Thursday, February 26, 2015
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Of our past eight champions, seven have been women. Will this outchange continue?
Doesn’t look too promising – I was hoping Lily would take a stab at that penultimate clue for $2,000, because it was the only way she could put herself in contention.
|
Laura Gallo |
Lily Foss |
Jose Garriga |
| 8,200 | 2,600 | 12,000 |
Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:
| FOREIGN LEADERS |
Lily has less than the difference between Jose and Laura, so she is eliminated from winning (barring a Christina wager out of Jose).
First-order calculations
Second doubles up
If Laura doubles her score, she’ll have 16,400.
To cover this all-in wager, Jose will need to wager 4,400.
| Laura | Lily | Jose |
| 8,200 | 2,600 | 12,000 |
| 8,200 | 4,400 | |
| 16,400 | 16,400 |
An incorrect response with that wager will leave Jose with 7,600.
To stay above his total, Laura can wager up to 600.
| Laura | Lily | Jose |
| 8,200 | 2,600 | 12,000 |
| 600 | 4,400 | |
| 7,600 | 7,600 |
Third doubles up
A successful doubling will put Lily at 5,200.
To stay above her, Laura can wager at most 3,000 (but that’s irrelevant here).
Jose could wager at most 6,800.
| Laura | Lily | Jose |
| 8,200 | 2,600 | 12,000 |
| 3,000 | 2,600 | 6,800 |
| 5,200 | 5,200 | 5,200 |
Here’s where things stand after the first order:
Second-order calculations
Second’s max vs. first
If Laura makes the rational maximum wager of 600, Jose will need to wager 3,200 to stay above her.
| Laura | Lily | Jose |
| 8,200 | 2,600 | 12,000 |
| 600 | 3,200 | |
| 8,800 | 8,800 |
If he’s wrong with that wager, he’ll be left with 15,200.
In that case, Laura would have to wager 7,000 and respond correctly.
| Laura | Lily | Jose |
| 8,200 | 2,600 | 12,000 |
| 7,000 | 3,200 | |
| 15,200 | 15,200 |
And now, after two orders:
Since that 7,000 will put Laura out of contention if she misses, she might as well bet the farm. The 7,000 wager is also why I suggest Lily cap hers at 1,399.
What actually happened
Laura fails to cover a smaller-range wager out of Jose, which is why she gets the pink.
| Laura | Lily | Jose |
| 8,200 | 2,600 | 12,000 |
| 5,000 | 2,000 | |
| 13,200 | 14,000 |
Maybe a few of you got tonight’s Final because of my second-ever Fact Primer. There’s a new entry headed your way tomorrow!
The Final Jeopardy! clue
| FOREIGN LEADERS |
| ON FEB. 25, 1956, HE GAVE A SPEECH “ON THE PERSONALITY CULT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES”, SEEN AS AN ATTACK ON HIS PREDECESSOR |
[spoiler]Who was Nikita Khrushchev? (Known as the Secret Speech, it was a denunciation of Josef Stalin.)[/spoiler]
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