Final Jeopardy! wagering analysis:
Wednesday, April 6, 2016

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I’m sad to say I can’t bulge my eyes enough to do a proper Igor impersonation.

Jeff really came out of nowhere in Double Jeopardy! – he takes the lead heading into Final.

Jeff Crosby (1x)	Sabrina Fritz	Paul Belin
14,000	10,900	10,400

He was also taken aback, according to his summary on JBoard:

I was completely oblivious to the score throughout DJ. Never looked at it once. At the end of the round I thought “I wonder how far behind I still am.” I was surprised as anyone to see I had the lead.

Our players will deal with this Final Jeopardy! category:

ASTRONOMY

Sabrina is in a tough spot here, being in Stratton’s Dilemma.

First-order calculations

Sabrina should go for broke to ensure she doesn’t lose to Paul; Paul has some room to work with.

Jeff		Sabrina		Paul
14,000		10,900		10,400
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
7,800		9,900*			4,200
			4,700

Second-order calculations

Some mind games, but nothing too serious.

Jeff		Sabrina		Paul
14,000		10,900		10,400
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
7,800		9,900*			3,200
		3,700	4,700		4,200

Zero wagers

Score differences:
Jeff and Sabrina: 3,100
Jeff and Paul: 3,600
Sabrina and Paul: 500

Jeff		Sabrina		Paul
14,000		10,900		10,400
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
7,800		9,900*		1,000	3,200
		3,700	4,700	3,600	4,200
	3,100		500

Then we add a dollar to the minimum wagers, and subtract a dollar from the maximum wagers.

What actually happened

Jeff		Sabrina		Paul
14,000		10,900		10,400
7,801		10,899		2,000
21,801		21,799		12,400
min	max	min	max	min	max
7,801		10,900		1,001	3,199
		3,701	4,699	3,601	4,199
	3,099		499

What is this, Kids Week? C’mon, writers – you can do better than that. Compared with yesterday’s Final, this was night and day.

Jeff has now won 2 games and $30,201.

The Final Jeopardy! clue

ASTRONOMY

ITS NAME MEANS “FEAR”, & THIS MOON ORBITS CLOSEST TO A PLANET’S SURFACE OF ANY MOON IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

[spoiler]What is Phobos?[/spoiler]

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