And you could have, at the Vegas of the West, better known as the Rooty Hill RSL Club and arguably the best Scrabble Tournament venue here in Sydney. And this was arguably one of the most demanding days of Scrabble staged by a local club, with the nine forty minute games actually being slotted in between breakfast and dinner.
Fifty players paid $30 to contest the $500 first prize on offer, in one single, open contest. Jean Noonan devised an innovative pairing system, which saw players paired according to the order their dues were paid. This effectively meant that that travelling companions, and occasionally spouses were paired against each other in the first game.
John Holgate burst out of the barrier and shot to an early lead with a 283 point win in his first game, but I managed to head him after the second game with two consecutive good wins in my first two games. My showdown with John in game four was a 490 to 454 win to John, thus giving him back the lead.
From that point on, John held the lead right through to the final game, despite going down to Paul Cleary in the second last game. Graham Lock Lee had crept up to outright second with a series of close wins, so three players still had a chance to win going into the final game.
All John had to do was win his last game against my dear friend Ethel Collins, and this is what he did, albeit by the small margin of 17 points. Graham easily beat Robin Duncan to secure second, while I scored a comfortable win over Paul to grab third.
With the large prize pool, prizes were aplenty at the end of the day. George Khamis picked up $50 for coming last with 0 wins, and prizes were also given for 40th (Donna McDonald), 30th (Dulcie Lyall), 20th (Penny Lavender) and 10th (Kris Logan).
Rod Talbot won the prize for the biggest thrashing handed out to an opponent, a mere 370 points, Joan Rosenthal got the high game score of 578, Merle Young from Wollongong the high word score of 131 for TRACTION and Graham Lock Lee the rating gain of 80 points.
And was the formula successful? Yes and no. The nine games were relished by all, but general consensus dictates that next year there will be two Divisions. We can't wait!
Here are the results:
Results after game 9
HASSEL98 -- OPEN
Rank Player Wins Mar
--------------------------------
1 John Holgate 8 756
2 Graeme Lock Lee 8 494
3 Bob Jackman 7 899
4 Joan Rosenthal 6 817
5 Paul Cleary 6 413
6 Sam Greenberg 6 396
7 Ian Close 6 377
8 Robin Duncan 6 202
9 Ethel Collins 6 189
10 Kris Logan 6 172
11 Peter Shaw 6 33
12 Gloria Gallagher 6 17
13 John Barker 5 438
14 Rod Talbot 5 345
15 Derek Mckenzie 5 344
16 Ivana Duria 5 222
17 Betty Coleman 5 112
18 Gordon Meggs 5 38
19 Liz Jackman 5 26
20 Penny Lavender 5 -1
21 Ros Gibbons 5 -10
22 Jeff Spring 5 -20
23 Linda Dimond 5 -73
24 Dawn Spring 5 -185
25 Siva Sivapalasundram 5 -327
26 Svend Grunnet 4« -402
27 Jean Balmer 4 239
28 Edith Lowbeer 4 211
29 Norma Tracey 4 52
30 Dulcie Lyall 4 -8
31 Merle Young 4 -107
32 Jenny Templeton 4 -108
33 Colleen Howie 4 -176
34 Judy Mcguinness 4 -192
35 Nanette Reynolds 4 -195
36 Raya Wilkinson 4 -199
37 Richard Birch 4 -252
38 Wilma Vialle 4 -333
39 Alan Gauci 3« -256
40 Donna Macdonald 3 -33
41 Daphne Bezuidenhout 3 -114
42 Hanne Marks 3 -115
43 Ann Fiddler 3 -180
44 Diana Field 3 -190
45 June Brewin 3 -225
46 Ted Roberts 3 -393
47 Diana Hilly 2 -246
48 Andree Lajoie 2 -743
49 Anne Barron 2 -1049
50 George Khamis 0 -660
HIGH GAME: Joan Rosenthal 587
HIGH WORD: Merle Young 131
"TRACTION"
Stats for Tournament : HASSEL98
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| state Name | National | State | Wins | Rating Points |
| | Old New | Old New | Exp Act | Old Change New|
+--------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+---------------+
+Section: *OPEN + + + +
+--------------------------------------+---------+-----------+---------------+
| NSW John Holgate | 3 2 | 2 1 | 7.4 8.0 | 1946 +11 1957 |
| NSW Graeme Lock Lee | 66 37 | 17 12 | 4.7 8.0 | 1644 +80 1724 |
| NSW Bob Jackman | 4 4 | 3 3 | 6.4 7.0 | 1911 +11 1922 |
| NSW Joan Rosenthal | 7 9 | 5 5 | 7.3 6.0 | 1892 -21 1871 |
| NSW Paul Cleary | 5 6 | 4 4 | 6.7 6.0 | 1911 -11 1900 |
| NSW Robin Duncan | 36 33 | 11 11 | 5.7 6.0 | 1724 +6 1730 |
| NSW Ethel Collins | 162 148 | 44 39 | 4.1 6.0 | 1426 +38 1464 |
| NSW Ian Close | 140 147 | 38 38 | 6.6 6.0 | 1475 -11 1464 |
| NSW Gloria Gallagher | 90 90 | 24 24 | 6.1 6.0 | 1595 -1 1594 |
| NSW Sam Greenberg | 113 114 | 30 30 | 6.3 6.0 | 1535 -6 1529 |
| NSW Peter Shaw | 25 30 | 9 9 | 7.6 6.0 | 1780 -33 1747 |
| NSW Kris Logan | 99 102 | 27 28 | 6.8 6.0 | 1575 -17 1558 |
| NSW John Barker | 31 32 | 10 10 | 5.3 5.0 | 1736 -6 1730 |
| NSW Rod Talbot | 41 50 | 13 15 | 7.1 5.0 | 1713 -41 1672 |
| NSW Jeff Spring | 175 170 | 46 45 | 4.8 5.0 | 1410 +4 1414 |
| NSW Derek McKenzie | 148 146 | 39 37 | 4.7 5.0 | 1461 +5 1466 |
| NSW Liz Jackman | 245 223 | 61 52 | 2.8 5.0 | 1266 +45 1311 |
| NSW Gordon Meggs | 322 299 | 79 71 | 3.4 5.0 | 1150 +33 1183 |
| NSW Ivana Duria | 517 498 | 133 127 | 3.8 5.0 | 885 +24 909 |
| NSW Betty Coleman | 255 240 | 62 57 | 3.7 5.0 | 1251 +27 1278 |
| NSW Linda Dimond | 464 408 | 115 100 | 2.0 5.0 | 950 +69 1019 |
| NSW Penny Lavender | 425 371 | 104 93 | 2.1 5.0 | 995 +68 1063 |
| NSW Ros Gibbons | 217 219 | 51 51 | 5.4 5.0 | 1328 -8 1320 |
| NSW Siva Sivapalasundram | 159 154 | 43 41 | 4.5 5.0 | 1437 +10 1447 |
| NSW Dawn Spring | 273 260 | 67 63 | 4.3 5.0 | 1231 +14 1245 |
| QLD Svend Grunnet | 562 524 | 69 63 | 2.9 4.5 | 847 +32 879 |
| NSW Dulcie Lyall | 108 136 | 29 35 | 7.0 4.0 | 1545 -61 1484 |
| NSW Edith Lowbeer | 359 360 | 91 91 | 4.3 4.0 | 1095 -5 1090 |
| NSW Jean Balmer | 449 443 | 111 111 | 3.4 4.0 | 961 +12 973 |
| NSW Jenny Templeton | 244 276 | 60 67 | 6.3 4.0 | 1270 -46 1224 |
| NSW Nanette Reynolds | 315 311 | 78 75 | 3.8 4.0 | 1156 +5 1161 |
| NSW Merle Young | 615 603 | 155 153 | 3.3 4.0 | 795 +14 809 |
| NSW Colleen Howie | 441 410 | 109 101 | 1.8 4.0 | 973 +43 1016 |
| NSW Norma Tracey | 303 305 | 73 73 | 4.3 4.0 | 1177 -4 1173 |
| NSW Raya Wilkinson | 350 357 | 88 90 | 4.7 4.0 | 1112 -14 1098 |
| NSW Judy McGuinness | 490 497 | 125 126 | 4.6 4.0 | 927 -13 914 |
| NSW Wilma Vialle | 769 725 | 193 180 | 2.6 4.0 | 651 +41 692 |
| NSW Richard Birch | 300 316 | 72 79 | 5.1 4.0 | 1180 -23 1157 |
| NSW Alan Gauci | 498 505 | 127 130 | 4.0 3.5 | 911 -9 902 |
| NSW Hanne Marks | 242 283 | 58 69 | 6.0 3.0 | 1274 -59 1215 |
| NSW Donna MacDonald | 649 630 | 159 158 | 1.7 3.0 | 756 +26 782 |
| NSW Daphne Bezuidenhout | 698 676 | 171 167 | 1.8 3.0 | 710 +23 733 |
| NSW Ann Fiddler | 802 792 | 201 200 | 2.6 3.0 | 609 +9 618 |
| NSW Ted Roberts | 139 184 | 37 46 | 7.2 3.0 | 1477 -82 1395 |
| NSW June Brewin | 578 617 | 146 155 | 4.5 3.0 | 835 -44 791 |
| NSW Diana Field | 861 850 | 220 218 | 2.5 3.0 | 558 +11 569 |
| NSW Diana Hilly | 755 782 | 187 196 | 3.3 2.0 | 663 -26 637 |
| NSW Andree Lajoie | 851 879 | 218 228 | 3.1 2.0 | 565 -21 544 |
|*NSW Anne Barron | 0 924 | 0 240 | 2.4 2.0 | 500 500 |
| NSW George Khamis | 924 988 | 240 262 | 2.0 0.0 | 500 -61 439 |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-----------+--------------