In case you missed it, the big hullabaloo with Friday’s episode of JEOPARDY! was that all three contestants tied for first place with $16,000.

Now, it was traditional back in the Five Wins And You’re Out days that, when possible, the five time champ would bet enough to tie the second place person in their last game so that they could come back. But to manage a three way tie like this takes some special math. For starters, the second and third place contestants had to be in a tie. Otherwise, the one in the lead would have bet enough to beat the one in dead last. Or, you’d have required BOTH the first and second place contestants to aim for a tie, and what are the odds of that? This was only possible because the guy in the lead wanted it to happen and knew the other two wouldn’t be betting all but a dollar this time around.

As it happens, the guy who orchestrated it all has a blog:

squonk_npl – It’s been busy around here…

Oh, you want to know about the Final Jeopardy! wager? It was an intentional bet. I counted on Anders and Jamey betting rationally and wagering everything. I thought it would be really cool to be a part of Jeopardy history. I knew that meant I’d be playing seasoned opponents, but it didn’t matter to me. I had already won a couple of games myself, and I thought it would be neat to share the money. (See my post about Jennifer from a couple of days; that’s what the literary people call foreshadowing. :-)). Now there’ll be a notation next to one of my games in the J! Archive. How cool is that?

So he did it because it was cool, not because he thought he’d have an easy time against them both on the next show. Still, it’ll be hilarious if he loses to one of them on tonight’s show. Stay tuned. . .