Deal or No Deal - 1st-7th October

Well, after a pretty uneventful September, we began the new month on Monday with a clear mind, and, boy, did we get a good game to go with it!

Monday 1st: Ollie

Winnings: £26,000

Dealt at: 11-box

Highest offer: £26,000 (11-box)

Box value: £500

Ollie came across as a good strong board reader on the wings, and also stood out for the unusually high number of big sums he had in his box. The Banker was clearly prepared for a good scrap with him, as shown by an ultra-generous first offer of £19,000. An equally generous £21,000 followed at the second offer. £26,000 at 11-box was perhaps the most generous offer of the game, so dealing it was absolutely sensible, no matter what the Wakey brigade will say.

And you couldn’t have asked for a better proveout, with the highest value going in the first two proveout rounds (£250,000 in Round 4, and £100,000 in 5), and, although £35,000 stayed to the end, it was not in the box. A superb game to lift our spirits at the start of the new month.

Unfortunately, the rest of the week failed to live up to the high standards of Ollie’s game.

Tuesday 2nd: Zara

Winnings: £10,000

Dealt at: 8-box (for £9,000)

Highest offer: £60,000 (2-box)

Box value: £250,000

Zara was a pleasant enough young lady, but she certainly made things easy for the Banker. She let slip early on that £10,000 was her target, which is not sensible, as the Banker will then know he can get you cheap. £9,000 at 8-box would be far too low for most of us, but Zara took the money. Unfortunately, a horrendous proveout saw the Jackpot be in her box. The disappointment was suffered somewhat when the Banker gave Zara a mystery envelope as part of her deal, which read ‘£1,000, so you have your target’.

Wednesday 3rd: Barbara

Winnings: £7,500

Dealt at: 5-box

Highest offer: £15,000 (2-box)

Box value: £50,000

Another case of a perfectly sensible deal being made to look bad by a big sum being on the table.

Thursday 4th: Perminder

Winnings: £6,000

Dealt at: 5-box

Highest offer: £9,000 (14-box)

Box value: £750

Similar to Barbara’s, only Perminder got the proveout her sensible deal deserved.

Friday 5th: Steve

Winnings: £5,000

Dealt at: 2-box

Highest offer: £9,000 (5-box)

Box value: 50p

Steve’s no deal to £9,000 at 5-box has to be one of the most surprising we’ve seen for a long time, as well as the biggest gamble for a while, despite the low stakes. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off, as the £100,000 went in the final round. But, he did at least recover to a decent bailout, which is a good thing considering his 5-box gamble wasn’t a stupid one at all.

Sunday 7th: Skevy

Winnings: £9,000

Dealt at: 8-box

Highest offer: £17,500 (11-box)

Box value: £3,000

Skevy may have dealt at a much lower offer than her previous one, but, statistically, it was a better offer, and the right decision for her, given how emotional she was getting. Another low tariff game to end the week.

So, all in all, the first week of October was, apart from Ollie’s game, not truly spectacular, but definitely much more respectable than some of the past weeks. Again, we can only hope things will pick up in the coming weeks.