The Secretary Problem, or an Optimal Mating Strategy

This came up in another thread, under the "37% Rule", but without the definitive reference here. Although 1/e is most likely to give an optimal answer, it has pretty bad worst-case behavior (time runs out and you get stuck with a fish). Settling early gives much better worst case behavior while only slightly decreasing the best case. The last reference Ketelaar and Todd, is quite interesting.