Jeopardy!, Ken Jennings and the Tournament of Champions

Ken Jennings is currently a contestant on Jeopardy!. He has (as of this writing) won 15 straight games and just a shade under half a million dollars. This is, of course, possible because Jeopardy! repealed the rule under which a player had to retire after five wins.

Suppose Jennings goes on to win the rest of the season (the way he blows his opponents away, it certainly seems possible). Who will they get to play in the ToC? Or will they clone Jennings and just have 15 versions of him compete? :smiley:

Zev Steinhardt

It must be nice to have a full-time job winning on Jeopardy.

They’ll probably get old champs to come back and try to knock him out.

Is this officially the longest run on Jeopardy!? We can debate how long players from the old days (when the max was five wins) could have held on, but if we only use actual numbers, is Ken’s string the longest?

Hell, if Ken keeps going, Alex may need to institute a cage match.

August “Master Blaster” Derleth

The players who have already qualified. The TOC is no longer limited to 5-day champions, so they’ll just go down the list of those who won the most games and earned the most money before the Jennings Reign.

I figured that there were some pre-Jennings winners (Jennings had to be someone to become champion, right?), but I don’t know that there are 14 of them (the minimum number necessary to field a ToC [with Jennings being the 15th]).

Zev Steinhardt

Ken Jennings has done it again. He wrapped up tonight with a win of $48,000 something. This guy is awesome. His total winnings are over $600,000 and he’ll be back again Monday. 18-day champ. Is his winnings the highest ever for the game or has someone made it to a million on Jeopardy before? He certainly is trying for a million.

Tonight was a close call, though. I don’t think he’ll hit a million.

I’m guessing more along the lines of $800,000.

Has our very own 5 Time Champ posted about this guy? It must suck to sit in your living room screaming at the television, “That could’ve been ME! Stupid 5 day rule!!!”

Actually what sucks is having them double the dollar board values a couple months after my appearances.

One confession, the last time I watched an entire episode was my inglorious defeat in the Tournament of Champions back in 2001. I see bits and pieces of the show from time-to-time.

From what I have seen Ken does not appear to have a hole in his game. He has great knowledge, great reflexes, and stays very focused on the game. Of course every game he wins, increases his advantage over the other opponents.

  • our very own 5 Time Champ* Thanks, Cisco, that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me here.

It’s really interesting to watch how he plays. First of all, the way he almost always wagers such that he’ll end up with an even 15,000 or 25,000 or something if he’s right. Also, he often rings in when he clearly doesn’t know the answer, then uses his few seconds to let the answer come to him, which leads me to believe that he lacks the capacity to feel nervous. Is it still spelled Jeopardy! with an exclamation point at the end? How obnoxious.

I like his sense of humor.
“I guess you don’t get many Mormons betting heavy in the ‘Bartending’ category, huh, Alex?”

He’s had the opportunity to break the single day earnings record at least twice without fear of losing the match, and both times he bet conservatively. I don’t totally agree or understand him.

I participate in a high school Quiz Bowl show (It’s Academic in Maryland and surrounding areas). One of the big things we learn is buzzing in before the answer enters your mind. It is tough, but if you think you can answer the question, you should buzz in right away, even if you haven’t figured out the answer yet.

On the Television Without Pity boards (check the other J! thread for links, I am lousy with links), Ken posted that he doesn’t bet much more than he needs to in Final J because it is his money at that point and he isn’t willing to lose a lot. I have noticed that his Double J bets have gotten larger as time goes by.

IMHO, the only way to beat him is to do what Friday’s challenger did–bet the bank in Double J and hope to come close that way.

Agreed. Friday was his closest scare yet.

When the guy doubled up in the second round, I figured he was gunning for ol’ Ken.

I think he’s a replicant.

He’s mormon? Or was he talking about another mormon contestant?

My favourite aspect of this whole thing is the gag Letterman’s running about it. Makes me laugh every time.

Something’s not right there.

As a former three-time national high school Quiz Bowl champ in Columbia, SC, I understand totally where this guy is coming from:

http://www.naqt.com/biographies.html#jennings

NAQT is damn competitive and damn complete.

He is Mormon.