Wagering practice – Help a brother out!
Reader Josh Woo asked me to highlight his game, from Back to School Kids Week in 2003. What should he have wagered?
Remember, Kids Week contestants must win outright, so wagering for a tie won’t suffice!
View my thoughts on this situation here.
Thanks to the J! Archive)
Answers to Tuesday’s scenario:
(click to view as a slideshow)
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- (1/7) When I first saw this, I thought the scores were evenly-spaced. But Tyler would need 6,300 and Michelle, 7,400.
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- (2/7) Rule #1: Michelle wagers 5,500 to cover Tyler.
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- (3/7) Tyler wagers no more than 4,600 to stay above an incorrect response by Michelle.
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- (4/7) Second vs. third, Rule #1: Tyler wagers 4,000 to cover Curt, …
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- (5/7) Rule #2: … while Curt wagers no more than 2,800 to stay above Tyler.
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- (6/7) Rule #3: Curt is close enough to both opponents that he can wager 2,100 to cover a zero by both.
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- (7/7) Here are the final ranges.
Another thing to bear in mind with Kid’s games, as well as other kinds of games where the right to play again is not at stake (such as non-tournament Celebrity games) and no large prize predicated on winning is at stake (such as the finals of a tournament), is that if you have lots of confidence it may be worthwhile to bet big for a big payday (such as what Skyler Hornback did last summer in Kid’s Week when he “pulled a Clavin” and won big from it): http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=4285
Great point, Kelly! I think the guaranteed minimum amount becomes a factor if the scores are low enough, too.
Skyler Hornback was trying to be cocky, if he got it wrong he would have tied Thomas Hurley with 6600
In kids week, these kids know NOTHING how to wager, they don’t wager to cover second or anything