There was also Matt Ottinger, who doubled up on a late DD in the Jeopardy round and actually had a lead heading into DJ (and had a shot in FJ if he would have been right and Ken would have missed - but the opposite happened)FS7 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2019 9:04 pmIt's been 15 years, but from what I remember Ken had almost all of his games locked up entering FJ. It's something close to 90%, and I think the major difference between the two is the way James bets. It's hard to compare but I think Ken's knowledge and buzzer skill are better.xxaaaxx wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:36 pm Another run of the mill $80k payday. This is normal, yet not normal. J! isn't this easy. Have I been watching a different game show all these years!? J! isn't this easy! I missed nearly all of KJ's run due to RL. Is this what it was like to watch?
Instaget FJ. This feels like it should've been a triple get. *shrug*
I feel bad for whoever draws James in the TOC quarterfinals. Not only will they lose badly, there might not be enough money left on the board to even try for a wild card.
Also, I only remember one contestant actually challenging Ken. I believe his name was Michael, and he played as well as he could given Ken's skill and aggressively bet to even have a chance. He ended with something like $44,000, but they both got FJ and obviously Ken won.
Aside from the dollar amounts, yes, Ken made it look just as easy.
In Game 5, the FJ category was “European Islands”, and Paula Filson was within striking distance in FJ - if she would have been right, she wins as Ken missed that day.
I can’t look through his entire archive right now, but that stands out as a game where a little luck by the challenger leaves Ken as a 4-day champion.
Ken was fast and unbeatable - but he was “merely” a strong DD wagerer while James is insane. This is not at all a knock on Ken - he was so much better than everyone on the buzzer that leaving money in front of him in case of a miss was not a bad move - he could make the money back in a hurry. James? His gameplay is obvious: Crush you with this DD wager and it doesn’t matter if I lose my buzzer moxie for a few clues.
They simply dominate the game in different ways. And we can say that about all the big champions. They all have their distinctive styles to accomplish Jeopardy greatness.