Alex Trebek/Jeopardy Tribute Thread

The number of people who think he intentionally lost is amazing.

 

We're lied to so much that nobody believes anything anymore. A bunch of people think he threw it? Eh, a bunch of people also probably thought he was fed the answers, er, questions during his run. Good story? Must be a gimmick of some kind. Probably staged.

 

She was fast, smart and, maybe most importantly, swiped both Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy. That almost nuked any chance James had to be ahead short of running the board the rest of the way.

 

James was unfortunate to get his daily double with the first selection of the show.

 

Didn't that happen with the first close call he had, too? He got it with the first selection and got it wrong, putting him in the hole and without a total dominance going into Double Jeopardy.

 

Arthur Chu broke the mold. He jumped around like James. Plus, he was the reason for a rule change. The show got rid of ties because of him. James was just much more skilled than people before him.

I'm surprised that James' style is so rare. Arthur Chu showed it worked five years ago. I would think that Jeopardy nerds would all adopt the 'right' style of play.

 

This was the key.

James apparently had it all figured out. He couldn't win unless she got the Final Jeopardy answer wrong AND didn't bet enough to cover, which he guessed/knew wasn't going to happen. He explained it all in an article I saw earlier. I'll try to dig it up.

 

Here's Holzhauer's explanation of things:

James Holzhauer explains why he wagered just $1,399 in his last Final Jeopardy

It actually makes sense, and should dispel any thoughts that he threw in the towel on purpose. But he's way beyond me, in smarts and as a gambler.

 

Basically he said he was trying to beat the other player because he knew that plus her getting the Final Jeopardy wrong was his only chance, which turned out to be true because she bet the exact amount to beat him if he doubled up. So it's the one time he didn't go crazy with his wager.

 

I agree, but I wasn't surprised. He struck me all along as likeable, and really, kind of a humble person, and he made a point of including family, friends and significant others in his run throughout with his shout-outs to them with his wins. He was impressive in every way.

 

This is a great point. Most contestants wouldn't take the risks he did.

"The fact that I win and lose money all the time helps desensitize me, so I can write down $60,000 as the Final Jeopardy wager and not be trembling at the thought of losing that money," he said.