Wow... of all the games over the last month to miss it had to be this one... 4 of the power 5 at 8 box was amazing and £40k wasnt a terrible amount to go away with, Well done Loraine!

( 4oD dont let me down now! )

I think Noel actually seemed a bit scared by her, hence why he didn't bang on too much about how she could've got £75k if she'd played on etc... I think she greatly confused him by admitting she thought she had 50p in her box!

And would the banker have really offered a swap and no cash offer at the final two? I can't answer that question, but I suspect... "yes" is the answer...

*points out that £34,999 on Artak's final eight would be an AMO but with four amounts higher, and is proud to not be in his right mind for saying he'd Deal both that and his real £28k*

What strange game - it's actually refreshing for someone to say they think they have a low value in their box!! Usually it's the other way round.

I would have gone on when she dealt, but actually won less money as I'd have gone at 32k when it became really unstable! It was one of those odd proveouts that looks is if the board is being totally destryoed, but at the last minute there's more in the box (a bit like Nicola's was actually). It wouldn't have even taken a ridiculaous risk to get the 75k due to the swap. Interesting that Noel was totally the opposite of with sarah's game - she had pocket change in the box but treated it as a travesty due to higher proveout offers - whereas Loraine took the biggest offer but undersold the box, he treated it like aplayer win almost.

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But I despised the swap. At least in PJ's game he gave the banker an excuse to do it (by not eliminating the swapped box), but can't see what evidence there was to give Loraine it. I know she said she thought she had 50p in her box after dealing, but presumably she wouldn't have said it in active play, so there was no excuse whatsoever.

All it will do is make the players deal early if they think that will happen on Power 5 v 1p (or possibly any other low blue), which really isn't what we need at the moment.

And I think it still is possible for this month to have the lowest ever peak win - Jan 06 has the previous lowest peak with Jessica's 41k. (Unless you count Oct 05).

Well that was certainly one of the strongest games that i've seen in a while, especially at 8 box. The £40,000 offer was good and that's what I guessed he would offer when I watched. However I would of no dealt with the power 4 in place and may have taken the next offer of £32,000. Well done Loraine on getting £40,000.

And was Loraine the current mummy of the group? If so does that mean she's broken the curse of the mummy by winning £40,000?

I've just watched it quickly on 4oD and that board was very impressive and we probably wont see another one like it for a very long time!

Wow..an interesting game...well done Lorraine. £40k is a lovely amount.

Well I swear I hadn't notice Loraine on the wings but I soon started to take notice as the game progressed and the board developed into something really strong.

By 8 box with 4 of the power 5 left it was going to take a big offer to get her out of there. And £40k was big. Too big to resist really for a dealer. So a fairly insipid deal considering the golden board and despite a proveout that knocked out a lot of the big reds yet another opportunity wasted.

I know £40k is sizeable money but it's a real disappoinment when a board like that is squandered for the lack of a bit of courage especially with the £100k and £250k staring you invitingly in the face.

I too have to admit to wanting to see a ND at 40k - it was like Steven's board (in his proveout) when he got offered 55k, so I expected something similar. (Or at least nudging 50k). With the 15k there as well, it was totally impossible to leave a 1-box game at 5-box too. I thought something really special could be on the cards so was disappointed when she dealt, even though 40k is massive!)

Though I shouldn't complain becuase I would have won less than she did (albeit only by 20%)

Normally I would be desperate to see a no-deal there, but today I didn't really mind as I just wanted that long run without a big win to end, and expected if she no-dealt it would go wrong as most other games have recently!

Anyway, it's not those kind of boards that give us huge play-to-the-end wins, unless the Banker makes little effort to buy the box (e.g. £75k Kirsty) or there's a Super-Wakey in the chair. You generally need the turnaround game for that, like Laura, Lynne, Gaz or Maria, where there's no huge money on offer until right at the end.

But back to today's game, who knows if the "PJ offer" would really have come out there? I'm not convinced, there isn't even an LTL box to bail them out if it goes wrong now! But maybe we will see it in active play again one day soon... who knows. Anyway, well done Loraine for ending that run of (comparatively) low wins.

Maybe the banker just did it to scare the waiting players into thinking that a swap is possible to make them deal earlier? Though I think it may have been more appropriate to do it on an irrelevant last pair, such as 2 blues, or something like 1k/3k when Tom would have been "offered" a postcard!

Everyone keeps saying 40k was such a good offer but I don't think so. She had 4 higher with an excellent backup of 15k!! However, I don't fault her for dealing because the banker has not been generous with his 5-box offers yesterday. For me, I would've turned down anything under 70k at 8-box. Just like Artak's, the board was so strong I would need a very well AMO offer. I would've won 75k today without a doubt. 32k on her 5-box board should have been 50k in my opinion.

Statistically speaking an 8 box board like today is a nightmare if you play the game on probability as the odds of taking 1 of the big 4 out are exactly the same as taking 2 of the 4 out (about 42.86%) and the odds of having either the dream round (keeping the big 4 in play) and the nightmare round (hitting 3 of the big 4) are both 7.14%.

It really is a coin flip as to whether you have a very good board or a horrible one (I'm counting the £15K as disposable today BTW).

This sort of ties in with all the statistical analysis the Wall Street Journal (or some such publication) did about DOND: they said that on very strong boards such as today, the players tended to be more risk-averse, i.e. so scared of the dream board falling apart that they deal earlier, whereas if Loraine had only had the top 2 reds and a smattering of other boxes, she would have been more likely to chase the big money.

I've found that in games of DOND I've played I tend to follow the same strategy - get out while the going is good for fear of it collapsing, and gambling to the end if only one or two large amounts are still in play.

Amazing game today, just what we needed after the recent run. £40,000 was a huge sum of money, and I don't blame Loraine for taking it, but I'd have been enticed to carry on, simply by the fact that there was a 50% chance of £50k or more in the box (and therefore 4 amounts higher)!

I think the 5-box offer was actually a bit deflated, I'd have expected £50k on that board with 2 of the power 5 remaining, even with the low values. It was difficult to evaluate - on the one hand, it's quite weak (1p and 50p), yet on the other quite strong (£75k and £250k). In a way, my decision at 8-box would commit me to 2-box anyway, unless this offer was exceptional. As it turned out, I would not have swapped and won £75,000, and that would have been from a considerable collapse!

Wow, the new filming series certainly seems to be helping! Biggest win in absolutely forever today, and what a board as well, amazing how she kept those biggies for so long. I did think she'd made the wrong decision when she dealt, as there were four higher than the offer so she couldn't lose whatever she did, she was bound to keep at least one of them in play, but was luckily proved wrong, it really was spooky how she destroyed the board right after dealing! She had £75,000 but with £40,000 it was still a great result.

Well done Loraine, and I hope we continue the luck with a super Tuesday game tomorrow!

That was a fantastic game today, although I admit that I was screaming no deal at the TV at £40k. The banker could easily have offered in the region of £50k as the 4 big numbers were there. I don't like the no money but a swap offer at 2 box. It doesn't seem necessary.

Welldone Loraine! Enjoy £40,000!

I believe Loraine had done a great job on her 40,000 win. I would have dealt at that offer. In the end I would not swap but my target amount is simply 20,000 if I were in her shoes.

I thought exactly the same. If Noel had been presenting the show "with honesty," then he would have criticised Loraine for not using her powers to wipe out all the remaining blues after she'd dealt... and he would've complained about her not swapping when she thought she had a low blue in her box...

Play on with honesty next time, please, Noel!