Anyone who’s watched the Jeopardy
Masters for the last three seasons knows that it is practically a tradition to
go all in on Daily Doubles no matter who finds them. There were some exception
in last year’s – Victoria Groce took a more calculated approach – but the trend
has been continuing this year and it’s mostly paid off.
But
increasingly this year we have seen how this can backfire and in the final
round of quarterfinal games, it came back to bite three separate masters. In
the first game, it would end up leading to a spectacular recovery. In the
second, it ended up being too high a price for two former Jeopardy greats to
recover from in Double Jeopardy and ultimately determined the winner.
On
a side note, on all three Daily Doubles I knew the correct response while the
Masters didn’t. However, playing along at home I’ve always played by an honor
code: if I didn’t get the clue previous to finding the Daily Double I didn’t
wager on it so it didn’t effect my score at home. I will point this out as they
come up but for now let’s get to the final two games.
Game
1: Victoria Groce vs. Yogesh Raut vs Isaac Hirsch
Note:
In the leadup to the final games we saw Ken interview Isaac, who has spent much
of the Masters feeling like he was suffering from ‘imposter syndrome.” Having won
his second game Ken asked if he still felt it. Isaac said it hadn’t gone away. “I’m
reminded of that meme from Breaking Bad’, he said jovially. “He can’t keep
being allowed to get away with it!” he said in a solid Aaron Paul impression.
In
this game Victoria and Yogesh – two of the finalists from last year’s Masters –
had already qualified for the semi-finals. Isaac was still in a uncertain
position.
One
of the categories in the Jeopardy round had to deal with the Great British
Bake-off which Victoria has previous acknowledged is her favorite show. However
her first pick was in the category WORLD LEADERS. Yogesh got the first pick and
then found the Daily Double. He found it early in NONFICTION and bet the 1000
points he could:
“This
2-word phrase from Scientology is the title of Lawrence Wright’s book at the
inner workings of that church.
Yogesh
figured it out: “What is Going Clear?” He was at 1800 points.
And
as in previous Masters games the Daily Double came so early Victoria was able
to overcome it despite her own failings in that category. She finished the
round with 9600 points to Yogesh’s 5000 and Isaac’s 2200.
Victoria
found the first Daily Double in OPERA a category she seemed comfortable with.
She decided to go all in and bet the 10,400 points she had. This time it didn’t
work out:
“In
a Wagner opera, Woglinde, Wellgunde & Flosshilde are 3 of these magical water
nymphs.
It
was clear Victoria didn’t have it though she had the right idea: “What are the
Valkyries?” I knew it at home; they were the Rhine maidens (who make their
appearance in Rheingold, the first opera in Wagner’s Ring Cycle). Down
to zero she went.
Victoria
then made a complete recovery and by the time she found the other Daily Double
in MEASURE UP!, she had 13,600 points more than before. She had learned her
lesson and bet just 400 points:
“A
64TH note in also music is known by this 18-letter word.”
First
she sounded it out, then counted on her fingers: “What is a hemi demisemiquaver?”
She earned her 400 points.
The
last clues were a battle to see if either Isaac or Yogesh could keep Victoria
from running away with the game. Neither could quite do this: Victoria finished
with 16,000 points, Yogesh had 7400 points and Isaac finished with 6600. But second
place did still matter as Isaac would eventually clinch if he managed to
achieve it.
The
Final Jeopardy category was 20th CENTURY FICTION:
“The
title of this 1959 work refers to a record given to graduating seniors at Ohio
State University.”
Full
disclosure: I couldn’t even come up with a title for this one.
Isaac’s
made a guess, trying to write down: “What is The Best Years of our Lives?” I
don’t know that Oscar winning Best Picture was a book first or not, and either
way it didn’t matter it was still wrong. He lost 1000 points leaving him with
5600.
Next
came Yogesh. He had the correct work: “What is Goodbye, Columbus?” He
bet 5801 and finished with 13,201.
It
was enough to clinch second place. Victoria knew the correct novel as well but
wagered nothing. She won her four consecutive match and gained another 3 match
points. Yogesh got 1 more, Isaac zero. He still had to wait and see.
Interview
segment: Asked again if being on the same stage as Yogesh and Victoria had helped
him get over his Jeopardy imposter syndrome Isaac said simply: ‘No. But I’d
rather be a well paid imposter than a poorly paid imposter.” He then told them
that his father Steve had been on the show and then used the opportunity to
pitch his father coming back in a Second Chance Tournament. #BringBack Steve!” (I
love this guy, for the record.)
Yogesh
then told a story about one of the players he defeated in the Tournament of
Champions Ben Chan. Ben apparently set up a board for his students, broke it
down into teams and one team ‘who apparently didn’t care that much about their
grade’, called themselves ‘Team Yogesh” Joking about the rivalry Yogesh said he
didn’t know how the team that bore his name did but he said he was definitely
#Team Yogesh.
Victoria,
who always shouts her daughter Nora out every time she writes down Final
Jeopardy responses (she did so again today) updated us about Nora’s plans. She’s
now apparently about to spend a year abroad in Seoul. Ken actually went to high
school not far from where Nora is going to be studying. Victoria was hoping
that if they did well enough, she and her husband could fly out there at the
end of the year. So far it’s looking good.
Game
2: Juveria Zaheer vs Matt Amodio vs Roger Craig
This
was a rematch of the two game final of the 2025 Jeopardy Invitational which
Matt had won and the second game of this years Masters, which Roger had won.
Juveria and Matt had each gone on to win a game going forward; Juveria in the
knockout round; Matt in the quarterfinals. A victory would guarantee a spot in
the semis for any of the three players; second place for Matt or Juveria gave
them a possibility at the semis. A lot was riding on this.
In
the Jeopardy round Matt got to the Daily Double too early, finding it in U.S.
PRESIDENTS after just one correct response. He bet the 1000 he was allowed:
“He
signed the Gadsen Purchase.” Matt figured out it was Pierce and went up to 1800
points. The rest of the Jeopardy round was an intense back and forth between
the three old foes. Juveria went into the red early with two incorrect response
that cost her 1800 points in ‘I’ ON ASIA. But doing well in categories such as
OVERHEARD ON TIK-TOK and IN THE RAPPERS MEMOIRS helped her recover. Matt still
had the lead with 4800 points to Juveria and Roger’s 3800 points apiece.
Two
clues into Double Jeopardy Roger found the first Daily Double in CROSSWORD
CLUES ‘T’. Going all in, he claimed he learned this from Matt which is modest we
know he perfected this. Unfortunately this has come back to bite Roger in the
past, most notably in the finals of the Battle of The Decades against Ken and
Brad. And it did this time too:
“Doctrine
by which bread and wine become Christ’s blood and body (18 letters).
I
figured it out. Roger didn’t though he was on the right track: “What is
transmutation?” It was transubstantiation. He lost the 5400 points he had.
One
clue later Matt found the other Daily Double in VICTORIAN LIT. Apparently
having learned nothing from Roger’s experience two clues ago he wagered the
8000 points he had. It went just as badly:
“Sergeant
Cuff solves the mysterious disappearance of this title item stolen under the
influence of opium.
I
figured it out instantly having read the book: “What is The Moonstone?” (by
Wilkie Collins) Matt had no idea and as Ken said: “Juveria was now in the lead
having not answered a single clue.
Matt
managed to recover from this. Roger couldn’t. Just as in the Jeopardy round of
his knockout appearance he got into a hole but unlike then he couldn’t climb
out of it by the end of Double Jeopardy. It was a replay of sorts of Game 1 of
the Battle of the Decades Finals, only this time it meant instant elimination. Juveria
and Matt spent the rest of Double Jeopardy battling for the lead. Juveria
finished with 9000 points to Matt’s 8800.
The
Final Jeopardy category that determined the last spot in the Finals was BRITISH
HISTORY.
When
New Amsterdam was taken by the British he was on the throne of England, but the
city was renamed for his brother.”
Both
Juveria and Matt wrote down: “Who is James,” then crossed it out and wrote
down: “Who is Charles II?” In both cases
they made the right call. (The future James II was the Duke of York at the
time, which is of course how we get New York.)
Juveria was playing to win and wagered almost everything and that made
her the well-deserved victor in a close match. She gained three match points,
Matt 1
Interview
segment: Roger was asked what he had
learned from Juveria and Matt during the course of their encounters. He said
that from Juveria he’d learned congeniality and how to make friends – he admitted
he was a little prickly in the earlier meetings (a vibe I’ve never really
gotten from Roger after more than thirteen years of watching him) and Matt has
a habit of ‘pounding a Red Bull before a game…but later in the game, my heart
was beating at about 200 beats per minute, so I learned I can’t handle a Red
Bull.”
Interviewing
Matt, Ken realized he didn’t know Matt’s origin story on Jeopardy. (This is
true: during Matt’s original run Ken was not yet even a guest host on the
show.) Apparently Matt’s dad is a very big Jeopardy fan but ‘only wants to
experience vicariously’. So he pushed Matt’s mom to do so and after many years
of trying (and failing, though Matt never says so) she said enough and his father
turned his attention to Matt and after a couple of times he got a call. Ken
graciously pointed out that “your dad is super vindicated in this story.” Matt went
out of his way to thank him this time.
Juveria
told us that she had done buzzer prep but says in life: “I’m like a doomsday
prepper” and she took that model for Jeopardy for the worst case scenario ‘geo-politically
or here’ She then mockingly said: “I learned about boy things like engines and
freon and…gross boy stuff.”
QUARTERFINALS
LEADERBOARD AFTER MAY 27TH
VICTORIA
GROCE: 13 MATCH POINTS (CLINCHED)
YOGESH
RAUT: 9 MATCH POINTS (CLINCHED)
JUVERIA
ZAHEER: 8 MATCH POINTS (CLINCHED)
ISAAC
HIRSCH: 6 MATCH POINTS (CLINCHED)
MATT
AMODIO: 6 MATCH POINTS (ELIMINATED)
ROGER
CRAIG: 4 MATCH POINTS (ELIMINATED)
Isaac
ended up advancing due to the relevant tie breaker which to this point has not
been used and I was unaware of. In case of a tie the player with the most games
won ends up advancing. Isaac had won two games to Matt’s one and as a result Matt
left in fifth place.
Roger
left with another $50,000 to his credit and Matt left with another $75,000. If
the rules of the 2025 Masters are still in place both Matt and Roger will be
invited back to the 2026 JIT. (It remains unclear whether Brad, Neilesh or Adriana
will return though under the rules of last year Adriana was going to be invited
back anyway.)
At
this point I’m going to be honest and say that this year’s Masters has been
more fun than last years. A large part of this is due to the set of new faces
as well as some familiar veterans. The tension that was hanging over last year
because of Amy Schneider’s controversial invite is nowhere present and everyone
seems to be having just a bit more fun.
Furthermore
with Matt gone, the last of the six original Masters is gone from this year
which means that no matter how the semi-finals play out there will be a completely
new face in the finals. And watching Juveria and Isaac play you see in addition
to being great competitors they have a complete lack of ego and a very good
sense of humor to this that makes these kinds of tournaments entertaining. It
might be saying too much to call both them both lovable (though I really enjoy
watching them play) but it’s definitely charming as they both seem so astonished
with each victory they manage and how far they managed to make it.
And
while my dream lineup of Roger, Matt and Brad facing off never came to pass in
this year’s Tournament I won’t lie that I’m enjoying every moment of this new
group. I can’t wait to see how Juveria reacts when she ends up playing against
Yogesh and Victoria, who she has yet to face in either the knockout rounds or
the quarterfinals. She’s already proven herself better then three Tournament of
Champions winners and a two-time Jeopardy Master. How far can she go against
these two?
I’ll
be back next Wednesday to give a complete recap of the semifinals. Anything has
already happened in this year’s Masters but I have a feeling we’re not out of
surprises yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment