Tuesday, May 21, 2019 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Kingrat47]

Can someone (perhaps Vermonter) explain what is meant by "Holzhauer now has the highest per-game average"? Didn't he have that a while ago?

My read of that is that the writer is rather clumsily trying to express that James' per-game average now exceeds the old single game record.

[This Is Kirk!]

Kate seemed to bear a passing resemblance to Hope Solo.

Huh, I didn't notice that, but I did tell my wife that Jason reminded me a little of Ron Reagan.

[John Boy]

Kate seemed to bear a passing resemblance to Hope Solo.

Better that than Han Solo.

[John Boy]

I thought Kate seemed really subdued by the end of the game, even when she rang in with correct answers. I think that's what made me notice her body language during the final credits. In fact, BOTH challengers were standing with folded arms.
Note to self: If you get the chance, don't do that.

I have to wonder at what point in the game do people stop thinking "I'm going to be the one to derail this guy" and start thinking "This is freaking hopeless." Even good players. Probably at the point when JH lands on the first DD in the DJ round, bets $15,000, and goes up $35,000 to $6,000 to $4,000. Rice-a-Roni time.

[davey]

I had a "waiting for the other shoe to drop" feeling all through the first half of double jeopardy. It was obvious that Jason was desperately trying to find the Daily Doubles before the champ did. In a sense the game turned on that throwaway clue in the love category about the name for a person who loves French culture. I have to believe that all three of the players knew that and it was James's speed on the buzzer on that throwaway clue that let him find the back-to-back Daily Doubles.

Up until that moment it was conceivable that Jason would find the double, bet big, and get in contention for final jeopardy.

I said this before James appeared on the show: There ought to be a rule that categories can only be played straight down. I said that during the recent team tournament when one or more players were playing horizontally.

As Mark pointed out at the beginning of the thread, Jason was not desperate enough. He should have followed James's lead in sticking with the Science category instead of going back to Songs, no matter how much it appealed to him. Same when he got the $1200 clue in Do You Love Me? and went back to Songs instead of the next clue down, which held the DD...

[econgator]

I said this before James appeared on the show: There ought to be a rule that categories can only be played straight down. I said that during the recent team tournament when one or more players were playing horizontally.

Then don't even bother with a board. Just read out the clues 1-by-1. It would be just as interesting, which is to say not at all.

[gnash]

Kate seemed to bear a passing resemblance to Hope Solo.

Better that than Han Solo.

Are Han, Hope and Free Solo siblings?

[gnash]

Kate seemed to bear a passing resemblance to Hope Solo.

Huh, I didn't notice that, but I did tell my wife that Jason reminded me a little of Ron Reagan.

I thought Michael Phelps. Which is kind of awkwardly fitting with doing quite well, but losing to the Michael Phelps of Jeopardy!

[gnash]

As good as James outplayed his opponents a route to defeat could be as simple as a miss on DD2 and an opponent in five figures finding and converting DD3 to have the lead for the FJ! round. It was all reasonably possible today.

Since all of these shows were taped in February (or whenever) how aware are the current opponents of how James plays and bets? Do they know prior to getting on the stage his strategy and how much he bets? Would Jason have known to go big on DD3 if he found it? would he have the courage to do so? That's the question here. If they are all coming in with no knowledge of what we're witnessing on TV for the past few weeks, they have no shot, because he is playing in a method no one has seen before.

The future contestants that have now seen this style of play will try to emulate it, which I think then changes how the game is played going forward, tough to say if that is good or bad long term, but James has now set the bar for single show winnings that you would think others will try to top, so we're going to see this style again next season, count on it.

Jason would have sat in the audience to see the Monday game as it's only the tourney QF games with players stuck in the green room. Even with only one game it should be quickly obvious what has to be done against James. Find the DDs and convert them.

Agree, and I'd just add that there was some guy named Ken back in the day and that anyone competing now has had almost 15 years to think what they'd do if they faced someone like that.

[opusthepenguin]

Agree, and I'd just add that there was some guy named Ken back in the day and that anyone competing now has had almost 15 years to think what they'd do if they faced someone like that.

Yeah, but most of my own thinking on that subject is along the lines of, "I hope I don't face someone like that."

[twelvefootboy]

Kate seemed to bear a passing resemblance to Hope Solo.

Huh, I didn't notice that, but I did tell my wife that Jason reminded me a little of Ron Reagan.

I thought Michael Phelps. Which is kind of awkwardly fitting with doing quite well, but losing to the Michael Phelps of Jeopardy!

I'm hopeless at faces, but as he was telling his story of mistaken celebrity, I thought he was going to be mistaken for Adam Sandler. He had a nice story with the twist reveal. Funny that it happened in Vegas.

FJ: I knew about the movie and story about the black (not the terminology used in real life I'm sure) regiment/division/whatever and Tom Cruise, but no chance whatever of remembering the name and it doesn't even sound familiar now.

I think James' pause on the Jupiter clue was just prudence because it could have been neg-baity. Juno = Jupiter, but planetary lightning = Venus is my first Pavlov, and lightning on the gas giants is more tenuous of a connection. Well worth a double take, but the Juno TOM is almost a lock.

[This Is Kirk!]

Kate seemed to bear a passing resemblance to Hope Solo.

Huh, I didn't notice that, but I did tell my wife that Jason reminded me a little of Ron Reagan.

I thought Michael Phelps. Which is kind of awkwardly fitting with doing quite well, but losing to the Michael Phelps of Jeopardy!

MP is who my wife thought he looked like, too.

[seaborgium]

I thought Kate seemed really subdued by the end of the game, even when she rang in with correct answers. I think that's what made me notice her body language during the final credits. In fact, BOTH challengers were standing with folded arms.
Note to self: If you get the chance, don't do that.

I have to wonder at what point in the game do people stop thinking "I'm going to be the one to derail this guy" and start thinking "This is freaking hopeless." Even good players. Probably at the point when JH lands on the first DD in the DJ round, bets $15,000, and goes up $35,000 to $6,000 to $4,000. Rice-a-Roni time.

James will never wager $15,000; there's only twelve months in the year.

[gnash]

Agree, and I'd just add that there was some guy named Ken back in the day and that anyone competing now has had almost 15 years to think what they'd do if they faced someone like that.

Yeah, but most of my own thinking on that subject is along the lines of, "I hope I don't face someone like that."

I hope your health/life/home insurance choices are based on a different strategy.

[Harley R]

James has certainly changed Jeopardy.
I think maybe 20% of it has been his discovery of a unique and workable betting scheme,
This would have been totally useless without the 80% that has come from his photographic memory and total recall.
The successful obfuscation by management of how the game actually works behind the scenes makes it impossible to understand much of the real dynamics at play.
I worry some about James' responses to the chats Alex likes. They don't always make sense and some are just plain weird.
Finally, Alex's illness is going have some unpredictable influence. It already has, of course, but we won't see it for weeks or months, as the delayed show slowly reveals.

[LucarioSnooperVixey]

57 R (Missed Malt Liquor, Rickey, and Zeiss.)
DD: 3/3
FJ:
LT: The Bald Soprano

[floridagator]

I said this before James appeared on the show: There ought to be a rule that categories can only be played straight down. I said that during the recent team tournament when one or more players were playing horizontally.

Then don't even bother with a board. Just read out the clues 1-by-1. It would be just as interesting, which is to say not at all.

No, players could still jump from category to category. But they could only play the next clue in sequence in each category. That would also speed the game up by eliminating the need to call out a dollar amount.

[davey]

[

FJ: I knew about the movie and story about the black (not the terminology used in real life I'm sure) regiment/division/whatever and Tom Cruise, but no chance whatever of remembering the name and it doesn't even sound familiar now.

Tom Cruise was mentioned in another thread. He's not in Glory. Matthew Broderick is.

[CasketRomance]

I said this before James appeared on the show: There ought to be a rule that categories can only be played straight down. I said that during the recent team tournament when one or more players were playing horizontally.

Then don't even bother with a board. Just read out the clues 1-by-1. It would be just as interesting, which is to say not at all.

No, players could still jump from category to category. But they could only play the next clue in sequence in each category. That would also speed the game up by eliminating the need to call out a dollar amount.

how long does the dollar amount take to say? .2 seconds? and by speeding up the game what do you do with the leftover time? in this case there isn't much extra time by eliminating the verbalization of the dollar amount...if you want to speed up the game, get rid of the mid round 1 interviews

[Rackme32]

Are Han, Hope and Free Solo siblings?

Yeah, they all come from the same Solo cup.

Anyway... I WAG'ed "Glory" based on Civil War movie and the time period.

I don't keep track, but it seemed to me that I got quite a few of 'em correct last night. Even nailed the Zeiss Triple Stumper.