Friday, January 22, 2016

Kyle Webb looks poised to break our drought of four-time champions – but the Friday game has felled the previous two 3xers. Will she succeed?

Oh! Also exciting! If you’re trying the Jeopardy! online exam next week, I’m co-hosting a chat with my fellow J! alum Randy Gold in which we’ll give you some tips for doing your best.

It’s Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT, with replays available if you can’t make the live broadcast. Click the image below to register.

As for the game…

Poor Fred – he looked like he was out of it after the first round. But then he picked up a full head of steam in Double Jeopardy!, and was so close to heading into Final with the lead! Great comeback.

Still, Kyle has the game in her hands… but she almost certainly needs a correct response to win.

You know what’s strange? That’s twice this week all three players had 4-letter first names.

Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:

Some of you might notice that a good wager from Fred will keep Demi locked out. This is a Shore’s Conjecture, Strong Form situation.

First-order calculations

Kyle has to go big to lock out Fred.

Second-order calculations

Kyle can make a “Shoretegic” wager, but Fred has too many wagers that can counteract it.

Zero wagers

Score differences:
Kyle and Fred: 400
Kyle and Demi: 7,200
Fred and Demi: 6,800

Therefore, I suggest Kyle either go for the lockout or force Fred to get it right by wagering 399.

Fred should keep it around 2,000 just to keep Kyle guessing.

What actually happened

Yikes! Had Fred not answered correctly, he would have needlessly given the game over to Demi.

I’m sorry to see Kyle go – she was a lot of fun to watch. But, hey – maybe the next ToC will have nothing but three-timers!

See you tomorrow for the online test discussion. Here’s the registration link again.

The Final Jeopardy! clue