More Dealing action begins sooner than expected!

Our contestant for this game is Lt. Jorge Montero, a police officer who has brought many first responders to the show with him. He is happily married and has a daughter and three “other ladies” who live with him - a trio of chickens named Buffy, Blondie and Nugget. Howie calls them his “side chicks.”

Jorge wants to use his winnings to send his son and daughter to college. He scans the cases and selects number 17 because he says that number has been following him around all day.

Jorge is on the case, and his game begins right now.

Round 1
[23] - $1
[22] - $25,000
[1] - $75,000
[6] - $1,000
[21] - $400,000
[26] - $10

The Banker says she respects law enforcement, and wants to bring something out to show her appreciation. She brings out a man-shaped doughnut for Jorge with a target on the front and an arrow through the centre of the target. Okay, then. Doughnuts are also given to the law enforcement officers and first responders in the audience, courtesy of Voodoo Doughnuts. One of the police officers enjoys his doughnut a bit too much, and is promptly chirped at by Howie.

As for the first offer, it’s

BANKER'S OFFER

$23,000

Jorge says NO DEAL.

Round 2
[3] - $50,000
[11] - $100,000
[2] - $5,000

Howie calls a break. More action after this.

We’re back with family man, chicken man and policeman Jorge Montero. Howie shows video of Jorge’s chickens and says he shouldn’t count his chickens before they’ve hatches. That’s why Howie’s a comedian, folks.

Time to finish round 2.

[4] - $200
[7] - $.01

“That was sweeter than a doughnut!” Howie exclaims. FIve of the top six amounts are still in play, and this is rewarded with an offer of

BANKER'S OFFER

$44,000

Supporter time. We meet Jorge’s wife Marcia, his best friend Roman and another friend who is also on the police force.

As for the offer, Jorge says NO DEAL.

Round 3
[12] - $300,000
[14] - $200,000
[16] - $10,000
[15] - $500,000

Yikes. The $750,000 and the millski are the only amounts remaining on the right side of the board right now. The Banker calls and says she wants to test Jorge, and we’ll find out just how she’ll test him after the break.

We’re back, and here’s the next offer.

BANKER'S OFFER

$30,000

Everyone wants Jorge to go for it because there are so many left-side amounts left to knock out. Jorge listens to his supporters and says NO DEAL.

The Banker’s test is a physical challenge. If Jorge can pedal on an exercise bike and maintain a speed of 100 RPM or more, everyone in the audience wins a Planet Fitness Black Card.

Round 4
[10] - $25
[13] - $750
[20] - $50

Holy boats, what a round! That should definitely increase the offer, and sure enough, it does. Also, Jorge was able to maintain a speed well above 100 RPM - he made it to 120 - so the entire audience is going home with a Planet Fitness Black Card.

BANKER'S OFFER

$71,000

Howie decides to give Jorge some rest after riding the bike so he throws to another break.

We’re back. Jorge is still in hot pursuit of big money. He mentions that his daughter says that “Papi never quits,” and that he needs to keep moving forward. Howie mentions that if the two large amounts are hit in the next round, Jorge can’t go home with more than $500.

Jorge says NO DEAL.

Round 5
[18] - $500
Jorge picks case 25 next, but Howie tosses to another break before it can be opened.

We’re back, and Howie tells Jorge that Jorge is on the road to playing a perfect game. He adds that Jorge may need some special support, so out comes his daughter in a cheerleader outfit. She gives him a motivational cheer and everyone gets emotional. Aww.

But we still do have a case to open, and that’s Summer’s case 25.

[25] - $400

Another left-side amount means another big offer.

The board at this point:

$5
$75
$100
$300
$750,000
$1,000,000

And the offer is:

BANKER'S OFFER

$148,000

That’s 108% more than the last offer. Roman things Jorge should counter offer $200,000. Jorge says NO DEAL.

Round 6
[5] - $5

Holy boats! An even bigger offer is on its way after the break.

We’re back, and as promised, here is a rather large offer.

BANKER'S OFFER

$277,000

Wow. That’s an 87% increase over the previous offer. I would definitely take that offer, maybe counter at $300,000. One of the supporters suggests a counter offer of $350,000. Jorge meets myself and his supporters halfway and counters with

BANKER'S OFFER

$320,000

It’s a quick callback, so you know that’s not a good thing. Sure enough, it isn’t. NO DEAL from the Banker, so Jorge must play on.

Round 7
[9] - $1,000,000

Aw, geez. That was not the time for that. The board once again:

$75
$100
$300
$750,000

The offer took a nosedive. This time, it’s

BANKER'S OFFER

$119,000

The entire bench tells Jorge to Deal, and that’s exactly what he does. DEAL for $119,000.

But was that the best deal? Only one way to find out.

Proveout
Round 8
[24] - $300

BANKER'S OFFER WOULD'VE BEEN

$184,000

Round 9
[8] - $75

BANKER'S OFFER WOULD'VE BEEN

$403,000

Clearly, this was not a great deal, but the board was pretty precarious. Howie opens case 17 to reveal $750,000.

Not a great deal, but $119,000 isn’t a bad takeaway. Could’ve been a heck of a lot more, though.

Stay tuned for another new episode of Deal USA, coming up right now!

An interesting game throughout, and unfortunately Jorge got mesmerized by the counter offer and couldn't get a mega win out of it. Thankfully he wasn't greedy and at least got a big win out of it.

The 6-case offer was pretty terrible with the one-to-open setup (barely half the average on a 2-case game!), which made the 5-case look better than perhaps it was. I'd have probably made the counter-offer at 5-case myself, probably for about the same range he did, figuring that before then the offer was low enough that any counter-offer I'd have been OK with would've been rejected as too big a leap. And with that configuration I'd have been OK if the counter got rejected because either I'm getting $350k+ at 4-case (60% chance) or I'm taking the six-figure bailout.

Though without the counteroffer mechanic I'm just taking the $277k. In isolation, that's just generous enough that I don't think I'm leaving much EV on the table not going a single case more, and on that board any commitment would be to exactly that.