The Final Wager – Mon 22 Dec 2014

One more episode from Brooklyn, then home to Vermont for a while.

Bert took quite a few guesses in Double Jeopardy!, including on what turned out to be the game’s penultimate clue. That $1,600 reduction cost him the lead.

Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:

AMERICAN AUTHORS

Vague enough. Let’s do this. We’ll look only at Allison and Bert.

First-order calculations

If Bert doubles his score, he’ll have 20,400. To cover this all-in wager, Allison will need to wager 8,800.

An incorrect response with that wager will leave Allison with 2,800. To stay above her total, Bert can wager up to 7,400.

Second-order wagers

If Bert makes the rational maximum wager of 7,400, Allison will need to wager 6,000 to cover him.

If she’s wrong with that wager, she’ll be left with 5,600. To stay above her, Bert can wager up to 4,600.

Allison and Bert are so close that Allison shouldn’t play guessing games – Bert has too many acceptable ranges. She should either go for the win by wagering 8,801…

Zero wagers

…or by forcing him to respond correctly with a Colbyesque (or Brakhagesque – take your pick) wager of at most 1,399.

At this point, we add a dollar to the minimum wagers, and subtract a dollar from the maximum wagers.

What actually happened

The guessing cost Bert a win, and a chance to don another bow tie tomorrow.

But, really – who’s surprised he practically ran the SENATORS category?

The Final Jeopardy! clue

AMERICAN AUTHORS

CELEBRATED IN APRIL, NATIONAL ROBOTICS WEEK HONORS THIS MAN WHO COINED THE TERM “ROBOTICS” IN A 1941 STORY