Jeopardy Masters 2024 Semi-Finals Recap
How Did Things Play Out With This Year’s Final Four?
While Jeopardy Masters made one difference between last year’s play — there were seven sets of quarterfinals last year and there were six this year — the set-up for the semi-finals remained unchanged. The four players who made it to the semis — James Holzhauer, Yogesh Raut, Victoria Groce and Amy Schneider — would face off against each other in every possible combination for the three players. The leaderboard was wiped clean and each of the semi-finalists would play in three of the four games.
In Friday’s first semi-final match James, Yogesh and Victoria faced off. James and Victoria were dominant in the first half of the Jeopardy round, the two of them exchanging the lead until Victoria found the Daily Double in INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING. She did what she had been doing and bet her 3600 points:
“This scale was co-developed by psychologists at a U.S. University and in France.” Victoria knew it was Stanford-Binet doubled her score and took a lead she would not relinquish for the rest of the Jeopardy round. Yogesh wasn’t able to ring in until the round was more than half over but eventually he built up to 2600 points to James’ 3800 and Victoria’s 9600.
Things would shift dramatically in Double Jeopardy just like the last time all three players faced off in the quarterfinals. Yogesh began to make his recovery quickly and was helped when he found the first Daily Double in ANCIENT LIT. In third with 8200, he bet everything:
“Aristophanes’ animal-titled works include The Birds, The Frogs and this one that’s actually about litigious Athenians.” Yogesh knew it was The Wasps and took the lead for the first time.
It took a long time to find the other Daily Double mainly because it was in a category that even most Jeopardy tournament veterans avoid like the plague: BEFORE, DURING & AFTER. Yogesh joked about going there with his first selection before choosing BROADWAY instead; he had no way of knowing how close he had come. Victoria finally found it in the 1600 point clue.
At that point she was trailing with 13,800 to Yogesh’s 22,000 but its telling in a period when everyone was going all in on Daily Doubles and while she was trailing she only bet 3000 points:
“Carson McCullers novel about a gonzo journalist who hits the road with bandmates to sing songs like ‘Hold Me Now.” It took her a moment but she came up with: “What is The Heart is a Lonely Hunter S. Thompson Twins?” and got 3000 points.
The final scores were impressive: Yogesh led with 24,400, Victoria was second with 18,000, James a very respectable third with 13,000.
The Final Jeopardy category was NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE: “In 1612 John Smith published a Powhatan word list including these 2 words familiar to us today, one worn in pairs and one wielded.”
James knew the correct two words: “What are tomahawk and moccasins?” He was cautious only betting 98 points. Victoria guessed hatchet and moccasins?” and lost 8001 points, dropping her to 9999. Yogesh had moccasins and tomahawk and wagered 11,601 points.
All three were trying a different strategy: James was hoping to have enough left behind if Victoria and Yogesh were both incorrect. Victoria was betting enough to beat James to beat him by one point, and Yogesh was going for a complete victory. In any case Yogesh got the first win and 3 match points, James got 1 and for the first time in the tournament Victoria finished third and got nothing.
In the next match, Victoria and Yogesh faced off against Amy Schneider. Amy didn’t have a good day, finishing the Jeopardy round in the red and increasingly giving incorrect answers. She finished Double Jeopardy at -3000 points and had nothing at the end of it.
Much of the Jeopardy round would be dominated by Victoria. She got off to an early lead with 5000 points and found the Daily Double in I’LL BE BACH. She wagered everything:
“In 1721 Bach dipped into the masterpiece bin and dedicated a series of works to the Musgrave of this.” She knew it was Brandenburg and doubled her score to 10,000 points. She finished it with 11,200 points to Yogesh’s 4000. Amy was at -200.
Early in Double Jeopardy Yogesh had his best chance to take out Victoria when he found the first Daily Double in ONE-WORD MOVIE TITLES. He had 7600 points to Victoria’s 15,200. Wagering everything seemed a given:
“This Sidney Lumet drama is set at the Union Broadcasting System.” Yogesh knew it was Network and was tied for the lead.
Immediately afterwards all three players hit a bad patch. Yogesh lost 3600 points in the category SAY IT ‘IN’ LATIN and no one could get a correct response for five clues. By the time Victoria found the other Daily Double in that same category she had 18,000 points. Victoria again became the human calculator and bet 6000 points:
“This narrative device is in contrast to beginning a story ‘ab Ovo’ (from the egg). It took her a moment to come up with: “What is in medias re?” and she went up to 24,000 points. She cruised from there to finish with 27,200 points to Yogesh’s 13,200. Amy was in the red and as a result could not participate in Final Jeopardy.
Final Jeopardy was an exercise and it had a very strange category: ALSO SEEN AT THE CIRCUS. The clue perplexed both players (though for the record, not me at home) “FDR gets credit for implementing this as a concept in the U.S. and the metaphor was used by FDR Jr. running for office in 1966.” Victoria could come up with nothing and Yogesh’s guess: “What is big tent?” was incorrect. The clue referred to the safety net, which has been part of so much controversy in government over the years. Victoria got 3 match points and Yogesh got 1.
LEADERBOARD AFTER FRIDAY’S MATCHES
Yogesh Raut: 4 Match Points
Victoria Groce: 3 Match Points
James Holzhauer: 1 Match Point
Amy Schneider: Zero.
In the last two semi-final games, it was as though the James Holzhauer that had been dormant for much of the quarterfinals revved to life. While he was not the ‘final boss’ that he had been at any point last year for the first time in this tournament both Yogesh and Victoria got a real sample of what the two of them would be facing in the finals that by this point Yogesh was assured a spot in and Victoria was nearly certain of getting.
Victoria, its worth noting, could very well have lost had she scored no match points in her last game while James and Amy managed to get all of the match points in the two that were left. I believe that calculation was vital to Victoria’s wagering when it came to Final Jeopardy in her third and last appearance in the semi-finals.
Victoria was facing off against James and Amy in the third semi-final match. She found the Daily Double on the very first clue of the Jeopardy round in SHORT KINGDOMS. She bet the 1000 points she was allowed to:
“In 1814 this historic German state was made into a kingdom for a little while, largely through the influence of England.” Victoria struggled before guessing: “What is Prussia?” It was actually Hanover (many English Kings came from there). Victoria dropped to -1000 points. She managed to recover quickly but most of the round was a back and forth between her and James. Victoria finished the round ahead of James 5600 points to 5200 but before Double Jeopardy the judges ruling on a response she’d given in the round was ruled incorrect and she and James were tied at 5200 points apiece. Amy, who’d spent most of the round in a red, was at zero.
In yet another sign this would not be her day Victoria found the first Daily Double on the second clue of Double Jeopardy and made another blunder. She bet 6000 in ACTUAL PLACES: “FDR enjoyed summering on this island found in the title of a 1960 film about him.” Victoria paused and then said: ‘What is Campobasso?” She immediately realized it was Campobello but it was too late. She had dropped to zero again.
James maintained his lead the rest of the way and Victoria was treading on his tale when he found the other Daily Double in MOVIE CHANGE A LETTER. He was leading with 10,400 to her 7600. He did some quick math and wagered 5000 points:
“The Axel Foley theme goes classical as a legendary soprano fights crime in Southern California.” He knew that it was Beverly Sills Cop put his lead at 15,400 points.
James finished the round with 21,400 to Victoria’s 10,800 and Amy’s 1200. It was close to, but not quite a runaway. Victoria could have wagered everything and played for the win, but this was her last match. She knew that if she settled for second place she would clinch her spot in the finals if she got Final Jeopardy wrong and she also knew she’d been having a lot of bad luck with Final Jeopardy in the Masters to this point. (She had not given a correct response in her last three games.) If she was wrong there was a chance that she could end up on the outside looking in. And I’ve no doubt that affected her wager.
The category was METALLIC ELEMENTS: “As its rarely found in pure form, one explanation for its name is that it comes from Greek for ‘not alone’ or ‘not one’.
Amy’s response was revealed first: “What is astatine?” That was wrong. She wagered nothing.
Victoria’s response came next: “What is antimony?” That was correct. (“Anti-monos” monos being the Greek for one.” Victoria, however, gained nothing. James had written down: “What is bismuth?” However he only lost 1122 points. James clinched his first win and got 3 match points. With Victoria’s one match point, she, Yogesh and James were now in a three-way tie for first with four match points apiece. Amy had been eliminated as she had none.
The final match between James, Yogesh and Amy could have perfunctory as everyone knew that the results didn’t matter for the final three. However none of the three competitors treated it that way and fans were greeting with an absolutely thrilling match from start to finish.
All three players were off to a fast start in the Jeopardy round when James got to the Daily Double in ‘H’ TOWN. He was in the lead with 3200 points to Yogesh’s 2200 and Amy’s 2000. He bet everything:
“An inscription at the Rattenfangerhaus in this town describes a supposed 1284 event that reduced its population.” James knew it was Hamlin and doubled his score. He maintained his lead with 8400 points to Yogesh’s 6400 and Amy’s 3000. All three had played superbly in the round, with James giving the rounds sole incorrect response against thirteen correct ones. Neither Yogesh nor Amy made a mistake.
After James blundered on a clue that Yogesh got correct Yogesh found the first Daily Double in Double Jeopardy in MAKE IT FLIRTY. He bet the 12000 points he had to the gasps of the audience:
“The evolution of English dropped three letters from an imaginary creature to get this type of exotic seductress.” Yogesh paused before guessing: “What is a vamp?” (from vampire). He was now at 24,000 points and a seemingly insurmountable lead.
Then Yogesh made two mistakes out of three clues. James built up to 14,000 points and then found the other Daily Double in PEOPLE IN AMERICAN HISTORY. Yet again he bet everything: “In 1805 a tributary of Montana’s Musselshell River was named in her honor.” It took a long time and James face made an endless amount of contortions before he answered: “Who is Sacajawea?” That was correct and he went up 28,000 points to retake the read.
All three continued to play at a superb level and the final scores more than reflected it: James finished with 32,000 points, Yogesh was a brilliant second with 24,800 and Amy finished with 8200 points.
The Final Jeopardy category was: 21ST CENTURY LITERARY CHARACTERS: “The last name adopted by Damon Fields, the title character of this novel, refers to his red hair.” All three players knew the correct response: “Who is Demon Copperhead?” James said before his response was revealed: “My wife may or may not be reading this book right now.”
Amy wagered 8000 to get her to 16,200 points. Yogesh wagered 7201 to go to 32,001 points. And James wagered 17,601 points to finish with 49,601 points, the highest score any player amassed in the semifinals to take his second win and three more match points.
Yet again Amy’s dreams of getting back to the Masters ended early, albeit better than last year as she finished in fourth place and received $100,000.
FINAL SEMI-FINAL LEADERBOARD
James Holzhauer: 7 Match Points
Yogesh Raut: 5 Match Points
Victoria Groce: 4 Match Points
Amy Schneider: Zero (Eliminated)
I will be reviewing the Finals on my blog this Thursday but I would like to add some commentary that will influence future articles on my blog about Jeopardy.
First of all James, Victoria and Yogesh will return in next year’s Masters should it end up being renewed for a third season. I suspect this will be the case because despite all of the controversy about so many of the choices, this year’s Masters have proved their worth by not being a repeat of last year’s in any respect. (As to the Nielsen Ratings which have been slightly lower, there are factors involved which I’ll get to in my summary for the finals.)
James Holzhauer was nowhere near at the level of dominance he was in last year’s quarterfinals or indeed the previous semi-finals. Yes he ended the latter in first place on the leader board, the same as he did last year. But he finished third in the quarterfinals this year and a distant one to Victoria who was by far the dominant player in the quarterfinals. James had only a single runaway in the nine matches he has played to this point and was flattened by Victoria and Yogesh once in this tournament. If he does manage to end up duplicating last year’s victory — which if you remember was not a picnic either — he will have had to earn it in a way he never really did last year. Somehow the final boss of Jeopardy spent much of this tournament as the underdog.
Yogesh and Victoria have more than demonstrated the value of the Masters by showing that new blood is more than capable of disrupting some of the greatest players of all time. Both Victoria and Yogesh slaughtered James in two of the quarterfinal appearance and when the three of them faced off, both managed to eke out a win ahead of him, albeit a marginal one. Victoria flattened both Matt and Mattea in two different runaway victories; Yogesh was able to do the same to do so to Matt more than once. (Mattea, for the record, managed to defeat Yogesh in the first game who couldn’t score a match point in.)
And whenever the next Invitational Tournament takes place Matt, Mattea and Amy will, according to the rules, be invited back to in to try and compete in the next Masters. (I have some suggestions for who I would like to see in the next Invitational which I’ll write about in a future article.) All three were not at the level of last year (with the exception of Amy who played superbly in comparison) but in the second half of the quarterfinals all shined brightly.
I should mention that going into this year’s finals we have a different situation that last year. Unlike last year where the second place player in the quarterfinals Andrew He didn’t make it into the semifinals (it was due to a tie breaker with Mattea Roach) the three players who were one-two-three on this year’s leaderboard after the quarterfinals are the same ones who made it into the semi-finals this year. And if James has an advantage that Victoria and Yogesh don’t going into the final, its that neither of them have ever been in the kind of situation where they would face a two-game total point affair with the grand prize at stake. Not only has James been in the position from last year (and his previous tournaments; neither Yogesh nor Victoria were in that position this past year) he also has the advantage that he has gotten more Final Jeopardys correct to this point than either of his challenger: he has responded correctly on six Final Jeopardys to Yogesh’s 5 and Victoria’s 4.
How will this play out? I’ll be back tomorrow with the final blow-by-blow. I expect it will be as thrilling as everything else in the Masters