re: jeopardy champ today won with $200 ...

quote:

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No idea what to put as my response. But sweet mary the person in first position screwed up. Everyone knows when you are in the lead headed to final jeopardy, the most you bet is enough money to, if you are correct, give you 1 dollar more than double what the second place person has going into final jeopardy.

So in this case, you bet 12,301. Then cause everyone got it wrong, you win with 5,799.

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The person who really f*cked up is the guy in third place.

He's got to go in to Final Jeopardy with the thought that THE ONLY way he wins is if the first two get it wrong.

Looking at the dollar amounts, he has to assume that the first place guy will bet 12,301.

He also should assume that the guy in second will either risk it all, OR, if he's bright would risk enough to beat his/her third place amount if the third place player bets it all (in this case, the bet would have been $6,401).

If the first place finisher bet the $12,301 and lost, he/she would have $5,800.

If the second place finisher bet it all, he'd have $0 if he didn't get Final Jeopardy correct. If he bet $6,401 (i.e., to make sure that he beat the third place player if he bet it all), then he'd have $8,799.


So, given that he had $10,800, he should have bet no more than $2,000, which would beat the second place finisher by $1 if they both get it wrong.

He would have won with $8,800.

Like I stated, he's got to go into it with the idea that the ONLY way he's going to win is if the first two get it wrong -- and bet accordingly.