1st Bryan Benwitz stood head and shoulders above the rest of the field with a flawless 4-0 +593 record, his closest adversary in the standings possessing a lowly 2-2 record. Disaster was narrowly avoided in round one as Bryan pulled off the closest-possible win against Andy Bohnsack, 357-356. The game saw significantly less in the way of bingo fireworks than is typical for their games: Bryan found ERISTIC, while Andy had LETTUCES. Bryan also fought to a low-scoring 355-301 win against Sara McLaughlin, playing OVERAGED. All this pent-up demand for bingos and points was unleashed in the final two games of the night; first to feel the wrath was Richard Lauder, who was buried under a veritable avalanche of scoring from Bryan's side, the final score being 553-241. Bryan slapped down ATTENDEE, PUNINESS, LASTBORN, and ARIDEST in that one. Perversely unsatisfied by this big win, Bryan conjured another four-bingo game to clinch 4-0, playing REDDLES, FERVOUR, LITHEMIA, and EARPHONE in a 544-318 victory against Lynda Finn.

2nd Charles Reinke, feeling the absence of a certain player who looks a lot like him, was pressed into a four-game Collins-lexicon series against Mark Kenas, and came out ahead in spread, 2-2 +107. Game one was a nailbiter, but sadly a loss, 420-425, despite finds of ETATISM and PROUDISH. Charles whipped up a four-bingo game of his own to win the next one, getting BUTMENT#, DOTIEST, NONADULT, and HERNIAE in a 530-432 win. He would take the next one as well, 410-323, getting TRUEBORN and ANATASE. Mark got in a few counterpunches of his own in the final game, getting DECORATE, HEATERS, and RETELLER to even the series with a 473-400 winning score.