Triple Jeopardy total fail

Is that descriptive enough?

Yeah, I was watching that last night.

BTW, next week is the adult Jeopardy! annual online tryout test. I'm signed up for Tuesday. Anybody else giving it a go? Wizard? Soda?

It amazes me that people smart enough to be on Jeopardy don't understand how to bet the final round. At the very least always leave yourself a $1.

Back in the day when winners were limited to a maximum of five games, it struck me that few bet on their last game so they'd tie with the person in second place.

No question of betting too little and foregoing money, of course. But in occasions where the person in first had to bet, say, $400 in order to tie, assuming the person in second bet it all and won, the person in first would bet $401. That's fair in the previous 4 games, but why do it in the last one?

Maybe they were told off-camera not to do this?

Granted it's being generous with other people's money, but it comes off looking as though they have to defeat the other player in addition to winning all that money.

If a player is confident in the topic, I don't think there is anything wrong with putting it all on the line. The amounts going into the final answer were unusual in that the first two players were tied with amount that was near double the third player's amount. They must have all felt like they had a chance to win it.

I didn't know that all three would be dumped if no one finished with any money. I thought if there was a tie they would return the next day, but this makes sense when there are three zeroes.

Good luck on the tryout to those who will be testing!

Quote: rxwine

Is that descriptive enough?

What a crappy question, they should have gotten rid of Trebek and kept the contestants.

"A 1957 event" led to a national historic site.

What was the event? Did you people know what site is referred to in this question? http://www.nps.gov/chsc/index.htm

Quote: Nareed

Maybe they were told off-camera not to do this?

Naw. It's greed and arrogance. It's hard
to get on the show, you have to be pretty
arrogant to start with once they've chosen
you. And you just amassed a bunch of
money, this is easy, you can't lose.

Quote: DRich

It amazes me that people smart enough to be on Jeopardy don't understand how to bet the final round. At the very least always leave yourself a $1.

I wonder how often someone at a distant third place bets nothing, or little, and wins because the other two lose their bets.

Quote: DRich

It amazes me that people smart enough to be on Jeopardy don't understand how to bet the final round. At the very least always leave yourself a $1.

You might also lose by that very $1 in this situation. A tie is pretty much as good as a win, so if you feel you have greater than a 50% chance of being correct, I think betting everything is the right move.

If you could trust your opponent, then you could make a deal to both leave at least $1, but that is a big "if" after seeing all the lying that goes on in Golden Balls and Friend or Foe.

Edit: I was referring to the two high players above. As Miplet wrote below, the bottom player should have left at least $1.

The only wagering error was by the 3rd place player. She should have wagered $0 and hope the other 2 both lose with big wagers.