Masters Wednesday, May 24, 2023 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[trainman]

During the final hugs, I'm pretty sure I heard someone say, "I'm proud of you." I assume this was James to Mattea. Can anyone confirm?

Yes, I heard the same thing.

[floridagator]

Did you hear that roar from the audience when Matt said, "what's Castro?"

[cosmos]

James said to Mattea: "You played so amazingly. Your dad's so proud of you. Your mom too."

[OldSchoolChamp]

Imagine how differently these games might have gone if James had called his clues in a different order. Instead of finding the Daily Double with his very first call of both games (how does he do that?), what if he’d hit them after building up a tidy stack? He missed both questions (a rarity for James); he’d of course have gone all in and wiped out, and have had to start building again midway through the first round. Who knows where things might have ended up? Mattea, who played valiantly in both the semifinals and finals, might well have walked out with the trophy.

As to this,

During the final hugs, I'm pretty sure I heard someone say, "I'm proud of you." I assume this was James to Mattea. Can anyone confirm?

I think what he said was, “Your father would be proud of you.”

[seaborgium]

I kept a Coryat for the first time in 13 years for these games. 19,000 and 23,800. I was 2/2 on the FJs, and likewise on the DDs James missed.

If Mattea had doubled up on the first FJ, it would have been a lock tournament. Just 1,115 more would have been enough for a crush, to win on the double miss. One of the great reliefs with regard to my ToC loss is that there is no what-ifs I can play with my wagers that can turn it into a win—I lost $3,800 on the first FJ and needed $4,000 more to survive the second. (I have to resort to thinking about buzzer timing, clue selection, and FJ thought processes if I want to torture myself.)

[seaborgium]

Expecting a Jeopardy contestant to wager GTO is a very rare occurrence. One could do so with Arthur Chu yet nobody figured out to wager everything from 2nd and get the tie. Just like one can always count on James to do the same, yet neither contestant adapted correctly. I can probably count on one hand the other known contestants I would trust enough to do so and wager accordingly.

One person tied Arthur; James miswagered in Monday's first game. (See my post for details.)

[Robert K S]

They didn't really clarify at the end whether $100,000 would go to James's charity.

[alietr]

I kept getting the triple stumpers right. It was the clues they were getting that I kept missing.

Back next year? I guess they should rename it the Holzhauer Annuity Tournament. James' knowledge base is so deep, I don't know what he even could study in preparation.

[kprather895]

Imagine how differently these games might have gone if James had called his clues in a different order. Instead of finding the Daily Double with his very first call of both games (how does he do that?), what if he’d hit them after building up a tidy stack? He missed both questions (a rarity for James); he’d of course have gone all in and wiped out, and have had to start building again midway through the first round. Who knows where things might have ended up? Mattea, who played valiantly in both the semifinals and finals, might well have walked out with the trophy.

James said on Twitter that if he uncovered the second Daily Double, he would have missed it and zeroed out. This would have given Mattea the win.

[StevenH]

I am going to brag that I got the Mallory TS FJ.

However, I am kicking myself for missing Dar-es-Salaam. I have heard that fact about the name 's translation at some point, but I was never getting there in 30 seconds. And I knew that Dodoma was the main capital now, but I wasn't sure if Dar-es-Salaam still partially functioned as Tanzania's capital. I ended up guessing Mombasa.

Congrats to James on the victory! And kudos to Mattea and Matt!

[Robert K S]

I know an hour and a half of J! per day can be a tough slog but I found this tournament to be worth the effort. Every one of the six champions brought something special to the game. The material was stellar, I thought: among the best boards that the show has researched and assembled. The gameplay and post-game material captured for social media included plenty for superfans to chew on and and for viral-moment-lovers to meme. Masters was worth every minute in entertainment value and may have been the most fun tournament that the show has ever produced.

Congratulations to James, Mattea, and Matt for their great showings in the finals.

[Golf]

The last FJ scenario was exactly the same as when James lost to Emma. Emma didn't see the opening and neither did Mattea tonight. It didn't cost Emma, it cost Mattea.

We know for absolute certainty James is going to wager GTO optimal in this situation. He knows that if Mattea answers correctly it's all over but if they miss he's going to wager to win every time. In short he's going to wager nothing or next to it. Guaranteed.

Since this is a known fact, in both situations a 0 wager locks up a win. Emma didn't see it and I didn't expect her to. I thought Mattea had a chance to realize it and even though I'm a James fan, I was hoping they would. But they did not.

Expecting a Jeopardy contestant to wager GTO is a very rare occurrence. One could do so with Arthur Chu yet nobody figured out to wager everything from 2nd and get the tie. Just like one can always count on James to do the same, yet neither contestant adapted correctly. I can probably count on one hand the other known contestants I would trust enough to do so and wager accordingly.

James was the best player by far, he deserved to win. But we all know that before the tournament started. You still gotta play the games though.

In this situation, there is no Nash equilibrium in pure strategies. Thus, "game theory optimal" is some probabilistic combination of wagers. If that's truly what James is doing, there's no way to be certain what he will wager -- that's the point of using a mixed strategy. --Bob

At present, James has no reason to employ a mixed strategy as none of his opponents are making any adjustments. Not until an opponent wagers $0 in Emma or Mattea's situation will he resort to a mixed strategy. Until then, it's by the book and he knows it.

[brick]

I know an hour and a half of J! per day can be a tough slog but I found this tournament to be worth the effort. Every one of the six champions brought something special to the game. The material was stellar, I thought: among the best boards that the show has researched and assembled. The gameplay and post-game material captured for social media included plenty for superfans to chew on and and for viral-moment-lovers to meme. Masters was worth every minute in entertainment value and may have been the most fun tournament that the show has ever produced.

Congratulations to James, Mattea, and Matt for their great showings in the finals.

Hear! Hear!

[yclept]

Mattea seemingly had a buzzer advantage over James in many spots during this tournament.

While I understand the idea of Mattea using Game Theory, I can’t imagine someone who needs to bet $X to clinch a win if they get it right betting $0 instead.

It would have been quite an ending as I would guess that if gambling was allowed, Mattea would have either been 5th or 6th most picked.

But perhaps someone who thought it through would have given Mattea more of a shot - youngest player = potentially quicker reflexes. Add in the willingness to be more aggressive, and you have yourself a serious challenge to James’ throne.

[twelvefootboy]

I know an hour and a half of J! per day can be a tough slog but I found this tournament to be worth the effort. Every one of the six champions brought something special to the game. The material was stellar, I thought: among the best boards that the show has researched and assembled. The gameplay and post-game material captured for social media included plenty for superfans to chew on and and for viral-moment-lovers to meme. Masters was worth every minute in entertainment value and may have been the most fun tournament that the show has ever produced.

Congratulations to James, Mattea, and Matt for their great showings in the finals.

I missed every show and only have seen a couple of message threads. Our local ABC affiliate (KODE Joplin) is in a pissing match with DirecTV and I don't watch OTA because I'm spoiled by the DVR.

This post makes me want to look up the games and watch them. It also makes me want to vote for RKS for President. It's so refreshing to hear sincere positive comments and it elevates both parties. Thanks for the TLDR. I was always partial to Mattea as providing the most entertaining superchamp streak where you really didn't know what would happen.

[Bob78164]

The last FJ scenario was exactly the same as when James lost to Emma. Emma didn't see the opening and neither did Mattea tonight. It didn't cost Emma, it cost Mattea.

We know for absolute certainty James is going to wager GTO optimal in this situation. He knows that if Mattea answers correctly it's all over but if they miss he's going to wager to win every time. In short he's going to wager nothing or next to it. Guaranteed.

Since this is a known fact, in both situations a 0 wager locks up a win. Emma didn't see it and I didn't expect her to. I thought Mattea had a chance to realize it and even though I'm a James fan, I was hoping they would. But they did not.

Expecting a Jeopardy contestant to wager GTO is a very rare occurrence. One could do so with Arthur Chu yet nobody figured out to wager everything from 2nd and get the tie. Just like one can always count on James to do the same, yet neither contestant adapted correctly. I can probably count on one hand the other known contestants I would trust enough to do so and wager accordingly.

James was the best player by far, he deserved to win. But we all know that before the tournament started. You still gotta play the games though.

In this situation, there is no Nash equilibrium in pure strategies. Thus, "game theory optimal" is some probabilistic combination of wagers. If that's truly what James is doing, there's no way to be certain what he will wager -- that's the point of using a mixed strategy. --Bob

At present, James has no reason to employ a mixed strategy as none of his opponents are making any adjustments. Not until an opponent wagers $0 in Emma or Mattea's situation will he resort to a mixed strategy. Until then, it's by the book and he knows it.

We're talking past each other. You specifically reference "GTO," which I assume is a TLA for "Game Theory Optimal." Since Matt was a complete non-factor at the end (his total score couldn't possibly catch either opponent's first-game score), this was a two-player zero-sum win-loss game. The game theory optimal strategy for those games is known to be a Nash equilibrium, which in this case was a mixed strategy. I'm quite confident that James was not employing a mixed strategy.

What you're actually saying is that James was exploiting the likelihood that Mattea would employ a suboptimal pure strategy because it's one that most players employ. That may well be correct, but that doesn't make James's play game theory optimal. --Bob

[Robert K S]

I know an hour and a half of J! per day can be a tough slog but I found this tournament to be worth the effort. Every one of the six champions brought something special to the game. The material was stellar, I thought: among the best boards that the show has researched and assembled. The gameplay and post-game material captured for social media included plenty for superfans to chew on and and for viral-moment-lovers to meme. Masters was worth every minute in entertainment value and may have been the most fun tournament that the show has ever produced.

Congratulations to James, Mattea, and Matt for their great showings in the finals.

I missed every show and only have seen a couple of message threads. Our local ABC affiliate (KODE Joplin) is in a pissing match with DirecTV and I don't watch OTA because I'm spoiled by the DVR.

This post makes me want to look up the games and watch them. It also makes me want to vote for RKS for President. It's so refreshing to hear sincere positive comments and it elevates both parties. Thanks for the TLDR. I was always partial to Mattea as providing the most entertaining superchamp streak where you really didn't know what would happen.

My friends who are regular J! watchers but not the types to kibbutz and kibitz online in forums like ours are going through withdrawal tonight. It seems they didn't mind the elevated difficulty of the material when the players attacked it so well.

My only suggestion for when they do another Masters tournament would be to try to schedule it for the weeks after the regular syndicated season ends.

[threearruda]

I know an hour and a half of J! per day can be a tough slog but I found this tournament to be worth the effort. Every one of the six champions brought something special to the game. The material was stellar, I thought: among the best boards that the show has researched and assembled. The gameplay and post-game material captured for social media included plenty for superfans to chew on and and for viral-moment-lovers to meme. Masters was worth every minute in entertainment value and may have been the most fun tournament that the show has ever produced.

Congratulations to James, Mattea, and Matt for their great showings in the finals.

Wholeheartedly agree, and I was skeptical about watching two months ago. As a now likely returning "postseason" contestant, I found the extra 2 games to be a great supplement to the daily half hour with accessible yet challenging boards all the way through. Loved the banter, heroes v. villain angle, games were fun, tense, dramatic, emotional.. everything a sporting event should be. I look forward to seeing who might join the trio of finalists next year.

[This Is Kirk!]

They didn't really clarify at the end whether $100,000 would go to James's charity.

I thought Ken said $100,000 would be going to each of the finalists' selected charity.

P.S. just got around to watching tonight. I was surprised Mallory was a triple stumper. I certainly wasn't expecting to get both FJs for the finals, but I did!

[MinnesotaMyron]

I understand it's mostly an act, but I'm tiring of James's villain schtick.