I agree with Commasense except for one quibble. He was not trying to get second place. He would have won if both he and Emma missed, regardless of Jay. A bigger bet would have let Jay win in that scenario.
You think? I saw a article that said Monday’s show had the highest viewership numbers ever. My first thought when I saw the news article Monday morning was that it was a deliberate “leak”. And although I’m not a regular viewer of the show, I made a point of tuning in on Monday. All because of the “leak”.
And the linked article says NOTHING about the leaker being fired or even punished. It only says they are taking appropriate action, which sounds extremely coy. I’m thinking that “appropriate action” for helping deliver the highest ratings ever might be a big raise or bonus.
Everyone knew it was going to be a big one; they just didn’t know which big one it was going to be. Either he was going to break the total winnings record, or he was going to lose. So they might have gotten that kind of numbers even without the leak.
Personally, I’m glad that he didn’t win, if only because it means that there’s no single right answer to “who’s the best Jeopardy player”. It’s more interesting to have two different players have a claim to that title.
Even if he had beaten Jennings’ earnings, longest streak is still a relevant record. No one’s even come close to Jennings on that.
And there are three players with a claim to the title.
There’s a pretty good argument that Brad Rutter is the best Jeopardy player. He’s never lost a game against a human, beating Ken Jennings head to head several times. He’s won more money on Jeopardy than any other player. The record that Jennings had is regular season winnings. Rutter played his regular games back when the 5-win limit was in place, so he never had a real chance at the records that Jennings holds.
Don’t read until after you’ve seen Wed episode.
Three in a row for Emma.Three-day total of $97,002. She’s a strong player. We may need to create a thread for her in another week or two. 
Brad Rutter is only 41 years old (Brad Rutter - Wikipedia). In the match against Watson he finished third, so, behind Ken Jennings.
She was wrong in yesterday’s FJ, so I doubt she’ll last that long. She is a strong player, though.
So do I, but I find Emma very appealing. I hope she sticks around for a while. It’s nice to have another winner who’s capable of beating other champs.
I wonder if they’ll offer a Tournament of Champions with James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and other past champions?
Seems like they’d want to get the ratings while interest in James is high.
My point was that NOT everyone knew it was going to be a big one. I watch the show very irregularly, I think I had only seen it once during his winning streak, and I certainly didn’t follow it enough to track his winnings. But when I saw that news story pop up, I said. “Cool, I’m going to go out of my way to watch tonight”. And I bet other people like me that hardly ever watch did the same. I really don’t think there would’ve been record setting ratings if the news hadn’t leaked.
Usually I find him pretty smooth in that regard. But he did definitely blow off the middle player yesterday. No real response at all to his story.
Yes, he finished behind Jennings in that one, but Rutter won all of the other tournaments he’s ever played in.
100% absolutely this. Both my partner and I separately heard about the leak and wanted to watch because of it. She wasn’t following Holzhauer’s run at all, I was only doing so very loosely.
I’m not overly impressed by Emma. She was smart enough to see James’ strategy and take it up to beat him, but since then she hasn’t been as bold. I’ll watch tonight’s show, but if it’s no more interesting than the last three, I probably won’t keep watching every day.
In the games since she beat James, Emma and the other players fell back into fairly ordinary strategies and wagering, not seeming to have really learned their lessons from James’ run. They all tended to start categories in the middle, as though they were scared to try the hardest questions first. That put them more at risk of getting a DD early, which wouldn’t be as helpful as building a big pot first. They all also tended to stay in the same category, going for lower-value clues, instead of moving across to other high-value squares.
Once we start getting contestants who have actually seen James’ performance on shows that have aired, more of them may attempt his technique of working across the bottom rows to build an early commanding lead, instead of working up or down the categories as Emma and her opponents tended to do in the post-James games.
Of course, this plan requires 1) a better-than-(Jeopardy)-average level of knowledge, 2) the guts to bet boldly on the DDs, and 3) the all-important quick button finger, but I hope we see more people trying it. Otherwise, Jeopardy! will simply fall back into the standard ordinary dull game play.
I will, however, keep it programmed on my DVR so I don’t miss the first few appearances of the next James Holzhauer. I’m a little miffed that it was two full weeks before I heard about his run.
Am I the only one who thinks Emma could be Kim Darby’s look-alike granddaughter? It’s mostly the haircut but she does resemble slightly in the face.
Don’t forget that James was absolutely dominant on the trivia knowledge aspect of the game, and that’s not something that anyone can just choose to do. His vast knowledge enabled him to be a lot bolder and more aggressive than would be optimal for a less knowledgeable player.
THANK YOU!!! I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out who she reminded me of!!
Yeah, James’ average Coryat was almost as high as Jennings. Even without the DD, he still would’ve dominated. I actually wonder if he would’ve lasted longer (but with less money) if he used a conventional strategy.
Yeah, now that you mention it, I can see that.
Spoilers ahead for today’s game:
Very good contest today!
Emma had a weak start while the two challengers both had a good first round. Then Emma came back with a DD in DJ, and then Brendan and Emma were battling for first, with Brendan just edging her out on the very last clue of DJ.
Both Brendan and Salome got FJ correct, while Emma had a ‘close miss’ with the wrong Guthrie. Even had she gotten FJ correct, though, Brendan bet enough to cover her max wager and so he would still be the winner.
Emma was a very good player, but definitely didn’t display the encyclopedic breadth of knowledge that James did.