Pittsburgh tournament weekend

Last weekend, the Pittsburgh Scrabble Club had its first tournament in eight years. 48 players were in attendance and played in three divisions. Four of those players were from our club, and three of those four finished in the money - while the fourth had a strong showing in an afterhours poker tournament.

In Division C, Chris Ross picked up second place (8.5-3.5, +399) and a cash prize of $215. Martha grabbed first place (8.5-3.5, +498) and brought home $300. This was Martha's first tourney win and her first finish in the money. Huzzah! This was also Chris's first finish in the money. Double huzzah! And in case you were wondering, the tie game in Chris's record and Martha's record is from when they played each other... and they didn't do a recount.

Up in Division B, strange miracles were unfolding as I won my first five games and moved into the top spot after the third round. I managed to stay there through the rest of the tournament, and I was Gibsonized after round 11, which has never happened to me before. My final record was 10-2, +448 and I pocketed $400. Terry has estimated (with a little help from tsh) that I gained 190 rating points from this, putting me just short of 1200. Wow! I'd hoped to break 1000 again at this tournament and saw 1100 as a very remote possibility - I certainly didn't expect to get near 1200.

Overall, West Virginia brought home $915 from this event, which represented 30% of the cash prize pool - and the state had a net gain of about 165 rating points over the weekend. (Some of this also depends on how Jeff Cook did in the Annapolis tourney, but from what I've heard, he finished 3-4, -111 - so it doesn't look like he's going to make any huge changes to these numbers.)

Tina played in the Texas Hold-Em tournament hosted by Mr. Lucky, Jeff Clark - and finished in third place, making a profit of $10. Tina was also kind enough to drive us up and down I-79 on the journey in her van and put up with Star Trek: Insurrection on the trip up and my snoring on the trip back.

Stan Angrist, the director of the Pittsburgh Club, is perhaps most aptly placed in the Steel City - for he is a man of steel. We're all looking forward to our next big road trip and to returning to Pittsburgh's next event.