Daily analysis, Tuesday, June 24

Lots to discuss tonight, so let’s dive right in.

After a courageous — but terrible — Penultimate Wager, Chris is in second place heading into Final. (Click for the separate analysis.)

Alison Meermans: 12,700
Chris Gullo: 14,800
Jennifer Blanton: 15,200

The Final Jeopardy! category: 2004

Another complicated, triple-five-digit situation.

Basic strategy – first vs. second

Jennifer should wager 14,400.

To stay above Jennifer if she’s wrong, Chris can wager up to 14,000, and Alison should cap hers at 11,900.

Basic strategy – second vs. third

Chris should wager at least 10,600.

Alison should wager no more than 8,500.

Basic strategy – Rule #3

Alison has plenty of options here: 2,100; 2,500; 4,200; or 5,000, depending on whom she’d like to cover. We’ll pare this list down during…

Mind games

We’ll leave Jennifer out of mind games. It’s unlikely both of her opponents will play strategically against her (although we have reason to believe Alison will).

Chris might wager 6,400 to cover that maximum 8,500 wager out of Alison.

Alison might respond by capping her wager at 4,300. This pairs with the minimum 4,200 to cover an “unsafe” wager out of Chris.

What actually happened

Chris wanted to play for second. He got it.

Alison’s wager gets the orange grade because although it’s not quite her best wager, it’s not bad, either.

The Final Jeopardy! clue for June 24, 2014 (2004):

WATCHING THE SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW, THE HEAD OF THIS GOVERNMENT AGENCY KEPT SAYING, “MY DAY IS GOING TO” BE LOUSY “TOMORROW”

[spoiler]What is the FCC?[/spoiler]