Re: addendum

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Posted by graytst (Ranked 33 on Scrabble 2 (Zone) Ladder) on June 06, 2002 at 20:21:09:

In Reply to: addendum posted by karjen_24 on June 05, 2002 at 00:14:25:

: For those contemplating joining the NSA, you may want to think it over. The person responsible for every one of the words listed above has played in 5 NSA sanctioned tourneys since January 01. In that time, their ratings have catapulted from 1197 to 1238.
: This player has amassed a 31 win 21 loss and 1 tie record over the course of those 5 tournaments. This player has played exactly 3 opponents rated over 1400 (1409, 1411 and 1428). This players' opponents have had an average rating of 1136.
: Taken into consideration this players lofty status here...68% wins against a field I'm sure whose collective average would be somewhat higher than 1136, makes you wonder what the expert level NSA players would be doing to us.

:
: You don't have to wonder because the low-level expert NSA players (1600 - 1799) on the ladder have almost exactly the same win percentage as your player. Unless you are a whiz kid in this game like Cappelleto was or like Kenji probably is, then you won't be encountering anyone that exhibits any better word knowledge than you find in the top players on the zone. You will be up against players with much better board play and rack management and game playing skills, but those are just some things you will improve on as you play in NSA clubs and tourneys.

: If you think some players get their word knowledge by cheating - you are probably right. But so what. There is no proof that any particular player is cheating, but all players who actually open the OSPD and study words or word lists are accused of cheating here. All we can say is that some cheating goes on in the Zone, and the best way to handle it is to learn as much as you can. For myself, I have learned so many new words from playing the zone I've lost count long ago.

: There is one beef I have against playing here - you can't make use of the challenge feature. Because there is cheating, you have to adopt the strategy of never challenging unless you're playing someone you know and trust. And even then, you must be extremely reluctant to challenge, because almost all players have adopted the policy of never playing phonies. It's too bad we can't improve our play by learning how to better use and protect against phonies. But cheating has definitely made that feature unusable.

: Bottom line is: you can have fun and improve your scrabble game playing on the zone, but to learn to play the whole game you have to join the NSA and play in tournaments - so don't think it over - go ahead and join. ... ... ... Graytst

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: : For those contemplating joining the NSA, you may want to think it over. The person responsible for every one of the words listed above has played in 5 NSA sanctioned tourneys since January 01. In that time, their ratings have catapulted from 1197 to 1238. : : This player has amassed a 31 win 21 loss and 1 tie record over the course of those 5 tournaments. This player has played exactly 3 opponents rated over 1400 (1409, 1411 and 1428). This players' opponents have had an average rating of 1136. : : Taken into consideration this players lofty status here...68% wins against a field I'm sure whose collective average would be somewhat higher than 1136, makes you wonder what the expert level NSA players would be doing to us. : : : : You don't have to wonder because the low-level expert NSA players (1600 - 1799) on the ladder have almost exactly the same win percentage as your player. Unless you are a whiz kid in this game like Cappelleto was or like Kenji probably is, then you won't be encountering anyone that exhibits any better word knowledge than you find in the top players on the zone. You will be up against players with much better board play and rack management and game playing skills, but those are just some things you will improve on as you play in NSA clubs and tourneys. : : If you think some players get their word knowledge by cheating - you are probably right. But so what. There is no proof that any particular player is cheating, but all players who actually open the OSPD and study words or word lists are accused of cheating here. All we can say is that some cheating goes on in the Zone, and the best way to handle it is to learn as much as you can. For myself, I have learned so many new words from playing the zone I've lost count long ago. : : There is one beef I have against playing here - you can't make use of the challenge feature. Because there is cheating, you have to adopt the strategy of never challenging unless you're playing someone you know and trust. And even then, you must be extremely reluctant to challenge, because almost all players have adopted the policy of never playing phonies. It's too bad we can't improve our play by learning how to better use and protect against phonies. But cheating has definitely made that feature unusable. : : Bottom line is: you can have fun and improve your scrabble game playing on the zone, but to learn to play the whole game you have to join the NSA and play in tournaments - so don't think it over - go ahead and join. ... ... ... Graytst

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