LAST EDITED ON 03-20-12 AT 08:32 PM (EST)

Death By Curling

That headline sounds like a long-lost Hercule Poirot novel or something. But, honestly, considering that Kerri & Stacey managed to beat Nary & Jamie at it, a more accurate headline would be "Death By Poor Directions." But that happens almost every week on The Amazing Race.

Really, it was more of an Attempted Murder by Curling, if anything.

Week 5 Results
1st place - Art/J.J. (2x)
2nd place - Joey/Danny (1.9x)
3rd place - Vanessa/Ralph (1.2x)
4th place - Rachel/Dave (1.1x)
5th place - Brendon/Rachel (.9x)
6th place - Bopper/Mark (.8x)
7th place - Nary/Jamie (.1x)
8th place - Kerri/Stacey (0x)

Who's In the Lead?

We started our first week of dares, and boy was it a doozy. Clearly, based on the race results, the consensus is mixed whether taking the Art/J.J & Dave/Rachel dare was a good strategy. On one hand, Art/J.J. finished 1st, locking out a 2x to everyone who took the dare. On the other hand, the Jersey Boys brought in a 1.9x payout, so there may have been an opportunity there.

Whatever the case, all players who completed the dare last week will be getting a 1.8x multiplier on all their profits this week. So, a nice +100 week will be a very nice +180.

(But first you gotta make a profit.)

Unfortunately, there is no Greatest Gainer Award because I accidentally forgot to copy the previous week's ranks into the proper column on my spreadsheet before doing the sort... And I'm not going to calculate all of them by hand. If anyone wants to check this for me, let me know and I'll edit it in!

The Perfect Bet Award goes to both Yogi and ARNutz, who thumbed their noses at the dare and doubled-up via Art/J.J. Gotta watch out for those previous TAR Casino champs. They're climbing through the ranks!

Leaderboard
1. KwietOne - 223
2. flipxycd - 220
3. michel - 217
4. Jims02 - 206
5. beau_30 - 206
6. louislam - 199
7. IanQuentin - 193
8. jbenz - 192
9. kduck - 182
10. MzTee - 181
11. esquire - 181
12. Georjanna - 178
13. CTgirl - 176
14. chiubakka - 166
15. Weez - 161
16. vennui - 149
17. Molaholic - 120
18. ARNutz - 114
19. Yogi - 112
20. shillfiell - 71
21. Ontheroadagain - 65
22. michiganhugefan - 65
23. FFantasyFX - 63
24. qwertypie - 61
25. sarah1234 - 55
26. bbenzenberg - 53
27. Starshine - 50
28. Scuba Steve - 46
29. Element King - 44
30. taffnic - 42
31. samboohoo - 40
32. alemattos - 38
33. Estee - 32
34. mikey - 30
35. Wallflower66 - 12
36. Max Headroom - 6

Profit Multiplier - 1.8x

KwietOne takes the lead away from last week's benevolent and good-looking leader... But it's still a very close race. It's also kind of difficult now to tell exactly who is in the lead anymore, since many players are now powered-up for a big payday!

Let's just say that the entire Top 7 should be looking over their shoulders nervously right now.

Week 6 Payout Table
1st place - 2x
2nd place - 1.5x
3rd place - 1.2x
4th place - Break even
5th place - .8x
6th place - .5x
7th place - 0x

Max Individual Bet - 110 points

I Dare You! I dare you to make your final Casino Game picks before Saturday, March 24th 2012.
-Any posts/edits that occur on Saturday or Sunday will make an entry ineligible for the dare. As usual, the time will be based on the RTVW clock.
Dare Bonus Multiplier - 1.4x (for next week)

Bonus Game - Playing it Straight

First bonus game of the year, so let's make it a good one.

In this game, players can make a side-bet on three TAR teams, in an attempt to make a three-team straight. In poker, a straight consists of five cards in ascending/descending order (like 9-8-7-6-5). However, in the TAR Casino Game, a straight is a set of three teams who finished back-to-back-to-back in the rankings.

For example, in last week's results:
Vanessa/Ralph, Dave/Rachel, and Brendon/Rachel would make a straight, since they placed all in a row (3rd/4th/5th). Same with Brendon/Rachel, Bopper/Mark, and Nary/Jamie (5th/6th/7th).

So, there's going to be more than one correct answer. It doesn't even matter what your intent was with the bet. In your head, you could pick your teams thinking they'd be 7th/6th/5th and they could end up finishing 2nd/3rd/4th... And you'd still win! The only thing I care about is whether the 3 teams finish back-to-back-to-back.

Straight Bonus Game
3-Team Straight - 7x
No Straight - 0x

Maximum Bet - 20 points

You may only make one bonus wager, and the limit is 20 points on that wager. A successful bonus wager will have two components, 1) the amount you're betting, and 2) the three teams you're picking for the straight.

A sample bonus entry could look like:

Bonus - 20 points
Nary/Jamie, Art/J.J., Bopper/Mark

TAR20 Teams Remaining
Art/J.J.
Bopper/Mark
Brendon/Rachel
Joey/Danny
Nary/Jamie
Rachel/Dave
Vanessa/Ralph

Good luck!

Yes, I did count out all 35 three-team combinations in order to calculate the proper odds for the bonus game. It comes out to exactly a 1-in-7 shot. There's a mathematical reason why, I'm sure, but I was never good at those combinations/permutations stuff. Kinda neat that it's 1-in-7 with only 7 teams left, though.