LAST EDITED ON 11-26-08 AT 08:44 PM (EST)

Out of time

Andrew & Dan are running out of time. And I'm not just talking about Dan's feet during the Detour this week.

They've continually finished at the back of the pack, narrowly avoiding elimination each week. In fact, every week's "suspense moment" is always resolved by Andrew/Dan running to the mat in another second-to-last finish.

This week, they finally did finish last, but were non-eliminated. It proved that even a bad leg for Nick/Starr is better than an average leg for Andrew/Dan.

Week 9 Results
1st place - Toni/Dallas (2x)
2nd place - Ken/Tina (1.8x)
3rd place - Nick/Starr (.2x)
4th place - Andrew/Dan (0x)

Jump Ship!

The previews seemed to indicate rough waters for Nick/Starr last week and several players hopped off the bandwagon. The previews made good on their promise a they finished 3rd, good for a meager .2x finish.

In the bonus game, players made wagers on the span of time between Nick/Starr and Andrew/Dan left the pitstop. Nick/Starr left at 9:21 PM while Andrew/Dan left at 12:41 AM, a span of 3 hours and 20 minutes. CTgirl guessed it exactly, thereby earning the entire pool of points. 27 players participated, so CTgirl netted a nice 162 points. Nice.

(For bragging purposes, it's worth noting that SilverStar had the closest guess for N/S departure time with a guess of 9:48 PM)

Unfortunately, we had two more players bust out of the game, popeave and tribephyl. Both of them are a lot of fun to have, season after season, so it's a bummer they won't be around for the final weeks. Thanks for playing, you too.

A lot of "perfect bets" again so it's difficult to choose a Perfect Bet Award. This week's winners are AddieRacer and MzTee for both doubling up with All-In bets. You saavy gamblers, you.

AddieRacer also picks up the Greatest Gainer Award this week, gaining 6 ranks to #19 overall, leapfrogging several players (including yours truly).

Leaderboard
1. CTgirl - 1056
2. Yogi - 937
3. michel - 928
4. flipxcyd - 911
5. KwietOne - 898
6. ARNutz - 879
7. vennui - 852
8. 5cats - 765
9. beau_30 - 758
10. tvgeek401 - 587
11. Higgs - 580
12. sarah1234 - 551
13. mia rules18 - 478
14. kidflash212 - 476
15. esquire - 467
16. warp_core breach - 454
17. louislam - 436
18. Road Kill - 410
19. AddieRacer - 330
20. Jims02 - 299
21. jbenz - 285
22. SilverStar - 285
23. Ontheroadagain - 260
24. shilfiell - 240
25. dajaki - 188
26. bbenzenberg - 172
27. Seana - 168
28. Snidget - 133
29. Corvis - 131
30. IanQuentin - 118
31. Weez - 113
32. MzTee - 82
33. Starshine - 80
34. qwertypie - 28
35. ohmyheck - 14
36. Quepea - 7
37. FFantasyFX - 3
38. popeave - 0
39. tribephyl - 0

CTgirl was in 4th place last week and, thanks to the bonus, was able to snag the top spot. But will it last? We shall see.

Week 10 Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - 1.4x
3rd place - .6x
4th place - 0x

Max Individual Bet - 330 points

This week's table is called "Bonus," because its construction was strongly influenced by the Bonus game setup this week.

Bonus Game - The Bank is Open!

Here at Jims' TAR Casino, we're always looking for ways to raise the stakes. Hate the limits on the wagers? Want to make an even bigger wager than usual? Well, I've got a deal for you.

This week, I'll let you borrow up to 330 points, another max bet's worth. What's more, I'll let you bet on whatever team(s) you want with it, even if you've already laid a max bet on them with your own points. This wager would be completely separate on your other wagers, and would be subject to the same payout table.

For example, if you had 700 points this week, your wager might looks like:

330 points Toni/Dallas
330 points - Ken/Tina

Bank 40 points

Borrowing 330 points
330 points - Toni/Dallas

In this example, you'd essentially be betting 660 points on T/D, 330 of your own money and 330 of the loaned.

The only downside? I'm charging 40% interest. That's pretty high, even by my standards. This darn Wall Street thingy is hitting the financial sector hard.

That means, if you borrow the full 330 points this week, you have to pay back... (a) the 330 points I loaned you, and (b) 132 points (40%) in interest. That would be a total of 462 points I'd be collecting from you next week.

Now, if you turned the 330 points into 660, paying up wouldn't be such a big deal. But, if your wager yielded a 3rd or 4th place finish... Well, it might not be pretty. I still want my points back.

Remember, this wager counts separate from your regular wager. If you choose to borrow points, specify the number of points you're borrowing and label that wager separately. No flat 660-point wagers on one team; do two separate 330-pointers. And you don't have to borrow all 330 points. That's just the maximum loan I'm giving.

TAR13 Teams Remaining
Andrew/Dan
Ken/Tina
Nick/Starr
Toni/Dallas

Good luck, everyone! Everyone except Yogi, who is so totally going to kill me in Fantasy Football this week.

Is taking a loan while banking points fiscally illogical? I'm not sure.