No Bunching?

Those episodes of The Amazing Race where they don't have any bunching can be rough on those teams in the back of the pack. On the one hand, it's annoying how the previous week's results completely evaporate when they do have bunching. On the other hand, it really makes it difficult to catch up when you're already behind.

Such is the case with Katie & Rachel. They seemed to do pretty decent this past week, but they couldn't overcome their time deficit.

Week 5 Results
1st place - Nat/Kat (2.1x)
2nd place - Gary/Mallory (1.6x)
3rd place - Jill/Thomas (1.4x)
4th place - Michael/Kevin (1.3x)
5th place - Brook/Claire (.8x)
6th place - Nick/Vicki (.8x)
7th place - Chad/Stephanie (.4x)
8th place - Katie/Rachel (0x)

Risk & Reward

There was a good deal of discussion regarding the bonus game this past week, with me presenting the odds of winning as 1-in-10, with cahaya arguing it was much steeper, 1-in-28. Well, the results have spoken, and indeed I was correct.

Why? Because cahaya got the bonus correct, thereby proving my point about the odds! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Seriously, though, it was still a tough game. Aside from cahaya, only mikey got it correct. The majority of players were really close, missing only two answers... So most everyone was at least in the ballpark. Those who did get the bonus correct really reaped a nice bump in the standings.

The Greatest Gainer Award goes to newcomer Nume, who climbed 15 ranks overall with an All-In Nat/Kat bet. You're really racking up the hardware so far, huh?

The Perfect Bet Award goes to cahaya (4.4x), who had a monster of a week, thanks to that difficult bonus game. I'm starting to suspect a little gamesmanship, there, you know. Run in there and scare everyone off the bonus game, and then score points off of it yourself? I'm calling the Gaming Commission.

Leaderboard
1. Yogi - 282
2. vennui - 181
3. louislam - 134
4. cahaya - 120
5. ARNutz - 116
6. popeave - 99
7. mikey - 98
8. Belle Book - 80
9. Jims02 - 73
10. flipxycd - 72
11. kidflash212 - 67
12. Molaholic - 66
13. CTgirl - 66
14. sarah1234 - 53
15. Ontheroadagain - 53
16. Weez - 46
17. michel - 38
18. Snidget - 36
19. Georjanna - 32
20. beau_30 - 26
21. Nume - 24
22. MzTee - 23
23. KwietOne - 22
24. HistoryDetective - 22
25. Starshine - 21
26. chiubakka - 19
27. bbenzenberg - 19
28. shilfiell - 19
29. Deshawnator22 - 18
30. samboohoo - 18
31. jbenz - 14
32. FFantasyFX - 12
33. 5cats - 11
34. IanQuentin - 10
35. kduck - 10
36. Element King - 9
37. esquire - 7
38. vince3 - 5
39. taffnic - 5

Yogi is yet again in the top spot. For those still trailing behind, remember that the Casino Game is a marathon and not a sprint. If Yogi's up by 4x going into the final weeks, then you can send all the letters to my Complaint Department you want.

Week 6 Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - 1.5x
3rd place - 1.4x
4th place - 1.1x
5th place - .7x
6th place - .3x
7th place - 0x

Another non-symmetrical Payout Table. I don't know why I don't try them more often.

Bonus Game - It's PAT!

Like the sun rising in the morning, there is one thing you can count on in the TAR Casino Game. And that's the fact that we'll play the PAT Bonus Game sometime during the season.

This week players may wager on which team they think will be the PAT of the week, or the Painfully Average Team. It's the team that finishes right smack in the middle of the pack, which would be 4th place this week.

This is a separate bet from your regular wager, and you may only wager on one team for the PAT Bonus Game. It's an All-Or-Nothing bet too. So, if the team you pick finishes 4th, you win... But if they place anywhere else, you lose the bet. All PAT bets will be subject to the following Payout Table.

Bonus Payout Table
Correct Answer - 7x
Incorrect Answer - 0x

Max Bet - 13 points

7x is a pretty nice swing in points, so this could be a good opportunity to move up in the ranks.

TAR17 Teams Remaining
Brook/Claire
Chad/Stephenie (+0.3)
Gary/Mallory
Jill/Thomas
Michael/Kevin (+0.2)
Nat/Kat
Nick/Vicki (+0.1)

Good luck!

For those worried about the bonus game after last week's mathfest, I can assure you this week's is a 1-in-7 chance.