Final Jeopardy! wagering analysis:
Tuesday, March 1, 2016

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I’m wagering “live” again tonight, and I regret not making a lion/lamb joke.

BONUS: be sure to check out my video with Fritz Holznagel, in which he gives tips for the buzzer!

Playing “live” cuts down on the amount of time I can spent dithering over a situation like this:

David Bradley (2x)	Titi Ala’ilima	Rachel Zoch
8,200	12,400	10,700

We’ve got a tough Final Jeopardy! category – for me, anyway.

20th CENTURY POETS

Let’s dig in, shall we?

First-order calculations

Rachel has a tight rational range:

David		Titi		Rachel
8,200		12,400		10,700
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
	3,200	9,000		5,700	7,300
		4,000

Second-order calculations

Some mind games:

David		Titi		Rachel
8,200		12,400		10,700
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
	3,200	9,000		5,700	7,300
	1,400	5,600		2,300	3,900
			1,000

Zero wagers

Score differences:
Titi and Rachel: 1,700
Titi and David: 4,200
Rachel and David: 2,500

David		Titi		Rachel
8,200		12,400		10,700
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
2,500	3,200	9,000		5,700	7,300
	1,400	5,600	8,400	1,700	2,500
			1,000

What actually happened

David		Titi		Rachel
8,200		12,400		10,700
8,200		9,001		6,000
0		3,399		4,700
min	max	min	max	min	max
2,501	3,199	9,001		5,701	7,299
	1,399	5,601	8,399	1,701	2,499
			999

A bad wager costs David his third win. Ah, well – at least he’s going home with $55,000 in winnings!

The Final Jeopardy! clue

20th CENTURY POETS

IT WAS SAID “HIS ACCENT WHICH STARTED OUT AS PURE AMERICAN MIDDLE WEST” BECAME “QUITE BRITISH U” [UPPER CLASS]

[spoiler]Who was T.S. Eliot? (born in St. Louis)[/spoiler]

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