Battle of the Decades preview: 2000s, game 14
| Battle of the Decades – preliminary round | ||||||||||||||
| 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| knockout rounds | ||||||||||||||
To see what happened, click here.
Today we’ve got the guy who’s spent more time on the Jeopardy! stage than anyone except for Alex Trebek. We’ve also got a TOC Champ and a College Champ who must have gotten on the contestant coordinators’ bad side.
Click to see the wagering history of:
Michael Falk, winner of 3 games and the 2005 TOC
Ken Jennings, winner of 74 games, and the runner-up in the UTOC
Vinita Kailasanath, winner of the 2001 College Championship
Prediction:
Tough to pick against Ken here; however, Michael has torn up some stiff competition, and Vinita has a great range of knowledge. I won’t be surprised to see one or both in striking distance heading into Final, although barring a huge Daily Double from one (or a botch from Ken), it’s likely Ken will hold the lead.
Michael Falk
Michael won 3 games in Season 22. That win total is usually insufficient to lock up a TOC berth, but Ken Jennings prevented anyone else from running up a streak for much of that qualifying period. (How ironic.) It wasn’t a fluke, though: Michael went on to win the TOC, beating strong players like Maria Wenglinsky, Vik Vaz, and Bill MacDonald along the way.
Michael wagered to win by a dollar in games 2 and 3, and was locked out in game 4.
Game 1 (04/04/06)
| Lizard | Michael | Craig |
| 16,800 | 16,200 | 1,800 |
Proper wager: 1,200 – 11,400
Actual wager: 1,201
Verdict: perfect wager, covering an “unsafe” one by Lizard (great name).
TOC semifinal (05/17/06)
| Michael | Maria* | Jason |
| 13,800 | 11,000 | 10,000 |
Proper wager: 8,201
Actual wager: 8,201
Ken Jennings
Do I need to say anything here? Nah. Ken has never trailed heading into Final in a single-game match, and has always tacked on the extra dollar out of fear of facing an experienced opponent.
Vinita Kailasanath
Vinita was the College Champion two seasons before I was, but played in my TOC because the taping of the 2003 edition conflicted with her final exams. She had a lead over Russ Schumacher heading into the last clue of her semifinal match, but second-guessed herself and missed the question. She fell victim to the gunslinging Mark Eckard in the second round of the UTOC; Mark amassed $14,000 on Daily Doubles alone in Double Jeopardy!.
TOC semifinal (09/27/04)
| Vinita | Russ* | Seth |
| 11,200 | 9,300 | 3,400 |
Proper wager: 7,401
Alternate wager: 600 (Shore’s Conjecture)
Actual wager: 7,401
UTOC Round 1 (02/16/05)
| David | Vinita | Steve |
| 20,000 | 14,600 | 5,400 |
Proper wager: 0 – 3,799
Alternate wager: 14,600
Actual wager: 3,800
Verdict: risking the tie with Steve. Why?!
Vinita did play against Mark Eckard in that round, but it was actually Brian Moore who risked a lot on the daily doubles.