May 3, 2007

More Jeopardy! Gripes

This is a sports blog, but it's also a competition blog and a "why God why?" blog.

Jeopardy! is currently airing the first round of the college tournament. It lasts two weeks. The first week is the quarterfinal round. There are FIVE champions and FOUR wild cards. By Thursday, a contestant can guarantee advancement by having the best or second best non-winning total. Today is Thursday.

According to J-Archive, the ultimate Jeopardy! resource on the internet, the Monday-Wednesday wild cards were tentatively held by:

Cliff - $16,800
Alice - $16,400
Haditha - $14,000
Hayley - $13,500

So for a Thursday player, a score of $16,401 or more GUARANTEES advancement. Imagine a chick, from the home school and my girlfriend's alma mater, USC, coming into Final Jeopardy! in the lead with $17K and change. She can be caught. Now imagine that she IS caught, and she wagered enough to drop her to $12K and change.

She had, in her hands, a guaranteed wildcard, and even a good shot at the top seeded wild card. She now has jack shit.

2 Responses:

Brien said...

What happens Friday? How are there only four winners from a whole week of qualifiers?

Jeopardy would make a very interesting study for an economist. They could answer questions about profit maximization and risk aversion. But this one probably just falls under the category of "strategic oversight."

J-Red said...

Yeah, my bad. There are 5 winners and 4 wild cards. That means she's already out. I'll edit the article.

Summer is here and there's never been a better time to try your hand at online sports betting. Place your bets on your favorite horse with horse racing or even try your luck with your favorite football team. Enjoying sport is just a click away!