Tuesday, March 5, 2013 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[spell4yr]

Interesting that the first two answers for the "Carrie" category were both, technically, "Carrie Fisher"s.

$400 in Needful Things was misleading, as it asked for a "state" that didn't exist yet. With such a GLARING mistake like that I'M NEVER WATCHING AGAIN!!!1 (Oh wait, wrong board.)

No clue on FJ!.

[ebEliminator]

Die-lan was a one and done, but the new champion is just as abominable (as a player). Actually, Die-lan was the most respectable player in terms of wagering that episode. The guy in the middle once again was a nit on Daily Doubles, and his wager on the Daily Double and Ilene's wager in Final Jeopardy both made me facepalm. This episode just made me rage in general. Hopefully there are some good contestants tomorrow.

I was calculating my Coryat while playing along but it was so terrible after Jeopardy that I didn't bother keeping score for Double. I feel like I get more answers correct when I don't keep track, anyway. Literature is not one of my strong suits, so I whiffed the Final Jeopardy again. Is there a resource where you can study up without actually having to read all the books that might be considered?

Also, the clue about Kurt Angle made me smile as a (professional) wrestling fan, and that was one of the few instagets for me.

[TryphonTournesol]

Ran the Atlantic and you wager 500 on a DD in a category in which you choose it first?!?!?!

I haven't really understood the DD wagers the last couple days. I mean, it's one thing to wager conservatively, but less than the original value of the clue? How odd. And especially in a geography category which he had been having no problems with.

[OKlibrarian]

I got murdered on the starts with clothing category (Hubby either ran or almost ran it), ran the stephen king cat and I think one other in J!

Thank you Kill Bill for the Instaget for Black Mamba.

Ilene's bet was weird, but I suppose a sort of calculated risk - she had presumably seen the triple stumper from the previous day and took a chance on winning that way (or on a sole get). Had Dylan gotten it right, it didn't really matter what Ilene did, so she probably figured that the difference between second and third if everyone had it was minimal, but if everyone missed it, she wanted to give herself a chance to hold on. Unfortunately for her, the end result was right in the middle of that. I wonder how often the third-place contestant going into FJ wins when they're not the only one with the right answer. Almost never, I imagine.

Interesting theory. I can see the math instructor following that line of logic. I continue to be boggled by the DD betting this week--I may just be paying attention more now that I've learned some wagering theory from hanging out here.

I agree that none of the contestants exactly seemed like ToC potential based on today's play. (now watch Drew go on a 5+ game tear...)

Oh, and I was overly tickled By the answer of Moe Green for Bugsy Siegel. Mario Puzo would be so proud...

[ElendilPickle]

Die-lan was a one and done, but the new champion is just as abominable (as a player). Actually, Die-lan was the most respectable player in terms of wagering that episode. The guy in the middle once again was a nit on Daily Doubles, and his wager on the Daily Double and Ilene's wager in Final Jeopardy both made me facepalm. This episode just made me rage in general. Hopefully there are some good contestants tomorrow.

I was calculating my Coryat while playing along but it was so terrible after Jeopardy that I didn't bother keeping score for Double. I feel like I get more answers correct when I don't keep track, anyway. Literature is not one of my strong suits, so I whiffed the Final Jeopardy again. Is there a resource where you can study up without actually having to read all the books that might be considered?

Cliff Notes?

Actually, The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge has a fairly decent literature section. And if you have an ereader, most of the classic books are free, as is the library.

[thenextofken]

Say what you will about Drew's DD bets, but I actually like his one on FJ. He knew he couldn't win a TS, so he probably figured he may as well go (almost) all in.

[Golf]

Actually since the clue referred to a comment by the title character and trains don't talk, he had a zero chance of being correct.

Thanks for the astute comment TPH, he might as well have left it blank.

[BigDaddyJ]

I usually do well on animal categories, but I had never heard of either definition of "rook" in that clue (the bird or "to swindle"), and snakes appear to be a weak spot of mine. Then I, a big fan of the movie Rango, missed with gecko for chameleon. I guess I got "moves its eyes independently" and "licks its eyes" mixed up somehow.

Hopefully you at least got meerkat from your many viewings of The Lion King.

[TenPoundHammer]

I usually do well on animal categories, but I had never heard of either definition of "rook" in that clue (the bird or "to swindle"), and snakes appear to be a weak spot of mine. Then I, a big fan of the movie Rango, missed with gecko for chameleon. I guess I got "moves its eyes independently" and "licks its eyes" mixed up somehow.

Hopefully you at least got meerkat from your many viewings of The Lion King.

Meerkat I got because I remember many years ago looking up "meerkat" in the dictionary to find out exactly what kind of animal it was. Said dictionary instead chose to list it as "suricate", with no trace of "meerkat" in the M's. And it's not like this was an ancient dictionary, either. It was published in 1995.

[ComingUpMilhouse]

I usually do well on animal categories, but I had never heard of either definition of "rook" in that clue (the bird or "to swindle"), and snakes appear to be a weak spot of mine. Then I, a big fan of the movie Rango, missed with gecko for chameleon. I guess I got "moves its eyes independently" and "licks its eyes" mixed up somehow.

Hopefully you at least got meerkat from your many viewings of The Lion King.

Meerkat I got because I remember many years ago looking up "meerkat" in the dictionary to find out exactly what kind of animal it was. Said dictionary instead chose to list it as "suricate", with no trace of "meerkat" in the M's. And it's not like this was an ancient dictionary, either. It was published in 1995.

Suricata suricatta is also their scientific name. They also do that standing upright behavior a lot, if you've ever seen them at a zoo.

[alietr]

Seeing Life of Pi this weekend also helped with meerkats.

[bpmod]

They also do that standing upright behavior a lot, if you've ever seen them at a zoo.

And, of course, it follows, that if you haven't seen one at a zoo, they don't.

Sorry, Sara. Couldn't resist.

Brian

[ComingUpMilhouse]

They also do that standing upright behavior a lot, if you've ever seen them at a zoo.

And, of course, it follows, that if you haven't seen one at a zoo, they don't.

Sorry, Sara. Couldn't resist.

Brian

Little-known fact about meerkats.

[lovemydolphins]

I gave the same answer as Dylan until I reread the clue. Haven't read the book or seen the movie, so wasn't going to happen (thanks for spoiling it, everyone ),

I'm glad Dylan explained the story behind his name. That was driving me nuts.

So I wasn't the only one who was going crazy about his name. I still don't like his DD wagers. $500? That's beyond conservative.

[TryphonTournesol]

So I wasn't the only one who was going crazy about his name. I still don't like his DD wagers. $500? That's beyond conservative.

My wife was really annoyed by the pronunciation of his name. The why was pretty predictable though - of course he had a parent who thought it would be more "unique" if it was pronounced differently for no real reason.

[Linear Gnome]

I got murdered on the starts with clothing category (Hubby either ran or almost ran it), ran the stephen king cat and I think one other in J!

Thank you Kill Bill for the Instaget for Black Mamba.

Ilene's bet was weird, but I suppose a sort of calculated risk - she had presumably seen the triple stumper from the previous day and took a chance on winning that way (or on a sole get). Had Dylan gotten it right, it didn't really matter what Ilene did, so she probably figured that the difference between second and third if everyone had it was minimal, but if everyone missed it, she wanted to give herself a chance to hold on. Unfortunately for her, the end result was right in the middle of that. I wonder how often the third-place contestant going into FJ wins when they're not the only one with the right answer. Almost never, I imagine.

Interesting theory. I can see the math instructor following that line of logic. I continue to be boggled by the DD betting this week--I may just be paying attention more now that I've learned some wagering theory from hanging out here.

I agree that none of the contestants exactly seemed like ToC potential based on today's play. (now watch Drew go on a 5+ game tear...)

Oh, and I was overly tickled By the answer of Moe Green for Bugsy Siegel. Mario Puzo would be so proud...

Lucy's been waiting for four months to do her 'splainin'. (This week's games were taped on Oct. 29, before the Anna Karenina movie came out, incidentally.)

The only scenarios in which my bet matters are what the J! Archive calls Triple Stumper (TS) and Single Miss By Leader (SMBL). I don't claim I knew this at the time, but, out of the scenarios in which the leader misses, the TS is, by far, the most common, and SMBL is the least common most seasons. Since literature is not one of my stronger categories, I decided to make the largest bet I could that would win on a TS. (Interestingly, since Dylan offered a tie, we would have been co-champions on a TS.)

Running through the other scenarios, I recognized that I wasn't covering a double by Drew, but the betting had been so conservative throughout the game that it really caught me by surprise.

I've had lots of time to think about this, and I still think I gave myself my best chance of winning the game. (I understand that the expected value calculations are more complicated, but my utility function had a high premium on winning the game.)

Once I got over the initial shock and the would've-could've-should've's (e.g., it would have only taken 600 more dollars to close my "donut hole"), I made peace with the situation and I honestly have no regrets.

I'll probably add more later.

[southsidehitman]

I wonder how many re-dubs Alex had to take during filming Dylan's episodes because he mispronounced the name!

I cleaned up fairly well tonight (37-4-19 for 24000) but then crapped the bed in FJ. Never read Anna Karenina, and I was stuck on thinking possibly a work by Poe but nothing I've read of his rang any bells re: trains.

Maybe this has been offered before, but I feel like a contestant in second place is more prone to forgetting that in addition to accounting for the first-place cover wager, s/he needs to remember to cover the third-place wager as well. I always make a theoretical wager based on where I stand in relation to the day's contestants, and I even forget that there are sometimes two factors to consider.

[ComingUpMilhouse]

I wonder how many re-dubs Alex had to take during filming Dylan's episodes because he mispronounced the name!

I think he mispronounced my last name at least once (although that doesn't come up as much as the first name in the game), so he probably only re-dubs when he misreads a clue.

They do put some effort into making sure Johnny Gilbert gets it right, though.

[Linear Gnome]

I wonder how many re-dubs Alex had to take during filming Dylan's episodes because he mispronounced the name!

I cleaned up fairly well tonight (37-4-19 for 24000) but then crapped the bed in FJ. Never read Anna Karenina, and I was stuck on thinking possibly a work by Poe but nothing I've read of his rang any bells re: trains.

Maybe this has been offered before, but I feel like a contestant in second place is more prone to forgetting that in addition to accounting for the first-place cover wager, s/he needs to remember to cover the third-place wager as well. I always make a theoretical wager based on where I stand in relation to the day's contestants, and I even forget that there are sometimes two factors to consider.

This situation is known as Stratton's Dilemma on the J! Archive. I'm damned if I do or I'm damned if I don't, and I have to guess which. If I bet enough to shut out Drew, I give up the win on the triple stumper.

Incidentally, about half of what I know about Anna Karenina was used on this FJ.

[AdamAnt]

Glad to know I wasn't the only one a tad annoyed by the pronunciation of Dylan's name. First time I've ever heard it pronounced that way.

Something felt off about today's show...or maybe it's just because I answered maybe about 8-10 right on tonight's show. The contestants were average, nobody overly exciting. I personally would've loved to see a bit more enthusiasm and livelyness in the contestants' responses, add a bit more colour.

It seems to be a trend this week that the contestants are making their DD bets lower in value than what the clue would normally be worth. I always play along betting at least the clue's original value but then again I'm a Jeopardy! noob and there are probably different strategies to DDs that allow/require betting under the original value.