New Faces

by Cornelia Guest

Forty-three players made their tournament debut since our last Newsletter report, including three players who won their division: Anne McCarthy (Division 4, Washington DC 7/18); Peter Yap (Division 2, Edmonton AB CANADA 7/25); and Dustin George, our featured New Face, who started off with great flair by winning all 8 of his games in Division 2 of the Tucson AZ Tournament on June 20th.

Dustin George

Dustin George is a product of our times. Although the June 20th Tucson Tournament was the first NSA-rated tournament for this 31-year-old swimming pool technician from Tempe, Dustin has played thousands of games online. A fan of ISC (the Internet Scrabble Club, www.isc.ro), Lexulous (a Facebook application), and Literati (a Yahoo application), Dustin wowed his opponents at Tucson by winning all 8 games and finishing with an 8-0, +742 record. In one game his final score was an impressive 485-264. Dustin earned an initial NSA (now NASPA) rating of 1381.

Dustin began playing SCRABBLE when he was still in school, then became more serious with the advent of Internet SCRABBLE and other anagramming games. He says he has been “truly addicted for the past six years.” Although he hasn’t been to a club yet, he plans on attending the Tempe and Phoenix clubs soon.

So, how did Dustin enjoy playing SCRABBLE face-to-face with players, rather than typing in letters at a computer and pressing “DONE”?

“It was really fun,” he said, noting that he met nice people and some good players. “One thing I noticed immediately that is different from playing online is that you can play a few bluffs and make them work. If you play a few unusual words early, you might get away with some baloney words later on.” He found live SCRABBLE similar to poker in another way, too: he could read his opponents’ body language to find out if they were bluffing or not.

He was surprised how long a full day of SCRABBLE felt and was glad he’d rested well the night before and had eaten good food before playing. He believed this helped keep him somewhat sharp after many hours of playing.

To improve at SCRABBLE, Dustin suggests that newcomers download Zyzzyva (www.Zyzzyva.net) and create word lists. He also recommends The SCRABBLE Wordbook, by Mike Baron, for its great word lists and excellent tips on strategy [www.amazon.com]. Dustin plays “a lot” on line and studies words, particularly high-probability bingos and words with particular prefixes and suffixes, such as those beginning with ANTI, GEO, and OVER, or ending with NESS, MOST, and CITY. He also finds it easier to see a word in letters if he knows its meaning (or assigns his own meaning to the word).

Dustin’s advice to other new players at tournaments is to make the best plays with what you have — and to be respectful to the opponent and show good sportsmanship whether you win or lose.

Dustin hopes to compete in more SCRABBLE tournaments — and to play live SCRABBLE at nearby clubs. In the meantime, he continues to enjoy playing on line and studying words, drawing and painting (mostly pictures of people), and reading books on philosophy, religion, and other topics of interest.

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Welcome to Dustin, Anne, Peter, and the following other “newbies”:

• Albany NY Early Bird 1 7/1: Carol Salvino
• Albany NY 7/3-5: J. Scott Dehart
• Aliso Viejo CA LCT 7/12: Dan Radlauer, Ruben Radlauer
• Bayside NY 7/11: Tim Bryant, Stacey Decker, Lyell Funk, Greg Lipsit, Norases Vesdapunt
• Charleston IL LCT 7/4: Cheryl Hawker
• Croatia Tour 6/13-23: Nita Baum, Paul Peyser
• Dallas TX 6/20: Jeff Spyrison
• Ft. Lauderdale FL 6/27: Mable Baenen, Wayne Baenen, Shahnaz Mallatan, Tracy Woodward
• Ft. Lauderdale FL 7/25: Robert Duling
• Fulton TX 7/18: Phillip Johns
• Hazel Park MI 6/27-28: Barbara Leatherman
• Indianapolis IN Early Bird 6/19: Mischelle Crosby
• Indianapolis IN 6/20: Elizabeth Davis
• Knoxville TN 6/20-21: Don Harman
• Laguna Woods CA 7/5: Cathy Reynolds, John Reynolds
• Minneapolis MN LCT 7/11: Broc Dobervich
• Mountain View CA 6/28: Gwen Crociata, Prince Melissa De
• Mountain View CA 7/19: Derek Lipkin
• Philadelphia PA 7/12: James R. Swanson
• Reno NV Early Bird 2 7/2: Jeridiah Horne
• Reno NV 7/3-6: Todd Simmons
• Roseville MN LCT 7/18: Mark Kanazawa
• Safety Harbor FL 7/19: Bonnie Le, Matthew Watson
• Seattle WA 7/11: Terry Virdell
• Tucson AZ 6/20: Kayla Peck
• Washington DC 7/18: Martin Gold, Brenda Haynes, Jason Rothbart

Cornelia Guest teaches School SCRABBLE, runs approximately 15 tournaments a year, and is the director of Ridgefield (CT) Club #603. She is the mother of 16-year-old triplets, including 2007 National School SCRABBLE Co-champion Aune Mitchell.