On This Day: Megan Wachspress's Unconventional Streak Ends (2022); Dave Abbott Wins His 5th Game (1998)
Analyzing the concluding games of two historic TOC players.
The Last Multi-Day Streak of Season 38
Season 38 is probably the most memorable season of any year in Jeopardy! history. It’s known for producing some of the most well-known and beloved champions of all time: Matt Amodio (38x, $1,518,601), Jonathan Fisher (11x, $246,100), Andrew He (5x, $157,365), Amy Schneider (40x, $1,382,800), Mattea Roach (23x, $560,983), Ryan Long (16x, $299,400), and many more. Ryan’s last game on June 6th, 2022 was fatal, succumbing to a very strong 6-time champion in Eric Ahasic, who picked up $160,601 before his seventh and last game against Megan Wachspress, where his incorrect Final Jeopardy! response record caught up to him when he wasn’t able to secure his 6th runaway in a row.
Megan took advantage of an incorrect response from Eric by betting to cover his wrong response, rising from $10,000 to $17,201 while Eric fell from $18,600 to $17,199. She went on to replicate this kind of strategy not only from being correct, but being wrong and betting enough to make sure she still has more than her opponents on a Triple Stumper.
After winning $11,600 in a runaway in game 2, she won $5,601 in her third game after answering incorrectly while both of her opponents bet to cover one another. In her 5th game, she went from $10,000 to $401 in Final Jeopardy! in hopes of her opponent Tory Leviton ($10,200) being wrong and betting to cover her. Surely enough, he bet $10,000, and Megan Wachspress broke the record of lowest 5-day total in the show’s history with $52,002.
She went on to further excel despite being in third place yet again for her sixth game before Final Jeopardy!, going into final with $8,400, compared to $16,500 for Rob Kaplan and $12,200 for Jenny Sholar. This time, she was the only one correct and wagered $201 for a final total of $8,601, followed by wrong answers from both Rob and Jenny. Jenny dropped to $3,500, while Rob bet to cover Jenny with $7,901… leaving him with $8,599. Megan became a 6-time champion with $60,603, far below the previous low of $94,752 set by Christopher Short in 2011.
While this implies a lack of sufficient gameplay and the benefit of a lot of luck, Megan’s run displayed a foundation of how important wagering strategy was and how vital mathematical ability is in order for contestants to succeed on the show and earn a Tournament of Champions bid.
Megan’s Final Game in Regular Play
On June 22nd, 2022, exactly one year ago today, Megan went for a 7th win against opponents Sarah Brogen and Jeff Weinstock. The game was evenly matched from the beginning, though Megan’s wrong response on a Daily Double about malaria (bad air) in the first round may have sealed her fate for the game. The game continued to be on even footing throughout the rest of the game, with Sarah losing $4,000 on both Daily Doubles in the second round to go into Final Jeopardy! with $7,000, the same score as Megan’s other opponent, Jeff Weinstock.
What’s notable here is that a correct response on the first Daily Double from Megan would have netted her a $2,000 swing to her score before Final Jeopardy!, from $5,600 to $7,600. Alas, it wasn’t, and she went into Final Jeopardy! trailing for the sixth time in her seven games. Despite this development, she was in a good position to still win and it was also the easiest wager for her to make from a math standpoint.
With the situation Sarah and Jeff were in, they were under the expectation to both go all-in, making the wagering range for Megan between $0 and $5,599. The most notable situation that’s similar to this was Manny Abell's 3rd game, in which Manny’s opponents both had $12,300 while he collected just $1,000 before Final Jeopardy! He wagered $999 and answered incorrectly to finish with a dollar, with the expectation that both of his opponents would be wrong and wager it all, which is exactly what happened.
Regardless, Megan did make the recommended bet of $1,401 and answered correctly, bringing her score to $7,001, just ahead of her two opponents. A wrong answer would have brought her down to $4,199. Sarah was wrong and bet it all, leaving Megan wide open to a seventh victory against all odds. However, Jeff had the privilege of also answering correctly, making the bet of $4,202 to cover a double-up from Megan, thus winning the game with $11,202 and putting Megan’s unconventional run to an end. Megan was the 19th player to qualify for the 2022 Tournament of Champions and the last player to do so in season 38.
Note that a wrong response from both Megan and Jeff would have allowed Megan to win with $4,199 compared to $2,798 for Jeff.
Dave Abbott Wins His 5th Game
25 years ago on this day, a 4-time champion at the time named Dave Abbott went for his 5th win in hopes of retiring undefeated to compete in the 1999 Tournament of Champions the next year. Competing against challengers Jason Quick and Colleen McMahon, the match was even between him and Jason after the first round with Dave collecting $3,100 compared to $3,800 for Jason, who had the benefit of getting the Daily Double and answering correctly.
The second round was a different story though, for while Dave and Jason continued to compete on a pretty equal playing field, Dave picked up $3,000 on the first Daily Double while Jason found the last Daily Double on the 28th clue in the round. With $8,200 compared to $11,900 for Dave, he wagered $4,000 in the opportunity of taking the lead away from Dave. This was important for him to get correct as following the clue was only $1,400 left on the board. He wound up missing the clue, sealing his fate even with a correct response on the $1,000 clue. With Colleen picking up the last $400, it was a runaway game for Dave Abbott.
In the final clue regarding Islands, Dave was the only player to answer correctly, thus rendering anything else that happened during the end of the Double Jeopardy! round as non-effective of the overall outcome anyway. With an additional $1,499 to his total, Dave won the game with $13,399 for a 5-day total of $68,599 ($137,198 in current clue values) and was the highest-earning player of the 1999 Tournament of Champions line-up.
He returned in the 1999 Tournament of Champions, in which he faced off against 4-time champion Juliet Wiley and 5-time champion J.J. Todor in the finals. He went into day 2 in third place with $7,100, compared to $7,400 for Wiley and $9,000 for Todor. The deciding game was very close, though Dave Abbott had a very slight advantage over the other two, entering FJ! with $7,200 compared to $5,800 for J.J. and $4,100 for Juliet. Juliet was the only player to respond incorrectly, thus finishing in third for the tournament and with the minimum prize of $10,000.
J.J. Todor and Dave Abbott both bet everything, taking J.J. up to $11,600 for day 2, earning him a 2-day total of $20,600 while Dave doubled up to $14,400 for day 2, catapulting him into the lead with a 2-day total of $21,500. Dave Abbott won the tournament and was $100,000 richer as a result, becoming the 13th Tournament of Champions winner of the Trebek era as a result.
