5-Day Champion: Hannah Wilson
Attempt advantage, accuracy, and success in FJ drive Hannah's five wins
Author note: Normally I would have tried to get this out this morning - Hannah may already be a six-game champion where you live! - but it has been a day with work and that’s the thing that pays my bills. (Jeopardy paid some bills, but Jeopardy analysis has paid zero.)
Hannah Wilson qualified directly for the Tournament of Champions on Tuesday, wrapping up her fifth win. Although she missed that Final clue, that’s atypical for her, as she’s 4 for 5 on Finals and has been able to put together a dominant-feeling streak despite having only one runaway game. (I even did a check on that, not believing the number in the table.) As Hannah sets out on her second week as champion, let’s break down her gameplay.
Attempt Volume and Conversion
Hannah sits cleanly in the space of champions in a moderate-attempt environment. Her attempts are on the high side for the population at large, and almost always higher than her opponents, but they aren’t as high as champions from the first half of this season. This band of champions supplements this high-enough attempt volume with high conversion of those attempts into money.
For this graph, I’ve only shown 5+ game champions so Hannah’s dot is actually visible (and even then, it’s in a tight grouping), but it’s a space with a lot of variation in streak length and even includes some non-champions. You can see Mattea Roach and Ryan Long nearby. This is a space with long streaks being possible, but strengths in Final and with Daily Doubles help, alongside a normal amount of luck with opponents and categories.
Rhythm and Accuracy
Hannah is median among 5+ game champions in Buzz Value %, displaying good rhythm with the buzzer and a significant amount of solo attempting from how she outattempts her opponents. She’s also median in Accuracy Value %, displaying good knowledge and good judgement of what she knows.
Daily Doubles and Final
Although she doesn’t directly hunt for Daily Doubles at the start of each round, Hannah does go searching from time to time and has found a few more than expected. She also puts them to good use — although she rarely wagers everything, she often wagers quite large and quite successfully. Her average earnings on DDs per game is only passed by champions who have reputations for making large wagers.
And, of course, Hannah’s strength with Final Jeopardy shouldn’t be understated. She’s 4/5 on Finals so far while her opponents are 5/10 over those games. Of course, that one miss could have made the difference last night if it weren’t for a missed wager on Raquel’s part. But most streaks are a large part skill with some luck thrown in, and Hannah’s is no exception.