LAST EDITED ON 05-10-11 AT 10:07 PM (EST)Girl Power
It's kinda neat how The Amazing Race went 16 straight seasons without a female/female team winning and now they've gone two in a row. Kisha and Jen ran a really consistent race, one of the most consistent ever, and managed to win the one that counts.
Especially after being dogged all season about that bathroom break that "cost them the game", they definitely deserve the victory.
Finale Results
1st place - Kisha/Jen (2x)
2nd place - Flight Time/Big Easy (1.3x)
3rd place - Gary/Mallory (.7x)
4th place - Zev/Justin (0x)
A Weird Final
This was one of the weirdest final weeks of scoring. Usually, the last set of wagers are a bunch of All-Ins, but the presence of the bonus game lead to a lot of interesting strategies. Here's a few observations.
1. Gary/Mallory was by far the most popular pick, with the grand majority of players picking them to win. Their 3rd place finish was clearly a surprise to our field.
2. Not a single person picked Gary/Mallory to finish 3rd. And considering that doubles were on in this finale week, that was a potential +350 points left on the table.
3. ARNutz only wagered 167 points on the main game. Considering how close some of the scores were, this was a somewhat surprising development.
4. Two players in the Top 10 went for Kisha/Jen only. With so many Gary/Mallory picks, that's a good opportunity to climb to the top.
5. 4 people busted out of the game. That's actually kinda low for the finale week, especially considering how bloody the regular game was.
Enough teasing the results. It's time to get down to business.
(highlight the Top 10 to see)
(also)
(scroll)
(down)
Leaderboard
1. ARNutz - 1138
2. CTgirl - 852
3. Jims02 - 837
4. Ontheroadagain - 820
5. Yogi - 702
6. Belle Book - 645
7. beau_30 - 607
8. Corvis - 602
9. esquire - 521
10. michel - 509
11. KwietOne - 469
12. vennui - 357
13. flipxycd - 280
14. chiubakka - 190
15. samboohoo - 139
16. bbenzenberg - 120
17. kidflash212 - 108
18. Travelor - 78
19. FFantasyFX - 55
20. kduck - 48
21. Snidget - 38
22. dragonflies - 36
23. louislam - 33
24. Starshine - 23
25. VisionQuest - 18
26. alemattos - 17
27. Element King - 13
28. popeave - 4
29. Scuba Steve - 0
30. cahaya - 0
31. Georjanna - 0
32. jbenz - 0
In the end, it was ARNutz who came away with the win, with CTgirl earning the Silver Medal for 2nd place and, uh, some guy named Jims02 winning the bronze. Both CTgirl and Jims02 played a solid game throughout, sticking around in the Top 10 throughout. CTgirl managed to avoid the big penultimate week shake-out, while Jims02 basically hedged every week worse than a Wall Street stockbroker.
Nice job, CTgirl. Nice job, me. 
This win is an appropriate win for ARNutz, since ARNutz is Nutz about, uh, TAR. 'Nutz played a solid game all the way through, with the first big move being in Week 7, climbing into the Top 3. The Week 8 Shakeout tossed a lot of players down the ranks, including ARNutz who fell down to 6th place, but rebounded very nicely the following week. 'Nutz managed to snag the lead in the final week and managed to hang in there with a very astute Globetrotters wager.
Congratulations, ARNutz, you are officially in the TAR Casino Game Hall of Fame!
Previous Casino Game Champions
TAR5 Casino Game - zombiebaby
TAR6 Casino Game - VA Slim
TAR7 Casino Game - esquire
TAR8 Casino Game - Neobie
TAR9 Casino Game - Neobie
TARX Casino Game - bighair
TAR All Stars Casino Game - Higgs
TAR12 Casino Game - KwietOne
TAR13 Casino Game - CTgirl
TAR14 Casino Game - 5cats
TAR15 Casino Game - taffnic
TAR16 Casino Game - Yogi
TAR17 Casino Game - Yogi
TAR18 Casino Game - ARNutz
And you stopped Yogi's hat trick, you meanie.
And the rest of you guys? Well, you all get a Snapple. In addition, I'll sell you guys Snapples for 5 points a piece (and 4 points for you, popeave). 
Overall, this was a pretty bloody season of the TAR Casino Game, with 12 of our original 44 players getting whacked before the final week. So, really, just making it to the final week is a nice accomplishment.
Playing the Corny Music
If this were a sitcom, this would be the part where they play the sappy music and we all learn a lesson. And, really, if there's anything we ever learn from this game is that gambling increases enjoyment of entertainment... The best moral there could be.
Seriously, though, I say it every year but it's true. It's the players that keep this game going, year after year, so I'd like to thank every single one of you for playing. It's kinda interesting how millions and millions of people watch TAR each week, but such a small percentage have a rooting interest in the outcome each week. It's almost like an underground club we have here.
But don't worry, unlike Fight Club, you're allowed to talk about the TAR Casino Game.
As always, I like to get feedback on the game each season so I can further improve it. I make it a point to make every version of the game a little different, with a grand overarching gimmick. So this is way for me to gauge what people like and don't like, so I can come up with new ideas for you all.
So here's a quick survey you can answer (if you so desire).
1. Do you prefer a limit or no limit game?
2. What did you think of the gimmick this season of opening up the wagers to Individual Bonus Wagers?
3. Do you have any ideas for future gimmicks/bonuses I haven't tried? Are there any you remember that I should bring back?
4. What is your favorite color?
That's it for me. Turn in your surveys at the front desk and one of my aides will pick it up later. As for me, it's time for a vacation.
I'm going to admit this here, but I actually crunched the numbers to figure out what to wager last week (hence the 53 point wagers). If Gary/Mallory would have finished 1st, I would've edged out CTgirl by 2 points for the win. 
(But then Gary/Mallory finished 3rd and my 53 point wager cost me 2nd place. So I think I deserve losing that spot in the rankings.)
My wager would've also screwed with ARNutz if she woulda gone Gary/Mallory too (and it would've come down to bonus picks), but Nutzy was too clever for me and went Globetrotters.
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