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Warning: This page contains spoilers for the May 15, 2023, second game of Jeopardy! Masters — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. It will be updated alongside the Eastern Time airing of the show, beginning at about 8:30 PM Eastern.
This game’s Jeopardy! Masters contestants:
Sam Buttrey, an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School from Pacific Grove, California (2 points) |
Andrew He, a software developer from San Francisco, California (8 points) |
James Holzhauer, a self-described game show villain from Las Vegas, Nevada (9 points) |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today’s second game features James Holzhauer, Andrew He, and Sam Buttrey. Sam’s got his work cut out for him tonight, playing against the two best players from the tournament thus far. Any points for Sam tonight would be at least a moral victory for him. That said, either James or Andrew would clinch a spot in the semifinals with a victory tonight.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! Masters today? Here’s the Monday, May 15, 2023 Jeopardy! Masters (game 2) by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The French Revolution; What A Literary Character!; Great Sports Calls; Musical Instruments & Accessories; From The Greek; My Missed Career, Substitute Teacher)
It was Andrew who got off to the hot start, having 4,000 after 4 clues! However, James had the game tied by clue 12! James held a slim lead after 30 clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
James 13 correct 1 incorrect
Andrew 8 correct 1 incorrect
Sam 9 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
James $7,600
Andrew $6,400
Sam $2,800
Today’s interviews:
Sam recently took up cooking Indian food.
Andrew has had a newborn son since the last taping.
James would watch Jeopardy! with his grandmother in Chicago.
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: 3-Word Place Names; Whatever Floats; Essays; TV Therapists; Archaeology; Get “Em”!)
James got to both Daily Doubles; the biggest surprise was his 5-point wager on the last one! He had a runaway going into Final—meanwhile, Andrew and Sam were tied for second!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
James 25 correct 2 incorrect
Andrew 11 correct 2 incorrect
Sam 17 correct 3 incorrect
Scores going into Final:
James $24,805
Andrew $8,800
Sam $8,800
Final Jeopardy category: 19th Century First Ladies
Final Jeopardy! clue: After her husband left office, a minister wrote the White House was “purer because” this First Lady “has been its mistress”
Correct response: Who is Lucy Hayes?
Andrew got Final correct—3 points to James, 1 to Andrew, 0 to Sam!
Tonight’s results:
Sam $8,800 – $8,800 = $0 (Who is Grant?)
Andrew $8,800 + $0 = $8,800 (Who is Lucy Hayes?)
James $24,805 – $806 = $23,999 (If a Ken falls in the forest and no one’s around, does it make a dad joke?)
Jeopardy! Masters Standings:
(through May 15)
1st: James Holzhauer (12 points, 4 wins, 128 correct, 98,600 Coryat, 163,605 Pre-FJ)
2nd: Andrew He (9 points, 2 wins, 91 correct, 73,400 Coryat, 99,000 Pre-FJ)
3rd: Mattea Roach (7 points, 2 wins, 82 correct, 57,000 Coryat, 67,600 Pre-FJ)
4th: Matt Amodio (6 points, 2 wins, 79 correct, 54,200 Coryat, 69,000 Pre-FJ)
5th: Amy Schneider (4 points, 0 wins, 78 correct, 56,800 Coryat, 57,800 Pre-FJ)
6th: Sam Buttrey (2 points, 0 wins, 90 correct, 57,400 Coryat, 68,000 Pre-FJ)
Tomorrow’s matchups:
Game 1: Andrew He, Mattea Roach, Sam Buttrey
Game 2: James Holzhauer, Matt Amodio, Amy Schneider
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) WHAT A LITERARY CHARACTER! $800 (clue #4)
Andrew 2000 +2000 (James 0 Sam 0)
2) 3-WORD PLACE NAMES $1200 (clue #2)
James 9200 +9200 (Andrew 6400 Sam 2800)
3) ESSAYS $2000 (clue #21, $6000 left on board)
James 23200 +5 (Andrew 6400 Sam 7200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 200
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
James 5 5
Andrew 5 4*
Sam
DJ! Round:
James 3* 4 3 2 3 4 3 4 2 5 5*
Andrew 2
Sam 4 5† 5 4 3 5 2 3 4
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
James 3.69
Andrew 3.67
Sam 3.89
Game Stats:
James $18,800 Coryat, 25 correct, 2 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Andrew $7,600 Coryat, 11 correct, 2 incorrect, 15.79% in first on buzzer (9/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Sam $8,800 Coryat, 17 correct, 3 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $35,200
Lach Trash: $10,800 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $8,000
Player Statistics:
James Holzhauer, career statistics:
1629 correct, 74 incorrect
51/55 on rebound attempts (on 112 rebound opportunities)
52.95% in first on buzzer (1499/2831)
92/99 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $792,393)
41/50 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $27,008
To win: 30.4%
To make finals: 77.0%
To make semifinals: 100.0%
Andrew He, career statistics:
389 correct, 50 incorrect
27/31 on rebound attempts (on 73 rebound opportunities)
33.15% in first on buzzer (359/1083)
24/30 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $114,600)
8/19 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,074
To win: 21.3%
To make finals: 73.4%
To make semifinals: 99.5%
Sam Buttrey, career statistics:
353 correct, 46 incorrect
15/18 on rebound attempts (on 56 rebound opportunities)
36.26% in first on buzzer (351/968)
10/13 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $27,200)
7/17 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,800
To win: 1.4%
To make finals: 4.6%
To make semifinals: 6.1%
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Andrew’s interview certainly explained the cause of the canceled Jeopardy! Masters taping in March; it appears as though Andrew had to head back to San Francisco because his partner had gone into labor.
- It is not a surprise to me that the two players who have made the most glaring strategic mistakes of the tournament are in 5th and 6th right now.
- Today’s box score: Jeopardy! Masters Box Score for May 15, 2023 (Game 2).
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: James $24,805 Andrew $8,800 Sam $8,800)
James: Limit your bet to $7,204. (Actual bet: $806)
Andrew: Pick either $0 or $8,800. (Actual bet: $0)
Sam: Pick either $0 or $8,800. (Actual bet: $8,800)
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James is definitely asking the hard-hitting questions in this tournament!
(And to his credit, his troll answer this time was in the form of a question!)
Wow – 19thC First Ladies is the category I never expected to have to study for!😂😢
Current FJ streak: 2L
I only got this because it came up last season, and I have a distinct memory of Mayim saying “Oh, Lucy Hayes” when revealing the response on the triple stumper.
Huh… I found it in the Archive – June 30th, 2022. The $1000 clue in the category “First Lady Firsts”. I remember that episode’s FJ! about Portland (Oregon vs Maine), but that first round clue didn’t stick in my memory at all :/
Looking at the standings thus far, here’s what I see — and Andy, please correct anything I’ve missed.
Both Andrew and Mattea clinch a semifinal place with a win tomorrow (Mattea’s third win would give them any tiebreaker over Amy).
Sam has to win out to advance (even if Matt remains on six points, a first and second does Sam no good as Matt has two wins already).
Amy is eliminated with a third place finish tomorrow (that would give Matt a three-point lead over her, and he would have the tiebreaker).
I think Matt advances with a win today as well.
You can see the importance of Michael Davies invoking the soccer “3 for a win” principle. Amy has finished second four times in her five matches, and is on the brink of elimination as a result.
With this Final Jeopcorrect response for today’s datime Jeopardy, and, the the Final Jeopardy from today’s Jeopardy Masters. I obviously didn’t have an idea for this Final.
With his four runaway victories, James is having fun with his friend and rival. Ken couldn’t get back at James about his own “Dad jokes,” since I think that James’ kid(s) are much younger than Kens.)
I loved Andrew’s bet on his DD when he was 2000 and James was zero was “all my points and all of James’ points”. My favorite part of the tournament so far, hearkening back to what James did to Brad Rutter in the GOAT tournament.
I said the exact same thing to a friend as soon as Andrew said that – to me, it was the best DD wager ever and definitely among the (many) Masters’ highlights. If Brad was watching, I hope it made him laugh seeing things finally come full circle for James!
The allusion to Sam’s strategic error was what, exactly? His final jeopardy bet of all in? I’m wondering what the rules are in a tie. Would they do a tiebreaker to determine who gets second? Or first for that matter? They obviously can’t split a point for second. In theory, they could split points for first, i.e. 2 each. But if a tiebreaker would be utilized, then is it really a strategic mistake to go all in for Sam? Even Andy said the right bet would be 0 or all in…and Sam went all in. Amodio on the other hand was tied for first, and bet 1000…that would seemingly be a bigger strategic error, betting wise, no? It happened to work out for him that game and he won, but if we’re looking at these things theoretically and not results oriented, I would love clarification on where Sam’s strategic blunders have occurred exactly.
Sam has been the only player in the event to, with a Daily Double still out, pick the category where the first one was.
It was even noted on Inside Jeopardy when he did it the first time, and he did it again tonight.
“Lemonade Lucy”
I considered this an easy FJ and surprising for this tournament.