Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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MarkBarrett
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by MarkBarrett »

econgator wrote:That's a category I would most likely have Clavined. Needless to say, instaget.
You have three wins and high money. Any kind of 4th win all but puts you in the TOC. You have a lock game and can win with $29,599 on a hit. You still go all in?

In Mark's situation tonight I would do the same thing he did. In a first game I would do the same thing to make sure of the nice payday. In a second game I would bet it all. In a third game I would bet down 2nd place's 11,200 to go for more money. A fifth win still has prestige, so the lock could not be risked.

The category of Sports Movies is about as good as it gets for me and I do understand the temptation for betting big. I just felt some hesitation about it being some kind of Oscars brainbuster. Any kind of 2nd or 3rd place situation is wad plus wallet for me.
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thejeopardyfan
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by thejeopardyfan »

Add me to the list of people with a high Coryat today: 37000-something, my highest ever.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by NJCondon »

Well, Mark really ought to be ashamed of himself. These last two games, he's well off his early pace, and he almost looked beatable. Sad, really...

While I'm sorry for ARF!, I am happy to see Mark in the ToC. (I'll update my odds when he loses, but I can say that he's already all but a mortal lock.) I'll be happy to watch him up against Roger, the two Toms, and the rest come November. His current pace of $38,450 per ep is just about identical to Roger's (although the small numbers involved here make the statistic kind of silly). And despite his strange affection for round numbers, his DD wagers always prompt a cheer from me.
jeff6286 wrote: Couldn't Anthony Fox technically still have a shot, if Mark were to go on a Ken Jennings-like run. I know that no one really knows for sure, but I was wondering what anyone's best guesses are for how many more times he would have to win to reach the TOC as the reigning champion. I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 42-52 more times. Yes, I know it's highly, highly unlikely, but hey, it's fun to speculate, right?
My model has the ToC cutoff in 47 more games, with the ToC commencing with Episode 6246. That's just an (educated) guess based on previous years; I have no priveledged knowledge here.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by NJCondon »

I will also add that my Coryat has been remarkably high (for me) and flat at ~k$35 for all four of Mark's episodes; it's fascinating that so many other people are seeing large variations in difficulty. It would be very interesting to do statistics on people's Coryats; based on recent observations, I might guess that the degree of variation within one game's worth of Coryats (normalizing appropriately for everyone's mean Coryat) might be larger than the variation between episodes. I only have good data sets for about six people (myself plus the five or so folks who post their Coryats in public on a regular basis), so that won't be happening any time soon.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by fowlerism »

I'm about 98% sure that Mark used to come to a pub trivia night I used to attend and occasionally host in Pullman, WA. If he is that person, I can confirm that his success of late is not a fluke. He's a very strong player. I suppose nobody was doubting that at this point, but yeah. It's cool to see somebody I vaguely know cleaning up on the show.
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cshort
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by cshort »

NJCondon wrote:I'll be happy to watch him up against Roger, the two Toms, and the rest come November.
Aww, now I know how the Professor and Mary Ann felt...
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by reddpen »

The J! round was one of my best: 25R 1W (a DAG of Big Brother over Jersey Shore) for 14,400. Clammed Dillinger and most of the Reality cat. DJ! started off inauspiciously with a clam on Guys & Dolls...

and then I ran the table. 29/30, 35,600, for a total of $50K, a first for me (excluding Kids' Week games, which I skip). So yeah, I'd agree this board was on the easy side. Other Coryats during Mark's run have been far more average (Fri 37400, Mon 30800, Tue 32K). Nick, if you want statistics for your study, I have Coryat spreadsheets going back three seasons now and would guess others here do as well.

This game could easily have ended Mark's run, which has been the most fun I've had watching the show in months. I'll bet he was oiling the cat-o'-nine-tails for self-flagellation after saying Camelot when he must have known Spamalot, and then Zac hits the DD? And wagers a sizable chunk? And gets a question asking which country is half Mayan? And then, somehow, gets it wrong? I can only imagine the emotional bungee ride Mark must have been on for those moments.

As for his lock before the last clue, yes he did, but only if neither Zac nor Maria answered correctly. Props to Mark for winning what had to be a buzzer battle for EPS to ensure his lock game. Profound sympathies to Zac for finally getting his chance and running into a juggernaut (and I really hope my retro-jinxing powers haven't transferred to this new board). Kudos to Maria as well for a strong game, and best of luck to Samer.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by John Boy »

Roadgeek Adam wrote: As for me: Was this Jeopardy round a bit too easy to anyone else? I got 28 / 30, pardoning two blows in Atilla The Hungry. The board fell right where I liked it, and since I don't normally get much above 25, its pretty rare this happens. Double Jeopardy: I got 21 / 30, the Dreaded Musical Category came up. I got 2 out of it. Final Jeopardy was instaget.
For me the first round was starkly divided: 14-of-16 before the commercial break, and only 8-of-14 after. Different categories, different levels of comfort/expertise.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by John Boy »

hbomb1947 wrote:Congrats to Mark on punching his ticket to the TOC.

Easy board (I got 23 and 28 in the SJ and DJ rounds); and another easy FJ. It's a shame that Zac missed such a gettable DD, as the 10,000 or whatever point swing sure would have made things interesting.

Particularly unchallenging, I thought, was the "synonyms inside" category; I found all 5 of them ridiculously easy.

Meaning no disrespect to Mark, but I was rooting for Zac after he revealed that he had tried out 10 times before getting The Call (although he didn't indicate whether that means he was actually in the contestant pool 10X, or if there were some auditions in which he non-passed the test, since his efforts to get on the show go back long before the online testing era).

Minor point, but I wondered about whether Zaz's response of just "Lautrec" (for monsieur Toulouse-Lautrec) was sufficient or should have elicited a BMS or something.
I agree re "synonyms inside." Kid stuff (not that I mind any category that I run!)

Also thought "Lautrec" would at least be a BMS....

Anyone who "tried out" ten times can be one of my all-time favorites. As you say, however, he didn't say he passed the quiz 10 times, or got into an audition 10 times, or tried 10 times to get into the pre-online-quiz auditions. Big difference. I know that I myself tried 10 times without success to get into regional auditions in the pre-online days, in addition to almost that many that I did get into. His appearance gives me (yet again) hope.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by Bamaman »

An FJ category I liked, but you never know when they'll throw a curve with some movie about soccer or figure skating. An instaget anyway.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by Volante »

jepkid97 wrote:Was it just me, or were tonight's clues ridiculously easy? ...
I'm not gonna say no, I'm not gonna say yes, I'm just gonna say I went 42/4...

Missed the final. Leatherheads. Once Alex said 'coached by Walte...' I did a /facepalm and said the right response.

I've never actually seen either of those. The former, forgivable. Not seeing BNBs? Less forgivable.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by thejeopardyfan »

NJCondon wrote:I will also add that my Coryat has been remarkably high (for me) and flat at ~k$35 for all four of Mark's episodes; it's fascinating that so many other people are seeing large variations in difficulty. It would be very interesting to do statistics on people's Coryats; based on recent observations, I might guess that the degree of variation within one game's worth of Coryats (normalizing appropriately for everyone's mean Coryat) might be larger than the variation between episodes. I only have good data sets for about six people (myself plus the five or so folks who post their Coryats in public on a regular basis), so that won't be happening any time soon.
I would love to participate if you ever do something like this.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by Samer »

John Boy wrote:Anyone who "tried out" ten times can be one of my all-time favorites. As you say, however, he didn't say he passed the quiz 10 times, or got into an audition 10 times, or tried 10 times to get into the pre-online-quiz auditions. Big difference. I know that I myself tried 10 times without success to get into regional auditions in the pre-online days, in addition to almost that many that I did get into. His appearance gives me (yet again) hope.
FWIW, Maggie mentioned this (not specifically Zac, of course) during the introductory meeting, and I think Zac said that he had auditioned 10 times.

She said that when it comes down to the last couple of taping dates, they try to bring in as many players on the cusp of losing eligibility as possible, especially if they've been in the pool multiple times.

IIRC, at least half of us this week had tried out for the show multiple times; I'm fairly sure Tom did, I know I did, I think Christine had.
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Volante
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by Volante »

Oh, oh! Almost forgot!!

Who the heck is Paul Gauguin anyway??

..
..
..

:mrgreen:
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by thejeopardyfan »

I've been meaning to ask this, speaking of Coryats: Is there an average score one should reach to be considered "ready" to appear on the show? I've heard one future contestant's opinion, and I'd like more. Thanks!
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by BigDaddyJ »

thejeopardyfan wrote:I've been meaning to ask this, speaking of Coryats: Is there an average score one should reach to be considered "ready" to appear on the show? I've heard one future contestant's opinion, and I'd like more. Thanks!
None other than Karl Coryat himself addresses that topic in his article "So You Want To Be A Jeopardy Contestant."

Excerpted from there...
If you can consistently score around $24,000, you have a fairly good chance at passing the test, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to bring up that average. If you can consistently score around $28,000, I'd say you have a very good chance of getting on the show, if you have any personality at all. However, if you think you're prone to stage fright or if pressure weakens your ability to think, or you're just really ambitious, my advice is to overbuild your knowledge as much as possible... In that case, you might wait until your average is up to $32,000 or even $36,000 before you try out for real.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by NJCondon »

cshort wrote:
NJCondon wrote:I'll be happy to watch him up against Roger, the two Toms, and the rest come November.
Aww, now I know how the Professor and Mary Ann felt...
Sorry, Chris... No slight intended.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by NJCondon »

BigDaddyJ wrote:
thejeopardyfan wrote:I've been meaning to ask this, speaking of Coryats: Is there an average score one should reach to be considered "ready" to appear on the show? I've heard one future contestant's opinion, and I'd like more. Thanks!
None other than Karl Coryat himself addresses that topic in his article "So You Want To Be A Jeopardy Contestant."

Excerpted from there...
If you can consistently score around $24,000, you have a fairly good chance at passing the test, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to bring up that average. If you can consistently score around $28,000, I'd say you have a very good chance of getting on the show, if you have any personality at all. However, if you think you're prone to stage fright or if pressure weakens your ability to think, or you're just really ambitious, my advice is to overbuild your knowledge as much as possible... In that case, you might wait until your average is up to $32,000 or even $36,000 before you try out for real.
FWIW, my Coryat was about k$28 when I went on the show, although it now seems to be trending up. When I saw Coryat's own advice about this, I figured he must be full of it; who the hell averages above k$35? Conversations with a few of the killing machines that hang out in these here parts (Rex Kramer among them) convinced me that there are such people, and that they are really, really good at Jeopardy! Either I hit easy boards, my buzzer speed was well above average, or k$28 makes you reasonably competetive.
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Re: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILE

Post by dhkendall »

thejeopardyfan wrote:
NJCondon wrote:I will also add that my Coryat has been remarkably high (for me) and flat at ~k$35 for all four of Mark's episodes; it's fascinating that so many other people are seeing large variations in difficulty. It would be very interesting to do statistics on people's Coryats; based on recent observations, I might guess that the degree of variation within one game's worth of Coryats (normalizing appropriately for everyone's mean Coryat) might be larger than the variation between episodes. I only have good data sets for about six people (myself plus the five or so folks who post their Coryats in public on a regular basis), so that won't be happening any time soon.
I would love to participate if you ever do something like this.
I'd like to know as well. I don't regularly post my Coryats (despite having the highest post count on the new board by far, I don't feel I need to bore everyone with my stats every day (if you are someone that does, I have no beef with you, that's just something I'd refuse to do.) However, at the end of every season, I post a Google Docs link to my Coryats with Coryat score per round, # of R/W, correct/incorrect Final, batting average, etc. Since the end of the season is fast approaching, I hope that my data may be of use as well (however, since I think I"m the only one that posts this complex of a data set, it probably won't be.)
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