Editor's Note: This episode of Post-Podium was recorded on December 3, 2022 - three days before Cris Pannullo lost his 22nd game to Andy Tirrell.
In this episode of Post-Podium, I am joined by John "TK" Focht, a 4-game Jeopardy! champion, a 2022 Tournament of Champions (TOC) semifinalist, and creator of j-ometry - a website which compiles statistics using historical game data from J! Archive and the official box scores published by Jeopardy! itself. I asked John some questions about what j-ometry can tell us, how it can be useful to future contestants, how it helped him prepare for the TOC, and the implications that j-ometry and "Jeopardata" can provide. We also discuss some of his original run from February 2021 as well as his winding path to the TOC. Finally, we break down three games of Jeopardy! and view them through the lens of j-ometry to see what the data can and cannot tell us about contestant performance.
Timestamps
0:14 - Intro
2:01 - John's introduction
2:31 - A game of telephone with MLB Network
4:55 - What is j-ometry?
11:06 - John explains the available stats on j-ometry
17:47 - What does a contentious game of Jeopardy! look like?
19:04 - Would it be possible to see who would win in a head-to-head-to-head matchup using j-ometry?
21:38 - What data should the Jeopardata team publish next to help improve j-ometry?
24:14 - How did John feel about his chances of qualifying for the TOC as more superchampions emerged?
33:30 - John's "preparation" for the TOC
38:11 - How can future Jeopardy! contestants use j-ometry in the same way it benefited John?
40:24 - John's reaction to his matchup against Courtney and rowan
42:53 - How did the data specifically affect John's strategy in the TOC?
52:54 - Analyzing game 4 of the TOC finals
1:00:22 - Analyzing Cris Pannullo's 11th game
1:05:36 - Analyzing Cris Pannullo's 15th game
1:11:42 - John on his 5th game loss to Lance St. Laurent
1:14:24 - Why the Jeopardy! staff is the best at what they do
1:19:45 - Wrapping up and promoting social media
1:20:30 - Outro
