Thursday, April 25, 2019 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #7979, 2019-04-25

James Holzhauer game 16.

CONTESTANTS
Alix Basden, a student from Lafayette, Louisiana
Tim Hall, a data analyst from Washington, D.C.
James Holzhauer, a professional sports gambler from Las Vegas, Nevada (whose 15-day cash winnings total $1,135,175)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. So glad to have you tuning us in today. I hope you folks have been enjoying watching our current champion, James. He is terrific. He doesn't seem to have any weaknesses in terms of categories, although he did tell me a little over a week ago when the category came up and he didn't ring in too often, that ballet was not one of his strong suits. How often does ballet come up? Alix and Tim, welcome aboard, and good luck. Let's go to work right now in the Jeopardy! Round, shall we? Okay. Let's find out what the categories are...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
ROGUES GALLERY (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
LAKE NAME-IS-MEMORABLE (4/5)
CELEBS ON TWITTER (5/5)
WHAT'S FOR DINNER? (5/5)
CHINESE (5/5)
TAKE "OUT" (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
James: 18 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Tim: 6 R, 1 W
Alix: 4 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 2
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $2,000



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
James: $6,200
Tim: $1,600
Alix: $1,400

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Alix Basden is a student from Lafayette, Louisiana.

Alix: Yes.

Alex: And something unique about you is that Francis Ford Coppola held you in his arms and serenaded to you. Tell me about that.

Alix: Yes. When I was a little baby, he sang, "A, You're Adorable" to me, which, you know, back then was probably pretty true.

Alex: Well, it's still true.

Alix: Aw.

Alex: And I'll tell you something, you and I have something in common. Because just last month, Francis Ford Coppola picked me up, held me in his arms, and sang to me.

Alix: Well, Alex, I'm so happy for you.

Alex: Thank you.




Alex: Tim Hall.

Tim: Yes, sir.

Alex: From Washington, D.C. Climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

Tim: Attempted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Alex: Oh, wait a minute. How far did you get then?

Tim: To the base camp, to where you make the final push to the summit. So, four days in.

Alex: Four days in.

Tim: I attempted with a friend, but I came down with what was diagnosed locally as malaria. So I had a bad fever and could not get out of the tent, so.

Alex: All right.

Tim: I'll have to try again.

Alex: Okay. Yeah. It's a great place to try.




Alex: James Holzhauer is our champion, ladies and gentlemen. Now, is it true, James, that one of the ways in which you prepared for our show--and I mentioned off the top that you seem to have no weaknesses--is that you studied in the children's section of the library?

James: Yeah, the children's section of the library is perfect. The books are all short. They have nice little paragraphs. They have pictures everywhere. Everyone should do this. I don't know why they don't.

Alex: There's some advice, folks, for future Jeopardy! champions. Take it from a good one.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
James found the Daily Double on the 17th clue. James had $6,600, Tim had $1,600, and Alix was at $1,400. James made it a True Daily Double, wagering $6,600.

ROGUES GALLERY $600: Depicted here is a gang of bushrangers, the sometimes romanticized bandits of this country

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
LAKE NAME-IS-MEMORABLE $1000: Those imaginative Canadians! Okanagan Lake's Ogopogo & Lake Memphremagog's Memphre are these

TAKE "OUT" $1000: The term this type of "art" by self-taught non-mainstream artists was coined by Roger Cardinal in 1972
(Tim: What is performance?)

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
James: $15,600
Tim: $3,000
Alix: $2,400

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
ICONIC PAINTINGS (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
ENERGY (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
MOVIES IN THE DIRECTV GUIDE (5/5)
NOVEL CHARACTERS (4/5)
HISTORY (3/4)
OCCUPATIONAL VERBS (3/4)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
James: 18 R (including 1 rebound and 2 DDs), 1 W
Alix: 6 R (including 1 rebound), 0 W
Tim: 1 R, 1 W

Clues revealed: 28
Triple Stumpers: 3
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $6,000



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
James snagged the next Daily Double on the 8th clue. James had $22,800, Tim had $1,400, and Alix was at $3,600. James wagered $11,381.

ICONIC PAINTINGS $800: Botticelli's "Primavera" has this Roman goddess flanked by the 3 Graces with her son Amor overhead

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was James who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 24th clue. James had $40,981, Tim had $2,600, and Alix was at $8,800. James wagered $11,914.

ENERGY $1200: This type of gasoline has had tetraethyl substances removed from it in conformance with regulations
(Alex: Less than a minute now.)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
HISTORY $2000: In ancient Rome if you were free but non-aristocratic, say a baker or an artisan, you were in this class

NOVEL CHARACTERS $2000: In this novel insurance agent Walter Huff turns to murder after falling for a woman he loves like a rabbit loves a rattlesnake
(Alex: Made a great film.)

OCCUPATIONAL VERBS $2000: In a 1999 speech Nelson Mandela said his government would do this "on" toward national reconciliation

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
James: $55,695 (lock game)
Alix: $9,600
Tim: $2,600

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
THE ELEMENTS

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Lock for first place; lock for second place.
James: Wager between $0 (venusian) and $36,494 (martian), and enjoy your victory.
Alix: Wager between $0 (venusian) and $4,399 (martian), and enjoy 2nd place.
Tim: You've no hope of catching up... unless Alix does something stupid. So risk $2,599.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Oddly, mining of this rare earth element with a geographic name, atomic no. 63, is mostly in Asia & with some in South America & Australia

FINAL SCORES
Tim: $2,600 - $2,600 = $0 (What is americium) (3rd place: $1,000)
Alix: $9,600 - $4,000 = $5,600 (What is americium?) (2nd place: $2,000)
James: $55,695 + $35,117 = $90,812 (What is europium? Hi Jessa ♥) (16-day champion: $1,225,987)
(Alex: [To James] When you run out of names, could you start saying hi to friends of mine and family members of mine?)
(James: It's a deal.)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $8,000

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
James: $28,400, 36 R (including 3 DDs), 1 W
Alix: $9,600, 10 R, 0 W
Tim: $2,600, 7 R, 2 W
Combined Coryat: $40,600

BATTING AVERAGES
James: 37/61 = .607
Alix: 10/58 = .172
Tim: 7/58 = .121
Team: 54/63 = .857

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
WHAT'S FOR DINNER? $800: I thought we'd go with something light--this type of Italian omelet, baked in a pan

ROGUES GALLERY $1000: Rogue Adam Worth stole & got obsessed with a portrait of Georgiana, who held the alliterative title this "of Devonshire"

ROGUES GALLERY $800: Born in Italy, this 18th-century man, whose name is synonymous with "great lover", wrote a scandalous autobiography

CHINESE $400: This art of beautiful writing has long been revered in China as a supreme visual art form

WHAT'S FOR DINNER? $400: We're going south of the border for homemade these--get 'em while they're hot

WHAT'S FOR DINNER? $200: It's Chinese takeout, of course--this pork dish that combines sugar & vinegar for contrasting flavors
(Alex: With less than a minute.)

ROGUES GALLERY $400: John Wilmot, seen here, was known for satiric poetry & shocking behavior at this king's Restoration court

ROGUES GALLERY $200: Scoundrels came to Tortuga & became pirates for this Brit, whose name now graces rum bottles

HISTORY $1600: It was said that when this man met the ferryman for good in 1877, he had more money than the U.S. Treasury
(Tim: Who is Carnegie?)

MOVIES IN THE DIRECTV GUIDE $2000: "Two hit men, a boxer, a crime boss & others meet their fates over the course of two days"
(James: What is Snatch?)

ENERGY $2000: This 5-letter type of rock contains organic matter so it can yield oil as well as natural gas from fracking

ICONIC PAINTINGS $400: This Leonardo portrait was recovered 2 years after handyman Vincenzo Peruggia walked out of the Louvre with it
[The end-of-round signal sounds.]

CORRECT RESPONSES
Australia
lake monsters
outsider art
Venus
unleaded
a plebeian
Double Indemnity
soldier
europium
frittata
duchess
Casanova
calligraphy
tamales
sweet and sour
Charles II
Henry Morgan
(Cornelius) Vanderbilt
Pulp Fiction
shale
Mona Lisa

[theFJguy]

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
THE ELEMENTS

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Oddly, mining of this rare earth element with a geographic name, atomic no. 63, is mostly in Asia & with some in South America & Australia

James Holzhauer: 55695+35117=90812 (16x = $1,225,987)
Tim Hall: 2600-2600=0
Alix Basden: 9600-4000=5600

Correct response:

Spoiler

Europium (James added Hi Jess <3) (Tim – Americium) (Alix – Americium)

Daily Doubles
James: 6600+6600
James: 22800+11381
James: 40981+11914

Coryats
James: 28400
Tim: 2600
Alix: 9600

Combined: 40,600

Scores at the end of the Jeopardy! Round
James: 15600
Tim: 3000
Alix: 2400

[MarkBarrett]

Nice that James was called on for the Watt clue.

Today I learned that it is Directv for one of those observation things I am terrible at as I never noticed, while always processing it as Direct TV.

The J!6 made me laugh with the Survivor clue as by coincidence I am wearing my Survivor Panem shirt today.

Another game so strange with $90K+ on the low end of what James could have won by going stronger than the 11Ks on DD2 & DD3.

The FJ! category is not a good one for me. In trying to figure out the continental hint I spent way too much time domestically in dismissing Americium and from there multiple ones associated with California names. Time was up and I had a blank paper. As the Americiums were revealed I kept thinking and was getting closer to the right area with Polonium and Francium.

Some will only need the number to be set or the area. Not enough for me.

Reminder: NFL Draft tonight on ABC and tomorrow it's on an hour earlier to affect the East as well.

[mgiusto]

Ummm James scored 90,812 this Monday, 4/22/2019 as well which ties himself for 5th place on Daily Winnings.

[hbomb1947]

Another game so strange with $90K+ on the low end of what James could have won by going stronger than the 11Ks on DD2 & DD3.

It's frightening to think how even more-staggering James's overall winnings would be if he didn't constantly leave money on the table that he could have safely wagered. And yes, it feels weird to be saying that about someone whose per-game average has now drawn quite close to the magic number of $77,000.

There have been some assertions in the game thread on reddit that good trivia players memorize the atomic number of every element on the periodic table. So, poll request for how many boardies would have been able to solve today's FJ solely based on being spotted atomic number 63. For me, the atomic number was no help and I needed the rest of the clue.

[MasterCone]

South America being in the clue should have immediately dissuaded anyone from saying Americium, but I also read too quickly to pick that up on the first glance. I was a chemistry major for 3 years in college before deciding I was no longer interested and switching, and while I definitely do not have all the atomic numbers memorized (never did, and have certainly forgotten most I might have known at that time), I did immediately know that Americium is in the actinide group/bottom of the table, and therefore obviously a much higher number than 63. Europium was then all that was left that fit the continent trend.

[hscer]

Another game so strange with $90K+ on the low end of what James could have won by going stronger than the 11Ks on DD2 & DD3.

It's frightening to think how even more-staggering James's overall winnings would be if he didn't constantly leave money on the table that he could have safely wagered. And yes, it feels weird to be saying that about someone whose per-game average has now drawn quite close to the magic number of $77,000.

There have been some assertions in the game thread on reddit that good trivia players memorize the atomic number of every element on the periodic table. So, poll request for how many boardies would have been able to solve today's FJ solely based on being spotted atomic number 63. For me, the atomic number was no help and I needed the rest of the clue.

Like Ken Jennings, James will eventually have a day where he misses 2+ daily doubles and the final. (Did Ken have more than one?) If he can coast to 90K on DD wagers of "just" 11K, he could well still run away with the game where he does miss them, whereas he'd be at higher risk with an extra 20-30K off his total (40-60K off getting it right). He's got nothing left to prove in running up the score, so he may have decided to change his focus at some point to winning 75.

At least, that would be my theory. Who really knows.

[Le Master]

There have been some assertions in the game thread on reddit that good trivia players memorize the atomic number of every element on the periodic table. So, poll request for how many boardies would have been able to solve today's FJ solely based on being spotted atomic number 63. For me, the atomic number was no help and I needed the rest of the clue.

It seemed odd to me though to even put the atomic number in the clue for FJ. Removing it makes it a bit to vague (and likely gives too many response options), but I'm sure there could have been another string of words used to make an exact response necessary.

[mgiusto]

Another game so strange with $90K+ on the low end of what James could have won by going stronger than the 11Ks on DD2 & DD3.

It's frightening to think how even more-staggering James's overall winnings would be if he didn't constantly leave money on the table that he could have safely wagered. And yes, it feels weird to be saying that about someone whose per-game average has now drawn quite close to the magic number of $77,000.

There have been some assertions in the game thread on reddit that good trivia players memorize the atomic number of every element on the periodic table. So, poll request for how many boardies would have been able to solve today's FJ solely based on being spotted atomic number 63. For me, the atomic number was no help and I needed the rest of the clue.

Like Ken Jennings, James will eventually have a day where he misses 2+ daily doubles and the final. (Did Ken have more than one?) If he can coast to 90K on DD wagers of "just" 11K, he could well still run away with the game where he does miss them, whereas he'd be at higher risk with an extra 20-30K off his total (40-60K off getting it right). He's got nothing left to prove in running up the score, so he may have decided to change his focus at some point to winning 75.

At least, that would be my theory. Who really knows.

I'm thinking at this point perhaps the producers have talked to him and coached him to bet differently to keep the game interesting for the viewers at home, this is afterall an entertainment program and how long are people going to tune in if he's just running up the score every single day.

The other thing I found interesting the last two shows is James seems to take a little while with some answers that are easier questions and perhaps that is part of making the show more interesting, viewers at home thinking oh no, he might not know this one. Case in point, today's third daily double was something I knew and I have to be the absolute worst at trivia and James appeared to guess at the answer.

Spoiler

Unleaded

[Le Master]

Case in point, today's third daily double was something I knew and I have to be the absolute worst at trivia and James appeared to guess at the answer.

Spoiler

Unleaded

That was because it seemed almost too straightforward for a DD clue.
*Are they asking for a more specific type of unleaded gas? What other common enough words are there that they could be looking for? Octane? What's related to octane? Regular, mid-grade, premium. No, that's not what they want. Oh shit time's about up. Just say something. Go with unleaded.*

[gnash]

There have been some assertions in the game thread on reddit that good trivia players memorize the atomic number of every element on the periodic table. So, poll request for how many boardies would have been able to solve today's FJ solely based on being spotted atomic number 63. For me, the atomic number was no help and I needed the rest of the clue.

It would be a total waste to memorize the periodic table. Instaget for me and no way would I be able to tell you what element atomic number 63 is. Americium is man-made, transuranium, so atomic number > 92. Besides, South America was one of the ironically mentioned continents. The only other continent-named element is Europium. Done.

Atomic number was there to pin the response. Trivia cannot live by irony alone.

[gnash]

I'm thinking at this point perhaps the producers have talked to him and coached him to bet differently to keep the game interesting for the viewers at home, this is afterall an entertainment program and how long are people going to tune in if he's just running up the score every single day.

I don't know if that would be legal, but it would certainly be unethical.

[TenPoundHammer]

Even I got the Australia DD.

NHO "stakeout" or "Sixteen Candles".

Also couldn't understand the "battery" clue. Something about storing energy?! That clue was utter gibberish to me.

Europium? Is that one of the elements? Can't be Americium since America is in the clue... yeah, Europium.

Lach Trash: "soldier on"

[Danmel]

Augh, I had a DVR glitch. And tomorrow's game is being preempted in the NYC area by the NFL draft. Does anyone know if there is an alternate place I can watch? The local affiliate here doesn't rebroadcast when the show is preempted.

[Ironhorse]

I'm thinking at this point perhaps the producers have talked to him and coached him to bet differently to keep the game interesting for the viewers at home, this is afterall an entertainment program and how long are people going to tune in if he's just running up the score every single day.

Do you have any evidence for this claim?

[Ironhorse]

I had no idea what europium's atomic number was but spotting it to me still helped me get it because I knew americium was in the 90s.

[CasketRomance]

the daily double in the 1st round hadn't been uncovered, the challengers had control of the board and they continued in the celebrity twitter category...the daily double isn't going to be in a dumb category like that

[CasketRomance]

knew the final wouldn't have anything to do with america since south america was in the clue...only thing i could come up with was polonium since i knew it was named for poland...never heard of europium...i suck at science though

[CasketRomance]

Augh, I had a DVR glitch. And tomorrow's game is being preempted in the NYC area by the NFL draft. Does anyone know if there is an alternate place I can watch? The local affiliate here doesn't rebroadcast when the show is preempted.

do a search later tonight...there have been episodes on daily motion up again lately