Jim Kramer (born 1958) won the 2006 United States Scrabble Open in

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. Kramer has competed in 15 U.S. championship

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

tournaments and has represented the U.S. at the

World Scrabble Championship The World Scrabble Championship (WSC) is the most-prestigious title in competitive English-language Scrabble. It was held in every odd year from 1991 to 2013. From the 2013 edition, it became an annual event. It has been an open event since 2014. ...

s six times. Before winning the 2006 USSO, he had top-ten finishes in the national championships three times, in 1998, 2000, and 2005. His fifth-place finish at the 2003 World Championship (WSC) was the highest by any North American player that year. He finished third in 2001. A resident of

Roseville, Minnesota Roseville is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. It is one of two Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Twin Cities suburbs that are adjacent to both Saint Paul and Minneapolis (the other is Lauderdale, Minnesota, Lauderdale). The land comprisin ...

, Kramer is nicknamed "Gentleman Jim" in

circles. Since his career began in 1983, he has played at least 2,500 tournament games, winning about 64% of the time. While his total earnings are unknown, he has won a minimum of $54,000 in prize money. On November 17, 2006, Kramer was invited to compete against "Genius", a computer Scrabble opponent running the newest version of

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' Scrabble. In a three-round "Man v. Machine" match that took place at the Westlake Mall in Seattle, Genius took the initial lead, winning the first game 466 to 419. Kramer came back to win the second game 417 to 406. The deciding, third game came down to the last play, and Kramer won it 442 to 441, taking home $10,000.The Seattle Times 2006-11-18: Scrabble: It's man vs. machine
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References

External links

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Jim Kramer's NSA player profileComplete details of Jim's "Man v. Machine" games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kramer, Jim 1958 births American Scrabble players Living people People from Roseville, Minnesota Place of birth missing (living people)