A Scrabble Champion's Unbreakable Mindset

[@louisng114]

This video makes me think: what is the biggest point deficit that someone came back from in a game.

[@thatonefrenchguy937]

Idk but the game would be surely wild.

[@miskee11]

On May 26, 2001, David Poder was 256 points behind Joel Sherman with an early score situation of 6-262 in the San Jose Memorial Day Tournament. Miraculously, David Poder managed to overcome this massive deficit and win the game with an ending score of 541-539. I belive this is the highest known comeback in tournament play.

[@JohnDoe-ti2np]

@@miskee11Not only is that an amazing comeback, but a score of 6-262 is pretty wild in and of itself!

[@dwaynekeenum1916]

@@miskee11would be a cool vid

[@himynameisben95]

bruh if I was 262-2 I would simply go home

[@PendragonDaGreat]

I love the little definitions in the corners. I admit I had a little chuckle at 3:30 "Nonlevel: not level"

[@wanderer15]

I got a kick out of this too but I figured it would at least be useful to show the part of speech because it could plausibly be a noun.

[@PendragonDaGreat]

@@wanderer15 valid.

[@buzzboy1000]

Not only is he a top player but he's also one of the nicest people in the game.

[@ikswezrkaZ]

Sometimes I wonder how KZbin’s algorithm works. How on earth did I end up watching competitive Scrabble? And why is it so entertaining?!

[@wanderer15]

Thanks for giving my content a try!

[@hridaysamtani5797]

Austin is a great ambassador of the game. He encouraged me to take up blitz Scrabble, and I'm so glad I did. I hope to play against him live someday.

[@Forensource]

Strongest player named after a City and a Body part. I do like Denver Steele.

[@MetalTheologian]

I was pulling for Dallas Legg.

[@DadgeCity]

Missoula Knuckle ftw

[@ihateorphans]

Personally I like Chicago Ribcage more

[@lazyguyy]

you truly have a gift for telling these scrabble stories and I noticed how much I'm looking forward to each new video you release. Thank you for sharing them with us and please keep on making more! :)

[@tranonehalf]

"Get to know a scrabbler" is a neat series idea. Keep it going. Interviews/personal anecdotes overlaid with footage could be fun to see.

[@DadgeCity]

Thanks to Will, I'm going to start calling our settee the settay ;-)

[@wanderer15]

I wasn’t sure, so I googled “settee pronunciation” and clicked the little speaker button and went with what I heard!

[@thegodofpez]

I divulge heavily in multiple competitive platforms, primarily Scrabble, billiards, and poker. Bar none is the commentary most fair and unbiased in Scrabble. I love this game. And Austin is eponymous with being one of the greatest cities in America and one of the greatest Scrabble players to ever grace the board.

[@johannesdaniel4021]

THE REVERSE SWEEP

[@quinnbartlett7233]

ScrabbleGo is so dreadful, almost every single player was a robot when i downloaded the app a few years ago

[@lylecohen1638]

Still is. And adverts any time you do anything

[@bunnyrape]

Will pronouncing the extraordinarily ordinary "settee" as if were a piece of priceless French art is absolutely hilarious. Is that word really unknown outside the UK?

[@weevie833]

The area where the scoring table and seating area is located at a bowling alley is called the settee (US).

[@wanderer15]

I wasn’t sure, so I googled “settee pronunciation” and clicked the little speaker button and went with what I heard!

[@louisng114]

Well, it was played at the "high end" of the board.

[@Moggetslittlesister]

It's not unknown, that's just how it's pronounced in US English! How is it pronounced in the UK? I assume with the "ee" sound not like French? I recently saw a video commenting that US English, more often than UK English, pronounces loanwords (and words that "look" like loanwords) as they are in the original language. Whereas UK English prefers to adapt the pronunciation to a more English sound. "Settee" looks to be an example where it *looks* like it's French, so Americans try to pronounce it the French way. But I guess it's actually derived from "settle" in English?

[@CKyIe]

@@wanderer15 Don't worry Will, I've also never heard that word before (I live in Australia)

[@komododragon5846]

Since we have a very small machine and seem to go through clothes at a rapid pace, one of our slogans, inspired by Austin's, is washing never stops :| Also, didn't know that the UK held championships starting in 73' before N.A. - would be cool to have a video about the origins of the competitive scene(s in various places) in the scrabble history series.

[@wanderer15]

Have a couple video ideas along these lines I’ll be working on soon!

[@icedo1013]

That begirdled play was unreal.

[@ValueNetwork]

I didn’t realise that the Word Settee was a distinctly British word that Americans weren’t familiar with until I heard that pronunciation at 7:55

[@wanderer15]

I wasn’t sure, so I googled “settee pronunciation” and clicked the little speaker button and went with what I heard!

[@jthomp1254]

The definitions during the games are one of my favorite details ❤

[@wanderer15]

Glad you find them helpful!

[@AmaranthRBY]

Very nice catchphrase and very nice games, Austin is a boss

[@dentonyoung4314]

Another wonderful video. Austin's never-give-up attitude and some good tiles carried him through.

[@DeviousHands]

all the scrabble skill in the world can't protect you from the scariest thing of all; your mental freezing up. mindset just as important as skill - practice both!

[@Halinn]

Gotta love seeing a reverse sweep

[@davidtydeman1434]

Incredible word knowledge from both players 👏👏👏👏

[@LRXC1]

I love scrabble

[@morrisgreenberg5223]

While she isn't the focus of this video, Cecilia is an excellent player too, and the VUM turn Will described was perhaps the best strategic play of that set of games

[@oddatlas739]

Yes 💯!

[@KeyholeGod]

I have to thank will for this video, because I played ETIOLAt(E) on a triple for 74

[@joelhoeve]

1:54 Vrow isn't even how woman is spelled in Dutch, that's vrouw. Even more interesting that this is a valid word. Edit: Nor is the plural vrouws, but vrouwen, so even more interesting to see

[@jkid1134]

Hehe, I remember watching this one. It was truly a herculean comeback, very impressive.

[@deedeeen]

👀 I noticed the color-coded moves, real or hypothetical!

[@pokinDave]

I am just happy that I saw the bingo of LATRINE instead of TRENAIL

[@chainedtothedream]

let's not forget RETINAL!

[@zethyuen8859]

Mr. Anderson, I found out that a player from Malaysia, Ganesh Asirvatham, has a record of 24-13 against Nigel Richards, which is a fascinating stat, probably one of if not the best H2Hs against Nigel. Could you make a video about Ganesh with some of these games included? Would absolutely love to see it. Keep up with the Content!

[@degenerate82]

Thank you for another excellent video!

[@oddatlas739]

Man Cecilia is a BEAST as well 🔥🔥

[@EltWilder]

Love these videos Will.

[@michaelchen2718]

7:56 beautiful

[@dannthegentleman4261]

Questions about Scrabble Master titles: Guys which Scrabble Master titles does exists? Are they lifelong titles? Such as Chess Master titles, or do they have a valid time-period? Is it common that the organization which is responsible for those titles to cancel your title by some reason? For example, being inactive or something? Or this is a thing that rarely happens? Also, what are the reference institutions on Scrabble? In Chess we have FIDE for example, which is definetly the main institution globally, does Scrabble has something like FIDE or is it more of a regional thing? Do we need to pay a fee to get the Expert/Master Title? How much? Does it exist an online Scrabble master title or something like that? I am from Brazil and I don't think we have a strong Scrabble scene here. Also, if you guys could provide useful links related to these questions that would really help. I am a novice thinking about starting a new hobby, and I like the idea of maybe one day become a Master at it. I have no idea what are my chances to one day achieve mastery, but if we don't try, our chances are 0%. right? :D

[@wanderer15]

Scrabble is mostly governed by national organizations which each have slightly different standards for player titles (if they have them at all). I'm a grandmaster within the North American system. Here, it's not calculated using norms the way chess is. Instead, you need to hold a very high national ranking for many years in a row. As for overall mastery, I think you can definitely get there in Scrabble with enough effort! How much natural ability you have for learning new words and mastering strategy will determine how much effort you need to put in, but as long as you fall in love with the game and with that process, it is surely achievable.

[@dannthegentleman4261]

@@wanderer15 Thanks! That really gave me hope! I am already a chess master and I would like to add Scrabble master to my resumé as well haha, in all seriousness, I believe it's just a great hobbie overall, it's a classic game that mostly likely will continue to exist even when we are old grandpas, I believe that pursuing this lifelong hobbies are very good, nowadays I am discouraged to try to play a digital game because they fall from grace so fast/ it's difficult to keep up with all the changes. With scrabble I feel it's different, the rules are still the same and the only change is really the languages changing, new words being added and those things. And I can surely bear that! And also that can add some freshness to the game as well. Also I study Foreign Languages Applied to International Negotiations in University (We have English, French, Spanish Classes and I speak Portuguese because I am from Brazil), so maybe playing Scrabble will teach me new words as well (I really liked the fact that in Scrabble GO we have a bunch of different dictionaires too, that means I can like discover new French vocabulary for example while having fun. I think Scrabble has a pretty good sinergy with the things I do in my life, and certainly it has simmilarities to Chess as well, and I am very happy to have found this game, thank you so much for your videos. If not for you I would probably not have stumbled into it, because here in Brazil I literally never saw anyone ever playing this great game!

[@KrazyKyle-ij9vb]

As someone who recently got scrabble go, this video just made me realize how bad the app is. No Collins, ads after every play, premium is way too expensive for something the average player is only going to be on for like 15 minutes a day.

[@josephascencio-parvy7805]

I believe there is actually the ability to choose which lexicon you want to use. Could be wrong. Will?

[@josephascencio-parvy7805]

I believe there is actually the ability to choose which lexicon you want to use. Could be wrong. Will?

[@lylecohen1638]

I believe they do have Collin’s, but agree otherwise. Also, almost all the players are bots.

[@Kanbei11]

I found the same as you with the ads and the premium nagging so uninstalled quite quickly. I did get Collins by default though so maybe it's a location thing? One extra thing i disliked about the app was that you couldn't play a phony.

[@lylecohen1638]

@@Kanbei11 I feel like the inability to play phonies is fair in the context of an app, since your opponent can very easily look the word up online to see if it’s real or not, and there’s no way to stop that.

[@OfficialGidfather]

Epic video, as always!2

[@tissuepaper9962]

The automatic word checking in the Scrabble GO app removes a pretty important aspect of the game, but I suppose if it weren't there people would just cheat by looking things up before challenging.

[@wanderer15]

True. However, I actually like that it allows for experimentation / trial and error by players - lessening the emphasis on rote memorization feels like an improvement to gameplay to me. This is certainly subjective opinion on my part and I could appreciate anyone disagreeing with that.

[@sailor_seller]

good stuff

[@michaelchen2718]

Im curious, in online tournaments, what's to prevent the players from cheating? 😅

[@wanderer15]

In this one we at least had players using face cams and sharing their computer screens on Zoom (the players were using an emulator to play the games on their desktop).

[@chrishooks6565]

Austin he's my man,😊

[@bubbagarland]

Austin is the boss

[@flirora]

Ah, the pain of finding out that a word you’re used to playing is only in CSW.

[@richards31415]

I learned generalia# against Austin

[@gurchyy]

instructions unclear, stopped scoring

[@ogxj6]

Just curious, what kinds of measures prevent cheating in these types of events?

[@oddatlas739]

They have to hold the bag of letters above their head, and show open hands after if checking the bag for how many tiles are left. Also the tiles are pretty high quality injection molding so you can't feel the letters. But you are allowed to play a word that isn't a real word, as long as the other player doesn't challenge it.

[@ogxj6]

I hadn’t heard of the raising the bag routine, but I’ve heard of injection molded tiles. Though, what I was referring to was this specific case, the case of two people playing from what looks like their respective homes. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think this is an in-person match. For instance, how do they know there isn’t another person outside of the camera’s view who’s feeding the game into some sort of scrabble AI and telling the player what to play? Not at all suggesting this happens in high level scrabble, just curious how they prevent it.

[@judycole9752]

Episode doesn't appear in Scrabble History playlist.

[@wanderer15]

thanks, fixed!

[@graemestone8573]

Hey will, I just started getting into scrabble and after watching a lot of your videos I was wondering about how good I should get before I should start competing?

[@SenatorBilkins]

once you know the rules of the game you can start competing. you won't be winning tournaments right away or anything, but it will be fun and will give you good experience to improve more quickly.

[@wanderer15]

Agreed! Keep in mind that on my channel I’m showcasing the best of the best on my channel - but there are divisions at tournaments for players of all skill levels, including beginners. Let me know if I can help with any more info!

[@FitterSpace]

Do they ever do 4-player scrabble tournaments?

[@dentonyoung4314]

Yes, actually, for young children (3rd through 8th grade): the kids form teams of two and each team of two is playing against another team of two.

[@michaelchen2718]

2:44 wait i thought you weren't allowed to "bookend" words and the new tiles placed have to be adjacent????

[@wanderer15]

You can bookend! The tiles just need to be in a straight line with no open spaces.

[@biboy666android]

Is there a bingo word that overlaps all 7 letters of a different word?

[@yellowdicesam]

yes, there are many, and it’s been played in actual games quite a few times. in fact, 3 bingos each with 7 overlaps altogether has been played and Will recently covered it in case you’re curious

[@SAYFVCKFOR100DOLLARS]

EEGGG

[@socksygen]

Hamburger

[@MichaelDarrow-tr1mn]

i don't think that's how you pronounce urbanest but ok

[@Trizzer89]

Why play JOINER when a triple triple is the biggest threat?

[@wanderer15]

It’s the biggest threat but by far the likeliest - the score is still close enough that an 80+ point bingo would equalize the game, making those 11 points really matter (and Austin had just such a play in UNBASTED).

[@judycole9752]

You can watch the full Tournament of Champions here - kzbin.info/aero/PLhvDB0pE-3ptFJBqemMOhxe3Z625OUbDY&si=TnyY9HUXLhAX172R - over 30 games between top players.

[@Benjy52]

7:56 You pronounced “settee” wrong. It’s another word for sofa.

[@TurkeyMeat]

Foremost

[@mesavor]

KZbin recommended me this video after watching your video about Austin kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqu5l5KIqLuDoas Man, Austin is insane at making a comeback

[@accountnamewithheld]

Just fyi Will, "settee" is pronounced "settii". It means couch :D

[@Forensource]

I always heard it as SET EE Mostly in the 1970s. Sort of a snootish word.

[@asdfasdf4924]

It's shameful that any big tournament would use Scrabble Go / Void challenge

[@tacocat2287]

FIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRSSSSSTTTT!!!!

[@jordylont1879]

"Vrow" is not Dutch for "woman". "Vrouw" is though

[@nishusaif6085]

Third!