So, it followed SOP whereby 1st assumed 2nd would go all-in so 1st bet to cover that plus a dollar… that amount was 5,001.
3rd realized that the only way she was going to win was if there was a tough question* and both 1st and 2nd got it wrong… so she bet nothing and won by a dollar.
*it was not a tough question but the three of them still got it wrong.
Most money wins basically. You bet a certain amount of your available money that you’ll answer the question right. If you get it right, you get that money added to your total. Get it wrong, it gets removed.
Player 1: Has 13,400. Best 5001 that they’ll answer it right. If they get it right, their total ‘score’ is 18,401. They get it wrong, it’s 8,399 (13400-5001)
Player 2: Wants to win so bets the whole shebang. Bets 9,200 they’ll get it right. If they had, they’re score would be 18,400. Getting it wrong drops them to 0.
Player 3: Sees they have little chance of winning by betting anything at all so bets 0.
They all get it wrong. Final scores are:
Player 1: 8399
Player 2: 0
Player 3: 8400
Player 3 wins by 1 by doing nothing and answering wrong lol
Did they? I didn’t see the actual episode, I just was guessing off what the OP said. What’s the strategy in that? It beats out Player 1 if they don’t bet at all but that’s unlikely and even if it did happen, why such a specific number like 7601? And even if Player 1 loses their first place for whatever reason, Player 2 is still relying on Player 3 to bet the farm and lose in the case where Player 2 got the answer wrong as well. It’s like Player 2 is basing their strategy on everyone getting the answer wrong while also betting their entire pool of money. Disclaimer, math is not my strong suit lol So I’m probably missing something obvious here.
Ok, so there’s one question left, you can stake as much of your bank as you want on your own answer to that question, and the only thing that matters is who has most nominal money at the end - if you have less nominal money than the winner, you get nothing?
I can kiiiiinda see it. Assumption, top player wants to stay at 10k or above even if they don’t know the answer. Therefore, they won’t bet more than 3400. I’ll bet enough to take me to 16801 if I get it right and the top person gets it right.
Right, and this is where it helps to think more than one step ahead. The 2nd place person guessed the leader would bet $5001. If they bet it all and both people get the right answer, they still lose by $1. If they get it right and the leader gets it wrong, they win no matter what they bet. But if they both get it wrong, the leader will presumably be left with $8399, so the 2nd place person will win as long as they bet less than $801.
Unless the leader thinks of this too, and therefore bets $3399. That way if 2nd place bets $800 and gets it right, they have $10,000. The leader is left with $10,001 if they get it wrong and still wins.
You can keep going down this rabbit hole trying to guess what the opponent will do and determine the perfect counter-bet. I haven’t followed it far enough to find any sense in the bet of $7601. ETA: Folly has it right, that bet makes sense if you think you both will get it right.
We don’t get Jeopardy here but I dislike from the context of the questions given the fact such lazy questions would have presumably been accepted, if they were the correct questions. It should be who is Isaac Asimov?, who is Arthur C Clarke? and who is Jules Verne? Lazy answering like that annoys me on quiz shows and should be ruled incorrect.
One thing that surprised people about Watson the computer’s appearances on the show was that it did go all the way down the rabbit hole of game theory, and so made bet amount that didn’t appear to make any sense, and looked totally random to mere humans.
Who has the most isn’t quite the only thing that matters: If you have the most, then that score value is the amount that you take home. So, for instance, if the top player going into the final question has more than double the second-place player, he can guarantee victory by making a small or zero bet… but he might still want to make a big bet, if it’s a category he’s really good at, so he brings home a bigger prize.
On the other hand, the winner also gets to come back to appear on the show again the next day, for the opportunity to win even more money, so it’s not just the value of your score that’s at stake.
Part of the reason I never got into watching that show is this annoying conceit.
Reversing questions and answers just doesn’t make sense half the time anyway.
The bet of 7601 was to guarantee that a correct answer beats player 3. Basically player 2 was using the normal first place strategy of betting enough to double the next player, plus a dollar.