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re: Jeopardy! Discussion
James Holzhauer has been winning big and set a record last night. Of course, the most impressive part is not his winning total, but the fact that Holzhauer was so confident in the Final Jeopardy category*, he was able to make his record-breaking sum a number that looked like his daughter’s birthday (11/09/14). https://i.imgur.com/wruDUzQ.gif |
re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Unfortunately I didn't get to watch that episode until last night so social media spoiled what was gonna happen, but at least I didn't see the total before watching the episode. Holy shit did he demolish the old record! The old record was only 77,000 which was set by Roger Craig back in 2010, which wasn't a huge jump over Ken Jennings' record of 75,000 back in 2004
Kind of nice that since this is probably Trebek's last season that it's gonna go out with a bang, between it being the 35th season, they had the awesome All-Stars tournament and now this new legendary champion. |
re: Jeopardy! Discussion
I've been watching this guy all week. The gambling mentality makes him really fun to watch. I don't know if he'll have the longevity of Jennings because that's incredibly difficult to do but I do think he'll make a serious run at most total money made. IIRC, Jennings made $2.5mm in his initial run - this dude is already at $300k.
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re: Jeopardy! Discussion
I watched that episode. When Trebek announced that Holzhauer was close to the record winnings, I turned to Mrs Danger and said, "He's going to bet $30,000 to put his winning over $100,000, so his record will be out of reach forever." It turned out I was low.
Holzhauer must play high-stakes cards, as well as being a professional sports bettor. His body language is completely controlled, and his face is relaxed and confident unless he deliberately changes his expression. I wonder if he's going to play until he gets tired of it, and then deliberately cash out. |
re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Last night was the first time I watched Holzhauer. He only won $50-some thousand. ;) He is great on the trigger - times it perfectly. The female competitor was trying to buzz in on almost every question and he beat her to the punch nearly every time. He loves going all-in on the Doubles.
Love that he's a professional sports gambler. It's fitting. |
re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
(Post 13531412)
I watched that episode. When Trebek announced that Holzhauer was close to the record winnings, I turned to Mrs Danger and said, "He's going to bet $30,000 to put his winning over $100,000, so his record will be out of reach forever." It turned out I was low.
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re: Jeopardy! Discussion
I'm such a Jeopardy nerd that I actually laughed out loud when I saw this meme
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...60e5346d3d.jpg (The 'unmasked' James really being Watson, the computer that beat Rutter and Jennings on Jeopardy back in 2011) |
re: Jeopardy! Discussion
The problem with the Watson matches is that Jeopardy! questions were tailored to its capability so word play, puns, etc., were not asked that humans could figure out. :shrug:
The IBM (Watson) team was afraid the JEOPARDY staff would write clues with puns and double meanings that could trick Watson. That, in of itself reveals one big difference between humans and computers. Humans can appreciate puns, jokes riddles and sarcasm because we understand words in context. The best that current computers can so is check whether the pun, joke, riddle or sarcastic comment has been stored it its data base. ( The AI Delusion(Oxford, 2018), p. 8) So, as he recounts, the Jeopardy staff agreed to select clues randomly from a stockpile that had been written but never used. That was a fair solution. But in making the request, IBM was tacitly admitting that Watson could be easily fooled by an ordinary level of complexity. |
re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
(Post 13531412)
I wonder if he's going to play until he gets tired of it, and then deliberately cash out.
If he does end up in the Ken Jennings / Brad Rutter level of dominance, I wonder which of the 3 would be left out of any potential future matchups with Watson. With all that said, he'll probably lose tonight, lol. |
re: Jeopardy! Discussion
James did it again, he set a new record of $131,127! In between his first and second record breaking totals, he also got $89,158 and $106,181 which means he now has the four highest one-day totals.
Also, this was his tenth win, which now puts him at the 8th most games won. And with his current winnings of $697,787, he is fourth in the list of contestants who have won the most money on Jeopardy (including stuff like tournaments). FYI I'm using this awesome leaderboard at The Final Wager to compare these stats (although it's a week behind so it doesn't have James' most recent stats, which I got from the last game review at The Jeopardy Fan) |
re: Jeopardy! Discussion
He's crazy good. Went for 40 for 40 in the first 2 rounds.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
It was fun to see him go all-in on single jeopardy on Tuesday, get the wrong answer and go to zero, and still win six figures.
Do you think this player was one of the surprises that Alex was talking about? |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by Nick Danger
(Post 13535801)
It was fun to see him go all-in on single jeopardy on Tuesday, get the wrong answer and go to zero, and still win six figures.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
This guy is killing it. I’m glad it’s being discussed here. He has a wild “all in” gamblers mentality, but he backs it up with smarts. He knows his shit. |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
He is now averaging just over $70k per game. The old one-day record was $77k. He is crazy good.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
I get bored when contestants are this dominant.
And it has nothing to do with him always starting at the bottom. And by nothing, I mean a lot. |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by andicus
(Post 13536198)
I get bored when contestants are this dominant.
And it has nothing to do with him always starting at the bottom. And by nothing, I mean a lot. |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by Jeremy517
(Post 13536404)
Starting at the top hurts your chances of winning. Jeopardy is as a much a wagering game as a it is a trivia game, but most contestants don't realize that.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
As far as I can tell he's combined three strategies into this dominant force. Obviously starting at the bottom helps (as long as he gets it correct) with an early lead. But where he builds the lead is the daily double. He just owns it. No chump change wages. HeHputs seriouslyscoin on the line which puts him ridiculously in front.
Last but not least is maintaining the lead. He does this by never buzzing if he doesn't know the answer. So he's never losing money. Last night he was 100%. Not a single wrong answer. Meanwhile the lady buzzed at least once when she didn't know an answer and boom, she's down money. People buzzing to buzz is pretty common, but I haven't seen him do that. |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
As important is his perfect timing on buzzing in.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by Jeremy517
(Post 13536404)
Starting at the top hurts your chances of winning. Jeopardy is as a much a wagering game as a it is a trivia game, but most contestants don't realize that.
Originally Posted by JackoOnHisBacko
(Post 13536459)
Yeah, to be dominant, you have to be the one finding/controlling the daily doubles, which he has been doing very successfully.
Contestants are free to choose, so all the power to him. I just won't be disappointed when he eventually loses. I preferred the '5 time champion' days. |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by JackoOnHisBacko
(Post 13536459)
Yeah, to be dominant, you have to be the one finding/controlling the daily doubles, which he has been doing very successfully.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by Norm de Plume
(Post 13536735)
How can one find the Daily Doubles if they're randomly arranged?
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
^seems like they're generally in the bottom half of the board so he manages to hit them early since he's working his way up the board.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by Norm de Plume
(Post 13536735)
How can one find the Daily Doubles if they're randomly arranged?
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...41b4b7ccd5.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/dvdtalk...733803a75e.jpg Plus there are other things to go on such as they're rarely in the pun/wordplay categories and never two in the same category. |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Wow missed a few and the Daily Double was in the top of the board on one round. The other two actually had a chance today. He started slow.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Interesting to know about the Daily Doubles. I haven't watched the show in years, so I had no idea. I guess it makes sense to cluster them towards the bottom since most players start a topic at the top.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by Michael Corvin
(Post 13536487)
As far as I can tell he's combined three strategies into this dominant force. Obviously starting at the bottom helps (as long as he gets it correct) with an early lead. But where he builds the lead is the daily double. He just owns it. No chump change wages. HeHputs seriouslyscoin on the line which puts him ridiculously in front.
Last but not least is maintaining the lead. He does this by never buzzing if he doesn't know the answer. So he's never losing money. Last night he was 100%. Not a single wrong answer. Meanwhile the lady buzzed at least once when she didn't know an answer and boom, she's down money. People buzzing to buzz is pretty common, but I haven't seen him do that. I don't mind if players don't go from top to bottom one category at a time. I thought it was great how Arthur Chu would jump around the board and confuse his opponents. Being able to do that is a sign of mental flexibility, which is another kind of intelligence. |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
So I take it this is the kind of dude I see winning HQ Trivia every single night?
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Oh I thought it was supposed to be Magneto haha
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by joltman
(Post 13538289)
Oh I thought it was supposed to be Magneto haha
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Only the second person to get a million in regular gameplay after Jennings, and third in total Jeopardy winnings (Brad Rutter has won over 4 million due to winning multiple tournaments).
With 14 wins, he is currently at fourth place for the most games won. He's got a little way to go before reaching David Madden (19) and Julia Collins (20). |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
He wagered $50k on the final jeopardy question yesterday. Alex kept joking how James holds the top 5 spots for daily winnings and keeps breaking his own records. Was funny to watch.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
I watched the game where James broke $1M. Alex has stopped making his usual encouraging comments: "You're back on the plus side", "And Mary gets on the board." "Oh, you were so close." The other players are cannon fodder, and to be encouraging would be a little insulting.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
I'm guessing it's inevitable that there will be a tournament between him and Ken jennings at some point.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by movieguru
(Post 13539011)
I'm guessing it's inevitable that there will be a tournament between him and Ken jennings at some point.
Originally Posted by Ken Jennings
It’s certainly possible that at some point they’re going to want me and James on the same show. Honestly? That’s going to be a real uphill battle for me. If you compare my stats to James’, they’re almost identical. But here’s the thing: That’s not me, that’s Ken from 15 years ago, who was 29, still super mentally acute. It’s kind of a young person’s game. I’m 45. At some point, I’m just a generation behind the new crop of players, and they’re going to be a little bit sharper, a little bit faster than me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
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Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Finally tuned in, wow! |
Re: Jeopardy! Discussion
Originally Posted by movieguru
(Post 13539011)
I'm guessing it's inevitable that there will be a tournament between him and Ken jennings at some point.
That would make for a great competition. |
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