Abstract
The total variation of a simple, symmetric random walk with absorbing barrier at zero, is stochastically larger than the total variation of any other nonnegative, integer-valued supermartingale with the same initial position. This strengthens a result of David Freedman on the optimality of timid play for maximizing the time to bankruptcy in certain gambling situations.
Citation
David Gilat. William Sudderth. "Timid Play when Large Bets are Profitable." Ann. Probab. 5 (4) 573 - 576, August, 1977. https://doi.org/10.1214/aop/1176995764
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