Jamie Ding Is A Better Player Then He Looks And He's Already One of the Greatest Players in Jeopardy History

 

Yesterday Jamie Ding officially took his place on Jeopardy's Leader Board of Legends. By winning his sixteenth game he tied Scott Riccardi and Ryan Long for tenth place all time in number of games won in Jeopardy history. There are only nine players ahead of him in games won: Ken Jennings, Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, James Holzhauer, Mattea Roach, Cris Panullo, Julia Collins, Jason Zuffranieri and David Madden.

Furthermore on Friday his total  of $462,401 officially puts him eighth place in terms of money won by players in their original run behind (in order) Jennings, Holzhauer, Schneider, Amodio, Panullo, Roach and Zuffranieri.

Last Friday Jamie was unofficially one of the greatest Jeopardy players. Today we can remove the 'un'.  Indeed its relatively clear that Jamie is the greatest champion to play the game since Cris Panullo in Season 38. But even those admittedly great numbers don't really do justice to him.

As I said in my original review in just his third win Jamie responded correctly on 44 clues, a number that only Ken Jennings himself managed to do better then. Furthermore, while I don't pretend to understand the significance of the Coryat score, one of those measures that is uninterpretable to me as sabermetrics or physics the fact is that day Jamie set the all time record for Coryat.

He hasn't done that well since but not for lack of trying. This Wednesday he responded correctly on 43 clues with zero incorrect responses and on Thursday got 43 correct response, though he did get two incorrect as well as one Daily Double. This week alone he's gotten at least thirty correct responses in every he's played this week. He's also managed to runaway with 11 out of his sixteen victories to this point, which is very much the kind of thing that Amy Schneider and Cris Panullo or Jennings himself did so well.

But even that's not the scariest part. Had Jamie had better luck or conversely had he been more savvy in wagering he might be in the top five of money right now. Anyone who saw him play this week knows what I mean.

Wednesday he had one of the greatest games in Jeopardy history, responding correctly on 43 correct clues. At the end of Double Jeopardy he'd amassed $55,800 to his nearest opponent's $5200. There was clearly a possibility for him to make history and he took the opportunity. It just didn't go his way.

The Final Jeopardy category was THE CALENDAR. "Mark Twain wrote the quip that on this day of the year, "we are reminded of what we are on the other 364." The correct response was: "What is April Fool's Day?" This game aired on April 1^st. But Jamie seems to have forgotten that fact: he wrote down   "What is Labor Day?" He wagered $44,200. Had he responded correctly he would have finished with $100,000 and become the first player not named James Holzhauer to reach that high a total. Instead he dropped to $11,600, still enough to win.

The next day he was just as good and already had $48,800 when he found the last Daily Double in Double Jeopardy in INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. With a lot of room to maneuver he bet $21,200, hoping to finish Double Jeopardy with $70,000.

"Situated among mountain peaks, this small country has the highest average elevation of any in Europe at about 6,600 feet."

For the first time in a while he hesitated on a Daily Double: "What is Lichtenstein?" It was actually Andorra. He dropped to a 'mere' $27,600. As if to make up for this 'embarrassment' he responded correctly on the final six clues. And that day he got Final Jeopardy right and had his biggest payday to date: $56,400.

This decision to go big on his runaways has somewhat surprised me because on his very first defense of his title he had the game locked up with $34,000 in Final Jeopardy. The category was 20^th CENTURY NOVELS:

One of its epigraphs is from Genesis 30, about Leah, Rachel & Rachel's servant Bilhah.  Humble brag: I figured out the correct response: "What is The Handmaid's Tale?"  Astonishingly Jamie wrote down: What is Song of Solomon?" It cost him $30,067 and he dropped to $3933. To be fair the next day he learned from it and wagered relatively small. But I had assumed the lesson would have stuck with him two weeks later.

Had Jamie been more conservative in wagering in this game and last Wednesday's and he bet somewhat less on the last Daily Double on Thursday's game, it's safe to assume he'd have anywhere $75,000 to $90,000 more. Of course had he been right on either of those Final Jeopardys or that last Daily Double we'd all be astounded at his ability. Hindsight is always 20/20.

And it's not like he's had a lot of room to maneuver on some of his other runaways. In his first win he had almost no room at all to maneuver; on last Friday's game and this Monday he had almost none. And let's not forget this Friday his streak could have come to an end thanks to the superb play of Emmett Laurie who ended Jamie's streak of six consecutive runaway victories with a superb second place finish. Jamie needed to get Final Jeopardy right this time and he did.

Jamie's had to work to win five of his sixteen victories no question and there is a possibility he may be starting to flag despite Wednesday's and Thursday's triumphs. He managed to respond correctly on seven of the first eight Final Jeopardys: on the last eight he is batting exactly .500. To this point it hasn't mattered: the only time he got it incorrect when he didn't have a runaway was last Wednesday and on that day everybody responded incorrectly (To be fair it was a tough Final and I couldn't figure it out either.)

The next number ahead of him in terms of games won is 19 where both Jason Zuffranieri and David Madden are tied. No one has gotten past that number since Panullo managed to win 21 games in 2022. The closest person to get that far was Scott Riccardi last season – and as we all know Scott lost on the last day of the season to Jonathan Hugendubler.  Jamie managed to pass Scott in terms of money won yesterday.  Was Friday's game a bump in the road for Jamie or is the beginning of the end?

We won't know until Monday. I will report on him next week, either if he loses or if he reaches 19 wins. Whatever happens it's been a hell of a run. Jamie Ding may not be as great a player as the original Jeopardy James but there have been some games that I think even Holzhauer would tip his hat too.