Wednesday, April 10, 2019 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[CasketRomance]

Good grief. James gets an absolute cupcake for a DD that wouldn't be out of place in a Teen Tournament "Bull Run' while Laura gets some ridiculous DD about some sea creature.

Conch is several degrees easier than Monitor and Merrimack.

Side note: FJs way too easy recently.

is it? i missed conch but got monitor and merrimack and i suck with war history

[morbeedo]

life sux for both of us

...and then we die

[morbeedo]

Good grief. James gets an absolute cupcake for a DD that wouldn't be out of place in a Teen Tournament "Bull Run' while Laura gets some ridiculous DD about some sea creature.

Conch is several degrees easier than Monitor and Merrimack.

Side note: FJs way too easy recently.

is it? i missed conch but got monitor and merrimack and i suck with war history

Hard to say. M&M was an instaget. Conch was WECIB? And Jeopardy! keeps coming back to Lord of the Flies in some way shape or form

[Volante]

Good grief. James gets an absolute cupcake for a DD that wouldn't be out of place in a Teen Tournament "Bull Run' while Laura gets some ridiculous DD about some sea creature.

Conch is several degrees easier than Monitor and Merrimack.

Side note: FJs way too easy recently.

is it? i missed conch but got monitor and merrimack and i suck with war history

You can't speak unless you hold the conch!

[hbomb1947]

Another ho-hum performance by James. He's been so phenomenal that a $54,000-plus payday seems like nothing special for him. I do suspect that he'll be the player to break the curse of top winners not winning their TOC's. He combines being the top winner with the style of play that enabled Roger Craig and Alex Jacob to knock off higher seeds in their TOC's. It also seems clear that he's equipped to handle the jump in difficulty of material that the TOC will present. But it'll be very interesting to see it all play out, because the other members of the field will know what they're up against and will have had ample time to prepare.

ETA: on the Argonauts clue, the rest of the clue led me to Argonauts but I was hesitant to ring in bc I hadn't heard of an a sea creature with that name.

Is James the first contestant to have runaways in 4 of his or her first 5 games? Even Ken "only" had 3.

[JayK33]

Just wondering, but does Myron have the record for highest single day winnings for someone who didn't make a ToC? Only counting regular games, of course.

[CasketRomance]

Good grief. James gets an absolute cupcake for a DD that wouldn't be out of place in a Teen Tournament "Bull Run' while Laura gets some ridiculous DD about some sea creature.

Conch is several degrees easier than Monitor and Merrimack.

Side note: FJs way too easy recently.

is it? i missed conch but got monitor and merrimack and i suck with war history

You can't speak unless you hold the conch!

i have never been too keen on rules

[TenPoundHammer]

Did anyone get the Misspelled clue for $200? I scanned that one six times and couldn't spot a single misspelling. They should've made it WAY more obvious in the top box.

I didn't know conch was an actual animal.

[morbeedo]

I didn't know conch was an actual animal.

I tried the conch fritters in Key West. Meh.

[hbomb1947]

And the phony controversy about the unauthorized third-party "King James Holzhauer" fan page can finally be laid to rest.

[MarkBarrett]

And the phony controversy about the unauthorized third-party "King James Holzhauer" fan page can finally be laid to rest.

You mean this isn't authorized by James? https://hasjameslostyet.com/

[MTGcollegestudent]

Stolen off of a DBZ joke, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut...

Johnny: Alex, what does the scouter say about his power level?

Alex: It's over 9000!!!

This James guy is LEGIT! Although we just witnessed the bad side to his job, being a sports gambler. Sometimes, going all in can prove to be his own downfall. After his first DD miss, there was concern how Laura could have fared, making it close going into DJ! An $800 lead didn't seem to make it look easy for him, but after picking up his 2nd DD, he definitely made ground and pretty much dominated once again. Laura's costly DD proved to be pivotal, and Jeff picked up an unforced miss, in which he couldn't get anywhere right after that. I really had thought, that after his HUMONGOUS win yesterday, he would have probably got exhausted right after that. But now, he secures himself a spot in the upcoming ToC and continues on. I just hope that he can get some rest because I don't know if the adrenaline caught up to him after making it close in the first round after missing the DD. But otherwise, to the other guys making it to the ToC (Including RobW), watch your back...because James will be proven tough in the long run.

[MinnesotaMyron]

Just wondering, but does Myron have the record for highest single day winnings for someone who didn't make a ToC? Only counting regular games, of course.

I think Ken has that record, depending on how you consider the UToC. But other than him, I'd like to know, too.

ETA: Vermonter has been keeping this page up-to-date, and if you filter out celebs, kids, and doubled scores from the pre-doubled era, it appears that I do. Believe you me when I say I'll be adding that to the ol' C.V. Thanks for pointing it out.

[BigDaddyMatty]

Coryat: 40,200
49 R/0 W
DD: 3/3
FJ:
LT: Bill of Rights (DD), morning glory, conch (DD), Bull Run

It didn't end up changing the outcome of the game, Laura's DD wager is a perfect illustration of the fact that on J!, fortune favors the bold. When she hit DD3, she was down $28,400 to $12,000. Knowing what James had already done, she had to know that by far her best shot of winning was to try to go into FJ! with the lead. However, instead of maximizing the chances of that happening by actually putting the hammer down, she went with a sorta-big wager of $7,000. Once she missed, she was $9,200 short of half of James's total with only $8,400 left on the board. At that point, James could have put down his signaling device, used the FJ! time to doodle, and he still would have won. I'm sure a wager of $7,000 felt safer than an all-in wager of $12,000. In actuality, the wagers were equally risky but differed vastly in terms of upside.

Did anyone get the Misspelled clue for $200? I scanned that one six times and couldn't spot a single misspelling. They should've made it WAY more obvious in the top box.

A Massachusetts town being named Worcester but pronounced "Wooster" is fairly common knowledge.

Good grief. James gets an absolute cupcake for a DD that wouldn't be out of place in a Teen Tournament "Bull Run' while Laura gets some ridiculous DD about some sea creature.

Conch is several degrees easier than Monitor and Merrimack.

I disagree. I think that Monitor and Merrimack is a true WECIB, whereas, as Laura demonstrated, there were at least plausible other responses for the conch clue.

[BRD-98]

I disagree. I think that Monitor and Merrimack is a true WECIB, whereas, as Laura demonstrated, there were at least plausible other responses for the conch clue.

It seems upthread that I am outnumbered. I could come up with conch but made the same mistake as James on the Bill of Rights clue and also missed this one. American History is typically not a weak subject for me but YMMV.

[yclept]

He had a tough competitor up against him today that didn’t have a DD go her way. Not that it would have mattered, but at this point, it is an accomplishment just to make him sweat during Final Jeopardy.

We all know that what makes a Ken or Julia, etc. extra special was their ability to not get tired during their extended runs. I say this because that is the only thing we don’t know - James’ stamina to keep going and going and going. But he is so calm up there (seemingly) that I am not sure if fatigue is going to hit him all that hard. Can he have a situation like Roger Craig, Game 7, where he has a huge lead heading into FJ but just whiffs on the clue? Of course. Can he miss a big DD like Larissa or Alex Jacob? Of course. But for now, he is just a machine. And the intimidation factor of hearing JG announce his totals is already going to be in play.

Amazing to watch. We don’t get super-elite play often which is what makes it special.

[Category 13]

Little Round Top for Gettysburg was way over valued at $2000. Actually, the whole category should have been Single Jeopardy.

I really liked Across State Lines.

[billiej]

Did anyone get the Misspelled clue for $200? I scanned that one six times and couldn't spot a single misspelling. They should've made it WAY more obvious in the top box.

A Massachusetts town being named Worcester but pronounced "Wooster" is fairly common knowledge.

Actually, that's "Woostah", c'mon!!

[John Boy]

Good grief. James gets an absolute cupcake for a DD that wouldn't be out of place in a Teen Tournament "Bull Run' while Laura gets some ridiculous DD about some sea creature.

Conch is several degrees easier than Monitor and Merrimack.

Really? I remember reading about the battle between these two in American history class as far back as grade school, and repeated in every class through college.

The hard part (for me at least) is remembering which one was which, and which was the Union vessel. But just naming them?

[John Boy]

Even as James "slacks off" in this game, he's like a juggernaut (not Argonaut, which was my only LT in this game, if not in his entire streak).

He has blown the doors off God know how many J! greats, and now stands ready to assault the summit of the pile, with only five players ahead of him on the list of regular season winners. Yet a few have hit $400K and then completely, abruptly stalled. I am really looking forward to his next game(s). He is astonishing to watch.

Makes me wonder if (as we watch these games, weeks after his taping) whether he has actually lost yet in real time or (like KJ) is still taping more games even as his games air.