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The best game to win


bonanova
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Studies have been made of pivotal games in a series of contests.

Third and fifth games have been given importance in that regard.

If your team is evenly matched in a best 4 of 7 series of games,

and you could be assured of winning one of the games,

which game would you choose?

See if you can solve this without enumerating all the outcome permutations.

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18 answers to this question

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Some responders have assumed a limitation on choice of game.

No limitation is intended.

Bushindo has given one of the two answers I was looking for.

It's certainly what the Cardinals would now wish for, down 2-3.

But there is in fact one game the series winner always wins.

The last one. =P

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off the bat I'd choose

3...simply because there is no guarantee of a Game 5.

Of course Game 5 either

a) clinches series for you

b) puts you up 3 - 2

c) Keeps you in the series

So maybe 5... :wacko:

We'll go 3 for reason stated above

Edited by maurice
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I must disagree with previous answers:

would be the first game.

evenly matched would represent a 50% chance of winning any game. Having 1 win does not alter the chance of winning the next game, hence expectations would be winning 3 of the next 6 games providing 4 of the seven for a series win.

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I will go for game no.4

Scenarios>>No. of games>>Win>>Loss

A>> 3 >> 0 >>3

B>> 3 >> 1 >>2

C>> 3 >> 2 >>1

D>> 3 >> 3 >>0

So for

scenario A, winning 4th game would still keep us in with a shout.

scenario B, would level the series.

scenario C, win here would make, needing only one win from 3 games.

scenario D:Win would, Win the series!

Edited by 14.swapnil.14
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3 and 5 are the pivotal games and keeping in mind that both teams are evenly matched so there is very less chance that series will finish in first 4 games.

So i'll choose 5 as it is very crucial as per studies.

Edited by Panwar
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The answer really is...

Game 7.

Here's the question: If your team is evenly matched in a best 4 of 7 series of games, and you could be assured of winning one of the games, which game would you choose?

It doesn't say your choices are 3 or 5. So if you are assured of winning Game 7, you know you win the series 100% of the time.

That said, if the choice IS between 3 and 5, I'd pick...

Game 5. Because there are only seven possible permutations after a Game 5 win. And my team would win 4 of the seven.

In fact, the odds get better with every game. A win in Game 6 gets you a series win 2/3 of the time. I didn't do the permutations for the lower games. It just stands to reason, if you are assured a win later in the series, that means you are assured to make it to that game, which is half the battle.

Edited by bobbyplump
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This is very easy. The question says game 3 and game 5 are pivotal games and you could be assured of winning one of the games.

Take game 5. You must at least win 1 game to get to game 5, so being assured of winning game 5 is actually giving you 2 wins. Then you only need to win 2 to win the series.

If you win game 3, you still may need to win 3 more games

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Best 4 of 7 could indicate that you stop playing after somone has four wins

You should choose to always win Game 7.

If you are at Game 7, then you must have 3 games each.

Winning Game 7 makes you win4-3 :D

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It would depend on where the series is in terms of wins and losses.

If the series is tied I would prefer to take game 5, as then you would only have to win 1 more game to their 2 and since we are evenly matched then I like my chances of winning 1 game to them having to win both games.

If I am up or down 2-0 going into game 3 then I would want to win game 3 more. It would either give me a commanding lead, or cut the lead for the other team.

This is just my thoughts on the matter.

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Is there anyone of the people replying a performance player of any team-sports ?

darn .. if I only read the topic b4 MM ;)

the answer is always the last one - any basketball player would tell you that ;) - but good for you MM !!! well earned star ;)

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