The Final Jeopardy question (10/26/2011), in the category Death of an Author, was:

“In 1940 at age 44 he died of a heart attack at his Hollywood home while reading his Princeton Alumni weekly”

After winning Tuesday’s match with a big ol’ $34,401, Dr. Gabor Vari returned today to take on newcomers: Abigail Gardner from Virginia and Ryan McCune from Utah. Will one or both of them prove to be a stronger player than Gabor?

Gabor started out a little shaky in the Jeopardy! round, then he slayed the Goin’ Solo category, giving him a good lead. Too bad the Daily Double wasn’t in there. It was in Legalese. Gabor got that and bet $4,000. He lost it because he thought an adverse witness was called an argumentative witness. (Guess he never saw a TV attorney ask the judge for permission to treat the witness as hostile).

Gabor seemed to be doing quite a bit of guessing and that’s why he ended up in second place at the end of this round with $3,800. Abigail was third with $2,200 and Ryan had the lead with $4,400.

Gabor got the first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy! after jumping into the lead again. It was in What’s New in Archaeology: “Device used by Terry Herbert to find the ‘Staffordshire Hoard’ of buried Anglo-Saxon gold.” He had $9,600 and throwing caution to the wind, again bet $4,000. He really did not know the answer and had to guess, but this time it paid off. He was right!

Ryan got the second Daily Double in State’s Rights (where they gave the name of a state and you had to give the neighboring state with the longest border on its right on a map). He had half of Gabor’s total of $13,600 and was quite tempted to bet it all, but settled for $4,000. He knew what was to the right of Tennessee and that put him in a better position for a little bit.

Gabor figured out he should only try to answer questions he knew and ended up with an impressive $19,200. Ryan ended Double Jeopardy with $12,000 and Abigail had $3,000 going into Final Jeopardy.

All three contestants got the correct answer.

WHO IS F. SCOTT FITZGERALD?

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, author of (among other works) “This Side of Paradise,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Tender is the Night,” died on December 21, 1940 (gravesite) from a heart attack. It was his second heart attack that year. Fitzgerald (generally called Scott) was a second cousin, three times removed, of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Abigail bet $2,999 for a total of $5,999.

Ryan bet $5,999 taking him to $17,999. Alex said he would be the new Jeopardy champion if Gabor made a large wager and was wrong.

But Gabor wasn’t planning on being wrong. He was planning on winning by a buck in case Ryan bet it all and he was right. He bet $4,801, bringing today’s total to $24,001. His two-day haul is $58,402.

Another great game and we are looking forward to Gabor’s return tomorrow at which time, we assume, he will continue to refrain from guessing.