What I found interesting is that both human opponents stated that the reason they felt disadvantaged when playing against Watson was not that Watson was so unerring in coming up with correct answers, or how quickly this was done. Both Jennings and Rutter thought the critical difference was Watson's ability to ring in first. The way the Jeopardy rules work no player can ring in until Alex completes saying the clue. Watson does not hear this, it is transmitted electronically, at which point the computer can use the mechanical set-up it was provided to ring in. So the computer win versus lose difference may come down to human reaction time.

This recent program on PBS Nova provides background on Watson's development and training.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/sm...-on-earth.html