, and then with AEMNRV? I find oVERMANY on a trip for 98, which he challenges. As relieved as I was to see that, I noticed a better play after the game... a 2x2 niner thru OE... MANOEuVER or MANOEuVRE for 102. I found the second blank for OPUNtIA, 68. After 10 it's 434-214.
2 turns later I throw in PIOLETS. Ends up 561-289.