Daily analysis, Thursday, May 29

Julia’s looking to tie David Madden for second all time with her 19th win. Will she do it?

Indeed. Tomorrow: all by herself?

The video (which will be up around 7:00 p.m.) has a discussion of Julia’s Daily Double with four clues remaining in Double Jeopardy!.

Julia Collins: 23,200
Matt Weldy: 4,000
FeiFei Jiang: 5,000

The Final Jeopardy! category: FRUIT

Basic strategy

Julia can wager up to 13,200.

FeiFei should wager 3,000 to lock out Matt.

Matt should cap his wager at 1,999 to stay above FeiFei if they both miss, and at least 1,001 to cover a zero wager.

Mind games

FeiFei might wager just 1,000 if she thinks Matt will wager rationally.

Matt might tack on a little extra to cover this possibility; he could go for everything, I suppose, but seeing as though some players will risk extra in the fight for second, I prefer 2,001.

In the end, Matt got it right, which salvaged his large wager. Julia got to $410,000 exactly.

The Final Jeopardy! clue for May 29, 2014 (FRUIT):

IT’S THE ONLY COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT EDIBLE FRUIT OF THE BROMELIAD FAMILY

[spoiler]What is the pineapple?[/spoiler]