…with Gary Moss

Archive for August, 2011

Damn! That’s a hard one to deal with at times.

I’m talking about the wannabes who show up wanting some magic pill. When you or I have a high scoring game or make some outstanding play, they attribute it to ‘LUCK OF THE DRAW’. It couldn’t possibly be related to the fact that you’ve been studying word lists for the umpteen number of years.

I especially become annoyed when playing online against my faceless opponents. So many of them come to the site looking only for the players who are less skilled and talented as themselves. As soon as you make a great play and take the lead, they usually quit. It leaves a deep taste of dissatisfaction in my craw. But what can you do. Either know that is the way it is, and play anyway, or simply don’t play at those site in the future.

I am not a player who likes to lose. And yet, there are many players in my clubs who give me a whupping on a regular basis. I keep on developing my game and try, try again when I am paired with them.

There are other players whom I whup regularly. Even though it is nice to WIN, it is sad to win without any sort of competition. I would hope that lesser players are taking some initiative to improve their games, just like Mikie.

Some of the players who struggle are very proud people. They want to do it themselves. They want to do things in their own way.

I don’t quite understand that kind of thinking.

When someone has already invented the wheel, why would I insist on continuing to use sleds and sliders? When ‘STEMS’ have been acknowledged to be a proven tool to learn large numbers of high scoring words, why would someone choose to study words randomly from the dictionary? When we know that ’round scrabble boards’ knock over tile racks which in turn upsets the game, why would someone shopping for a new board buy a square board?

DUH!

P.S. Have you seen some of the newest scrabble boards produced by Hasbro? The colors of the squares, that are the ‘Hot Spots’, are colored differently that the older standard boards. What were they thinking ? ? ? Those were obviously designed and colored by some ‘non-scrabble geek’ who wanted to make some design statement. That’s sort of like printing a deck of cards without any aces.
Players may not use that equipment at any of the tournaments which I direct.

See Official Boards; Clocks; Dictionaries; Study Tools and more . . . .

A player, new to competitive style scrabble showed up at one of my clubs with a list of great questions. He asked about the equipment; he asked about the word list; he asked about several of the rules; he asked about political correctness as regards to interacting with other players. I had very specific answers for each of his queries.

Then he asked, “How long should it take me to become a proficient scrabble player to be able to compete and win games at your clubs and tournaments?”

Now that was a loaded question if I ever heard one.

You see, learning to play scrabble is sort of like learning how to change a flat tire on your car. I can provide someone with all the right tools, but each individual must use the tools properly in order to get the job done. People learn at different rates; people set aside different amounts of time to master the information; different people retain information to different degrees.

How long does it take a graduate of law school to pass the bar? Some do it on their first try; some never pass.

How many times does a person have to take a driving test to pass and earn a driver’s license? Some pass on their first attempt; others require more tries.

BUT, with scrabble, even when you achieve EXPERT STATUS, there is still more East to go. Why is that? Because most of our memories need to be refreshed frequently. Even the Best of the Experts are always reviewing word lists.

Jumping into the competitive scrabble scene is not for the impatient; it is not for the feint hearted.

But if you enjoy learning new words and strategies, if you have thick skin to handle the initial losing, if you are willing to pay your dues via time studying word lists . . . then you will grow and love this game.

But you can be certain that when it comes to learning scrabble, there is ALWAYS more East to go.

What do most people do when they seem to draw rack after rack with too many of one particular letter, like this?
Some people curse. Cursing rarely makes me feel any better; it heightens my upset and doesn’t change the tiles at all.
Some people never consider that there may be words on that ugly rack, hiding in plain sight. So they exchange tiles and forfeit a turn before looking closely.
Some people plan ahead and understand that all players will draw ugly racks a certain percentage of the time. These people know what pushes their buttons. They specifically study lists that focus on their personal worst case scenario.

If you knew the word ‘rishi: a Hindu sage’, would that soothe the pain? That is not necessarily the best leave, still having two I’s on your next rack, but it may be better than forfeiting a turn.

The point is . . . ‘the more you know, the luckier you’ll become.’ When I lose my cool and things upset me, I tend to lose my focus. This approach applies to every part of life, not just scrabble.

There are many tools available for you to use to attack the racks that provide you the greatest frustrations. Personally, I struggle with racks with more than one ‘A’. So I’ll study a list of words like these: ATALAYA; ABACA; CABALA; CABANA; ABAKA; QABALA; BALATA; ect. After you’ve made an effort to learn more words and you are able to utilize your new knowledge in a game of scrabble, you’ll become an instant convert.

We each have two options when frustration confronts us: become that angry 3 year old that lives within each of us and toss the tiles; or develop an action plan that we each can do and conquer our weaknesses.

If you want me to coach you in such matters, taking you from where you are to a better place, CLICK HERE.

It has been said that ‘a man’s home is his castle’. Therefore, it only makes sense that we call the shots and make up our own rules in our own homes.

I’ve visited homes where the custom is to leave my shoes in at the entry. I’ve visited homes that observe dietary laws and have abided according to their menus. Years ago when visiting a saloon in Durango I was required to check my gun as I entered the establishment.

Have you ever played scrabble at the home of someone who IS NOT a competitive scrabble player? That can be quite a shock to the system of any scrabble club player. To begin, you might find that they have one of those old fashioned cardboard games, without ridges to keep the tiles from sliding around; they will frequently play with 3 or 4 persons at the same board; the official word list can be any of a number of different dictionaries that may be in the house; in some homes, once a blank is played on the board any player may retrieve the blank by replacing it with a tile from their own rack, that matches its designation; and on and on . . . . .

When I play a game I like to know that the rules are standard. What would baseball be like if you got 4 strikes to make an out when you played the Yankees and only 3 strikes and your out when you played the Dodgers. Makes no sense at all.

When you play scrabble at any NASPA (North American Scrabble Players Association) club or tournament you can count on playing with the same set of rules and the same official word list.

To link to The Official NASPA RULES, CLICK HERE.

If you want a leg up on your opponents, become familiar with the Official Rules and use them to your advantage. Hold your opponents accountable to following the rules. (In my experience, even many of the Mavins don’t know the rules.)

What is the correct way to take and complete each turn?

a. After your opponent’s last play, record the cumulative score. (May be waived if bag is empty.)
b. Position your tiles on the board. You may remove or reposition tiles before starting opponent’s clock.
c. If playing a blank, designate it appropriately.
d. Declare the score.
e. Start your opponent’s clock, ending your turn. If opponent’s clock has already
been running, the turn ends after step d.
f. Record your cumulative score. (May be waived if bag is empty.) You may NOT
pre-record this score.
g. Record your play, if desired.
h. Draw tiles to replenish your rack.
i. Track tiles, if desired.

For more than a dozen years Mark Landsberg (Mr. 770) had us all believing that ’770′ was as many points as any one player could ever score in a tournament scrabble game. (see write up and others at THIS LINK.)

Then last year, during a tournament, along comes Edward De Guzman who scores ’771′.

There was a time, not too long ago, when Man believed that so much was impossible. As men and women abandoned old beliefs and developed ‘I CAN’ attitudes, doors began to open: horseless carriages; air travel; medicines; shoes under; and the Stem-Word-Learning-System. The truth is ‘everything is possible’.

Today, every casual homestyle scrabble enthusiast has the opportunity to break out of the rut and routine of being a common novice player, if they so choose. Some players are more than okay with having A-A-E-I-N-S-T on their rack and playing ‘STAIN’ or ‘SEAT’; other players who studied the STEM SYSTEM might recognize that the rack contains (SATINE + A). If they had studied the SATINE RACK they would immediately know that there are 2 bingos concealed in those seven letters.

SATINE+A = ENTASIA, TAENIAS

Landsberg and De Guzman have both learned this bit of knowledge and put it to good use.

It is fair to assume that most budding players will not learn every trick and shortcut in the book to expand their memory and word knowledge.

Most casual players who haven’t a clue about the ‘systems of learning’ will watch a player like Landsberg and De Guzman then simply attribute their success to ‘LUCK’.

The ‘SIMPLE TRUTH’ is:

The more you know, the luckier you’ll become.

If you want to become luckier, begin by CLICKING HERE!