Victoria Groce (middle) winning over Amy Schneider (left) and Andrew He (right) in the third and final game of the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (Jeopardy! Productions, Inc).
Five years following James Holzhauer’s first record-breaking win of $110,914 in his 4th game back in 2019, Victoria Groce became the 5th qualifier for the 2024 Jeopardy! Masters, the primetime event that debuted the previous year. The Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (JIT) marked her first appearance since September of 2005, when she defeated all-time champion and fellow tournament participant David Madden in his 20th game before prematurely losing in her second game. She became the second tournament winner of Season 40 to qualify for the upcoming Masters event, following Yogesh Raut’s hard-fought victory over Ben Chan and Troy Meyer in the 2024 Tournament of Champions after six games in the finals. Both players are expected to join the three finalists from the previous Masters event.
James Holzhauer (left) narrowly winning over Mattea Roach (right), with Matt Amodio (middle) finishing in third place in 2023 Jeopardy! Masters (Jeopardy! Productions, Inc).
Last year, there were six players in the Masters field. After fourteen games in the quarterfinals over the course of seven days, Sam Buttrey (6th) and Amy Schneider (5th) had the least amount of points between the six players and were the first to be eliminated. Each of the four remaining players played three games a piece, with James Holzhauer winning all three of his games and Matt Amodio winning the last game to get the second spot in the finals. While Mattea Roach and Andrew He each received 2 points for two second place finishes, it was Mattea who grabbed the third spot in the finals by having more correct answers overall than Andrew. Interestingly enough, Matt had fewer correct answers than both of them but advanced due to having 3 points from his win over both players in the last semifinal game.
The point-by-point breakdown for all six players in 2023 Jeopardy! Masters (Bliss).
With He, Schneider, and Buttrey each finishing from 4th to 6th place, the three players were placed in the inaugural JIT the following year. Each player won their quarterfinal game to advance to the semifinals, where Amy Schneider prevailed over David Madden and Jennifer Quail, along with Andrew He triumphing over Larissa Kelly and Sam Kavanaugh. The hopes of a 2022 Tournament of Champions finals reunion was wiped when Sam Buttrey, despite outperforming Matt Jackson in his semifinal game, lost to Victoria Groce in the same game. Since Schneider and He both lost to Groce in the finals, it’s looking more and more like it’ll be 3/6 of the players from last year’s Masters in 2024. This leaves us with one coveted spot, which is to be decided by executive producer Michael Davies.
The official website’s TOC tracker is stating that 4 wins is the minimum requirement to be eligible for the next TOC, despite all 3-time winners being seeded into this year’s TOC.
With the official website displaying Lisa Ann Walter as the only eligible player for the 2025 TOC as of April 10th, 2024, I’ve taken it within my own measure to create my own TOC tracker, followed by a couple of extra spreadsheets to help people keep track of who to expect for Champions Wildcard. Considering that the state of three-time winners appears to be unresolved currently, based on whether or not they’ll be placed in the CWC or TOC, I’ve made a special space for them on the Table of Contents. Once a player surpasses 2 wins, I’ll move them from the Champions Wildcard Tracker to the Three-Time Champion Containment Zone. If the 3-time winner gets through their fourth game, they’ll be out of the containment zone and straight into the TOC tracker, where I can only assume they’ll have officially qualified.
Notably, criteria for my all-time leaderboard includes anyone who wins at least three games, above or below $50,000. Those who win less than three games and less than $50,000 are put in the Single & Double-Time Champions (<$50,000) spreadsheet and are adjusted accordingly, depending on how their run continues or ends. For more details on how the entire document of spreadsheets is organized, you can click the link here.
Now, I’m not Michael Davies obviously. I actually don’t even think we agree a lot on how the show should be run in general, which I might elaborate on in a different article. There’s a solid chance that none of these six players will be tapped as the sixth player for this year’s Masters. One thing to keep in mind in terms of how I decided on these players is the exclusion of 2024 TOC finalists. My reasoning for this is that I think it’s more likely that Ben and Troy will be put into next year’s JIT above anything, similar to how the three 2022 TOC finalists were put straight into Masters before being demoted to the JIT following their pre-finals eliminations.
Another thing about my thought process is that I am particularly sympathetic towards highly anticipated TOC/JIT players who were eliminated sooner than expected, as well as JIT players who didn’t have a whole lot of preparation time and/or narrowly lost to a finalist. This will play a pretty pivotal role in who I would choose as the player to get the final spot in Masters. With that all being said, let’s get into the six players that I think would be best for the final spot, not necessarily in order.
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1.) Brad Rutter (ranked #1 of all time, $4,953,436)
Arguably the frontrunner to get the final spot, as well as the most predicted player to get the spot, Brad Rutter’s resumé speaks for itself. If you’re a big or even casual fan of the show, he really doesn’t need an introduction. Of course, it is worth revisiting how he got to this point and where his reputation currently stands.
First appearing back in October of 2000, he was on the show before the dollar amounts were doubled and before the 5-day limit for players was lifted. After winning his 5 games worth $55,102, he emerged victorious in the 2001 Tournament of Champions. 2002 Million Dollar Masters, 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions, 2014 Battle of the Decades, and the 2019 team tournament known as the All-Star Games.
Aside from his third place finish to IBM supercomputer Watson and long-time rival and current host Ken Jennings in 2011, he had never lost a game of Jeopardy! up to that point. That would all change at the beginning of 2020, the last time he ever appeared on the show.
In the fourth and final match of the 2020 Greatest of All Time tournament, James roasts Brad and his score after the first game scores of the fourth match were reset to zero, comedically pointing out that Brad’s score was already zero (Jeopardy! Productions, Inc).
A rematch between Brad and James in hopes of Brad receiving the triumphant glory that he was used to receiving would obviously be good television, as it could help replenish his reputation and assert how he became the top money earner in the show’s history. There’s also the connection between the two on The Chase. Along with Masters qualifier Victoria Groce, the three players star as Chasers, the role that involves chasing a team of three contestants through individual rounds up until the Final Chase. I doubt people would pass on seeing the three battle it out in a game of Jeopardy!, or even wind up in the finals. As it stands, barring retirement or a declination of any kind, Brad Rutter seems like the most likely and best choice for the Producer’s Pick.
2.) Emma Boettcher (ranked #61 of all time, $198,002)
If the show wants to prevent a repeat victory of James Holzhauer for the Jeopardy! Masters tournament, there aren’t many players better equipped to do that than the player who first achieved such a goal, Emma Boettcher. With a $3,200 lead over James before the final round, she won the game on a triple-get, adding over $20,000 to her score for a win of $46,801. After winning two more games, she lost her 4th game to Brendan Roach, finishing with $97,002 + $1,000 for third place in earnings. Due to the tragic loss of Larry Martin to pancreatic cancer, she filled the vacant spot for the 2019 TOC, in which she faced off against James Holzhauer once more.
James held a big lead after the first day of the two-day-total-point-affair with $49,326 compared to $26,400 for Emma. Despite this, Emma capitalized off of a True Daily Double of $8,600 in the Double Jeopardy! round of the second game, whereas James missed a Daily Double worth around the same amount due to forgetting the context surrounding the category he was in. Emma led with $21,600 compared to $17,785 for James and $1,600 for Francois Barcomb, who was well out of either of the other two’s score range. Notably, it was not a runaway for James because of his Daily Double miss.
James Holzhauer wins the 2019 Tournament of Champions, getting revenge on Emma Boettcher (Jeopardy! Productions, Inc).
Note that while James did come out with the higher two-day total, Emma actually had the higher day 2 score. Many people have taken the narrative out of this to mean that Emma is technically 2 for 3 in games against James Holzhauer. Of course, with her two games adding up to less money than James’s two games, it was James who took home the $250k prize. On the other hand, it’s hard to ignore Emma’s ability in defeating a lot of other strong tournament players before nearly unambiguously defeating James Holzhauer yet again. She hasn’t appeared on the show since her TOC appearance, and supposedly she was invited to be in this year’s JIT, along with Brad Rutter, Julia Collins, and Roger Craig. Perhaps they’re saving her for Masters instead? We’ll have to see, for her return seems rather overdue.
3.) Cris Pannullo (ranked #8 of all time, $754,286)
The breakout star of Season 39 himself, Cris Pannullo, seems like a pretty easy contender for the pick. For one thing, he was the first alternate for Masters in 2023 which shows that they’ve already been kind of flirting with the thought of putting him there. After winning 21 games and nearly $750k in regular games, he was already ranked in the top 10 of all time. His run came to a halt when Champions Wildcard 1st runner-up Andy Tirrell defeated him in his 22nd game. With his incredible run, though, he was considered by many to be the frontrunner to win the 2024 Tournament of Champions.
Cris Pannullo gets locked out before Final Jeopardy! by 3-time champion Jared Watson in a shocking upset.
2024 was a pretty unorthodox tournament in many ways. From the lineup of 27 players, an upgrade from 21 in 2022 and 15 from every year beforehand, the results were pretty scattered and not what anyone was expecting. Cris was one of the first players caught in the crossfire here, as he seemed to lose his momentum and focus as soon as Jared had found the first Daily Double and doubled up, causing them to be tied at the end of the Jeopardy! round. After Jared found the other two Daily Doubles and expanded his lead by an insurmountable margin, Cris and Ben Goldstein were already out.
A lot of viewers were sad to see Cris Pannullo out so soon after having such high expectations from him. With Cris’s current status in Jeopardy! earnings, many could say that he got unlucky in this game and didn’t get the chance to show himself at his best ability. A spot in Masters might compensate him and his devout followers, though it’s not a guarantee he will do well against even tougher competition. Still, with him already being an alternate for the previous tournament, I have to imagine he is at least on the shortlist.
4.) Juveria Zaheer (ranked #110 of all time, $141,000)
If Cris Pannullo is considered the breakout star of Season 39, the most sensible person to be considered the breakout star for Season 40 is none other than Second Chance and Champions Wildcard winner Juveria Zaheer, the iconic Canadian psychiatrist. After losing her first game to Hannah Wilson in Season 39, Juveria stormed into her first Second Chance game against Jake Garrett and Sam Claussen with massive wagers and quick buzzer timing. The game was so high-scoring that Jake Garrett’s third place score of $35,800 wound up being the highest third-place score in the show’s history. She carried the play with her into the Champions Wildcard tournament, where she prevailed over Andy Tirrell and Michael Menkhus to add another $100,000 to her previously won $35,000 from Second Chance. Her performances were so impressive that she was awarded a Jeopardy! Honor before the 2024 TOC for “Breakthrough Performance.”
Going into the 2024 TOC, Juveria was considered a favorite by many to win the tournament. She was pit up against 3-time champion Kevin Belle and high-scoring 5-time champion Luigi de Guzman in her quarterfinal match. Immediately, she was pulling off great numbers by garnering $9,000 after the first break and finishing the first round with $11,400. Luigi was able to get within $1,400 of her pre-FJ score by betting it all on two Daily Doubles and responding correctly, as well as Kevin earning well above the score difference between the two. The whole game went south for Juveria in Final Jeopardy! when she visibly didn’t know the correct answer.
Juveria Zaheer staring down a clue without confidence (Jeopardy! Productions, Inc).
Despite garnering a $20,200 Coryat and 26 correct answers, Juveria was out in the quarterfinals after Luigi wound up being the only correct player. Even if he hadn’t been, Juveria lost enough money with her $21,000 bet to fall below Kevin’s final score. With such a strong performance against some pretty elite competition, as well as her being a fan favorite, I wouldn’t be surprised nor would I protest Juveria being chosen as the Producer’s Pick for Masters.
5.) David Madden (ranked #7 of all time, $785,733)
I was caught in between David Madden and Larissa Kelly for this next spot. Between the two JIT semifinalists, I decided that David was more suited from a gameplay standpoint and a lore standpoint. While Larissa had the highest Coryat of all the losing semifinalists, David was one clue and one Daily Double wager away from defeating Amy Schneider in a big upset. Sadly for him, leaving $1,800 out of the pot proved to be his undoing as he was down $200 before Final Jeopardy! after a tight buzzer race between him and Amy.
The tight buzzer race between Amy Schneider and David Madden for the first spot in the JIT finals (Jeopardy! Productions, Inc).
As the first player to win over 10 regular games following Ken Jennings’s massive 74-day run, even debuting in the same season, David was in untouched territory for many years. He had won 19 games before losing his 20th game to Victoria Groce, as was mentioned earlier. He remained as the only other player to achieve the feat of playing 20 regular games up until 2014, when Julia Collins won 20 games and approximately the same total as him. Early in his career, he was a pretty prominent pioneer in Daily Double hunting, which I mention in my article about the Forrest Bounce here:
What is the "Forrest Bounce" and Why Does it Make People So Angry?
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April 4, 2024
Living in Jeopardy! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Chapters of Content 1.) Intro to the Bounce 2.) The Origin of the Forrest Bounce 3.) The Pioneering Developers of the Forrest Bounce
After a disappointing semifinal finish in the 2006 TOC, David returned 13 years later as a teammate of Team Brad in the 2019 All-Star Games, consisting of him, Larissa Kelly, and captain Brad Rutter. Him and Larissa helped carry Brad into a million-dollar win with each player splitting the prize in three, thus allowing David and Larissa to enter the top 10 in highest Jeopardy! earnings of all time. With a resumé this impressive and being so close, yet so far from a rematch with the woman who ended his original 19-day streak nearly two decades later, I would say David has done enough to at least constitute a consideration for Producer’s Pick this year and get that chance. The main thing for Madden to watch for is confidence in wagering more on Daily Doubles… the man has a 94% accuracy rate, after all.
6.) Amy Schneider (ranked #4 of all time, $1,759,800)
I was on the fence with putting Amy here due to her loss in the JIT this year to Victoria Groce, following a demotion from last year’s Masters as well. If she was already eliminated last year and couldn’t quite get in via JIT, does she really deserve the last spot? Well… yes, actually. Ken Jennings is retired, Brad Rutter is already on this list, and James Holzhauer is already going to be in the tournament. So who’s next in line? Amy Schneider, of course.
Ranked 4th of all time with 40 wins, winning the 2022 TOC, and being one of only 5 players to surpass a million dollars in all-time earnings, it’s hard to argue her not deserving a spot in Masters, all things considered. While she came up short in the JIT finals, she showed that she is no longer afraid to play aggressively with hunting Daily Doubles and going all-in when necessary. Winning even one game against a world quizzing professional like Victoria Groce displays a ton of fortuity needed to perform well in Masters, especially given that her Coryat was slightly higher and that she overcame a deficit of around $20,000. On top of just the first game, she made Victoria work for her two wins by preventing all three played games from becoming runaways, which was vital in her first victory as her sole solve in Final Jeopardy! forced Victoria to be correct.
Amy Schneider winning the first game of the JIT finals against Victoria Groce and Andrew He (Jeopardy! Productions, Inc).
In addition to Victoria, Amy may feel more of an initiative to defeat James, Matt, and Mattea if she were given the opportunity to avenge herself. I do think it’s realistic to worry about her flaming out early again since she didn’t quite win JIT, despite outperforming 4th place Masters finisher Andrew He this time around. However, given her strong second place finish in the JIT, the tough competition she had to face the whole time, and her achievement history on the show pre-Masters, I think it’s also realistic to expect her to get at least a spot as an alternate for Masters this year. While she’s not my first choice, I can’t really justify leaving her off the list in favor of players who finished before her.
Thank you for reading this article in full, I really appreciate your support. Truth be told, I’m pretty disappointed with how the JIT was produced. I think the players deserve to know further in advance whether they’ll be appearing or not so they can better prepare and not be at a clear disadvantage. I’m more disappointed in how Davies responded to these critiques in the latest Inside Jeopardy! podcast. When I have more energy, I may elaborate more in a future article. As it stands, I’m just a bit underwhelmed. I hope that next tournament is better organized than this, but I can’t say I’m optimistic given the immediate response.
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