Friday, November 13, 2015 – ToC2015 QF #5

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It’s been a fun week. Which of Alex, Scott, and Michael will join our slate of semifinalists?

Alex left little doubt that he is one of the favorites of this tournament, demolishing two very strong players on the buzzer and grabbing some obscure responses.

Both he and Michael went big on Daily Doubles, too.

Alex Jacob	Scott Lord	Michael Bilow
26,800	10,200	8,400

Scott and Michael are still in contention for those wild card positions, and both can make it through if they top 15,000. Here’s the category in question:

GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Historical data says Michael should almost certainly go big, while Scott has a range of options. (Strangely enough, that 4,900 wager would do the trick just fine, getting him to 15,100 if he’s right.)

	Alex	Scott	Michael
	26,800	10,200	8,400
Current percentile	—	61%	41%
20% confidence		0	3,300
30% confidence		2,300	7,200
40% confidence		4,900	8,100
50% confidence		4,900	8,100
60% confidence		5,400	8,100
70% confidence		6,300	8,100
80% confidence		6,300	8,100

What actually happened

Alex		Scott		Michael
26,800		10,200		8,400
143		4,000		8,400
26,657		6,200		0

A very tough Final clue stumps all three contestants again tonight. Other than that slam-dunk last night, contestants went 2/12 on the deciding clue. Rough week, particularly after their dominance on the main boards.

With that, John Schultz (15,000) and Dan Feitel (14,000) clinch those remaining two wild card spots. Here’s how they stacked up by day:

Mon QF #1	Dan Feitel	Vaughn Winchell	Catherine Hardee
	14,000	16,599	17,600
Tue QF #2	Greg Seroka	Brennan Bushee	Kristin Sausville
	11,500	18,000	12,800
Wed QF #3	Matt Jackson	John Schultz	Jennifer Giles
	24,898	15,000	3,800
Thu QF #4	Kerry Greene	Andrew Haringer	Elliot Yates
	22,000	19,400	7,200
Fri QF #5	Alex Jacob	Scott Lord	Michael Bilow
	26,657	6,200	0

Now I’ll take a stab at the match-ups for the semifinals, keeping in mind that there’s only one rule: players who faced off in the quarterfinals can’t meet in the semifinals.

Remember these are only a guess; the actual match-ups will be revealed by the Jeopardy! staff later this evening, I’m sure.

Matt – Andrew – Vaughn

Alex – John – Catherine

Kerry – Brennan – Dan

To all of the competitors in this ToC, thanks for a memorable first week of games!

The Final Jeopardy! clue

GREEK MYTHOLOGY

FAMOUS MOTHER OF PYRRHA, WHO SURVIVED THE GREAT FLOOD AND WITH HER HUSBAND REPOPULATED THE EARTH

[spoiler]Who is Pandora?[/spoiler]

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