Ep 367: Paul Merry, Angie Pearce (January 24, 2012)

There's a little talk with Paul about the psychology of poker playing, but there's nothing of substance said.

Tonight's challenger is Angie Pearce, a retired teacher and quiz show aficionado.  She has been on The Einstein Factor, Sale of the Century (twice, which may simply mean that she won once and returned the next day), Pass the Buck, The Weakest Link, Mastermind, Jeopardy, and a couple of others that slip her mind at the moment.  Richard asks if she needed different talents or approaches to them, but as she points out they were mostly all games of general knowledge; the only other ability required was to buzz in first.

(As an aside, her appearance on The Einstein Factor was in episode ten of series two, originally aired on April 17, 2005; her special topic was "CS Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia".  I was given the show's quiz book for Christmas, so I looked up the associated questions and was able to get 11 of the 15 correct, which I'm pleased with given how long it is since I last read them.  Of course, I wasn't under the time pressure that she would have been (which was often exacerbated by Peter Berner stumbling over reading the questions), although I did aim to answer them quickly.)


Angie gets a good lead on Paul in the first two rounds -- in much the same way that Paul did to Maurie in yesterday's game -- but Paul reclaims it in the next two rounds due to good numbers work and an invalid word from Angie.  The remaining letters rounds are equal and they trade results in the numbers, so the scores are all tied up going into the conundrum.  It proves to be too difficult for them both so a second is required, and Angie solves that to take the victory, 43 to 33.

I had good letters performance today, but let myself down badly in the numbers.  I solved the second conundrum but not the first, for what ended up being a very easy win.

As usual, details after the jump.

Ep 366: Maurie Williams, Paul Merry (January 23, 2012)

It's Maurie's fourth night, and the conversation is back to fishing.  Richard asks what Maurie's "best version of fishing" is, and Maurie doesn't really answer that but does get to talk a bit about his various fishing activities.  Where he lives ("in the bay" -- presumably Hervey Bay from later remarks) there's quite a long pier and they get some good mackerel and giant trevally there.  But he and his kids like to go out to the reefs in his "small tinnie" (a boat with a lightweight metal hull, for any non-Australians who end up reading this) and catch some reef fish; every now and then they make it over to Fraser Island to catch some mud crabs and fresh prawns.

Tonight's challenge is Paul Merry, a mechanical engineer and poker player.  He's been in Las Vegas as a professional poker player; he notes the benefits of being able to set your own hours, but the important (more profitable) games are on the weekend so that you have to work very hard then.  A poker player's weekend is during the week, as he puts it.


Paul gets off to a flying start with fifteen unanswered points from the first two rounds.  Maurie manages to gain back the ground in numbers rounds and the scores are tied at the second break.  Maurie gets ahead in the letters, only for Paul to outdo him in the final numbers round.  The one-point advantage that this gives Paul proves decisive as neither is able to solve the conundrum.  Paul wins, 34 to 33.

I was slightly off the pace on the early letters rounds, and slow on the conundrum. although I got it; solid numbers play and a good final letters round saw me home for a comfortable win.

As usual, details after the jump.