Scrabble All-Time Money Winners List

Last Modified 1/18/06

  1. 129300 David Gibson
  2. 110545 Brian Cappelletto
  3. 088670 Joe Edley
  4. 078036 Joel Sherman
  5. 061633 Nigel Richards
  6. 060920 Joel Wapnick
  7. 058259 Adam Logan
  8. 049720 David Wiegand
  9. 040175 Ron Tiekert
  10. 037943 Mark Nyman
  11. 037070 Trey Wright
  12. 034471 Panupol Sujjayakorn
  13. 031335 Pakorn Nemitrmansuk
  14. 030744 Naween Fernando
  15. 026714 David Boys
  16. 024816 Jakkrit Klaphajone
  17. 023125 Peter Morris
  18. 022673 Robert Felt
  19. 019395 Sam Kantimathi
  20. 017745 Andrew Fisher
  21. 015800 Jim Kramer
  22. 015055 Lester Schonbrun
  23. 014265 Jim Geary
  24. 012375 Jere Mead
  25. 012025 Chuck Armstrong
  26. 011990 Marlon Hill
  27. 010725 Matt Graham
  28. 010235 Joey Mallick
  29. 010000 Bob Lipton
  30. 008500 Dan Pratt
  31. 008500 David Pearl
  32. 007975 Rita Norr
  33. 007975 Chris Cree
  34. 007770 Jerry Scheiten
  35. 007741 Paul Cleary
  36. 007525 Richie Lund
  37. 006885 Steve Polatnick
  38. 006870 Jerry Lerman
  39. 006825 Dave Johnson
  40. 006550 Mike Early
  41. 006450 Steve Glass
  42. 006338 Gerry Carter
  43. 006275 Mike Baker
  44. 005870 Tony Sim
  45. 005725 John Luebkemann
  46. 005600 Darrell Day
  47. 005345 Jan Dixon
  48. 005000 Bob Watson
  49. 005000 Alex Tan
  50. 005000 Dennis Ikekeregor

Total Monies Accounted:

1704630

What Qualifies

To avoid the necessity of my running around trying to find out the results of every one-dayer in Livonia, Michigan, I limited inclusion of monies to those garnered from "major events." I arbitrarily define major events as any in which First Place was greater than or equal to $1000 US. Should a tournament have multiple divisions, only those divisions wherein the first place was $1000 were included. Some may argue that, say, the Austrian Championship of 1985 was a major event even tho it didn't clear this yankee capitalist benchmark, but I would retort that not having done so, its impact on the standings(some of which are separated by thousands of dollars) would be negligible.

What is not included is any additional gambling that may bump a given payday over the mark, such as after-hours matches or side pools. Also not included are blackjack winnings, lawsuit lucre, book deals, movie rights or impromptu confabs in Washington Park. Illiquid bonus prizes (such as the Franklin Mint set I won in 1992) are not included. For a tournament paid in currency other than US dollars, the conversion at the time of the tournament is applicable in computing eligibility as well as amount. And, in the interests of simplicity, there is no normalization for the time value of money.

Tournaments

Interesting to note that the "old days" were loaded up with US tournaments, whereas of recent, seven different countries are involved.
This is a good thing. 
74 NYC Championship
78 US Championship
80 US Championship 
83 US Championship
85 US Championship
87 Vegas
88 US Championship 
89 Reno *
89 US Championship 
90 Reno
90 US Championship 
91 US Masters
91 World Championship
92 Reno *
92 US Championship
92 Franklin Mint
93 Thailand
93 Reno 
93 World Championship
94 Thailand
94 Reno *
94 US Championship
95 Reno EB
95 Reno *
95 Superstars 
95 Thailand
95 World Championship 
96 Thailand *
96 Reno 
96 US Championship 
96 Canada Championship
97 Reno MLK *
97 Thailand *
97 Reno *
97 Phillipines
97 US Masters 
97 Mind Sports Olympiad
97 World Championship
98 Thailand *
98 Singapore
98 Reno
98 US Championship
98 Kuala Lumpur
98 Canada Championship 
99 Reno Winter
99 Thailand
99 Singapore
99 Reno Summer Everything
99 Mind Sports Olympiad
99 World Championship
00 Thailand January
00 Bertram Malaysia
00 Thailand King's Cup
00 Reno Summer Everything
00 US Championship
00 Mind Sports Olympiad (BNSC)
00 Candian Championship
01 Reno MLK
01 Bangkok July *
01 Reno Summer Everything
01 US Masters
01 UK BEST
01 Grand Canyon
01 World Championship
02 Reno MLK
02 SWILLNS
02 Reno EB1
02 Reno
02 Bangkok July
02 US Championship *
02 Grand Canyon
03 Reno MLK
03 Pigeon Forge, TN
03 Chicago
03 Reno Summer *
03 Albany
03 Bangkok *
03 US All Stars
03 UK BEST
03 Kuala Lumpur Pre-WSC event *
03 World Championship
03 CanadaNSC
04 Chicago
04 SWILLNS
04 Bangkok
04 Reno Summer 
04 US Championship *
04 African Championship
04 Las Vegas
05 Reno Jan
(still waiting on info for 04 Reno MLK)
05 Tennessee
05 CanadaNSC
05 Bangkok
05 US Championship
05 Las Vegas
05 World Championship
06 Reno MLK
* = incomplete data for this event.

Wish List

As you can tell, my information starts to become much more likely to be complete over the last 6 years(since about the time I first conceived this project). The rest of the info was gathered from my incomplete set of old Scrabble News, etc and the sometimes twenty-year-old memories of players in the events. If you have any information on any of the events marked * above, please send it to me. Or if you would like to confirm your personal dollar history as I have it, let me know and I will send it to you.

Any info on these or any other tournaments that meet the requirements above would be appreciated.
MANY THANKS TO JIM KRAMER FOR HELPING FILL IN MUCH OF THE MISSING INFORMATION.

Last Modified 1/18/06

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