Regarding the face value of the choice that turns out to be the Daily Double – its not a given that the contestant wanted to bet that value. They may have confidence in the category, or they may be trying to burn up high worth questions away from the person who’s winning. That’s a bit of the strategy that adds to the game’s complexity.
Look at any showing of Rock and Roll Jeopardy, Celebrity Edition, when Mark McGrath plays. The only remotely viable strategy for everyone else is mash your button and hope to blurt out a random correct answer. A particularly tough player my cause regular Jeopardy to devolve into that, at least slightly.
Would it change the strategy any if the category were “Jap Anus Relations”?
Do you know who ELSE is into Jap Anus Relations, Alex?
Well, you are fucking with duder’s head here (
) but I’m not sure about “standard betting.” If I am up $24k to $20k in FJ, what is standard betting? I don’t think there is any. I I think I can get the question right, then what should I bet?
If the opponent is right, I need to bet $16,001. If he is wrong, I should bet $3,999. So it really comes down to a thought if I am right and he is wrong analysis. But I would have to do the same thing in DJ…
On a related question, why is it that whenever a contestant hits the daily double category, the audience is trained to applaud like wild like he just hit the jackpot? That’s the one thing on Jeopardy that always seemed really out of place to me…
Hmm… Apparently we’re making assumptions about the motivations of Jeopardy contestants. If I were on the show, my primary goal would be to have as much fun as possible. Money would be a non-issue. I wouldn’t come in expecting any more than the third place prize, so there’d be no way I could be disappointed. As such, if I have even the slightest clue about the category, it’s going to be a true daily double (maybe sparing a dollar if it’s late in the game so I can still play Final Jeopardy).
After several hours of green room and rehearsal time, I found that I really liked some of the other players, and I was concerned that this might make it difficult to play against them. Then I thought of this Robert A. Heinlein “Lazarus Long” quote:
“Either you are there to cut the other bloke’s heart out and eat it–or you’re a sucker.”
Yeah, $16,001 is a pretty standard bet in that situation. If you get FJ right, you win the game and there’s nothing the other guy can do even if he bet it all. If you get it wrong, you’ll have $3,999 left; if the other guy bet everything and also gets FJ wrong, you still win. Of course, with these dollar amounts, he might very well not bet everything. Since his best hope is for the leader to be wrong, he could even bet nothing; sit on that $20,000 and hope for the best. And you do get to see the category before wagering, so it might depend on how comfortable you are with it. In general, though, the standard wager for the leader is to ensure that he wins if he’s right, and still has a chance to win if he’s wrong.
Consider another situation, though; leader with $17,000 and second place with $10,000. The standard wager would be $3,001. If he’s right, he wins. If he’s wrong, he still has $13,999. Now, second place can’t just wait. He has to get FJ correct, and bet at least $4000.
And we’re not even mentioning that there are three players. It’s complicated.
[trebek]My Mother is 80 and in a nursing home…:mad:[/trebek]
[connery]Yea, she was nursing it alright…;)[/connery]