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2012 Prague MSF SCRABBLE ME Commentary: After the Tournament

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, After the Tournament.

After the last score comes in at 4:30, we spend five minutes double-checking the prize assignments, and five minutes getting the video gear in place. Rachel Riley from Countdown introduces me, I thank the players for coming and brief them on the run of show, then Dave Brannan of Living It Loving It awards presentation cheques to the top three players: Nigel Richards (NZL), Alastair Richards (AUS) and Helen Gipson (Sco). Then I get to call up the other fifteen prizewinners for a large group photo and a big round of applause.

I head off to record more interviews with Rachel Riley, and for a dinner with Sandy Nang (USA), Adam Logan (CAN) and Nigel Richards (NZL).

At 7:00, Karen Richards (AUS) gives a short seminar on Scrabble education, covering the following subjects: differences in learning style, differences in memory (visual, auditory, abstract), the "hamster mnemonic: Lamster the hamster, tramelled by a four-armed giant wearing armlets and carrying a martel", relational memory (mapping unknown word "kevil" to known words "Kevin, devil"), singing a song to learn the word "man-can-do", word pyramids (T, TA, TAN, TANG, TANGI, TANGIE, TANGIES, TANGIEST), anamonics, learning order (2s, 2-3 hooks, high 8s, high 7s), Zyzzyva Cardbox.

Now we're playing a consultation game against Alastair. Best moment so far:

Alastair: "If you didn't find the best play, BUNNY, ask yourself why you didn't see it."

Helen: "Because I've had two pints!"