Monday, April 13, 2015

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For an overall analysis of Alex’s strategies, check out this post.

This week’s color scheme is brought to you by megachamp Kerry Greene!

On Friday, Alex Jacob led many, including yours truly, to wonder whether he was playing games or nervous or both.

He seemed a bit more in control today, but will he be coy about Final again?

Alex Jacob	Carlos Capellan	Kathy Callahan
26,400	7,200	4,200

Carlos’s True Daily Double, you might have noticed, was worth $4,000. It did not help.

I know if I had this category, I’d be wagering $11,999.

GEOGRAPHY

You’ll notice I now have the Jeopardy! font, Korinna Bold. Special shout-out to Julia Collins for making me aware it was available.

Nothing exciting today, so let’s skip right to the results.

What actually happened

Alex		Carlos		Kathy
26,400		7,200		4,200
0		1,201		4,195
26,400		5,999		8,395
	max	min		min
	11,999	1,200		1,801

Alex is definitely not messing around – you could tell he was writing his very long response before the music even started. Like any good poker player, he is giving only as much information about his abilities as is necessary to win. It’s a strange approach, and we’ll have to see how it plays out.

For those of you who are curious, here was Alex’s “question”:

WHAT IS
I LOVE YOU JENN!
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING
MOM AND DAD
HI SETH

If he had confidence in the category, which I assume he did, he is effectively trading some positive expected value for an unknown increased chance of winning a future game, because another player won’t know how he’s going to wager, or what he considers his strengths. I expect we might see some mind games out of him the first time he’s in a tight game.

Oh, and if you didn’t get tonight’s clue, here’s my Fact Primer on Asian geography.

The Final Jeopardy! clue

GEOGRAPHY

THE CAUCASIAN ISTHMUS LIES BETWEEN THESE 2 LARGE INLAND BODIES OF WATER

[spoiler]What are the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea?[/spoiler]

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