Potential Jeopardy Champions For A 40th Anniversary Tournament
Part 5 of a Continuing Series
As we move closer to the present day with these articles, many of the entrants become less hypothetical. Given their records in both regular and tournament play, they become less possibilities for future tournaments and more certainties. With the sole exception of the first person I’ll discuss, it’s pretty clear why the next group of players are certain to appear in this tournament
Kerry Greene
I feel slightly uncertain about Kerry’s appearance among the next five selections. It’s not that she’s not a great player; it’s whether she’s great enough. Kerry Greene is the only one of this group that didn’t make it to the All-Star Games in 2019 and, as is the case with so many of the players I listed above, it’s hard to understand why.
Kerry’s run began on April Fool’s Day of 2015 when she defeated Michael Bilow, who in three days won $96,000. (His score would be high enough to qualify for the tournament of Champions that fall. ) After winning her first game, Kerry managed to win a total of six games and $146,598. These wins were not easy wins; in three of them she was trailing at the end of Double Jeopardy and ended up coming from behind in Final Jeopardy. In another, she was lucky to prevail when her opponent lost big on a Daily Double late in Double Jeopardy. Still, at the time, she was only the fifth female contestant to have won more than five games.
She managed to play brilliant in her quarterfinal in the Tournament of Champions and came from behind the semi-final. Unfortunately in the Finals, she had the bad luck to play two of the greatest Jeopardy champions in history (both of whom will be discussed below). She finished third and won $50,000. Unlike her fellow finalists, she was not asked back to the All-Star Games even though her record was better than quite a few of the people who were asked back.
But because Kerry did so well in her initial run and had such a good track record in that Tournament, I think she’s earned the right to return. However, I think her odds have been diminished mostly because of the next player on this list.
Alex Jacob
The day after Kerry Greene, Alex Jacob won his first Jeopardy match. No one knew at the time that it was the beginning of one of the most remarkable runs in the show’s history.
Superficially, Alex’s initial run doesn’t seem that impressive. He won ‘only’ six games and his total of $149,802 is virtually identically to Kerry Greene’s. The big difference is, Alex won four of his games in runaways and his payoffs were not as big as they could have been because he was never that good in Final Jeopardy (he got five of the seven in his first run incorrect). But in almost all of his appearances, he was in command from beginning to end, mostly because of his tendency to start at the bottom of the categories searching for the Daily Doubles, almost always betting everything on them, and making them pay off. His approach resembled Roger Craig, who had more success with Final Jeopardy.
All that said, with his relatively low win total and winnings, Alex wasn’t the favorite going into the Tournament of Champions. But he dominated the quarterfinal and semi-final matches and his performance in the finals, according to Alex Trebek, was the most dominant that he had ever seen. Alex Jacob was modest all the way through: ahead in both Final Jeopardys, in his responses he congratulated his opponents in his first win and everybody on the show on his second. He was visibly moved as he was congratulated for winning his $250,000.
Considering the level of talent available in the All-Star Games, it says a lot about the high opinion that another of the greatest Jeopardy champions of all time, Buzzy Cohen (who we will also discuss below) chose him as his first selection in the draft, calling him one of the most dominant players of all time. Alex more than proved his value in his Team’s first match, mostly outplaying Brad Rutter until the second half of the Jeopardy round of Game 1, and utterly dominated him when they met in the Double Jeopardy round of Game 2. The fact that Team Buzzy couldn’t win that match was not his fault. In the wild card match, he showed similar brilliance against Roger Craig and Pam Mueller in the Jeopardy round of Game 1 and was doing just as well in Double Jeopardy of Game 2 when he finally ran out of luck on the Daily Doubles. Even with that in mind, he was arguably the most dominant player of the entire tournament to that point (and perhaps a little after.)
Alex Jacob is one of the greatest players of all time, full stop. I can’t foresee any tournament where we don’t see him again.
Matt Jackson
It says a lot for the ability of Alex Jacob that in the finals of the 2015 Tournament of Champions, he completely dominated Matt Jackson, a player who earlier that year had taken his place among the all-time greats.
Matt Jackson’s record at the beginning of the season is one of the greatest in history. He managed to win thirteen games, which at the time was the third highest number in history. He also won $411,000, which was the fourth highest amount won in regular play to that point. (Julia Collins was the third and David Madden the second, and neither had won nearly that much by that point in their runs.)
Matt went into the Tournament of Champions the overwhelming favorite and indeed in his quarterfinal and semi-final match; he dazzled the opposition, winning both games in runaways. But when he ended up going against Alex Jacob in the Finals, he met a player he just couldn’t get past though it was not for lack of trying. Alex was just too good and neither the Daily Double nor Final Jeopardy worked in Matt’s favor. He finished in second place and won $100,000.
There was revenge of a sort in the All-Star Games. Matt was the third pick overall in the draft and ended up being chosen by Ken Jennings himself, who called him one of the greatest players of all time. Matt more than proved his worth in his first appearance in the Double Jeopardy round of Match 2 where he utterly dominated Roger Craig and Seth Wilson (see below for the latter). By the end of his round, Team Ken had $37,500, nearly three times their nearest teams’ opponent. When Matt came in for Final Jeopardy in the second game, it was almost irrelevant what his response was (he gave the correct one anyway) Team Ken was in the finals — where Alex Jacob’s team could not reach.
In the Double Jeopardy round of Game 1 of the Finals, Matt spent almost the entire round going head to head with another all time great Larissa Kelly. He managed to fight off her early big lead and move Team Ken ahead of Team Brad by the end of Double Jeopardy. Only total dominance by Brad Rutter in the Double Jeopardy round of the climatic game erased any chance of victory for Team Ken in the finals. Matt Jackson’s correct response was superfluous and his team shared in $300,000 in winnings for second place.
With winning total just over $600,000 Matt Jackson has one of the highest winning totals won by any Jeopardy player in history. As with Alex Jacob, it seems inevitable that we will see him again.
Buzzy Cohen
I was surprised to hear Buzzy Cohen referred to as a ‘controversial’ Jeopardy player. There are many adjectives that I associate with him, but he never did anything offensive or derogatory.
Buzzy’s run began after he defeated Andrew Pau, who won six games and just over $170,000. Buzzy was able to win less than that in nine games, but that doesn’t change the fact of how impressive he was. For one thing, due to a three week hiatus which took up most of May of 2016 (the Teachers Tournament, followed by the Powers Player Week) he might have had some rust. For another, his four last wins were all runaways which allowed him to engage in some mockery of Alex in Final Jeopardy for each win. (Maybe some fans were angered by this; as we all know, Alex Trebek never minded being made fun of.
After that Buzzy had a long wait until the Tournament of Champions — nearly a year and a half before the 2017 Tournament began. He got off to a fast start in his quarterfinal match and squeaked out a win in his semi-final. Then he, Alan Lin and Austin Rogers engaged quite a bit of clowning in the finals for the cameras while all three were deadly serious in front of them. In a brutal fight, Buzzy managed to come out the winner.
Invited back less than two years later for the All-Star Games, Buzzy was named one of the team captains for the battle. He made excellent choices for his teammates (Alex Jacob and Jennifer Giles), played brilliant in the Double Jeopardy round of Game 1, but couldn’t come through with a correct Final Jeopardy to earn an automatic spot in the Finals. In the wild-card match, he was again brilliant in Double Jeopardy in the first game, and the fact that he couldn’t come up with a correct response for Final Jeopardy didn’t have any affect on the outcome (Alex’s wager on a Daily Double had put them out of the running) His team shared in a prize of $75,000.
So why is Buzzy controversial? Because he doesn’t take the sacred cows of Jeopardy seriously? Because he mocked Trebek, and in interview segments bragged about ‘putting Ken and Brad out to pasture’? Because in interview segments both Alan Lin and Austin Rogers mocked him back. I never sensed any menace in their tones; Jeopardy champions may be competitive by nature but there’s little menace or meanness to it. Buzzy Cohen is one of the most charming and brilliant Jeopardy players of all time (and for the record, I found his hosting of the most recent Tournament of Champions nearly perfect.) I want to see him as much for his play and what he says.
Seth Wilson
And sometimes the all time greats never get their due. Such was the case for Seth Wilson who might just be the winningest Jeopardy champion you’ve forgotten.
At the beginning of the 2016–17 season, Seth Wilson put together one of the most impressive Jeopardy streaks to that point. He managed to win twelve games, something that only five players to that point had managed to do. (I’ve already mentioned all of them, and Ken Jennings you know about. He lost his thirteenth because he bet too conservatively in Final Jeopardy. He had won $265,002 and impressive amount. But when the Tournament of Champions took place the next November, he’d been forgotten. Because at the beginning of the 2017–2018 season Austin Rogers had stolen his audience — and the Internet — by winning twelve games and $411,000.
To be fair, Austin was by far a superior player to Seth when it came to Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy’s. And it didn’t help Seth’s case as one of the all time greatest when his run in the Tournament of Champions ended in the quarterfinals, particularly in a match where he trailed Lisa Schlitt (who we’ll discuss in the next entry) all the way.
There was a possibility for redemption when Seth was one of the players participating in the All-Star Games and was drafted by Julia Collins. But Seth’s work was not enough help his team prevail. In the Double Jeopardy round of Game 1, Matt Jackson ran rings around him. And while Seth played brilliantly in the Jeopardy round of Game 2, putting his Team in the lead, Ken Jennings would demolish it by the end of the first category in Double Jeopardy. By the time that round was over, the audience knew what would become clear to team Julia just a few minutes later: Team Julia was going home first, sharing in $50,000.
It’s rare for Jeopardy champion this good lost his place in the show’s history this quickly. But fans forget and the show almost never does. Seth will be back to get another chance. How far he will get is another story.
To Be Continued….