How many points in the word "winner?"

Adam M. Logan should know. The Harvard mathematics Ph.D. candidate last week won first place in the North American Scrabble Championships.

"Naturally I'm happy about it," said Logan, a native of Ottawa, Canada.

Logan won 24 of 27 games at the five-day tournament to finish a full five matches ahead of the second place competitor.

As if the honor of proving himself the top Scrabbler on the continent weren't enough, Logan also took home a silver bowl and $25,000 for winning the tournament.

Ranked fifth in North America before the tournament, Logan said he thought he would be rated first or second when the championships have been factored in. Logan said he can't remember being ranked higher than third previously.

The Harvard student competed in the expert level, the highest division of the tournament, which boasted 112 competitors.

So Much Experience

Logan, 21, said he started playing Scrabble at a young age.

"I think I played my first tournament when I was nine," he said. "I played with my family for a year or two before that."

A Somerville resident, Logan normally plays the game with the Lexington Scrabble club.

Jeremiah P. Mead, a fellow member of the club who also competed at the North American championships, praised Logan's skill at the game, saying that he plays "from a different set of thoughts than the rest of us."

"Like anybody else who's played him, I've been impressed with his word knowledge, with the rapidity with which he makes decisions," Mead said.

Other players who know Logan also said he was an excellent player as well as a friend.

"When you play with him he's just so fast that it's incredible," said Hilda L. Siegel, co-director of the Allston-Brighton Scrabble Club. "He'll play with anybody, he's not a snob about it."

Michael S. Wolfberg, another member of the Lexington club, recalled a game with Logan.