How would you have played this Final Jeopardy?

Cafe Society
1

Spoiler Alert to those in the western time zones, I’m discussing tonight’s (7/28/16) episode of Jeopardy.
So, on tonight’s Jeopardy the 2nd challenger lead the champion by exactly double the money. The other challenger was in a distant third. The best the champion could do would be to bet all she had to tie the leader.

Now, up until a few years ago, if the two people were tied at the end of the game, they both returned as champion, but that’s been changed:
"If there are two or three players tied for first place after each contestant unveils their Final Jeopardy! response, Alex will present one more category and read the clue. The clue has no dollar value and does not increase the player’s winnings. The first contestant to buzz in and respond correctly is declared the winner. "

Even knowing that, how would you play Final Jeopardy? Would you bet zero, knowing that the worst that could happen so you end up tied and play the tie breaker, or would you bet… anything, hoping to answer correctly and win outright?

The champion bet all she had, answered correctly and tied him.
The challenger bet $1.
He didn’t answer the question.
He lost by a $1.

2

Assuming the category is neutral, the $1 bet was dumb. You already know the 2nd place player will bet it all. With a $1 bet, you’re still relying on your opponent to get it wrong. If that’s the case, try to win more money. Or bet $0 and at least give yourself a shot in the tiebreaker.

3

As it was, with a category I had zero confidence in:

I would bet zero and hope that either she got it wrong, or the tiebreaker category was more my speed.

If I felt I had a good chance at it:

I would bet everything, since there’s no way to guarantee a win, and if I’m confident enough to bet at all, it’s a ‘go big, or go home’ situation.

4

Probably $0. You didn’t mention anything else that would give me reason to believe I have a good chance of getting the question correct and the other player didn’t. In order for the other player to win he’d have to be right twice. Betting $0 I can be wrong once and still win.

5

Assuming both players have an equal chance of getting the correct answer, then the odds are the same either way. The challenger had a 75% chance of winning.

6

The category was “Names in the News”.
When I saw that subject and they went to a commercial break, my thought was the answer could be anything. I’m not confident that I’d know the answer so I’d have bet 0.

After the show ended and i was dumbfounded by his bet, I began thinking, if he was determined to bet anything, why not bet it all? If he gets the answer, he doubles his money, if he misses, sure, he finishes 3rd, but he’d still lose. By just betting a dollar and getting the answer correct, he increases his total by only $1. Big whoop.

7

I would be really conservative playing Jeopardy in general, but this would depend on the question, and my confidence in it.

Also, the challenger with 50% is probably going to bet it all, but not necessarily. If the category is “The Federalist papers,” and I sucked at two earlier history categories, AND, the challenger has 0 confidence in her knowledge of the Federalist Papers, then she may bet 0, and hope I am going for broke, and bet $0. In which case, maybe I should bet 1/2 of what I have. It would also be worth noting what, in general, the challenger bets on Daily Doubles. If she bets most of all, then she is probably betting it all on the final question. If she is very conservative on the Daily Doubles, maybe she will bet $0, ESPECIALLY if I sucked at history questions. I would bet $1 (just in case). If I think there’s a slight chance she has bet it all, and I know more about the subject than my previous playing may have demonstrated, then I would probably bet 1/2. If the category is “Silent movies,” “Women’s autobiography,” or “Judaism,” I would bet it all.

8

Assuming that the 3rd place player had a positive total, I don’t think you quite want to bet it all.

9

Yeah, but the difference between 2nd & 3rd is only $1,000. Had he bet it all and answered correctly he’d have won (if memory serves) nearly $30,000.

10

I was thinking that, too. I’d bet so that even if the third-place player doubles, I’d still be ahead of him or her.

  1. I’m right, 2nd-place is right. Result: I win big money.
  2. I’m right, 2nd-place is wrong. Result: Same as #1.
  3. I’m wrong, 2nd-place is right. Result: I get second place.
  4. I’m wrong, 2nd-place is wrong. Result: I win (albeit small money), assuming 2nd-place goes to zero.
11

[quest to fix this error because it irritates me – sorry]
Not lead, LED.
[/quest]

12

Yes, I saw that I’d screwed that up after I had posted, but didn’t think it was that big a deal and wanted to get the story out.
I apologize.

13

These are the things you need to know before going into Final Jeopardy.

14

So what was the question?

I mean the answer?

15

This 52-year old went through a temporary growth spurt, growing 2 inches in less than a year, as revealed by a 2016 physical.

Astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent a year on the ISS

16

Alternatively…what happened? What did the champ bet? did they make it?

17

It’s in the OP.

18

Oops! I thought that was a summary of the scenarios.

That’ll teach me not to skim the OP

19

I’d’ve bet the maximum amount I could and still ensure I didn’t lose to the third-place player.

20

The third-place guy can only win if both of the other two bet it all and get it wrong. His only logical move is to bet everything except one dollar.

The second-place guy can only win if he either bets it all and the first-place guy bets 0 and then he wins the tiebreaker, or if he bets it all and the first-place guy gets it wrong, or if the first-place guy bets big and gets it wrong. The last is much less likely than the first two, since the first-place guy won’t bet that big unless he’s really confident in the category, so the second-place guy’s only logical choice is to bet it all.

The first-place guy has three logical choices: Bet nothing and hope to win the tiebreaker, bet enough to be $1 ahead of double the third-place guy, or bet everything. Which one is the right choice depends on how confident he is in the category.