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Bryan Benwitz' Streak Now At Eight After Second Consecutive Undefeated Night

1st Bryan Benwitz unleashed a performance somehow more dominant than last week's, going 4-0 +454 and averaging 440 points per game. There was little in the way of "mercy" or "sympathy" displayed when Bryan faced off against Thomas Reinke, with a final score of 438-325. Thomas did not manage to bingo, while Bryan had three for himself: ENVIABLE, FOMENTER, and the 104-point EJECTION. Bryan turned it into a family affair by proceeding to dispatch Charles Reinke, 413-377. Bingos of ULTRARED and PREVISED prevailed over Charles' INCENSED and DELETION. Bryan's longest-ever winning streak is nine games, done back in late 2013, so he just needs one more win to tie that mark, or two to break it and also become a five-dollar target.

2nd Andy Bohnsack went 4-1 +212, showing that no rust had built up after a month-long absence. He scored well in every game save the one he lost, a 305-479 contest against Thomas Reinke that could only be accurately described as a "demolition". Andy did not bingo while letting his opponent have four: ERISTIC, ANOXEMIA, KERNITES, and ABRUPTER. However, Andy ran wild in his other four games, negating the effects of that one loss. Twice he held his opponents to under 300 points: he beat Leslie Seltzer 440-292 and Lynda Finn 422-298. In both games he got two bingos: FINIALS and GRIEVOUS against Lynda, LABRETS and word-of-the-week VERMUTHS against Leslie.

3rd Aaron Bader stayed for four games despite his tiredness, and is glad he did, as he finished at 3-1 +303. Like Andy, he successfully prevented two of his opponents (victims?) from reaching the 300-point mark. First, he defeated Barb Besadny 457-252 with the aid of his bingos KERNITE and SYNODIC, the latter for 102 points. Then, he took down Dave Gilligan 382-265 despite both players getting one bingo: FOUETTES for Aaron, HORNIER for Dave. Charles Reinke successfully stopped Wisconsin's second-most-popular Aaron, defeating him 448-425. The C-Twin won the bingo battle by playing three bingos of ERRANTS, EPILEPSY, and NICOISE; Aaron had SEAROBIN and the fun SHITTIM, which is a type of wood.

Sue Goldstein's Win Streak is Just One Game, But that's Better than Zero

1st Sue Goldstein finished at 2-1 with an anomalous -94 spread. Her negative cume was courtesy of Bryan Benwitz, to whom she lost 297-469. Both her wins came against June Scott, including a 347-276 romp.

Bryan Benwitz Gives Thanks For Perfect 4-0 Night

1st Bryan Benwitz served up a special Thanksgiving feast of word-powered punishment, going 4-0 +130. He started things off with an extremely tightly-contested 334-333 win over Thomas Reinke, a game in which only two bingos were played: COOLNESS for Thomas, OPALINE for Bryan. Things were not much easier against Gail "Gailstorm" Salm; Bryan had to overcome three bingos from his opponent (JOSTLING, MARINER, and SCARIEST) to edge out the win, 419-392. He did get the high-probability ONERIEST (anagram SEROTINE) to help his cause. These two bingo-deficient performances were offset by a high-scoring victory over Charles Reinke, 498-447. Bryan played four bingos (only three being valid): HEFTIEST, TRASHIER, BODICES, and UNLODGED. Charles got down three of his own: TRAILED, CLAIMANT (anagram CALAMINT) and ERINGOS.

2nd Charles Reinke finished 3-1 +495 and was also undisputed bingo king with thirteen such plays. He displayed an uncharacteristic lack of Midwestern hospitality when he blew out the visiting David Weiss by a score of 477-273. Everything went right for Charles that game, as he held his opposition bingoless while hoarding all the bingoey tiles for himself: ATROPINE, SILVERS, MANACLES, and GLAIRES were his bingo plays that game. Not content with just one drubbing, another four-bingo beatdown was in store for Lynda Finn: bingos of DERISIVE, TRAINED, SEAGULL, and TINKERS were deployed to secure a 528-326 victory.

3rd Helen Flores snuck into third place by just 13 spread points, going 3-1 +65. Her biggest victory came against June Scott, 406-254. A hefty bingo of CHEQUERS for 86 points helped put that game away. Her other wins weren't as high scoring, but still granted Helen some valuable checkmarks in the "W" column: 363-334 vs. Gail Salm (playing GARDENED) and 355-331 vs. Richard Lauder (playing GREASED). Charles Reinke proved to be the only one who could prevent Helen from going undefeated, with that game ending 454-314.

We welcome David Weiss back to our club after a who-knows-how-many-years-long absence. He stepped up to the plate with a 3-1 performance, including a win over current club leader Thomas Reinke, 429-425. David will soon have to return to Albuquerque, and thus, his winning percentage this year will likely remain at a respectable 75%.

Richard Lauder won bingo-of-the-week voting in a landslide, playing BEAUCOUP against Lynda Finn and later extending it to BEAUCOUPS.

Thomas Reinke 23 of last 24...Everybody Go Home

1st Thomas Reinke went 4-0 +399, an almost routine performance for Thomas by this point. He ruined the lossless aspirations of two players who finished 3-1, Charles Reinke and Bryan Benwitz. Against the similarly-last-named Charles, Thomas faced his most tenacious opposition, only winning by twenty points, 378-358. Charles was held to a singular bingo of EXISTING; Thomas had RANCORS and SOBERLY. The game against Bryan was significantly less contested, with the T-Twin getting four bingos (TIMEOUT, DENTALIA, BASINET, SERIATE) en route to a 511-374 victory. Bryan had BREADING, which was later extended to the surprisingly-phony BREADINGS. Another phony snuck onto the board when Thomas faced Helen Flores; BATEAUS can only be spelled BATEAUX or BATTEAUX. The word stayed, however, and Thomas cruised to a 488-314 win.

2nd Mark Kenas faced fellow Collinser Aaron Bader in all four games, coming out ahead, 3-1 +201. Their lifetime series is now slightly in favor of Mark, 15-14. He played four bingos in a first-round 505-420 victory: WATCHET#, BECRIMED, HEREUNTO, and OSMIATE# (which has three TWL anagrams, ATOMIES, ATOMISE, and AMOSITE). Later, he would put forth a dominating 491-337 performance despite getting just one bingo of DERIDERS. Aaron had two in that game, but still couldn't make it close: OOGAMIES and word-of-the-week MOROCCOS, a word which approaches ZYZZYVAS in terms of probability.

3rd Charles Reinke finished at 3-1 +163. In a matchup against Lynda Finn, the C-Twin prevailed 441-385 despite getting outbingoed two to three. Lynda had NINNIES, ARGENTS, and RAINOUTS; Charles found REMELTED and the second-highest-scoring bingo of the night, SANCTIFY for 99 points (Peter Schmiedicke's 167-point 3x3 STABBING was easily first). Gail Salm also put up a good fight, with both players knotted at two bingos apiece as the final score went Charles' way, 440-396. Gail played TENSION and COATERS, with Charles getting JINGLES and FIELDING.

June Scott Takes Best-Of-Three Series

1st June Scott went 2-1 against Sue Goldstein but still ended up with a -69 cumulative. Both of her wins featured a bingo; NEARING in a 322-301 win and TRAILER in a very close 339-335 victory. However, three times was not the charm for June as she lost the last game 294-388 thanks to Sue's find of BLISTER.