Daily analysis, Wednesday, September 17

⇦ Season 30	same week					following week
	15	16	17	18	19	22	23	24	25	26

What surprises does our third episode have in store?

Well, all three players are in contention, which is nice – and Bill has a healthy lead despite dropping a ton on Daily Doubles.

Bill Cossen: 12,000
Erica Hersh: 8,400
Howard Jacobs: 6,200

The Final Jeopardy! category: MUSICAL THEATER

This one’s straightforward, making my job easy.

Basic strategy – first vs. second

Bill should wager 4,800 to cover a double-up by Erica.

If he gets it wrong, he’ll have at most 7,200, so Erica should cap her wager at 1,200.

Howard needs to get it right to have a shot, so he should wager everything.

Basic strategy – second vs. third

Erica must wager at least 4,000 to cover Howard; she’ll lose to Bill if she’s wrong, so she might as well go all-in.

Three episodes, no mind games. I’m fine with that.

What actually happened

I’m not fine with Erica’s wager, however – unless she and Howard had some sort of agreement to tie at 12,200, or Howard mentioned he was going to leave off 200 on the downside. Even if that had been the case, why take the risk?

We have our first two-day champion in nearly two weeks! Congrats to Bill.

The Final Jeopardy! clue

MUSICAL THEATER

IN “GODSPELL” THIS CHARACTER LEADS THE COMPANY IN SINGING “PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD”

[spoiler]Who is John the Baptist? (Judas Iscariot also accepted, as they are combined in the musical)[/spoiler]

 

⇦ Season 30	same week					following week
	15	16	17	18	19	22	23	24	25	26