Jeopardy Grumble (SPOILER FOR THURSDAY SHOW)

[silverscreenselect]

This happens so often on the show and I feel like I'm watching fingernails on a chalkboard. Going into Final Jeopardy, seven-day-champion Stephen Webb had $22.400 and his opponent Sarah Matthews had $17,600. (The third player was negative and didn't play FJ.) Webb as expected bet $12,801 (enough to win the game by $1 if Matthews bet it all). He got the Final Jeopardy answer wrong, as did Matthews. So Webb wound up with $9,599. Since Matthews didn't have to worry about finishing ahead of the third-place contestant, she could have won with any sort of small bet. The two that made the most sense would have been zero or $4.801 (enough to win if Webb missed the question, regardless of what he bet.) Instead, she bet $15,000 (I'm a bit surprised she didn't bet it all) and Webb is now an eight-day champion.

The Final Jeopardy question (category 1980s movies): A writer & producer of this movie said he wanted it to be like a Western or James Bond film, ‘only it takes place in the ’30s'.

Spoiler

Raiders of the Lost Ark (I knew this one)

In other Jeopardy news, Stephen Fry will host a new British version of the show. It will apparently be played under similar rules to the recent Celebrity Jeopardy tournament, with three rounds of questions. Those who know Fry know that he will be an excellent host for the show.

[kroxquo]

I agree. Really dumb bet on her part. She was a smart player, but really didn't know how to handle wagering (her Daily Double wagering was weak as well).

Also - did anyone else notice in the Comedy Influences category the picture they showed of Monty Python oonly included 3 members and one guy who was not a member of the troupe (it was Neil Innes who did a lot of music for the movies and live shows and played Sir Robin's minstrel in Holy Grail).

[tlynn78]

If I ever go on Jeopardy, I will require weeks of "betting strategy" tutoring.

[BackInTex]

I haven't watched this episode yet, but since A&M decided to exit the NCAA tournament early, I will have time to catch up my Jeopardy episode watching.

The Final J! wagering that drives me the most nuts is when someone has a run-a-way lead and can't be caught and they wager more than the run-a-way gap. I've seen this a couple times in the last year or so, the last one being fairly recently (2nd chance tournament). Though the leader lucked out and all three contestants missed the Final J!.

[mrkelley23]

(raises hand in shame)

In my defense, when I appeared on the show, there was barely a J! board, and I hadn't discovered it. And as I've demonstrated here before, I'm far from a master of probability. Going in to the final round, my opponent had 10,100, I had 7600, and the other person had 2400. The smart play, I now know, would have been to wager 2501. That gives me enough to beat the leader if he misses, but protects me on a triple stumper. But I was confident in the category (world leaders) and I was afraid the leader might not act rationally. So I bet 7599. We all missed.

Then I went home and found out I was 70 percent numb in my arms and 80% numb in my legs, due to the tumor in my neck that my PCP had so thoughtfully diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome.

A lotta wouldacouldashouldas in my J! experience.

[silverscreenselect]

Another incredibly dumb wager on today's show, this time on a daily double. Contestant Karen Morris hit the last daily double with five clues remaining in the game after the daily double. The contestants had picked all the high value questions first, so the five remaining clues had a total value of $2400 (1 800 and 4 400s). Morris had $21,800 and her nearest opponent had $7100. To clinch a win, all she had to do was make a minimum bet (I think it's $5 under the current game rules) and then keep quiet the rest of the game. The best her opponent could get would be $9500 and Karen would have a lock for FJ.

Instead, Karen pulled a Cliff Clavin. She got greedy and bet $10,000 and missed the question. She then missed a couple of the other questions as well, so that at the end of the game she led by only $11400 to $8700. Cosmic karma caught up with her again in FJ. She missed the question and her opponent got it correct. Karen actually finished in third place and went home with a home security system.

[kroxquo]

Another incredibly dumb wager on today's show, this time on a daily double. Contestant Karen Morris hit the last daily double with five clues remaining in the game after the daily double. The contestants had picked all the high value questions first, so the five remaining clues had a total value of $2400 (1 800 and 4 400s). Morris had $21,800 and her nearest opponent had $7100. To clinch a win, all she had to do was make a minimum bet (I think it's $5 under the current game rules) and then keep quiet the rest of the game. The best her opponent could get would be $9500 and Karen would have a lock for FJ.

Instead, Karen pulled a Cliff Clavin. She got greedy and bet $10,000 and missed the question. She then missed a couple of the other questions as well, so that at the end of the game she led by only $11400 to $8700. Cosmic karma caught up with her again in FJ. She missed the question and her opponent got it correct. Karen actually finished in third place and went home with a home security system.

I was literally yelling at her for being so stupid even before she missed the DD question. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb!

[Estonut]

Another incredibly dumb wager on today's show, this time on a daily double. Contestant Karen Morris hit the last daily double with five clues remaining in the game after the daily double. The contestants had picked all the high value questions first, so the five remaining clues had a total value of $2400 (1 800 and 4 400s). Morris had $21,800 and her nearest opponent had $7100. To clinch a win, all she had to do was make a minimum bet (I think it's $5 under the current game rules) and then keep quiet the rest of the game. The best her opponent could get would be $9500 and Karen would have a lock for FJ.

Instead, Karen pulled a Cliff Clavin. She got greedy and bet $10,000 and missed the question. She then missed a couple of the other questions as well, so that at the end of the game she led by only $11400 to $8700. Cosmic karma caught up with her again in FJ. She missed the question and her opponent got it correct. Karen actually finished in third place and went home with a home security system.

I was literally yelling at her for being so stupid even before she missed the DD question. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb!

No, you were literally yelling at a pre-taped TV show...

[kroxquo]

Another incredibly dumb wager on today's show, this time on a daily double. Contestant Karen Morris hit the last daily double with five clues remaining in the game after the daily double. The contestants had picked all the high value questions first, so the five remaining clues had a total value of $2400 (1 800 and 4 400s). Morris had $21,800 and her nearest opponent had $7100. To clinch a win, all she had to do was make a minimum bet (I think it's $5 under the current game rules) and then keep quiet the rest of the game. The best her opponent could get would be $9500 and Karen would have a lock for FJ.

Instead, Karen pulled a Cliff Clavin. She got greedy and bet $10,000 and missed the question. She then missed a couple of the other questions as well, so that at the end of the game she led by only $11400 to $8700. Cosmic karma caught up with her again in FJ. She missed the question and her opponent got it correct. Karen actually finished in third place and went home with a home security system.

I was literally yelling at her for being so stupid even before she missed the DD question. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb!

No, you were literally yelling at a pre-taped TV show...

You are correct. I stand humbled.

[silverscreenselect]

Another incredibly dumb wager on today's show, this time on a daily double. Contestant Karen Morris hit the last daily double with five clues remaining in the game after the daily double.

One of the staff writers at FiveThirtyEight.com, Zach Wissner-Gross, was the contestant who finished third on Karen's show. He recounted his experience in a column on the website Friday and turned it into a mathematical question. He describes his own betting strategy in FJ (he bet nothing in the hopes that both contestants ahead of him would bet big and miss), but he does not discuss Karen's rather ill-advised Daily Double wager. Here's a link to his column:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/th ... -jeopardy/