Maybe I got this wrong, but on Jeopardy! tonight, didn’t Champ Chu bet just enough so that had his closest competitor bet it all and got it right, and of course if the Champ got it right (which they both did), they would have tied and been co-champs?
I thought that was very sporting. All Chu had to do was up his bet by $1 to knock out the other guy. Too bad #2 did not double down.
Well sporting or strategic. “I beat this guy tonight in the regular rounds so I can probably beat him again – rather him than a random draw from the pool.”
He really just does it because that extra $1 is slightly worse from a game theory standpoint. It normally wouldn’t matter, but there are a few places where it does, and Chu is just following an exact strategy so he doesn’t waste his brain energy on anything but questioning answers.