Final Jeopardy! wagering analysis:
Wednesday, February 24, 2016

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I was a little out of it watching Wednesday’s game – how will that affect my Jeopardy! skills?

Last night, Ben Yuhas unseated 4x champion Tim Kutz. He is a shade off the lead tonight.

Ben Yuhas (1x)	Jill Panall	Suzy Law
12,800	16,400	1,600

Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:

LEGENDARY WOMEN

There will be some mind games here, but they aren’t too strong.

First-order calculations

Ben can wager up to 5,600 to stay above Jill if they both miss (and she goes for the lockout).

Ben		Jill		Suzy
12,800		16,400		1,600
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
	5,600	9,200	13,200

Second-order calculations

Jill could go small, but that’s only if she thinks Ben will also go small.

Ben		Jill		Suzy
12,800		16,400		1,600
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
1,600	5,600	9,200	13,200
		2,000

Zero wagers

Score differences:
Jill and Ben: 3,600
Jill and Suzy: 14,800
Ben and Suzy: 11,200

Ben		Jill		Suzy
12,800		16,400		1,600
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
3,600	5,600	9,200	13,200
		2,000	3,600
7,200*

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

What actually happened

Ben		Jill		Suzy
12,800		16,400		1,600
4,000		10,000		1,400
16,800		26,400		200
min	max	min	max
3,601	5,599	9,201	13,199
		2,001	3,599
12,800

Good wagers on both counts (doubly so, to some, for Ben).

Congrats to Jill on a solid win – we’ll see how she does defending tomorrow.

The Final Jeopardy! clue

LEGENDARY WOMEN

EARLY BRITISH LITERATURE REFERS TO HER AS “THE FIRST LADY OF THE ISLAND”

[spoiler]Who is Guinevere?[/spoiler]

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