Wednesday, June 10, 2015

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I’m thinking of opening a store for The Final Wager, with the goal of raising awareness of a malady that still plagues Jeopardy! contestants: Terrible Strategy Syndrome.

I model one potential item in tonight’s video. Please buy generously. For the children.

Both our returning champion and our rightmost challenger seem to be suffering from acute cases of TSS. Here we go heading into Final Jeopardy!:

Phil Arevalo	Martha Holland	Dark Lord Harris-Fain
10,800	3,200	21,900

Dark Lord, birth name Darren, has it locked up – but let’s rewind two clues to his Antepenultimate Wager.

The Antepenultimate Wager

Phil	Martha	Dark Lord
10,800	3,200	19,200

$800 clue in WESTERN HEMISPHERE RIVERS

Remaining: $400, same category

Dark Lord should assume Phil is going to nab that last $400 clue. That’ll put him at 11,200. So Dark Lord should wager to get up to 22,401: $3,201.

For unknowable reasons, he wagered $2,700 which put him in a lock position for the moment. The remaining clue asked for a Central American country, and a correct response would have given Phil a shot in Final.

NO ONE BUZZED IN.

I’m tempted to give Phil a ‘gray’ wager just for the hell of it because it’s clear he didn’t come to play. There was no reason for him not to be doing that math during the Daily Double.

The Final Wager

All of that wouldn’t have mattered, because Phil missed Final (and Dark Lord got it). But here at The Final Wager, it’s always means over ends.

Phil still takes home an extra $1,000, though, because he didn’t have to wager anything against Martha.

Phil		Martha		Dark Lord
10,800		3,200		21,900
0		0		100
10,800		3,200		22,000
min	max			min	max
	4,400				299

Sigh.

The Final Jeopardy! clue

HISTORIC QUOTES

DURING THE 1976 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, RONALD REAGAN SAID OF THIS, “WE BUILT IT, WE PAID FOR IT, IT’S OURS AND WE ARE GOING TO KEEP IT”

[spoiler]What is the Panama Canal?[/spoiler]

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