Teejey de Jesus started PILED 8d (22) to which I played a 4-timer LION(I)ZER (118) followed by REX(50), KAYOS (52) and SNARINg (63) good enough to erode his 9-timer ELE(C)TORS (140) as I led 283-251. I managed to hold on and won, 496-426.
Up next was Carlos Acain. I played KITED/EV (30) missing KIEVE at the start. He answered with JO(T) 26. ACNWY came in and thought three options to play ANEW/CVY (29), WAN(E)Y/ECV (28) or WAVY/CEN (26). I chose the latter missing the best move W(I)NCEY (33). Using the open W in between two TWS, he played S(W)EARInG (158). That's the second 9-timer scored against me in this tourney and proved to be the turning point of this game. Loss, 371-464.
Round 3, a return bout against Teejay. This game marked three phoneys played each of us which were challenged off. I squandered a lead, 192-104 as he laid down 3 bingos, RERAILED (73), GAROTING (83) and FAWNIEST (106), a 4-timer against my AStRIDE (79) and MASOnED (80). Loss, 424-458.
Holding a 1-2 win-loss record at this point, Zaldy Malto was my next opponent who have been inactive for almost a year which gave me the edge in this game as I won convincingly, 486-305.
Mario Libiran was helpless after my two bingos. Nothing spectacular although a win was my priority at this point, 515-310.
It's now 3-2 and Melvin Dalangin came in who was also struggling hard in this tourney. I still recalled his last round game victory against me the previous week so I need to be ready for him. The two blanks gave me QuESTION (84) and REaLISMS (72), good enough to keep the lead even after he setup his Z in the TLS playing LAZE, ZA$ (66). I countered with GAPIER% (35) in TWS in return to lead 304-235. In the endgame, I held FKNORTU against his EGHIINT as I maintained a 342-319 lead, and played FUNK, KY (20) then realized my miscue after I pressed the clock. That could have been his golden opportunity to lay down his bingo to hook E below F on my last move but missed it. Kibbitzers told Melvin after the game that NIGHTIE, FE could have given him the victory. He told me: "I can't sleep tonight because of this big miss!" I replied: "Better ask your wife to wear NIGHTIE tonight." And the players burst into laughters. As I reviewed this game at home, I discovered that FUNK was the best move in a SOWPODS game but the worse move in a Collins game.
Our third meeting in the penultimate round, Teejay had AgONISE (68) in his 3rd turn but I had 3 bingos, DESIRES (76), ENTAiLED (74) and METHANOL (65). Won, 493-323.
Last round against Hyatt Basman who had 6-1, +818 against my 5-2, +571. My arithmetic computation revealed that I needed +124 points spread to win the championship. Hyatt initially thought of defaulting his last round for his championship victory as I could only earn +50 points spread if that was the case but proceeded to play instead. With that, I respect him for his good sportsmanlike manner. At the start, I kept separate tally of our current scores and +124 for him. I started with a bingo, HURTERS (78) then SORORATE (61) in my 4th turn to lead 189-75, -10 points shy of my separate tally. At one point, I was ahead 315-191, (exactly 124 point spread separating between us) when Hyatt spent too much time before playing UNMIXED (18) on the open X.
Going into the endgame, I held my 11th rack, ?ABEEGI and our scores were 397-260 (137 points separating between us and +13 point lead to my championship) with unseen ?AAACIINRU and 3 tiles in the bag. I thought that the 13 point lead was not safe even if I opt to block the only open D along O-column as the other blank was still unseen. BEG 10m was actually my initial choice but played otherwise.
I played BE(E) 7l (15) and drew AA in the bag then he replied with (D)ULCIANI* (L as blank) which made me hold my breath for a few seconds. I challenged it and was off. This cost him the game and the championship. DULCIANA was the correct one as we checked it after the game. Actual final score: 462-303.
Looking at the board position and to make the Quackle simulation realistic in order to obtain an accurate percentage of winning, I configured the scores adding 124 to his score to make it 397-384. And after 545 iterations:
GI 10m 9 pts 100%
BI 10m 11 pts 100%
....
....
BE(E) 7l 15 pts 90.44%
Quackle gave BEE 7l a 90.44% chance of winning. I have not yet tried figuring out the possibilities of tile pickup and scenarios that would prove a 100% winning chances after GI or BI play but I guessed Quackle is a good Scrabble endgame solver.
Final Standing after 8 rounds KOTH
1 Credo, Ronald 6 731
2 Basman, Hyatt 6 658
3 Palomo, Bert 6 273
4 Suma, Bobby 6 54
5 Acain, Carlos 5 163
6 Onate, Robbie 5 161
7 de Jesus, Teejay 4 192
8 Dimaano, Delio 4 150
9 Lambino, Rosario 4 140
10 Dalangin, Melvin 4 29
11 Malto, Zaldy 4 -110
12 Malitao, Matthew 3 -36
13 Miranda, Mario 3 -168 (1 win by default)
14 Malitao, Traci 3 -327
15 Villarete, Marvin 3 -391
16 Libiran, Mario 2 -355
17 Peremne, Sabrina 2 -649 (2 wins by default)
18 Genato, Mon withdrawn after 4 rounds
