Want to go pro?!? Backers?!?

[BreakEvenPlayer]

So, I know we have all seen a ton of these posts, you're just going to have to endure another one.

Some background: I have been playing Jeopardy for over eleven years. Sometimes on my computer, sometimes in my imagination, and I have every version of the game all the way from original Nintendo to Playstation 2. My average score is 22,350 over the last 1,000 shows. I know that some people will say that this is not enough shows to be statistically significant but it should be enough to show what I am capable of.

There are times when I am watching the shows at home with friends and family and I will answer over 1/4 of the questions right and the rest of the people combined will only answer 6 or 7 right. Sometimes they complain that my home buzzer system is rigged so that I always get to answer first but I swear it's just that my hand-eye coordination, or thumb-speed, whatever you want to call it is much faster than everyone elses'. People will come up to me and say "Hey you should go pro with Jeopardy," and I will be like "I know just give me time." One of my weaknesses is that I only get Final Jeopardy right 13% of the time but I know this is a leak that can be improved.

Right now there is a guy on the show named Ken Jennings. He has won over 30 shows in-a-row and has made over 1,000,000 dollars. I think with enough training I can be capable of these numbers.

I was wondering what everyone thought, has anyone else ever gone pro? The other thing is that I could send everyone my stats and I am looking for some backers. Everyone knows that the main show is not where the money is made, it's the Jeopardy side games. Trebek even has a game every weeknight in his house where the stakes are in the hundreds of thousands (I promise to stay away from the booze and drugs). I have some money from previous Wheel of Fortune ventures but not enough to tackle the inevitable swings of these side games. If anyone wants to go in on this just PM me and we can discuss details. I know this probably belongs in the One-Table Tourney forum but bear with me folks.

[Pokergod]

Absolute F'ing Classic!

I laughed while reading the entire thread. Very good.

PG

[Kevin]

I get so jealous of those guys, just standing on the rail knowing that I have what it takes to beat those guys. I especially like when the big stack goes all in on Final Jeopardy and has the other stacks covered. Answers don't even matter at that point - they can run without the ball.

[jdl22]

I think you may have potential but I'm still not convinced you've got the stuff right now. Before I consider backing you I want a few things clarified:

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En respuesta a:</font><hr />
My average score is 22,350 over the last 1,000 shows.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this under the old system when the values on the board were 100-500 for single jeopardy and 200-1000 for double or the current 200-1000/400-2000 system? This makes a huge difference. I hope you didn't combine data from both of these systems because that would further decrease your already small sample size.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En respuesta a:</font><hr />
There are times when I am watching the shows at home with friends and family and I will answer over 1/4 of the questions right and the rest of the people combined will only answer 6 or 7 right.

[/ QUOTE ]

How smart are these friends of yours? Are they MIT grads or only moderately above average in intelligence?

Also which 1/4 of the questions are you getting right? Is it normally the top half of the board, the bottom or a mix? Since there are only 3 players I hope it's the bottom.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En respuesta a:</font><hr />
I think with enough training I can be capable of these numbers.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK here is how I would reccomend training:
1. read all the books you can. TOJ is a must if you haven't read it and if you have reread it. I would also highly reccomend JFAP and other books such as almanacs and the guiness book of records.

2. start at lower levels that you and your bankroll can handle and work your way up. Enter some childrens tourneys. When you are dominating those move up to the teen tournament. When you become that champion there move up to the College tournament.

Make sure you don't move up until you are ready. The college tour is where the competition really starts to get tough. I know of a lot of people that ran over the child and teen circuit but were still not ready mentally to handle the college game but against the advice of many on the jeopardy forums moved to LA anyway. Needless to say they couldn't handle the pressure and swings of the college game and are now working as fact checkers and judges.

3. Understand that swings are just part of the game. Sometimes the categories will just slap you in the face and be things like "BreakevenPlayer's hometown" "Breakevenplayer's favorite sports team" "Poker" "things nobody knows about but the writers of the show and breakevenplayer" and so on. Other times you will get "cold categoried" and they will be things like "some country breakevenplayer hasn't heard of" and "writers who's name breakevenplayer has heard, though he knows nothing about."

4. Don't tilt. Many a strong jeopard player has busted by tilting when faced with such things as the buzzer captain ("how could make it a true daily double with such little knowledge of the subject!"), a bad run of answers, and of course Trebek getting a little too personal with the questions during the break period that has move since the show started.

If you follow these principles you can do it.

[Sully]

I predict BIG things for both this young man and his thread.

[Frogger]

JFAP - Jeopardy for Advanced Players

CLASSIC

[BreakEvenPlayer]

I knew there would be a lot of flames... Almost every day there is a post where someone asks about going pro. Thanks for you well thought out post jdl, you make some interesting points.

[ QUOTE ]
Is this under the old system when the values on the board were 100-500 for single jeopardy and 200-1000 for double or the current 200-1000/400-2000 system?

[/ QUOTE ]

My 1,000 scores are all under the new scoring system.


[ QUOTE ]
How smart are these friends of yours? Are they MIT grads or only moderately above average in intelligence?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, Suzie is pretty smart, I think she has a Masters in accounting. Tom, he's an imbecile, and Joe, I think he took an online IQ test and was within striking distance of genius. They're fair enough competition, but I think my getting 1/4 of the answers right is more important.

[ QUOTE ]
I would also highly reccomend JFAP and other books such as almanacs and the guiness book of records.

[/ QUOTE ]

This one's kind of insulting. You know I've read JFAP, it's the seminal book on Jeopardy strategy. I have my qualms with the book though. Many of the strategies that the authors suggest are for the Jeopardy games that were taking place back in the late-70's and early 80's. Those strategy certainly don't apply to today's looser and more aggressive games. For example, if I have a $2000 dollar lead and hit a Daily Double on a Group II category, JFAP would advise me to wager $1000 as a lead-saving move. Today I think I would be giving up a lot with a move like that. We're talking about a Group II category, almost as good as it gets! One needs to be more aggressive in today's game, you need to punish the dummies with around a $3200 wager.

[ QUOTE ]
I know of a lot of people that ran over the child and teen circuit but were still not ready mentally to handle the college game but against the advice of many on the jeopardy forums moved to LA anyway. Needless to say they couldn't handle the pressure and swings of the college game and are now working as fact checkers and judges.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the best part of your post. I also know people who have made the move to LA and failed. I know the odds are against me. But I feel I would already be a consistent winning player at the college level and with a little more experience I could compete well at the top.

Thanks for the advice.

[steamboatin]

I recommend celebrity jeopardy. It's the fishiest Jeopardy ever. Only one easier is Sports hero jeopardy

[davidross]

Go for it, I wish you luck. I'd love to try it too, but we don't have legalized Jeopardy in Canada yet. Anyone an affiliate at an online site?

btw. this made my day /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[TobDog]

gets my vote for post of the month.