Friday, March 13, 2015

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Last night, we saw an unusual – and unfortunate – occurrence in Final Jeopardy!. Will we get back on track tonight?

Indeed – and we were one Daily Double away from a more-intriguing situation, with Shawn and Kynan both losing 4,000 on the two Daily Doubles in the second round.

Kristin Sausville	Kynan Dias	Shawn Paul
15,400	10,600	4,000

We were also one clue away from a lock, as Kynan sniped that final $2,000 question. Instead of being mathematically eliminated, he could win on a double-stumper against Kristin.

Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:

HISTORICAL U.S. GEOGRAPHY

Unfortunately, the single-player Final brought out some of the worst “journalism” on the Internet. Apparently Kristin lost because she missed the clue, and her wager was stupid. I won’t even bother linking to any of them here, but I was peeved.

Anyway, let’s get to the wagers.

First-order calculations

Second doubles up

If Kynan doubles his score, he’ll have 21,200.

To cover this all-in wager, Kristin will need to wager 5,800.

Kristin	Kynan	Shawn
15,400	10,600	4,000
5,800	10,600
21,200	21,200

An incorrect response with that wager will leave Kristin with 9,600.

To stay above her total, Kynan can wager up to 1,000.

Kristin	Kynan	Shawn
15,400	10,600	4,000
5,800	1,000
9,600	9,600

Third doubles up

A successful doubling will put Shawn at 8,000.

Kristin could wager at most 7,400.

Kristin	Kynan	Shawn
15,400	10,600	4,000
7,400		4,000
8,000		8,000

Here’s where things stand after the first order:

Second-order calculations

Second’s max vs. first

Time for some mind games! If Kynan makes the rational maximum wager of 1,000, Kristin will need to wager 3,800 to stay above him.

Kristin	Kynan	Shawn
15,400	10,600	4,000
3,800	1,000
11,600	11,600

If she’s wrong with that wager, she’ll be left with 19,200.

In that case, Kynan would have to wager 8,600 and respond correctly.

Kristin	Kynan	Shawn
15,400	10,600	4,000
3,800	8,600
19,200	19,200

Of course, as we’ve seen many times of the past few weeks, he might as well just wager everything.

What actually happened

Kristin Sausville is now a three-day champ – and any suggestion that she is a weak player after last night’s game should now be gone. We’ll see her back on Monday.

The Final Jeopardy! clue

HISTORICAL U.S. GEOGRAPHY

IT BECAME A BORDER TERRITORY IN 1864 AFTER BEING PART OF THE WASHINGTON, OREGON, IDAHO, NEBRASKA AND DAKOTA TERRITORIES

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