The players did what they have to do to beat James …keep him away from the DD. He builds his big leads on the DDs but more importantly keeps the others from betting big on the DD. Last night, Nate played James’ game.
Ken Jennings had 9 games where Final wasn’t a runaway, and lost on the 10th time that happened. I think this is the third time it has happened to James that Final wasn’t a runaway.
I think all week he’s been slow on the buzzer, especially on the easiest questions.
He started filming his games in mid- Feb. These games airing now were probably filmed in March. I’ve been looking for the changes in Alex because that’s about when he started his cancer treatments. Alex looks a little different on the shows than in recent live interviews.
@emilybee Or for James to get it right but not have bet as much as he did. I guess what I meant was that the betting James did at the end paid off for him. It was the combination of James betting a lot (20,908) and Nate only betting $10,000. If James had only bet $20,000 and Nate had bet it all , Nate could have won. James knows exactly what to wager, and is a risk taker, plus has lots of games now under his belt to perfect his game. But, people are catching on and I was glad to finally see a competitive game.
When last night’s game was being filmed, I don’t think any episode of James being on the show has been aired yet, so I doubt Nate had a planned strategy against James. However, since the show was being taped multiple times on the same day, I wonder if Nate had a chance to watch James in action before his turn on the show.
” Or for James to get it right but not have bet as much as he did.”
That was never going to happen though. James is/was always going to bet enough to beat any opponent who bets it all.
People aren’t catching on to James because all the shows were recorded months ago. Except for the subs that Scipio mentioned, the contestants haven’t watched what we are witnessing now.
I’ll be shocked if tonight’s show is another close one.
James is always going to bet enough to shut out the person in 2nd place.
Last night James had to bet enough to get more than double Nate’s score. Nate had $25k so James had to bet enough, about $20k, to get to $51k. Nate knew that, so if James got it wrong ($31k-20k), Nate would have been just fine sitting on the $25k. James had to get it wrong for Nate to win. James will go out swinging.
“I don’t think it mattered what Nate wagered because even if he wagered all of his money ($25,800) he couldn’t beat James if James answered correctly. His only hope was for James to get answer wrong.”
Correct. Since he was behind, Nate’s main hope was for James to miss FJ. In that case, Nate would be smart to bet enough to overtake James going into FJ (which he did), but not so much that he would lose to James (or the third place player) in case they both missed it. So, while not “aggressive” as such, Nate’s betting strategy was probably the correct one given their respective positions going into FJ.
For nearly all FJs the best position in which to be is leading. That way, if you bet properly and answer correctly, you can win the game outright no matter what anybody else does. You don’t need to rely on the other players missing FJ or making goofy bets. The advantage to leading going into FJ cannot be overstated.
For that reason, I ALWAYS bet enough on DDs to take the lead if I got it right, or if I was already leading I would not bet enough to lose the lead if I got it wrong. When watching I groan out loud when I see someone make a timid DD bet late in the match and fail to take over the lead when they had enough cash to do it. I say “What are you thinking?” Why are you not going for the lead? With that small bet you are going for nice, secure second place (i.e. losing) finish!"
And I kind of hate to say it, but in decades of watching Jeopardy it is more often women who make these timid, losing bets on a late DD. There are many exceptions in both directions of course - timid men and aggressive women. But as a general trend it’s more common to see men who are willing to risk it all on one throw (and win) and more common to see women who will make a safe, secure bet designed to hang on to the money they already have (and lose)…
The one big exception to the rule about the advantage being with the leader in FJ is in the case of a very hard FJ clue that all three players miss. In that case the tactical advantage shifts to player in second place. Depending on the scores, the second place player can usually bet to both overtake the leader and hold off the third place player both at the same time. And that’s what Nate was trying to do. But unfortunately for him the leader did not miss.
@emilybee I got the impression from @scipio ‘s post #82 that as many as 15 contestants plus two alternates may be watching a day’s taping(as many as 12 + 2 alternates watching the 3 contestants who are a actually playing at any one time)? So maybe Nate did see a couple of James’ games? Maybe I misinterpreted his post though and only the 2 alternates see the games, as you say.
“When last night’s game was being filmed, I don’t think any episode of James being on the show has been aired yet, so I doubt Nate had a planned strategy against James. However, since the show was being taped multiple times on the same day, I wonder if Nate had a chance to watch James in action before his turn on the show.”
Five shows (Mon-Fri) are taped in one day. So by time last night’s Thursday show was taped Nate had seen James’s winning strategy played for three matches. Plus he has the lunch break between the taping of the Wednesday show and Thursday show to think it over and to talk to the other remaining players players about what strategy to adopt. So he may well have decided to try to beat James head on. And he almost pulled it off.
The one player Nate could not have talked to between games and during the lunch break would be James. The defending champion is kept separate (eat at a different table) from the players who have not yet played. The players who have already played and lost have left the building.
This week’s shows were taped on March 5th. Contestants who have played and lost are welcome to watch the rest of the day’s taping. They aren’t included in the contestant lunch and they can’t sit with the other contestants.
Score was down (below his average). But it was still the 17th highest one day total. James now has 18 of the top 20.
In terms of betting strategy, to me if you are in the lead going into Final Jeopardy you need to bet enough so that you are guaranteed a win if you get the final question right. Getting the final question right with the lead and losing to me would be horrible. Maybe if I had zero confidence in the category but even then, you never know with any given category.
I read somewhere that the person who was within about $500 of James a couple weeks back had been in the audience watching James for 5 games. He played a game similar to James and came close to beating him. Suspect that people who are watching him play in the audience are learning how he plays and are playing similar games. Trying get the daily doubles to build up their own totals (and keep James from doing the same). With the right categories, the right opponent and a little luck in finding daily doubles, James can definitely be beaten.
He will eventually be beaten at his own game. Contestants are onto him.–He has tons of knowledge though and I admire him for that. I have softened some on his personality but I do feel he is a little cocky. But that is just my perception… He is supposedly “affable” and generous in real life.
I think he’s really quick with his interview answers. Tonight Alex asked him if he’d considered being a “Moneyball” guy for a baseball team. He replied that he did before he knew being a Jeopardy! contestant could be a career.
And didn’t he say Jeopardy would be a “palatable” career.? He is certainly an interesting guy. And seemed to welcome baseball teams contacting him (call me gesture). Hope I’m remembering correctly. Correct me if I’m wrong.