Final Jeopardy! wagering analysis:
Wednesday, March 9, 2016

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You’ll notice that Alex wasn’t praising any wagers during his intro tonight.

Bill showed that it’s entirely possible to play the game aggressively, fail, and be in contention heading into Final. I hope that changes the way some people play in the future.

Annie Moriondo (1x)	Katrina Mundinger	Bill Patschak
10,200	11,400	5,200

Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:

LITERARY GEOGRAPHY

How many monkey wrenches will we see with these numbers?

First-order calculations

Bill barely has over half of Annie’s score, so I suggest he go for broke.

Annie		Katrina		Bill
10,200		11,400		5,200
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
200	7,800	9,000		4,800*
					2,800
			1,000

Second-order calculations

There are some mind games, but I still think Katrina should go for the lockout.

Annie		Katrina		Bill
10,200		11,400		5,200
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
200	5,400	9,000		4,800*
	2,200	6,600			400
			1,000		2,800

Zero wagers

Score differences:
Katrina and Annie: 1,200
Katrina and Bill: 6,200
Annie and Bill: 5,000

Annie		Katrina		Bill
10,200		11,400		5,200
FIRST-ORDER		SECOND-ORDER		COVER ZERO
min	max	min	max	min	max
2,400	5,000	9,000	12,400	5,000*
200	2,200	6,600			400
			1,000		2,800

Then we add a dollar to the minimum wagers, and subtract a dollar from the maximum wagers.

What actually happened

Annie		Katrina		Bill
10,200		11,400		5,200
10,000		4,000		5,200
200		7,400		0
min	max	min	max	min	max
2,401	4,999	9,001	12,399	5,200
201	2,199	6,601			399
			999		2,799

Yikes. I guess someone found that other wagering site.

The Final Jeopardy! clue

LITERARY GEOGRAPHY

SHELLEY SUBTITLED A POEM NAMED FOR THIS FAMOUS GEOGRAPHIC FEATURE “LINES WRITTEN IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI”

[spoiler]What is Mont Blanc?[/spoiler]

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