Daily analysis, November 15 – Teachers Tournament QF #5
| 2013 Teachers Tournament | |||||||||
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
We’ve reached the end of the first week! We now know our field for the semis.
Although there is little strategic advantage to evenly-spaced scores since we’re in the quarterfinals, I loved that Penultimate Wager by Cathy! Too bad it didn’t work out for her, because she might have qualified as a wild card given how Final went.
Cathy Bloedorn: 6,400
Timothy Shuker-Haines: 13,400
Michael Townes: 16,400
Strong start by Timothy; strong charge by Michael. If only Michael knew he could wager zero and move on!
Since Michael went small here, I would have preferred no more than 2,400, since Timothy might wager 599 to stay above Cathy.
How white were Katie’s knuckles as the responses were revealed?
Quarterfinal winners:
Anne Baxter
Patrick Dillon
Eli Barrieau
John Pearson
Timothy Shuker-Haines
Wild-card standings:
Mary Beth Hammerstrom: 20,000 (clinched)
Becky Giardina: 18,801 (clinched)
Maryanne Lewell: 18,800 (clinched)
Katie Moriarty: 16,400 (clinched)
Michael Townes: 13,800
Cathy Bloedorn: 12,795
Rico Vazquez: 11,400
Karen Cafaro: 6,000
Kati Sorenson: 399
James Brown: 0
The cut-off of 16,400 is tied for the 19th-highest of the records I have, out of a total of 89 tournaments.
With five females, my guess is they’ll have an all-female semifinal to guarantee at least one moves on. (Katie Moriarty would have to be involved, for reasons I explained in my video.)
The Final Jeopardy! clue for November 15, 2013:
PLAY CHARACTERS
IN PETER ROACH’S PHONETICS GLOSSARY, THIS ALLITERATIVE GUY IS “THE BEST-KNOWN FICTIONAL PHONETICIAN”
Correct response: Who is Henry Higgins?
Now there’s an interesting rules question. Suppose Michael does wager zero. He finishes with 16,400, the same as Katie Moriarty. How is that tie broken? Does Katie walk up out of the audience to play a tiebreaker against Michael?
A tie for the last wild-card spot goes to whoever had the higher score heading into Final in his own game. This is how the six-way tie (at zero!) was resolved in the 2003 TOC.