Tuesday, June 16, 2015
I’m in Atlantic City… and the Wheel of Fortune slot machine hasn’t been friendly to me.
Oh well… there’s always blackjack. And on that note, our returning champ has over 21 (thousand).
|
Brennan Bushee |
Raf Noboa y Rivera |
Batya Diamond |
| 21,800 | 15,000 | 5,800 |
Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:
| QUOTABLE PAINTERS |
Batya is $1,000 short of being in contention, so we’ll look at just Brennan and Raf.
First-order calculations
Second doubles up
If Raf doubles his score, he’ll have 30,000.
To cover this all-in wager, Brennan will need to wager 8,200.
| Brennan |
Raf |
Batya | |||
| 21,800 | 15,000 | 5,800 | |||
| 8,200 | 15,000 | ||||
| 30,000 | 30,000 | ||||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 8,200 | |||||
An incorrect response with that wager will leave Brennan with 13,600.
To stay above his total, Raf can wager up to 1,400.
| Brennan |
Raf |
Batya | |||
| 21,800 | 15,000 | 5,800 | |||
| 8,200 | 1,400 | ||||
| 13,600 | 13,600 | ||||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 8,200 | 1,400 | ||||
Second-order calculations
Second’s max vs. first
If Raf makes the rational maximum wager of 1,400, Brennan will need to wager 5,400 to stay above him.
| Brennan |
Raf |
Batya | |||
| 21,800 | 15,000 | 5,800 | |||
| 5,400 | 1,400 | ||||
| 16,400 | 16,400 | ||||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 8,200 | 1,400 | ||||
| 5,400 | |||||
In that case, Raf would have to wager 12,200 and respond correctly. Might as well go all-in at that point.
| Brennan |
Raf |
Batya | |||
| 21,800 | 15,000 | 5,800 | |||
| 5,400 | 12,200 | ||||
| 27,200 | 27,200 | ||||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 8,200 | 1,400 | ||||
| 5,400 | 12,200* | ||||
Brennan should cap his wager at 10,200 so as not to let Batya back into the game.
What actually happened
| Brennan | Raf | Batya | |||
| 21,800 | 15,000 | 5,800 | |||
| 8,201 | 7,500 | 2,400 | |||
| 30,001 | 22,500 | 3,400 | |||
| min | max | min | max | ||
| 8,201 | 10,199 | 1,399 | |||
| 5,399 | 15,000 | ||||
Raf gets the pink because he fails to cover the feasible “small” range out of Brennan. (Were Brennan to wager $5,399, the only way Raf would win is on a solo get.)
I’m sure there will be some discussion of Raf’s playing style – very curt with the numbers and punchy on the correct responses. I found it annoying; anything that calls unwanted attention to a player is a bad thing, in my opinion. (Two? Two hundred? Two thousand?)
Kudos to Brennan for making a sizable wager on his Daily Double. He’s a strong player, having now won 2 games and $57,202.
The Final Jeopardy! clue
| QUOTABLE PAINTERS |
| “A REVIEWER…WROTE THAT MY PICTURES DIDN’T HAVE ANY BEGINNING OR ANY END. HE DIDN’T MEAN IT AS A COMPLIMENT, BUT IT WAS” |
[spoiler]Who was Jackson Pollock?[/spoiler]
[php snippet=16]