In an interview, Mattea Roach was asked who the permanent host should be. She said Ken Jennings. So, a very smart woman indeed.
Questionable betting, once again, by both the first and second place contestants in FJ.
Scores going into Final:
Ryan $16,200
Nick $14,600
Divya $4,000
Divya bet $700, missed the question, finished with $3100
Nick bet $6,599, got the correct answer, finished with $21,199
Ryan bet $8,000, got the correct answer, finished with $24,200
Had Nick bet it all, (the logical bet) she would have won.
However, had Ryan bet at least $13001, he would have shut out Nick. He got really lucky that Nick didn’t bet more.
I think Nick was betting to ensure (no worse than) second place. Had Divya bet everything and been right, she’d have $8,000. Had Nick gotten the question wrong, she’d have finished with $8,001.
You’re absolutely correct. But is betting to ensure second place better than trying to win?
Nick had $14,600. Had she bet it all and been correct, she would have finished with $29,200. Ryan would have had to bet $13,001 in order to clinch the win.
That’s such a common strategy that Nick may have just assumed that Ryan would make that wager. If he had, and been correct, then nothing Ryan did would have made a difference. Ryan needed Nick to be wrong. Then her wager would have won.
I still maintain that there is no objectively correct betting strategy for Final Jeopardy. If I knew what the other players wagered, I could make the perfect bet. But I don’t know what they’re going to do; the best I can do is guess. But while I’m doing that, they’re trying to guess what I’m going to bet, and they make their wagers based on that guess. It’s a feedback loop with no end.
By the way, was anybody else surprised that “St. Louis Arch” was accepted as the correct FJ response? It’s the Gateway Arch.
Would they accept “Seattle Needle” for a clue about the Space Needle?
I cannot answer your latter question, but I can answer the former: yes, I was surprised.
I learned the name of the structure as “the Gateway Arch,” as St. Louis represented the gateway to the west, back in the day. I suppose that one might say “the Gateway Arch in St. Louis,” to be more specific. But I’ve never heard the structure referred to as “the St. Louis Arch.”
I’ve heard it called “The St. Louis Arch” quite frequently. If anything, “Gateway Arch” is the rare, “nobody ever really says that” name.
I think you mixed up the names here. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that your paragraph should read:
That’s such a common strategy that Nick may have just assumed that Ryan would make that wager. If he had, and been correct, then nothing Nick did would have made a difference. Nick needed Ryan to be wrong. Then her wager would have won.
Yes, but you didn’t phrase it in the form of a question.
Second this. I think of it as “The St. Louis Arch” in my mind, and that’s what I called out when I read the FJ clue. I was vaguely aware of having heard the phrase “Gateway Arch” before, but googling “St. Louis Arch” (with the quotes) produces plenty of hits.
For what it’s worth, the National Park Service website has it as “Gateway Arch”.
Personally, I wouldn’t feel much difference between going home with $1000 versus $2000. To me, the goal is to return the next day, and the amount of money is just “icing on the cake.”
You’re not betting to ensure second place. You’re betting to ensure that you do no worse than second.
Risking loss of the game to win a thousand extra bucks for second place makes no sense to me.
I’m a bad strategist- if I was in second going into FJ I’d just bet it all. The memory would be worth more than a few measly bucks.
ISTM that if you’re in 2nd place, you have to assume that the only way to win is if the contestant in 1st place gets FJ wrong – the alternatives are just too weird and variable. So #2 bets enough so that if right, they have #1’s current value + $1.
Or, like SoR says: you could just go all in and let the chips fall where they may. 
And suppose all three players are wrong. Having bet it all, you lose; but had you bet nothing, it turns out you’d have won. What is that memory worth?
Except for the trivial case where the game is a runaway, there is no objectively correct strategy for wagering on Final Jeopardy.
I will have been a man, my son.
I am wondering what Nick’s memory will be worth. Had she bet it all, she would have won yesterday’s game.
You are betting on yourself and your knowledge in FJ. Unless it’s a category about which you know little, I think you must assume that you will get the question right.