Day
5: Queen Takes Matt (Out) And Mattea
Roach Wins A Game
They
Desperately Needed
In Game 1
Victoria, James and Matt faced off. Matt needed a win in today’s game just to
stay alive. Instead he was manhandled by both Victoria and James from start to
finish of the Jeopardy round.
Victoria was
already ahead with 4200 points in the
Jeopardy round when she found the Daily Double in & FAR AWAY. (And yes
before that category was OVER THE HILLS). She did what she has done so often
recently and bet everything:
“It can mean an
island far removed from others in an archipelago as well as something atypical
in any group.” It took her a moment to come up with: “What is an outlier?” and
double her score.
The Jeopardy
round ended with Victoria already very far ahead at 13,600 points, James next
with 6200 and Matt in the red at -200.
James got to the
first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy on the fourth clue of the round. He
wagered the 7400 points he had in I’M LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO READ:
“Miles Halter
heads to boarding school in this Young Adult novel whose title refers to a
girl, not a state.” James needed a moment to come up with Looking for Alaska
and he was at 14,800 points to Victoria’s 17,200
He faltered a little after that and Victoria
managed to get to 20,800 points before she found the other Daily Double in IF
YOU BUILD IT to his 13,200. In the most daring risk so far this tournament,
Victoria wagered everything she had:
“Trained in the
Georgian Style, James Hoban won a contest and the commission to build this,
beginning construction in 1792.” Victoria knew it was The White House.”
She was at
41,600 points. The round wasn’t even halfway over but no one had a chance to
rest of the way. When Double Jeopardy ended, James bowed in respect at
Victoria’s 46,000 points to his 19,600 and Matt’s 2200.
The Final
Jeopardy category was AROUND THE WORLD. “Almost twice the size of Texas but
with the population of Lubbock, this part of Australia rejected statehood in a
1998 referendum.” All three players knew the correct response: “What is the
Northern Territory?” (It is mostly desert.) Matt bet nothing. James bet 11,914
points to go up to 31,514 and Victoria bet 4000 to finish with an even 50,000
points. In grand style Victoria had won her fourth game of Masters and gained 3
match points. James got another one.
In Game 2 Yogesh
and Amy, the winners of Monday’s games, faced off against Mattea. A win for Amy
would clinch her spot in the finals. Mattea desperately needed a win to stay alive.
Their luck would turn out to be better than Matt’s had been.
The Jeopardy round started off with Amy and
Yogesh at their best. Yogesh got off to an early lead with 3000 points but Amy
got to the Daily Double in HAVING AN IN-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE. Amy had 1600 points
and decided to bet everything to try and take the lead:
“Alphabetically
the brain’s main lobes are frontal, occipital, parietal and this one
responsible for learning and memory.” Amy knew it was the temporal lobe and she
was at 3200 points. For the first time in the entire tournament Yogesh was not
at his peak in the Jeopardy round. Amy built up her lead and despite a late
surge by Yogesh, she never lost it, finishing the Jeopardy round with 6600
points to Yogesh’s 5200. Mattea had 2600 at the end of it.
In Double
Jeopardy Mattea picked first and found the Daily Double on the first clue in
GETTING TOUGH ON THE BORDERS. Acknowledging their desperate situation, they bet
everything: “Estonia’s only land borders are with Russia and this country.”
They knew it was Latvia and jumped into a tie with Yogesh for second.
For much of the
first half of Double Jeopardy Yogesh was dominant yet again. He had built his
lead to 16,400 points when Mattea found the other Daily Double in GERMAN WORDS.
At the time they had 8800 points and again they acknowledged their desperation
when they bet everything:
Nietzsche’s
Zarathustra says that he ist der sin der erde, “is the meaning of the Earth.”
It took Mattea a
long time before they answered: ‘What is the Übermensch?” It was correct and
Mattea was in the lead for the first time in the game with 17,600.
Yogesh gave
another brilliant performance: 20 correct responses and only two incorrect ones
to Mattea’s 14 correct ones and 1 incorrect one. But the two Daily Doubles were
enough to provide Mattea with a lead that they never relinquished and at the
end of Double Jeopardy Mattea was ahead for the first time at the end of a game
in this year’s tournament with 20,400 points to Yogesh’s 17,200 and Amy’s 9800.
The Final
Jeopardy category was a tricky one: ANAGRAMS. The clue was the toughest so far
in this tournament, and it clearly baffled all three players: “One is a
procedure foundational to computer science; the other was made in large part
obsolete by computers.” None of them could come up with the correct response;
Amy and Yogesh could barely come up with a single word. The correct response
was: “What are algorithm and logarithm?” It came down to wagers.
Amy lost 7401
points to drop to 2399. Yogesh lost everything he had. Mattea lost 14,001
points. That left them with 6399, but that was enough to score a victory and
three match points they desperately needed. For the first time in the
tournament, Yogesh didn’t score a point in a Jeopardy game as Amy finished
second.
LEADERBOARD
AFTER DAY 5
Victoria Groce:
13 (Clinched Semi-Final Slot)
Yogesh Raut 10
(Clinched Semi-Final Slot)
James Holzhauer
6
Amy Schneider 5
Mattea Roach 5
Matt Amodio 1
(eliminated)
Day 6: The
Deciding Game for the Last Two Slots in The Semis
Unlike last year
when before the final match it had already been determined who the final four
will be, the sixth and last set of quarterfinals were critical for the final
two slots, considering the closeness of James, Mattea and Amy’s positions on
the leaderboard at the end of Day 5
In the first
game, the three men faced off. A win or a second place finish for James would
clinch his spot in the semi-finals. Matt was essentially playing for some form
of redemption – and in his final appearance he pretty much did so with what
would be his best game of the entire quarterfinals.
He would get to
the Daily Double early in the Jeopardy round in A WORD FROM THE BIBLICAL WOMAN.
He bet the 1600 points he had:
“It was a true
report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and thy wisdom.”
Matt thought it referred Esther to the Queen of Sheba and went
to zero. He spent the rest of the Jeopardy round in third and finished with
1200 points to Yogesh’s 4200 and James’ 4800. James had made a remarkable
comeback; at one point he’d been at -1800 points.
Then in Double
Jeopardy Matt had his best stretch in the tournament. He got to the first Daily
Double early in OUT IN THE WORLD and was at 4600 points in second place. With
nothing to lose, he bet everything:
“This golden
object was stolen by the Persians from India; Pahlavi Shahs used reproductions
for their coronations.” Matt knew it was the Peacock throne and doubled his
score to 9200 and in the lead for the first time in Double Jeopardy in this
year’s Masters. He managed to hold it for much of the round helped by a streak
of hot clues as well as a bunch of tough categories for all involved. Then
James got to the other Daily Double in the category IN CONCEIVABLE. (Each
response was made up of letters in the word ‘conceivable’. He had 6800 and
though he admitted he was uncomfortable with the category (it hadn’t gone well
for any of the other players to that point) he still bet everything:
“Rejoice,
sinners! The Latin for ‘indolence’ or ‘grace’ gives us this adjective meaning easily
pardoned.”
It took him a
moment to come up with: “What is venial?” and he retook the lead with 13,600.
At the end of
Double Jeopardy the scores were very close: James lead with 16,400 points, Matt
was next with 12,400 and for the first time in the entire tournament, Yogesh
finished Double Jeopardy in last, albeit with a respectable 10,200 points.
The Final
Jeopardy category was MILITARY PEOPLE: “In April 2020 Chief Master Sergeant
Roger Towberman became the first enlisted member of this.”
Yogesh’s
response was revealed first. “What is the Officer’s Club?” It was wrong and he
lost everything. Matt was next. His response was: “What is Space Force?” He bet
everything to go to 24,800. James also wrote down: “What is Space Force?” and
he had played for the win, wagering 8615. James went to 25,015, received three
match points and guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals.
It was a moral
victory for Matt, but nothing more. He became the first player to leave and
received $50,000 for sixth place.
In Game 2
Victoria and Mattea were up against Amy. If either Amy or Mattea won, they
would clinch a spot in the semi-finals. If Victoria won, second place was vital
for either one.
The Jeopardy
round started fairly evenly until Victoria found the Daily Double in SCIENCE
FICTION. She bet the 1400 points she had:
“In novels by
Dan Simmons, the planet Hyperion has a capital named for this poet who wrote an
epic about the sun god Hyperion.”
She knew that it
was Keats, doubled her score and went up to $2800. She maintained her lead
throughout the round and finished with 7000 points to Amy’s 3800 and Mattea’s
3600.
Double Jeopardy
began with Mattea finding the first Daily Double on the first clue in DOWN IN
THE VALLEY. They bet everything with a chance to take the lead and the clue was
filled with irony:
“This valley a
bit over 100 miles from Pittsburgh gets its name from ‘one mountain’ in a
Native American language.” Mattea paused a long time before guessing: “What is Susquehanna?”
It was the Nittany Valley.
Mattea said
after losing everything: “I needed Victoria to beam me a response. The next set
of clues didn’t go well for anybody. When Victoria found the other Daily Double
in PREHISTORIC CREATURES, she had 11,400 to Amy’s 4200. Mattea was still at
zero.
Victoria responded:
“I think based on the rest of the category I want no part of this. I’ll bet 5
points.” “Therapods ate flesh; these giants such as apatosaurus and australotitan
ate plants like giraffes do.” She knew it was sauropods and gained all of five
points.
Essentially Double Jeopardy ended with
everything where it was at the start. Victoria locked up the game with 21,005,
Amy was next with 7800 and Mattea finished with 2800. Mattea’s response for
Final Jeopardy (which I’ll get to) summed it up: “What an anticlimactic end to
the quarters! Congrats Amy)
I could pass
over the Final altogether since none of the players bet anything but for the
record, here it is:
The category was
SHORT STORIES: “Down – steadily down it crept – downward with its lateral
velocity. To the right – to the left” is in this 1842 tale.” No one knew the
correct response: “What is The Pit and the Pendulum?” For the record Amy
and Victoria both knew it was an Edgar Allan Poe story but Amy thought it was
‘The Gold Bug’ and Victoria thought it was ‘The Tell-Tale Heart?” It didn’t
matter in the results. Victoria won and got 3 match points, but more importantly
Amy’s second place finish broke her tie with Mattea and put her into the
semi-finals as well.
Mattea had
fought nobly but ended up going home in fifth place with $75,000. Last year’s
second and third place finishers are the first to go home this year. One assumes
we will see them in the next Jeopardy Invitational Tournament.
FINAL
LEADERBOARD
Victoria Groce:
16 Match Points
Yogesh Raut: 10
Match Points
James Holzhauer:
9 Match Points
Amy Schneider: 6
Match Points
Mattea Roach 5
Match Points (Eliminated)
Matt Amodio 2
Match Points (Eliminated)
Takeaways From
Quarterfinals
*Matt is the only player in this year’s
Masters who got every single Final Jeopardy correct to this point and Victoria
has gotten the fewest correct Final Jeopardys with two. Yet Matt is going to
finish in last place and Victoria finished first.
*Yogesh played
brilliantly in the first three matches of the quarterfinals and has been
performing with diminishing returns in the last three. While two of his first
three wins were routs, in his last two games he played increasingly poorly
compared to players he had trounced in his first three matches.
*Apparently
losing the first game has humbled James Holzhauer slightly or maybe because his
lack of dominance in this tournament has forced him to modify his approach to
Final Jeopardy. Whatever the reason ‘the final boss’ didn’t write a single joke
in any of his Final Jeopardy responses in the quarterfinals. Taking Final
Jeopardy seriously works for him: he managed to get four of the six correct
responses, tied with Amy for second for correct Final Jeopardys. Yogesh and
Mattea are next with three apiece and Victoria, as I mentioned has only gotten
two correct.
*Victoria went
into all six of her games and finished in first place, the same as James did in
last year’s Masters (save for his second appearance) in which he was tied with
Matt for the lead) Four of her victories were runaway games. However while she
was taking Final Jeopardy more seriously than he was last year her luck was
only slightly better than his in Final Jeopardy, she only got two correct
responses. (James got none in the quarterfinals but in four of his matches he was
so far ahead he wrote joke responses. He didn’t get the three he tried to
answer seriously correctly.)
*Even though
there was one fewer quarterfinal match then last year, here’s a comparison
between three of the previous attendees in regard to Final Jeopardy in the
quarterfinals then and now (excluding James):
Amy got five
Final Jeopardys right in 2023 and four correct in 2024.
Matt only got
two correct Final Jeopardies (he wasn’t present for one of the matches) and six
this year.
Mattea got four
correct responses in Final Jeopardy last year and three this year.
The major
difference was that Matt and Mattea managed to win when it counted and were frequently
in the lead at the end of their games. Amy was never in the lead in any of her
seven matches last year.
Well we know
going in were in for a different set of Masters than last year as only one of
the players who made it to the semi-finals last year will be around for this
one. How will the semis turn out as all four players compete in four games that
will have every single possible combination of three players? Last year James,
who had cruised to victory in all but one of his quarterfinals, had a much
harder fight in all three matches he appeared in, even though he managed to win
all three games. He’s already lost three times to Victoria and Yogesh already.
Could the
self-proclaimed Final Boss not even make it to the semi-finals? And how many of
the two newcomers to this year’s Masters will end up competing in the finals?
At least one will. Will both Yogesh and Victoria manage it?
And can Amy complete
her complicated redemption arc by making it all the way to the finals this
year? She’s already redeemed herself for last year’s performance; can she make
it all the way in?
We’ll start
finding out tomorrow. I’ll be back on Tuesday with all the details.
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