#Place as a wager how to

18700 – 6101 = 12599 Second and third should take note of this and attempt to ensure their score gets (or stays) above this number. Now, see what happens if the leader’s wrong (subtract the cover bet from their score).Determine the leader’s optimum cover bet over 2nd by doubling second place’s score, adding $1, and subtracting the leader’s current score.Advertisement- General Wagering Strategy AlgorithmĮxample game: Leader $18,700 Second $12,400 Third $1,600. Conversely, when trailing, one need only focus on circumstances for when the leading player misses Final Jeopardy!.īetween 20 when this original guide was written, a leader failed to make the cover bet only 12.5% of the time. Under this principle, if a leader follows this strategy, a correct response to Final Jeopardy! renders everything else moot. Generally, this means to make a wager that will defeat the trailing player by at least $1 if both players get the question right and the trailing player bets everything (henceforth known as a cover bet). The one general principle used in the majority of wagering strategies for the show: When leading, it is significantly better to lose by getting Final Jeopardy! incorrect than it is to lose by getting Final Jeopardy! correct and be overtaken by a trailing player. My advice would be to practice writing with Sharpies on index cards, if you can find them.īe advised that there are more advanced strategies than the ones covered here however, many of them range from the theoretic to the experimental and lack enough significant data. The contestant co-ordinators do provide writing instruments and paper to write on when attempting to determine wagers. This guide will go over the basic Final Jeopardy! betting strategies.

#Place as a wager how to

So, without further ado, here is Wagering Strategy 101: How To Bet in Final Jeopardy! Introduction to Final Jeopardy! Betting:Ĭongratulations! If you’re reading this, you’ve probably received The Call to be on Jeopardy! and need some sort of pointers on knowing how to avoid major wagering mistakes on the show. It has since been updated for the 2014 rule change (namely, that ties are broken by a tiebreaker) and used by a couple of other contestants one of them received news coverage for “one of the craftiest moves in show history”. She did not win, but she did play very well and was only felled by a very difficult Final Jeopardy.

The following document was written by me in 2011 for a friend who was going to be on the show. One thing that I have noticed is that there is not a publicly available concise document that explains basic Final Jeopardy! betting strategy.