(be warned some spoilers) Jeopardy Face Off

[clifp]

Much harder questions than usual!
I think maybe I is dum.

Ya normally, I can get close to the 3rd place contestant. I know the buzzer timing makes the game even harder. But watching tonight I was sort of in awe. I watched a fair number of Shakespear plays, but I couldn't get a single Shakespear and the triple rhyme.

I'm guessing it will be over in 5 days.

 

[RunningBum]

***

PSA - please avoid spoilers until well after the tournament. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to watch, but will not catch episodes in real time.

***

OK, so nobody has spoiled it, and when I bumped it I said I wasn't going to spoil it. But..How long do we have to wait? Can't you just avoid clicking on a thread to avoid seeing any spoilers? It's not like we are posting in a generic thread.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I answered far more questions that I thought I would. Don't be impressed, though...that number didn't exceed 10.

Those triple rhyme ones, though?!? Holy crap, watching them answer so quickly was amazing.

 

[ERD50]

OK, so nobody has spoiled it, and when I bumped it I said I wasn't going to spoil it. But..How long do we have to wait? Can't you just avoid clicking on a thread to avoid seeing any spoilers? It's not like we are posting in a generic thread.

Agreed. There is even an "ignore this thread" option for the forum (under "Thread Tools) - people can use it, maybe MODS could add WARNING: SPOILER ALERT" to the thread title? Why limit those who wish to discuss it?

Ya normally, I can get close to the 3rd place contestant. I know the buzzer timing makes the game even harder. But watching tonight I was sort of in awe. I watched a fair number of Shakespear plays, but I couldn't get a single Shakespear and the triple rhyme.

...

**** NOT REALLY A "SPOILER", I won't give away winning/place info, but I will comment generically on the play***** - skip if you don't even want to see that....

I'm ignorant of most things Shakespeare so I can't judge easy/hard in that area, but I was absolutely amazed overall. The clues mostly seemed super hard, until you got to the low $ ones. I couldn't believe how fast they all put together those three rhyming clues. I don't think I could do most of those if given ten minutes per and three guesses.

I'll have to watch my recording, but I think I got one clue that they didn't. One.

And it seemed to me they were all playing the "James Game", going high value and aggressive on all bets. They all realize, I think, that's the only way they can beat James. And I think they could do it, they just didn't have the confidence or need to do it when they played earlier.

I was impressed, in awe of their abilities. I almost expect them to be idiot-savant-like, rather than the nice, well rounded individuals that they seem to be.

-ERD50

 

[RunningBum]

*** SPOILERS HERE TOO ****
*** Suggest you don't open this thread until you've caught up on viewing ****
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
James got hurt in day one by not hitting a single Daily Double. Brad got hurt worse because his hit a lot of them, and missed some, setting him back to 0 with almost no chance to make it up with the two other stalwarts. It looked like Ken made a guess on one since he had a big sigh of relief when he got it. Certainly Ken is in the driver's seat with a win, but James didn't look shaken to be beaten on many answers, and he wasn't getting the brakes. However, the other two weren't at all intimidated by him. I really enjoyed watching it.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

*** SPOILERS HERE TOO ****
*** Suggest you don't open this thread until you've caught up on viewing ****
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
James got hurt in day one by not hitting a single Daily Double. Brad got hurt worse because his hit a lot of them, and missed some, setting him back to 0 with almost no chance to make it up with the two other stalwarts. It looked like Ken made a guess on one since he had a big sigh of relief when he got it. Certainly Ken is in the driver's seat with a win, but James didn't look shaken to be beaten on many answers, and he wasn't getting the brakes. However, the other two weren't at all intimidated by him. I really enjoyed watching it.

*** SPOILERS HERE TOO ****
*** Suggest you don't open this thread until you've caught up on viewing ****

I loved the question that James got correct and then pointed to Brad and something along the lines of "Ha! Ha! Beat you!!!" I don't remember the question but I think the answer was Philadelphia where I think Brad is from. They all seemed very cool and collected and were just having fun. I also liked the "follow up" story about Ken, it was cool to hear that he retired and has been writing. Each night they will do a short segment on each contestant.

 

[RunningBum]

When they said the Chemistry answers would be given by an expert, I figured it'd be Bill Nye, the Science Guy. I laughed when Bryan Cranston / Walter White appeared.

 

[H2ODude]

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, the speed with which they do the rhyming ones amazes me. I can get most but it would take me way more time that available. Same with anything that requires stringing together 2-3 answers. And yeah, I'm no Shakespeare expert but their depth on that subject was amazing. I particularly enjoyed the laid back cordial personalities they all exude. Classy bunch.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Loved last night's games. So interesting that all three players have adopted James's style of picking all over the board and going all in for the daily doubles for the most part. I am so impressed by how smart they are, how much respect they all have for each other and Trebek, and how much fun they are all having with this competition. I'm loving all three of the contestants.

When Trebek eventually retires, Ken Jennings could easily step into the host role.

 

[ponyboy]

I cant believe the amount of people that watch tv game shows. I hate to sound like a party pooper, but its all mind numbing garbage. Its amazing how the networks find the right frequency for most people that they'll sit there and veg out on game shows. Sort of like the formula reality tv uses. Yuck to it all.

 

[ERD50]

Loved last night's games. So interesting that all three players have adopted James's style of picking all over the board and going all in for the daily doubles for the most part. I am so impressed by how smart they are, how much respect they all have for each other and Trebek, and how much fun they are all having with this competition. I'm loving all three of the contestants.

When Trebek eventually retires, Ken Jennings could easily step into the host role.

Agreed. I mentioned earlier that they all were playing the "James Game" style - I think Ken/Brad both realize that is is the only way to beat James, the stats don't lie.

SPOILER*****

Even though Brad took a big hit on the daily double fumbles, he ended up with a respectable score against two masters. I'd have to find a play-by-play, but it seems that he would have had to have done really well on the rest of the clues to recover as much as he did. I don't count him out at all.

Did James buzz in faster on average? It didn't seem so to me, in fact I thought Ken was getting in faster mostly, at least in the early stage. I would think the older guys would have a slightly slower reaction time. Brad's win was 19 years ago!
////SPOILER*****

I cant believe the amount of people that watch tv game shows. I hate to sound like a party pooper, but its all mind numbing garbage. Its amazing how the networks find the right frequency for most people that they'll sit there and veg out on game shows. Sort of like the formula reality tv uses. Yuck to it all.

Well, to each their own. I pretty much feel that way about most sports, but I can still appreciate highlights, some Olympic events, or something like Michael Jordan in his prime, or watching Javy Baez make a crazy great play.

Jeopardy isn't just trivia - it's reaction time, strategy, and twisting your mind to break down the syntax of the clue so you get to the response in a split second. It's multi-dimensional. I don't care for many game shows, but this one connects with me.

The breaking down of syntax is interesting to me. Often, the clue has a bunch of detail, but it breaks down to something simple, like (stupid made up example):

The tenth largest producer of organic radial tires, with a population of 17,439, founded in 1736, is this capital city of Madeuplandia.

The great players manage to parse that down in a fraction of a second, before they can even buzz in, and realize all you need to know is "What is the capital city of Madeuplandia?".

And I think sometimes you can even read their expressions, and they may buzz in before they have even formed the response, but they realize they will come up with it before their time runs out, they just need to buzz in before the others.

-ERD50

 

[clifp]

I cant believe the amount of people that watch tv game shows. I hate to sound like a party pooper, but its all mind numbing garbage. Its amazing how the networks find the right frequency for most people that they'll sit there and veg out on game shows. Sort of like the formula reality tv uses. Yuck to it all.

Sorry, you don't get to call Jeopardy 'mind-numbing garbage". Sure some of the Price is Right like games are pretty stupid. But Jeopardy! is a different.
It is a game that celebrates intelligence and knowledge. This forum has a lot of smart people on it and the fact that we are all are impressed by the contestants should say something. The three men up there are all genius. Brains almost always loses out beauty, entertainment talent, or athletic ability in America's celebrity culture, so much like the National Spelling Bee, Jeopardy winner should be applauded. Finally, IBM spent a $1 billion developing it is AI program Watson, and it's crowning achievement was beating the humans on Jeopardy. I don't think IBM would spend that much money if it was really mind-numbing garbage.

I think you really should spend an hour watching Jeopardy this week (ABC 7pm) and if you still it is minding numbing garbage than fine.

 

[camfused]

...
When Trebek eventually retires, Ken Jennings could easily step into the host role...

Hmmmm, +1!

 

[RunningBum]

*** NIGHT 2 SPOILER ALERT ***
.
.
.
.
.
I'm pretty surprised Jennings missed the Final Jeopardy question. I knew Madison was the short one, but then again I've stood next to his statue on his namesake campus.

Except I wasn't thinking US presidents. I would've guessed Wellington, but that's too obvious, so maybe I would've kept thinking.

 

[ERD50]

*** NIGHT 3 SPOILER ALERT ***

Once again, I'm just awestruck at the responses they pull out, and so fast!

I guess I fall into a few categories as I play along, and I'm a causal player, I've never studied almanacs or record books or anything outside of general knowledge to try to prepare for an actual contest:

A) Responses that I know, and can actually get out fast (very few, usually right, but sometimes wrong).

B) Responses that I think I know, but just can't get out fast ( right maybe half the time?).

C) Responses that I sorta know something about, and the correct response rings a bell, or maybe it's a "DOH! I knew that!" after the fact, but I probably would not come up with it anyhow.

D) Very occasionally, I have the same response as the one who rings in, and we are both wrong (pretty rare)!

E) And common in this round, I have absolutely no idea, I'm not even sure the clue is in English, and they buzz in and get it right like they could do it in their sleep! Maybe they all have "Watson" implants? Amazing.

But I was absolutely amazed by another category, rare for me in any round, but it actually happened three times last night!

The clue comes up, I immediately am certain of the right response, I wait to see who gets the buzzer so we just move onto the next clue, and... not one of them buzzes in! What the heck?

And I'm not talking some oddball clue that I just happened to have some knowledge about, that many would not know, these seemed pretty basic:

1) Response was "Morticia Addams". I'll need to watch the recording, but IIRC, this had several clues combined, I'm pretty sure they had Carolyn Jones named, plus 1 or 2 other hints. I was screaming " "Morticia Addams","Morticia Addams","Morticia Addams"!

Now the next two were tech related, but security is not my area of expertise, and I thought these were pretty generic/general:

2) Response was "Key Logger". I just thought the clues were specific enough to make this easy.

3) Response was "Bring Your Own Device", the clue described "BYOD". Again, seemed pretty straightforward with plenty of content clues, not just "BYOD".

Please don't get the idea that I'm bragging for knowing ones that they didn't, I'm not, I did miserably overall. I'm just amazed that all three of them, at their level, could not respond to these.

-ERD50

 

[John Galt III]

No championship match tonight! (Friday). Turned on the the tube and some other show was on! Did they not mention that in Thursday's match? I don't think so. I just found out via internet that the next match is this coming Tuesday.

 

[Aerides]

*** NIGHT 3 SPOILER ALERT ***
(snip)

Now the next two were tech related, but security is not my area of expertise, and I thought these were pretty generic/general:

2) Response was "Key Logger". I just thought the clues were specific enough to make this easy.

3) Response was "Bring Your Own Device", the clue described "BYOD". Again, seemed pretty straightforward with plenty of content clues, not just "BYOD".

Please don't get the idea that I'm bragging for knowing ones that they didn't, I'm not, I did miserably overall. I'm just amazed that all three of them, at their level, could not respond to these.

-ERD50

Ok waited to get caught up to come back to this thread, and yeah, these two q's!

I figure they have just have a no idea what a key logger is, and none have held jobs since BYOD became a thing? But yeah to see two simple (nerdy) q's go by with all 3 having blanks when I knew the answer was kinda funny.

Also, I swept Gemstones and they mostly tried to dodge it.

 

[Aerides]

*** NIGHT 3 SPOILER ALERT ***
(snip)

Now the next two were tech related, but security is not my area of expertise, and I thought these were pretty generic/general:

2) Response was "Key Logger". I just thought the clues were specific enough to make this easy.

3) Response was "Bring Your Own Device", the clue described "BYOD". Again, seemed pretty straightforward with plenty of content clues, not just "BYOD".

Please don't get the idea that I'm bragging for knowing ones that they didn't, I'm not, I did miserably overall. I'm just amazed that all three of them, at their level, could not respond to these.

-ERD50

Ok waited to get caught up to come back to this thread, and yeah, these two q's!

I figure they have just have a no idea what a key logger is, and none have held jobs since BYOD became a thing? But yeah to see two simple (nerdy) q's go by with all 3 having blanks when I knew the answer was kinda funny.

Also, I swept Gemstones and they mostly tried to dodge it.

No championship match tonight! (Friday). Turned on the the tube and some other show was on! Did they not mention that in Thursday's match? I don't think so. I just found out via internet that the next match is this coming Tuesday.

Not sure when they announced, but it's 3 games per week till it's done.

 

[camfused]

My TiVo guide only has a game for Tuesday, so if so, then we know who won 3 games first.

 

[RunningBum]

*** SPOILER--Discussion of future episodes, which may give hint on outcome ***
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

My TiVo guide only has a game for Tuesday, so if so, then we know who won 3 games first.

Hmm. I thought I saw that my Youtube TV guide went out to 7 episodes, which would be the max. But when I check TV guide's online listings it only has Tuesday, with something else Weds and Thurs nights. I'm guessing you're right.

I suggest you edit your post with a spoiler alert.

 

[ziggy29]

My wife and I mentioned something the other day that I've seen mentioned here. I think Ken and Brad (especially Ken) realize that they have to play more like James in order to have a chance to beat James. And Ken doesn't seem to feel comfortable with it, especially when he is going "all in" on Daily Doubles, which is not his normal style, nor was the "fishing" for DDs all over the map. His game play has always been more conservative until now. But as the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

It seems like just about any kind of game where there is a strategy element involves is being driven by data-driven analytics which are changing how the games are played and approached, and J! is no exception. James is the Billy Beane of J!, and has altered how people will play the game moving forward. If his approach can convert Ken Jennings, it can convert almost anyone. I preferred the game before all the analytics (same with baseball -- get off my lawn), but like baseball, one can't argue with results, like it or not.

 

[ERD50]

... James is the Billy Beane of J!, and has altered how people will play the game moving forward. If his approach can convert Ken Jennings, it can convert almost anyone. ....

Yes, but you have to be a very good player to make it work. That's what James recognized, when you can hit a high %, then it makes sense to go big, the odds are with you.

But you have to be able to deliver. I'm not sure the more average J! player is good enough. Heck, it even kind of backfired on Brad the first game, and though he hasn't performed as well as James and Ken this series so far, he still has played at a very high level. I'm pretty sure Brad would just clean up against even an above average group of contestants.

And I think that "loss aversion", the behavioral economic term, comes into play as well. People tend to just be more afraid of losses. I think James is able to overcome that due to his analytical outlook.

It's been fun!

-ERD50

 

[Bestwifeever]

The body of knowledge all three of these players have (imo Ken is the definition of a walking encyclopedia) is breathtaking—combining that with their strategic play has been so much fun to watch, regardless of who wins.

 

[RunningBum]

You can tell that sometimes they buzz in right away even if they don't know the answer, and figure it'll come to them before their time is up. I saw Jennings do that a couple of times almost certainly.

 

[ziggy29]

And I think that "loss aversion", the behavioral economic term, comes into play as well. People tend to just be more afraid of losses. I think James is able to overcome that due to his analytical outlook.

Yep, and his "training" as a professional gambler helps to all but eliminate the emotion from the wagers. Professional gamblers aren't afraid of taking calculated, "educated" losses as long as they expect their winners to exceed their losers. If you're a professional gambler and you are on the right side of the money 60% of the time, you will succeed. You can "fail" 40% of the time and still make good money. People who are in that mindset can say, hey, if I can get the DD or FJ right more than 60% of the time, go for it -- looking to maximize "expected payout". Of course, for these three players the odds are usually considerably better than 60%. You have to be really good for that to be a good bet, but these three are certainly just that (they will probably get it right more than 80% of the time).