We’re just about finished the Spades bracket, with the Diamonds bracket beginning Friday, October 20. Here are the 27 players in that bracket.
I should also note that the 27 players have been ranked by wins and money won (with the three tournament/competition invitees ranked between the 1- and 2-day champions). Those “seeds” are posted along with the players.
Friday, October 20, 2023:
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Dave Pai (10) Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania  60 correct, 7 incorrect 3/4 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities) 34.71% in first on buzzer (59/170) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,200) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,867 Dave was a 2-day champion in March 2021; Dave definitely had a Jekyll-and-Hyde thing going on when it came to the signalling device during his run. If he can find the rhythm again, he could go far—especially as his savvy wagering gave him a second victory during his run. |
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William Chou (23) Cheverly, Maryland  32 correct, 4 incorrect 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities) 27.83% in first on buzzer (32/115) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,400) 1/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,300 William’s only win was in July 2022 in which he prevailed in a Tiebreaker Round over Erica Weiner-Amachi. He had solid stats in his initial run, but he never led going into Final Jeopardy. |
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Kristin Hucek (4) Washington, D.C.  54 correct, 16 incorrect 3/4 on rebound attempts (on 23 rebound opportunities) 28.24% in first on buzzer (61/216) 1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$800) 1/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $6,650 After defeating 5-day champion Kevin Walsh, Kristin went on a 3-game run of her own. While her total (under $25,000) was low, she did still win three times. |
Overall Thoughts: This is an intriguing matchup that will probably be decided by whether Dave can regain his Day 1 timing (he put up a $24,600 Coryat in his initial appearance). If he can, I think Dave takes this in a runaway. If not—it’s anyone’s game.
Monday, October 23, 2023:
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Isaac Applebaum (14) Mountain View, California  36 correct, 6 incorrect 3/5 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities) 27.19% in first on buzzer (31/114) 4/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,800) 2/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,800 Isaac was the 4th-placed player from the 2022 Jeopardy! National College Championship, who failed to advance to the final by virtue of having the 4th-highest total. He then was invited to last season’s Second Chance, but was unable to take part. He now makes his long-awaited return to Jeopardy! in this competition. |
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Pasquale Palumbo (27) Hawthorne, New York  43 correct, 8 incorrect 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 40.71% in first on buzzer (46/113) 0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$5,000) 1/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,700 Pasquale was a winner during Aaron Rodgers’ stint; I did note that Pasquale didn’t make a cover bet from the lead in Final Jeopardy in his first game. |
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Leah Wiegand (21) Austin, Texas  22 correct, 3 incorrect 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities) 17.54% in first on buzzer (20/114) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,000) 0/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $10,600 Leah’s a 1-day champion who lost in John Focht’s debut game; she won with a $0 wager in a category that screamed “This is difficult” (POPES & HISTORY) |
Overall Thoughts: Isaac Applebaum finally returns to the show, never having lost a game of Jeopardy!, paired with a pair of 1-day champions. I feel like he has to be the favorite in this one.
Tuesday, October 24, 2023:
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Steve Crupi (13) Las Vegas, Nevada  39 correct, 4 incorrect 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 13 rebound opportunities) 21.64% in first on buzzer (37/171) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $400) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $8,467 Steve ended Zach Newkirk’s run in February 2021 and won a pair of games. |
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Jilana Cotter (16) Dade City, Florida  80 correct, 9 incorrect 8/9 on rebound attempts (on 18 rebound opportunities) 31.58% in first on buzzer (72/228) 4/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,000) 3/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,350 You may remember Jilana from this season’s third week of Second Chance. Obviously, she’s had the advantage of playing the most recently. |
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John Vigna (25) Los Angeles, California  41 correct, 5 incorrect 3/5 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 31.58% in first on buzzer (36/114) 2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,400) 1/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,000 John was a 1-day champion in December 2020, having one good game and one not-as-good game. |
Overall Thoughts: I think Jilana is the favorite in this one, by virtue of her having made it through Second Chance first. If the $20,000 Coryat John shows up, though, this will be a very close matchup.
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Wednesday, October 25, 2023:
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Carlos Chaidez (26) Burbank, California  39 correct, 10 incorrect 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 39.45% in first on buzzer (43/109) 1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,000) 0/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,600 Carlos actually ended Kristin Hucek’s run in October 2020; that was Carlos’s only win. As with most players in this event, he had one good game and one not-so-good game. |
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Emily Sands (1) Chanhassen, Minnesota  87 correct, 16 incorrect 4/7 on rebound attempts (on 17 rebound opportunities) 37.50% in first on buzzer (84/224) 6/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $13,000) 4/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,500 With 3 wins and $73,000, Emily’s the bracket’s top seed. She was also no stranger to aggressive Daily Double bets in her games. |
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Phillip Howard (7) Santa Clarita, California  53 correct, 10 incorrect 3/4 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities) 29.94% in first on buzzer (50/167) 3/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,200) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,600 In another situation where two players who played each other are in the same competition, Phillip defeated Mason Maggio in October 2020. Phillip’s losing game also saw an individual Daily Double Efficiency of -267 (he missed two True Daily Doubles and lost 2/3 of his score on the third). |
Overall Thoughts: This is one game where I think the game will break in the direction of whoever does the best on the Daily Doubles. I do think that Emily is probably the favorite—the 3-time champs generally did pretty well in the Spades bracket.
Thursday, October 26, 2023:
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Yoshie Hill (11) Colma, California  51 correct, 5 incorrect 6/6 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities) 26.06% in first on buzzer (43/165) 3/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,400) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $13,067 I’d be shocked if Yoshie’s interview topic wasn’t about how she was in Alex Trebek’s final episode. That said, she won on Wednesday and Thursday of Alex’s final week. One comment I made about her initial appearance was that she wasn’t aggressive enough on Daily Doubles; she lost a close match in her third game. |
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Mason Maggio (8) Los Angeles, California  63 correct, 4 incorrect 5/5 on rebound attempts (on 18 rebound opportunities) 33.13% in first on buzzer (55/166) 3/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,000) 1/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,600 Mason won a pair of games early in Season 37; both of his wins saw his score north of $20,000 going into Final. |
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Tony Freitas (22) Claremont, California  31 correct, 6 incorrect 1/3 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities) 27.43% in first on buzzer (31/113) 0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$4,000) 1/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $10,000 Tony was a 1-game winner in Season 38; his only win was when he defeated Tyler Rhode. In his two games, he averaged just $8,000 going into Final Jeopardy. |
Overall Thoughts: I’ve been surprised before, but I think Mason is probably a slim favorite over Yoshie in this one.
Friday, October 27, 2023:
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Erick Loh (17) Northridge, California  40 correct, 5 incorrect 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities) 35.96% in first on buzzer (41/114) 0/0 on Daily Doubles 1/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,200 Erick was a 1-day champion from April of Season 37; Aaron Rodgers was Erick’s guest host. He’s also the highest-earning 1-day champ in the Diamond bracket. |
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Cory Burns Barger (9) Riverside, California  45 correct, 10 incorrect 4/6 on rebound attempts (on 17 rebound opportunities) 26.54% in first on buzzer (43/162) 2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,500) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $8,800 Cory was the first champion of Season 37, the first champion after the show returned to production after COVID; I’m sure this will be brought up. One thing I’m sure won’t be brought up: the terrible ruling one of her opponents got in Final Jeopardy in her second game (the infamous Barry vs Berry Gordy ruling; thankfully it was made academic by the fact that Cory had a runaway.) |
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Brian Adams (3) Big Bear Lake, California  78 correct, 20 incorrect 4/7 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities) 38.21% in first on buzzer (81/212) 4/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,600) 3/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,050 Brian was a 3-day champion from October 2020 before losing to Scott Shrum. |
Overall Thoughts: I think this will be a very closely contested match, despite it being between a 1-, 2-, and 3-day champion.
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Monday, October 30, 2023:
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T.J. Tallie (19) San Diego, California  42 correct, 9 incorrect 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities) 40.35% in first on buzzer (46/114) 2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,800) 1/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,500 T.J. was a 1-day champion whose one win came against 4-day champ Ryan Hemmel. A subset of fans will be hoping for a matchup between T.J. and similarly-coiffed Dave Rapp. |
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Sarah Reza (24) Hyattsville, Maryland  29 correct, 4 incorrect 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 25.44% in first on buzzer (29/114) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000) 2/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,300 Finally, someone not from California. Sarah was a 1-day champion from June 2021; Savannah Guthrie was Sarah’s guest host. |
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Jay Foster (12) Rancho Palos Verdes, California  51 correct, 8 incorrect 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 17 rebound opportunities) 29.94% in first on buzzer (50/167) 3/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,600) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,400 Jay was a 2-day champion in January 2022 short after Amy Schneider’s run; in hindsight, looking at the game he lost, I’m actually surprised that Zoha Khalili never received a Second Chance invite; Zoha made an incredible comeback over the final 8 clues of Double Jeopardy to jump into the lead in that game. |
Overall Thoughts: I think that Jay is probably the strongest of the three players in this one, but I’m sure that T.J. will be the fan favorite.
Tuesday, October 31, 2023:
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Aaron Craig (5) Toronto, Ontario, Canada  69 correct, 5 incorrect 6/6 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities) 36.26% in first on buzzer (62/171) 1/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,000) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,333 After beating Sam Stapleton—who we just saw make the finals in the Spades bracket—Aaron won a second game. In an interesting statistic, he won both games he wasn’t leading going into Final, but then lost his third from the lead. |
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Hari Parameswaran (16) Cupertino, California  72 correct, 12 incorrect 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities) 32.59% in first on buzzer (73/224) 3/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,800) 2/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,150 Hari won the first of three Second Chance competitions; if he keeps his buzzer timing from Game 2 of the Second Chance final, he’ll be unstoppable in this, too. |
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Katie Hargrove (20) Redondo Beach, California  34 correct, 3 incorrect 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities) 28.32% in first on buzzer (32/113) 1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,000) 2/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,000 Katie’s a 1-day champ from March 2022. |
Overall Thoughts: I suspect this one will be a battle between Aaron and Hari that will come down to who does better on the signalling device.
Wednesday, November 1, 2023:
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Dana Hill (6) Thousand Oaks, California  54 correct, 7 incorrect 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities) 32.32% in first on buzzer (53/164) 2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $7,000) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,600 Dana’s a 2-game champion from September 2020, whose second win was overshadowed by Tyler Brill giving an equally correct response to Final Jeopardy but not being invited back. Well done, Mike Richards. |
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Nancy Donehower (18) Portland, Oregon  29 correct, 5 incorrect 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities) 22.12% in first on buzzer (25/113) 1/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$5,400) 1/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,300 Nancy Donehower was a Season 38 giant killer, being the one who ended Jonathan Fisher’s run on the show. She then lost to Tyler Rhode, who went on to win 5 games himself. |
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Dave Rapp (2) Valley Village, California  98 correct, 11 incorrect 6/6 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities) 40.79% in first on buzzer (93/228) 4/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $7,000) 2/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $18,700 Dave was a very strong 3-day champion from Season 38 (February 2022). His betting from the lead was fine. If he’s not leading though, his strategy left something to be desired. |
Overall Thoughts: Dave is the clear favorite in this one, though Nancy absolutely has lots of experience playing against very good players!
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Regarding Zoha Khalili: do you have firm confirmation that she didn’t receive an invite? After all, it’s possible that she did, but responded as you’d prefer and turned it down, not wanting to cross a picket line.
I also now wonder about whether Tyler Brill received a Second Chance invite; if he didn’t, boo hiss on Michael Davies for not extending one to rectify Richards’s judging error (and the writers’ and researchers’ flub).
Zoha was a Season 38 player—she wouldn’t have been eligible this go around, instead being snubbed for the first set of Second Chance games.
Good call, thanks. Hopefully she would’ve been in the “first nine out” and would’ve gotten another call had they run three weeks of SCC last season instead of two.
Prediction time!
Match 1: Dave P. – If he’s able to find buzzer timing, he’s dominant enough that he’ll probably have the game locked up by the time DD3 is uncovered. If he can’t, it’s anyone’s game. However, his being dominant when he wants to be is why I have him listed as the favorite.
Match 2: Isaac – This was a very tough decision. Despite Pasquale being the 27th seed of 27, he played very well against a pair of rather strong champions (Brandon Deutsch and Dennis Chase). At the end of the day, though, you have to be doing something very right to have never lost a game of Jeopardy!
Match 3: Jilana – John might have had a much stronger first game, but Jilana is incredibly consistent when it comes to knowledge base. Additionally, she knows how to play the game very well from a strategic perspective, which could serve to offset John or Steve being stronger on the buzzer.
Match 4: Emily – There’s a reason she’s the top seed despite having a rather low average Coryat for this event. However, the Daily Doubles giveth and the Daily Doubles taketh away; she’d have probably given some notable champs in the last ToC a run for their money had it not been for missing a $6,200 TDD in game 4. But that’s a minor issue, so I still think she’s the favorite.
Match 5: Mason – He’s led going into all three of his Final Jeopardy clues for a reason. I wouldn’t bill him as the favorite for the entire event, but I’d be incredibly shocked if he didn’t at least make the semifinals.
Match 6: Erick – I do think he has the best prior statistics, but I also think the game will come down to if he’s leading going into Final again. His choice to not even cover third place in his first game could spell doom if competitors realize who they’re playing against and adjust their strategy to “go all-in every single time”.
Match 7: T.J. – T.J. might not be anywhere close to the highest seed, but there’s no denying that he knows how to play. (At least, in the main game…) I think this match will come down to if T.J. continues his aggressive betting on Daily Doubles. (Well, that and if he continues betting way too much in Final.)
Match 8: Hari – I completely agree with your thoughts here. If Hari can keep his buzzer timing, he’ll be unstoppable, but if he can’t? Either way, even if he struggles with the buzzer, his knowledge base should make him the favorite.
Match 9: Dave R. – Aside from having the best mohawk of any of the three mohawked contestants, the reason I think Dave R. is such a favorite is because of how strong he is at bottom-of-the-board clues. I’ll hesitate to call him the favorite, just because of what happened with John in the last bracket, but I’d consider it quite an upset if he was unable to make the finals.
Very much looking forward to watching this!
Diamonds:
Game 1 – Dave Pai
Game 2 – Isaac Applebaum
Game 3 – Jilana Cotter
Game 4 – Emily Sands
Game 5 – Mason Maggio
Game 6 – Brian Adams
Game 7 – Jay Foster
Game 8 – Hari Parameswaran
Game 9 – Dave Rapp
Fun 1st match tonight. I was super stoked to see Dave Rapp in this round. I started watching Jeopardy nightly when his run started and would love to see him win this Bracket and make the ToC. Go Dave!!! (Plus, he’s from a city that’s only a few miles to the west of me.)
Hopefully, in the next Wildcard group, there is Jim Gilligan.