There was a theory that she thought that the “tiebreaker by whoever was ahead at the end of the previous round” applied to ties between first and second, and that that meant that she couldn’t come back under any circumstances.
Seems the most likely to me.
This is the first post that acknowledges the hugest wild-card in Jeopardy! strategy: The ability to answer the question.
Want to win the most money on that show? Have better reflexes and know your shit. In my mind, Final Jeopardy usually is just extra gravy. Game is done by that point.
But I’ll admit, I’m not a regular watcher.
Before you go on, you should really know the average proportion of contestants who get the final answer right, the average proportion in which one contestant gets it right and another wrong, and also the average value a contestant gets from competing.
It’s not immediately obvious to me how the leading player should bet. If the average proportion who get the final answer right is, say 75%, and the average value from competing is $20.000, then the first player should’ve bet everything, not 0. (Unless he has a reason to believe he is significantly better than average.)
Also, if you can get second place to go along with you, that is an advantage, not a drawback. Afterall you just defeated that person, so there should be a greater chance that you can defeat him or her again than there would for some random person.
Exactly. But should that person be in first place, and you in second next time, you hope the foe will realize the same benefit in playing to keep you around-- something I would be sure gets mentioned during that little handshake session that occurs as the final credits roll.
I’m not sure the strategy even changes if the FJ catagory is something obscure to you (example: “Polynesian Needlepoint” or some such). However, if you are a biologist, and the FJ catagory is “Biology,” then it makes more sense to take advantage of your luck and as leader bet the farm.
None of which will do you a damned bit of good if you don’t happen to know that particular Final Jeopardy question.
This is about the decision that is made before you know the question. Of course whatever decision you make could turn out to be wrong, but such is every decision.
If you are talking about the leading player in the game mentioned in the OP, him betting anything at all lowers his chances of winning from 100% to I don’t know what the percentage would be but it’s way less than 100%. He’d be throwing away a sure thing on a gamble that he knows the answer.
If a win for the leader is not assured, then you take into consideration how well you think you know the topic and the scores of your opponents. One can usually figure out the answer just by how the clue is worded, even if the topic category sounds very difficult. From what I’ve seen over the year, a majority of the time the leader going into FJ ends up winning, often because they all get the answer and he bet enough to pass 2nd. Of course there are also many many times where the leader does not know it and the 2nd or 3rd place ends up winning.
Yes. But that still might be the right move, if the chance of guessing correct is high, and the expected value of competing on Jeopardy is relatively low. If he bets, he should bet all, or nearly all.
Stupid question related to this Jeopardy episode, but not the OP. I just watched this one last night, and I’m sure at one point the army guy responded, “Brent Michaels” when it should have been “Bret Michaels.” I assured my husband that when they returned from break, but before Final Jeopardy, they’d correct him & deduct the money for that A/Q.
Did anyone else hear it the way I did?
No, you’re wrong here. The object of Jeopardy is not simply to win as much money as possible. It’s to **win **the game and come back the next episode to win more. It doesn’t matter how high his change of guessing correctly is, it won’t be 100%.
Now that’s not to say that if it’s a topic he knows he is an expert in, he won’t get it right. He probably will get it correct, but there is always a change he won’t. It could be the one fact he doesn’t know, he could misspell something, or he could just have a brain fart and even though it’s something obvious and he knows it, he doesn’t get it out in time. That is why if you go into FJ with a lock, betting where if you get it wrong you will have less than double the total of 2nd place is not smart and is not encouraged.
Yep. I did as well. Surprised they let it go, considering some of the mispronunciations they do penalize.
So I guess this is how you want every game to end?
For goodness’ sake, lady. :smack:
ETA: I bumped this instead of starting a new one, but just noticed the date header. Sorry.
I miss PSXer, hia Jeopardy obsession is just one reason.