Recapping a weekend of back-to-back Portland Pub Scrabble events
What's better than a weekend Scrabble tournament at a pub in Portland, Oregon?
That's an easy one - the answer is two weekend Scrabble tournaments at a pub in Portland, Oregon.
And as luck would have it, that's exactly what transpired this past Saturday and Sunday, thanks to the co-directorial efforts of Dave Wiegand and Conrad Bassett-Bouchard. A dozen players descended upon the Rose City for a pair of one-days - one at Gigantic Brewing, then another at Crux Fermentation Project - and much fun was had by all.
Here's the rundown...
The format for this weekend pair of tournaments was a cool one. The two 1-days consisted of 6 games each - then on top of that, there were overall prizes for the top performers total over the 12 games. This gave everyone an incentive to play both days and put up consistently strong performances.
On Saturday, two players stood out from the pack in the early going - Alec Sjöholm and Dave Wiegand. Dave actually beat Alec head to head in the opening game of the weekend, besting him 517-443, but Alec rallied to win his next four games and move to 4-1. Dave matched his 4-1 record, losing only to Gunther Jacobi in round 4.
This set up an Alec/Dave rematch in the final game to win the tournament - and Alec took it down, besting Dr. Bing by a rather decisive 524-364 margin in the end. Gunther, meanwhile, surged into second place, going 5-1 and finishing with a 530-423 win over yours truly to clinch a spot in the money.
Sunday brought much of the same, as Alec and Dave once again put forth very solid performances. Alec ran the table in his first 5 games, locking up a spot in the final game with ease, while Dave went 4-1 himself, losing only when your faithful recap author here lucked into HOOKLETS for 80 and out to win game 4. Once again, we had the top two seeds doing battle for the tournament win - only this time, Dave came out on top. His 445-383 win was just enough to edge Alec on spread and seal the deal. Alec's 5-1 mark left him in second; my 5-1 with a weaker spread was good for third.
Alec was the big overall winner on the weekend, posting the only 10-2 record; he took home a total of $155 for his fine work. Dave was the #2 player overall, going 9-3, while Gunther and I were each 8-4. Travis Chaney and Joe Roberdeau also took home class prizes.
Thanks to everyone for being a part of this awesome weekend. Special shoutouts go to Dave and Conrad for directing, as well as to the players who traveled the farthest to come play with us - Joe flew in from Cincinnati, while Vera Bigall made the trip all the way from Toronto. Wow!
If you've been following along with all this Portland Pub action and itching to join in the fun, you're in luck - you won't have to wait long. The next event is only 3 weeks away, and it's taking place at none other than Great Notion, which is one of Portland's (nay, America's) best breweries. That's one that you definitely won't want to miss.