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November 30, 2004
Goodbye, Ken
Ken Jennings is about to lose on Jeopardy! Here's what's going to happen:
Ken is smarter than everyone else. I don't mean that he knows more answers, but he knows how to play Jeopardy! better than anybody else. He's not perfect though. He gets a lot of ridiculous answers right, but he can come up with better, more logical guesses than most players when he doesn't know the answer. It's always a gamble when he has to do this. More often than not, this pays off (literally), but when you gamble, you eventually lose.
I think that Ken's going to miss a Daily Double or two. That won't kill him because he's smart about his wagers. If that doesn't happen, another player, who will have to be pretty smart in the first place, is going to aggressively bet on the Daily Doubles, which will get them close to or ahead of Ken.
It won't be over until Final Jeopardy, when I predict somebody will barely edge out Ken when they are within half of his dollar amount (more likely closer than that). Ken won't be able to keep himself safe if they have more than half of his amount.
One of two things will happen: 1. Ken won't bet enough to keep himself safe even if he gets it right or 2. He'll get it wrong.
I think the former is more likely, and one of the other players will bet it all, and come out with enough to beat Ken. I've been saying all along that that's all somebody needs to do if they're within half of his total. Only 21 minutes until I find out if I'm right. I'm putting my money on the kid.
Posted by Chris Coleman at November 30, 2004 06:56 PM