Final Jeopardy! wagering analysis:
Wednesday, March 23, 2016

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We’ve had a good streak of interview segments on the show, and tonight, one of them is paying dividends!

The laughter around the Handel/Bach clue was a reference to Claudia’s interview segment on Tuesday.

Here are our scores heading into Final:

Claudia Stucke (1x)	Jen Kadzie	Jessica Kiefer
11,800	16,400	6,200

The Final Jeopardy! category is:

21ST CENTURY NEWS

Now, on to the analysis.

First-order calculations

Jessica has to go all-in…

Claudia		Jen		Jessica
11,800		16,400		6,200
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
600	2,600	7,200		5,000*
			4,000

Second-order calculations

…and Claudia and Jen can play some mind games.

Claudia		Jen		Jessica
11,800		16,400		6,200
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
600	2,600	7,200		5,000*
6,600*			2,000

Zero wagers

Score differences:
Jen and Claudia: 4,600
Jen and Jessica: 10,200
Claudia and Jessica: 5,600

Claudia		Jen		Jessica
11,800		16,400		6,200
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
600	2,600	7,200	9,200	5,600*
6,600*			2,000

What actually happened

Claudia		Jen		Jessica
11,800		16,400		6,200
0		7,201		5,000
11,800		9,199		1,200
min	max	min	max
601	2,599	7,201	9,199	6,200
11,800			1,999

Here’s Exhibit M in why you should wager everything if you have to get it right to have a chance: Claudia made a subpar wager, but Jessica, trying to be coy, gave herself no chance to win.

Claudia has now won 2 games and $30,600, and I’m looking forward to her next interview segment!

The Final Jeopardy! clue

21ST CENTURY NEWS

RUSSIA TOOK OUT $200 MILLION IN INSURANCE, ANTICIPATING ANY DAMAGE THAT MIGHT BE CAUSED BY THIS IN 2001

[spoiler]What is the Mir reentry?[/spoiler]

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