Battle of the Decades preview: QF #5

Battle of the Decades – knockout rounds
Quarterfinals					Semifinals			Finals
1	2	3	4	5	1	2	3	1	2
preliminary round

One game left. Three spots on the line, including one guaranteed to the winner of this match. In the pink corner: the Bouncing King. In the orange corner: the Southern Gentleman. In the blue corner: the Tricky Teacher.

I’m so torn over this one; it could go any way. Chuck, as always, will live or die by Final Jeopardy!; perhaps one or both of the other players will follow him into the abyss (or to semifinal glory). This is the one game in which I could see all three candidates moving on to the next round.

Chuck Forrest

Chuck fought a tough battle with India Cooper; his overly aggressive wager could have allowed Jim Scott to win from distant third.

BOTD prelims (02/03/14)

India	Chuck	Jim
18,500	16,700	3,200

Proper wager: 3,600 – 10,299
Actual wager: 16,700

And when the wild card was on the line in the Million Dollar Masters, he didn’t hesitate there, either.

TOC quarterfinal (11/14/86)

Chuck	Gary	Guy
11,000	3,000	2,600

Wager: 1,000

Million Dollar Masters quarterfinal (05/03/02)

Leslie F*	Chuck	Eric
21,700	16,000	10,000

Wager: 16,000

Mark Dawson

Mark played conservatively in Final against Dave Abbott, banking on a big wager from his fellow TOC champ. He got it – as well as the tough clue he was looking for.

BOTD prelims (03/06/14)

Dave	Mark D	Claudia
16,200	13,600	5,800

Proper wager: 5,400 – 7,199
Alternate wager: 0 – 1,999
Actual wager: 1,999

In his TOC quarterfinal, he preferred to stay above third (and stay above second’s pre-Final score) than to make a big wager to claim the automatic semifinal bid.

TOC quarterfinal (05/06/03)

Mark	Trevor	Max
16,000	15,000	7,600

Wager: 799

Colby Burnett

Colby had one of the savviest wagers of the tournament, recognizing his own limitations and receiving a proper reward against a strong Celeste DiNucci.

BOTD prelims (03/31/14)

Colby	Celeste	Tom N
16,400	16,200	7,400

Proper wager: 16,001
Alternate wager: 1,200 or 8,600
Actual wager: 199

Colby, like many in this field, has also played in two tournaments. He targeted the 20,000 amount in the Teachers Tournament, and 16,400 in his TOC. (In his shoes there, I would have wagered at least 801, so he made a solid play.)

Teachers Tournament quarterfinal (11/07/12)

Colby	Michael	Diana
19,800	14,000	13,800

Wager: 201

TOC quarterfinal (02/14/13)

Colby	David	Joel
15,200	11,600	5,800

Wager: 1,200