
Arthur Chu Is Playing Jeopardy the Right Way - jerryhuang100
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/02/ken_jennings_on_jeopardy_champion_arthur_chu_and_daily_double_hunting.html
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chrisparsons
I think Ken nails the real issue when he mentions this isn't the first "Daily
Double hunter" the show has seen. Realistically, excluding Chuck Forrest, who
was bouncing around the board to keep his opponents off-balance as opposed to
hunting for daily doubles, it's been going on for a few years now from more
than a few players. So why is Arthur Chu getting the attention now?

I'd hope it's for the fact that he has a bit of a grating buzzer practice (I'm
surprised he isn't anchoring his hand against the lectern to reduce any windup
and help with precision) and that he was flippant with some Daily Doubles
early on (the $5 sports "I don't know" caught me off-guard), but I have a
feeling it's more sinister than that.

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Ygg2
Basically he is playing the game optimally. Problem is, optimally playing this
game isn't really that interesting.

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theklub
Must be interesting since everyone is talking about it..?

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Ygg2
Interesting for the audience I mean. There is a fighting style in fighting
games called turtling which is an extremely defensive position that waits for
other player to make mistake and capitalize on it. It's a very good strategy
but really dull one to watch.

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jamesbritt
I'm surprised more contestants don't use more strategy. It seems foolish.

It seems obvious that if you want a Daily Double don't pick the first row. Yet
so few players ump right to the higher valued questions.

I caught a bit of an NPR show which had some interview snippets from Arthur
Chu. He's clearly thought this out.

In particular was the realization that making decisions under pressure would
be sub-optimal, so he worked out in advance what to do under various
circumstances (tight game or big lead, early/late in the game, etc) and sticks
to the plan.

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gojomo
There are some plausible reasons to delay, at least a little, especially if
you think (as is likely with a challenger) you may need a little time to
acclimate to the game's buzz-in rhythm and get the gist of categories. Also,
the daily-doubles are worth more later: when you've got more to wager, and
know more about relative standings.

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chrisparsons
In addition to the reasons you've stated, an additional one is that there are
fewer questions for your opponents to use to reach over half of your total.
Hitting the two daily doubles with most of the board left in play in round two
means you'll still likely need to outplay your opponents on the buzzer that
round.

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mzs
Also if you manage to find the daily double in the jeopardy round too early,
you can only wager up to $1000.

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RogerL
I haven't run the numbers, but I think I would prefer that vs my opponents
finding the daily double later in the game.

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latch
Here's the "sphincter clenching" Roger Craig double daily double referenced:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRwK8SyVeJE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRwK8SyVeJE)

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ohashi
The video was embedded right below it in the article as well

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bane
I don't really watch Jeopardy, but after reading about how this guy plays, and
knowing that there are local Jeopardy clubs in pretty much every High School
in America acting as feeders into the show, I'm surprised more strategy hasn't
come to play until Arthur.

I hope more players do it, it would make the game more competitive and
multidimensional, you have to have knowledge and strategy.

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markvdb
You say "I'm surprised more strategy hasn't come to play until Arthur."

This might have something to do with the selection of players by the show
organisers. If your goal as a show organiser is to get as many spectators as
possible, there are proven player profiles to optimise for...

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Consultant32452
And having a ringer like Chu from time to time gets you more press. So I would
not be surprised if the occasional strategic player is intentionally selected.

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aestra
During Ken Jenning's $2 million Jeopardy! run the ratings for the show
increased dramatically.

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gabemart
It reminds of the tension for professional athletes between playing simply to
win and playing to put on a good show for the audience.

Of course, athletes have a more direct commercial relationship with their
fans, so have a greater degree of responsibility to entertain them.

For a jeopardy contestant who plays once, it seems reasonable that they play
in whatever fashion they determine gives them they best chance of winning.

But for a jeopardy contestant who wins consistently and plays a large number
of shows, do they accrue any responsibility to be the equivalent of "a good
sport" and put on a show for the fans -- who are, indirectly, paying for their
continued winnings?

I appreciate Arthur Chu's strategy and applaud him for his rational approach
to the game. But, as a regular watcher, I definitely enjoy the game less when
he's playing, because I find it harder to follow along with the questions. I
don't necessarily think this is a Bad Thing, but I think it's worth exploring.

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wmeredith
It's all about incentives. A professional athletes popularity directly
translates (mostly) to them getting to play more, play longer, and make more
money. On Jeopardy, if you lose you're off. The buzzer and the board don't
care if anyone likes you or not. Obviously in some extreme circumstance they
could kick someone off the show for spouting racial slurs or assaulting
another player or something. And injury haunts pro athletes no matter how well
liked. None of that changes the fact that in jeopardy there's no incentive for
showmanship or PR.

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kosei
Really interesting stuff. In researching more, the data culled and analyzed by
a former Jeopardy winner blew my mind as well:

[http://gawker.com/5860275/how-a-geek-cracked-the-jeopardy-
co...](http://gawker.com/5860275/how-a-geek-cracked-the-jeopardy-code)

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aestra
Reminds me of Michael Larson who memorized the Press Your Luck board when he
realized it wasn't random! He won $110,237 in 1984 ($247,165.36 in 2003
dollars)

He then went on to get in trouble with the law.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Larson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Larson)

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noelwelsh
I attended a talk by Gerald Tesauro, from the IBM Watson team. Watson is the
computer that beat the human champions at jeopardy. A significant portion of
Watson's success was attributable to Watson's superior strategy. Hunting for
the Daily Doubles, mentioned in this article, is one of the strategies I
remember. I was amazed at the time that human players weren't doing this
already. On reflection I've spent a long time studying decision making
problems and comparatively less time cramming on general knowledge. I might
have a good idea on strategy but I'd probably get pwned on Jeopardy.

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GhotiFish
mind sharing those insights? I'm far more interested in the general strategy
than just cramming for the questions.

I'm surprised to learn that the daily doubles arn't fully random.

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ghayes
In the article, Ken Jennings references some of those stats and associated
articles on them. [1]

> For example, they’re much more likely to be in the fourth row of clues (36
> percent of the time, in recent years) than the second row (just 10 percent).

He also states that this was a factor in his defeat:

> I was converted to Daily Double hunting during my 2011 match against the IBM
> supercomputer Watson. During a practice round, Watson took the clues in
> order, like a good citizen; I won the game in a runaway. But during the
> televised match, Watson’s minders switched it into _“game mode,” which of
> course involved smart strategies like hunting for Daily Doubles_. This time,
> Watson roared into a huge lead.

[1]
[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/02/ill_ta...](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/02/ill_take_jeopardy_trivia_for_200_alex.html)

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AznHisoka
"Playing Jeopardy the Right Way"

Well, he's winning. so he's obviously playing it the right way. The wrong way
would be losing.

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skywhopper
As Ken points out Daily Double searching is not new, and Chu is no innovator.

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dobbsbob
I only watch Jeopardy to see this guy using game theory and his awesome $5
daily double wagers. I don't think he is back on until end of Feb

