I’ve often wondered if it would be a good strategy to pick my weaker categories first. If a Daily Double is in one of those categories, I get it out of the way and prevent any of my opponents from getting it. If the DD is in a category I’m good at, I’ll get it later in the round and have more money to wager. The downside is that any clues that aren’t revealed will be ones I had a good chance to get right. But they almost always finish the whole board these days, so that’s less of a worry than it used to be.
In a case like that, I might vey well make a small wager on a Daily Double.
I remember an article in Jeopardy in Games Magazine where they suggested questions get harder with higher dollar value, so bet high on the daily double if it appears higher on the board.
But I don’t find this to be true. The highest (least dollar) clue is easier but then it is more random. If you are good at the category, bet it all. If not, bet strategically based on your opponents scores.
As for Suresh’s category selection, once the Daily Double was gone it made little strategic difference what clue in what category was chosen next. I was surprised he bet so little given that it was a second-row clue, but I’d have bet more and then been just as wrong.
Leading articles in titles are never required. “Lord of the Rings” is always ok, but “The Lord of Rings” is always not.
To the Beethoven clue last Friday, I guessed “Eroica”, since “Beethoven’s Fifth” (or sixth, or seventh) seems like a weird name for a dog. I’d have felt better about “Fidelio” but I knew that was an opera.
I would agree with this. He’s a 6-day champion, but his total winnings are still less than $100,000. That’s pretty unusual, I would think.
When I was a contestant, they told us that the average winning total is about $20,000. I checked on J-Archive, and all of Suresh’s final totals have been below that–some of them well below. I’m afraid that he’s going to get slaughtered in the Tournament of Champions.
And yeah, we’ve seen a lot of red scores early on. In a couple of games the last week or so, going into the first break the grand total of all three was around 500
He is saying that leading articles don’t have to be given, “Lord of the Rings” is perfectly acceptable for “THE Lord of the Rings,” but omitting an article within the title is not. “The Lord of Rings” will not be accepted if the answer is “The Lord of THE Rings.”
Yes. Unless it’s a case where there is also a well-known title with that name, such as “Invisible Man” vs “The Invisible Man.” In that specific case, the title must be said exact to be correct, and people have been ruled incorrect when saying the other one.
With the decline in religious observance, the obsolescence of the King James Version, and the shrinkage of the share of the American population that even vestigially identifies with Christianity, seems like you need to intentionally bone up on your King James Bible if you’re going to be on Jeopardy these days.
A good 15 years or so ago I recall an episode with a category “B.A.,” and a clue that read “Jesus said ‘except a man be’ this, ‘he cannot see the kingdom of God’” which was a triple stumper.
Another triple stumper from last night’s game I found surprising was Barry Goldwater. That Goldwater was the Republican presidential candidate in 1964 is just one of those things I thought every prospective Jeopardy contestant would know.
I would imagine age is a factor. The 1964 election was 58 years ago. None of the contestants looked old enough to have been around (or at least into politics) when Goldwater was in the public consciousness, so it comes down to knowing “also rans” from a time before they were born. William Jennings Bryan was also a triple stumper.
I suppose so; though I wouldn’t say Goldwater was still in the public consciousness by the time I came of age, I knew it just from osmosis from occasional political and historical commentary I’ve heard over the years.
The Bryan clue threw me because despite my getting Goldwater correct, the category had me thinking “successful presidential campaign slogans.” I kept trying to think of actual presidents. The other guesses were dumb, though: everyone should know that Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican, and Wilson’s election was later than what’s considered turn-of-the-century.
Suresh is not that bad, perhaps he will improve. Even against what seem like weak opponents, he has consistently answered better. But what is his record in final jeopardy. My vague memory is that he was mediocre, often betting little and missing the answer. A lot of recent winners were able to get a remarkable number of daily doubles. Suresh lacks that horseshoe, so far.
Game 1: Bet $3,000, answered correctly
Game 2: Bet $3,409, answered correctly
Game 3: Bet $4,300, answered correctly
Game 4: Bet $0, answered wrong
Game 5: Bet $14,000, answered correctly
Game 6: Bet $2,601, answered correctly
While we are talking about triple-stumpers, I was very surprised that nobody knew “Black Beauty”.
I have no clue what that is. “Be absolved?” I dunno, just guessing a two-word religiousy “B.A.” term.
I’d hardly put that in the same realm of knowability as “hallowed be thy name.” The point is that you don’t have to have any religious observance, Bible knowledge, or identify as Christian to be familiar with the opening lines of that prayer from simply existing in society. How many times has that been heard in movies, TV shows, books, public events, etc?