With only six games away from being in the top four of all-time Jeopardy! greats, Jamie Ding is being cautious. Fans are noticing a strategy change in the 26-game winner as he tries to target James Holzhauer‘s spot on the leaderboard.
Ding, a law student from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, entered his 27th game with a total of $732,000. With only a little over $16,000 to go until he reaches number five for the highest winnings, could he continue his streak?
He has answered 839 clues and made brave Daily Double wagers. This time, though, he seemed to hold back a little.
The bureaucrat played against Caroline Coughlin, from Somerville, Massachusetts, and Caleb Phillips, from Austin, Texas, on April 20. Warning: Spoilers for the April 20 episode of Jeopardy! ahead.
Ding only answered six of the first 10 clues until he found the Daily Double on clue 11. Out of $4,600, he wagered $2,400.
In “In Roget’s Thesaurus,” the clue read “‘Monology, self-address’: this onstage act of speaking to oneself.” “What is a soliloquy?” Ding answered correctly, which gave him $7,000.
Ding dominated the rest of the round, ending with $14,000. Phillips, an account manager, had $3,200. Coughlin, an economic researcher, was in third place with -$1,200.
In Double Jeopardy, a score change for the last clue in the first round changed everyone’s score. Ding had $14,200. Coughling had -$1,000. Phillips had $3,400.
Ding found the first DD on clue two. With $15,800 in his bank, he wagered $5,200. In “Old Names For Things,” the clue was “This NFL team first took to the field in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys.” “Who are the Bears?” he answered correctly, giving him $21,000.
Ding had a huge lead of $35,000 when he found the last DD on clue 25. He gambled a bit and wagered $13,000 in “The Family In The Plot.”
“OK, wow,” host Ken Jennings said.
The clue read, “The title of this Anne Tyler novel about Maggie & the Morans she marries into refers to instruction during pregnancy.” “What is Shake Well?” he answered incorrectly. The correct response was Breathing Lessons, so he dropped down to $22,000.
He ended the round with $24,000. Phillips had $10,000. Coughling was in third place with $1,800.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “Mountains.” The clue was “Heidi was set in Maienfeld, which is northeast from this 13,642-foot peak with a name that describes what Heidi is.” The correct response was Jungfrau, which none of the game show contestants answered.
Coughlin’s response was “What is Swiss?” She wagered all of her money, leaving her with $0. Phillips’ response was “What is Mont Blanc?” He wagered $0, giving him a final total of $10,000.
Ding’s response was “What is… the Eiger?” He wagered $3,000, making his final total $21,000. This ended Ding with a 27-day total of $753,000. He surpassed Cris Pannullo for fifth place on the Highest Winnings Regular-Game Play, who had $748,286. Ding is only five games away from tying Holzhauer’s record.
Reddit users reacted to Ding’s strategy change. “It’s starting to feel like Jamie has shifted his strategy away from trying to run up the score and is just playing to get himself in a safe position to ensure he’ll be back again tomorrow, and if his goal is to stretch out his run as long as possible, that’s probably the smartest play. Maybe I’m just reading into things, but it seems that once he’s in a position where he’s far enough ahead to have the run away, he stops ringing in except for some of the lower value easier clues. Some people are in it to make big bucks quick, and others are in it for the glory (and most want a bit of both), but I think if Jamie sticks to his conservative style of play, he has a good chance of at least reaching Matt [Amodio] or maybe Amy [Schneider]’s streak,” one fan said.
“It seems as though every time he makes a wager bigger than $5k the clue happens to be a part of the 1% of trivia that he doesn’t know the answer to,” another pointed out.
“Yeah, I think he is aware that the DD’s are a weak point for some reason and overly ambitious wagering on them is where a lot of previous super champs have gotten themselves in trouble, so a slow and steady wins the race strategy is probably more conducive to a long streak than go big or go home,” a third replied.
“Agreed. The greatest champ ever on the show employed the same strategy,” a fan commented.
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