On Daily Double Betting Strategy

Andy here with the Monday recap; sadly, one of my favourite champions of 2012 on Friday fell to a Final Jeopardy!, but Liza Veeneman is the returning champion today. Her challengers: Matt Collins and Blythe Rodgers.



J! round categories: NO. 1 AT THE BOX OFFICE, MAKING THE GRADE, AFFIX THE SUFFIX, “A”-LIST LITERARY CHARACTERS, GEOMETRY, PROTESTING TIPS & ETIQUETTE

I found that our players took a rather pedestrian pace to the opening 15 clues today, after 15, the scores were:
Liza $3,200
Blythe $2,600
Matt $400

I think I’ve been spoiled by getting A.J. vs Laura as my previous game to recap! Liza played this game as if she was incredibly bored! I would have killed to have AJ or Laura in this game, for sure!

Matt got on a bit of a roll, though, and took the lead shortly before finding the game’s first Daily Double under MAKING THE GRADE $600. The scores:
Matt $3,200
Liza $3,000
Blythe $2,400

His bet: $800. His clue: From an EF-0 to an EF-5, the enhanced Fujita scale is used to grade the intensity of these weather events. The second question on this board (as well as GEOMETRY $200) which was very similar to a question I’ve asked in the past two weeks at my trivia quizzes, Matt got it quickly in order to bring his score to $4,000.

Exhibit #378 in the “Maybe Alex needs to retire soon?”: under “A”-LIST LITERARY CHARACTERS $1000: He’s the title character in “The Return Of The King” – Alex originally accepted Liza’s response, and of course, gave the answer away so that no rebound was possible!

Scores after 30:
Matt $5,800
Blythe $3,000
Liza $1,600

DJ! round categories: I’M ON THE CASE, NEIGHBORS OF NIGER, SINGING SOLO, THE QUOTABLE NIETZSCHE, CALIFORNIA GIRLS, WHATEVER

Matt extended his lead further and was rewarded with the second Daily Double (I’M ON THE CASE $1200): Scores:

Matt $9,400
Blythe $5,000
Liza $3,200

He bet $2,000 this time. His clue: Peruse the appeal that successfully fought the $100 fine this Tennessee high school teacher got in 1925 for teaching evolution. Another correct response brought him to $11,400.

It was Blythe who found the final Daily Double, under NEIGHBORS OF NIGER $1200. It was a video category – I probably would have gone for a True Daily Double here, just on my knowledge of African geography.

The scores:
Matt $12,600
Blythe $10,200
Liza $6,800

Blythe only wagered $3,000 though. Her clue: It underwent a change in government in 2011.



Her correct response brought her to $13,200.

Let’s take a time-out for a second here. You’ve been given the same map on the first two clues. Clue 3 is a video Daily Double, so it stands to reason you’ll see the same map on the third clue. You’ve demonstrated knowledge on the first two clues. There are a rather small number of possible responses here. If there was any question that is just inviting a very large Daily Double wager, it’s this one. $3,000 really just doesn’t cut it here.

Back to the game. Blythe, knowing that Burkina Faso was Upper Volta later in the category, validated that she really should have bet a ton more on that Daily Double.

Had Blythe bet what she should have on that question (not leaving $7,200 on the table), she would have a runaway going into Final Jeopardy! Instead, she doesn’t. Scores after DJ!:

Blythe $20,000
Matt $13,000
Liza $8,400

FJ! category: INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS

FJ! clue: David Phillips, whose exposé reporting inspired this word made popular by Teddy Roosevelt, was later shot dead

Liza 8400 – 8400 = 0
Matt 13000 – 10000 = 3000
Blythe 20000 – 6001 = 13999

Blythe will be returning tomorrow as champion!

I went too far down the “shot dead” road and picked a different incorrect response

I thought it was a very difficult Final, myself. What did everyone else think?

I’ll be back tomorrow with the next recap. See you then!