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Warning: This page contains spoilers for the May 16, 2023, first 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 8:00 PM Eastern.
This game’s Jeopardy! Masters contestants:
Sam Buttrey, an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School from Pacific Grove, California (2 points) |
Mattea Roach, a writer & podcaster from Toronto, Ontario, Canada (7 points) |
Andrew He, a software developer from San Francisco, California (9 points) |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Tonight’s opening game sees Andrew He, Mattea Roach, and Sam Buttrey paired with each other. Sam needs to win both tonight and tomorrow if he wants to qualify for the semifinals. Both Andrew and Mattea are in good positions, but they’ll both need one more good result to qualify.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! Masters today? Here’s the Tuesday, May 16, 2023 Jeopardy! Masters (game 1) by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: All The Way From “K” To “K”; A River Runs Through It; Nonfiction; Current U.S. Governors; To The Nines; Movie Music With Hans Zimmer)
Mattea got off to the best start, but Andrew pulled back close thanks to the Daily Double. Sam struggled early on with incorrect responses and barely pulled himself out of the hole before the end of the round.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Mattea 9 correct 1 incorrect
Andrew 11 correct 2 incorrect
Sam 5 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Mattea $6,000
Andrew $5,200
Sam $400
Today’s interviews:
Sam attended boarding school in England and broke his jaw playing rugby.
Mattea had the same number of wins as their age during their initial streak.
Andrew went to the same high school as Mayim Bialik.
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Geodyssey; Women In History; Science; Pop Culture Masquerade; German Words & Phrases; Ken Jennings: International Nerd Of Mystery)
In the first 7 clues, Andrew found both Daily Doubles, and dropped to $0 twice. Incredibly, he was unfazed—and battled back into a commanding position going into Final! Mattea sat second and Sam third.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Andrew 26 correct 5 incorrect
Mattea 14 correct 1 incorrect
Sam 10 correct 3 incorrect
Scores going into Final:
Andrew $13,200
Mattea $8,400
Sam $5,600
Final Jeopardy category: World Cities
Final Jeopardy! clue: This capital city founded in 1567 was where the founding statute of OPEC was adopted in 1961
Correct response: What is Caracas, Venezuela?
Sam crossed out the correct response, but Mattea and Andrew got Final correct. The betting was unusual, but Andrew got 3 points, Mattea 1, and Sam 0.
Tonight’s results:
Sam $5,600 – $2,801 = $2,799 (What is Riyadh Riyadh? Caracas?)
Mattea $8,400 + $2,801 = $11,201 (What is Caracas?)
Andrew $13,200 + $1,900 = $15,100 (What is Caracas?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) TO THE NINES $800 (clue #12)
Andrew 1600 +1600 (Mattea 4000 Sam -2000)
2) SCIENCE $1200 (clue #4)
Andrew 8000 -8000 (Mattea 6000 Sam 2400)
3) THE GEODYSSEY $1200 (clue #7, $25200 left on board)
Andrew 3600 -3600 (Mattea 6000 Sam 400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -100
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Andrew 5 5 5 4*
Mattea 5 5 4 4 4 5 4 3
Sam
DJ! Round:
Andrew 5 3* 5 4 3*
Mattea
Sam 4 3
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Andrew 4.33
Mattea 4.25
Sam 3.50
Game Stats:
Andrew $24,000 Coryat, 26 correct, 5 incorrect, 43.86% in first on buzzer (25/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Mattea $8,400 Coryat, 14 correct, 1 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Sam $5,600 Coryat, 10 correct, 3 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,000
Lach Trash: $6,800 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $9,200
Player Statistics:
Andrew He, career statistics:
416 correct, 55 incorrect
29/34 on rebound attempts (on 77 rebound opportunities)
33.68% in first on buzzer (384/1140)
25/33 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $104,600)
9/20 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,470
To win: 23.3%
To make finals: 74.0%
To make semifinals: 100.0%
Mattea Roach, career statistics:
792 correct, 84 incorrect
39/47 on rebound attempts (on 131 rebound opportunities)
41.74% in first on buzzer (755/1809)
34/42 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $75,800)
22/32 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,988
To win: 21.3%
To make finals: 73.0%
To make semifinals: 100.0%
Sam Buttrey, career statistics:
363 correct, 50 incorrect
15/18 on rebound attempts (on 59 rebound opportunities)
35.51% in first on buzzer (364/1025)
10/13 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $27,200)
7/18 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,289
To win: 0.0%
To make finals: 0.0%
To make semifinals: 0.0%
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score: Jeopardy! Masters Box Score for May 16, 2023 (Game 1).
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Andrew $13,200 Mattea $8,400 Sam $5,600)
Andrew: Standard cover bet over Mattea is $3,601. (Actual bet: $1,900)
Mattea: It’s a crush position. Go all in. (Actual bet: $2,801)
Sam: You have to bet at least $4,001 to have any chance of winning. (Actual bet: $2,801)
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Mattea and Andrew seemed to overthink it. Should have just followed your suggestions. Would have had the same outcome, I suppose.
Though, to me, the “answer” seemed akwardly phrased, I understood what the correct response would be, if only I had known where OPEC is headquartered.
OPEC was founded in Caracas but is now headquartered in Vienna, which was my first guess, but of course I realized Vienna has been around a lot longer than 1567.
Indomitable performance by Andrew in Double Jeopardy. And yes, the betting in FJ didn’t make much sense.
They both bet to close out Sam. Andrew bet so that he couldn’t get lower than 2nd. Mattea bet guaranteed her at least second if she was right. Sam, at that point would have gotten 2nd if Mattea was stumped and third if Mattea was right. Either way, he was out of the running for the semifinals.
This was a bit tricky for me. I was misdirected to think of Baghdad at first as I recalled that as being the site for the first meeting of the original OPEC members. I then realized that the date was pointing to a much younger country, which figured to be Venezuela (not even realizing that Kuwait City is actually younger!😅).
Andrew wagered to keep Sam locked out and mathematically eliminate him from the tournament. Not saying that was the best strategy, but it was what he was wagering to do. And it also assured him of at least one point.
I believe he was wagering to ensure he got one point because it would put him six up on Amy. Because he already had three wins and she could reach two at most, the one point would’ve clinched his semifinals spot.