Now that the Tournament of Champions is over, we move on to our last tournament of the 2026 postseason, the annual Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament.
Unlike past seasons, though, this is a slightly abbreviated event, with only 18 players (which means we do get back to regular play sooner, for those who like such things.)
There also appears to be a good methodology to these matchups—the show appears to have seeded 6 players (5 players returning from Masters and a ToC winner), as well as making sure one woman is in each quarterfinal as well. I would have used the exact same methodology had I been putting these pairings together myself. In fact, I’ll be referring to those six players as seeded in this preview.
As always, my predictions have been informed by the Unified Prediction Model being run 100,000 times with this field & pairings.
Thursday, February 5, 2026:
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Matt Amodio New York, New York  1791 correct, 216 incorrect 78/93 on rebound attempts (on 222 rebound opportunities) 44.76% in first on buzzer (1727/3858) 101/119 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $388,200) 47/67 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $20,915 45.815% to win quarterfinal |
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Drew Basile Birmingham, Michigan  213 correct, 47 incorrect 11/17 on rebound attempts (on 51 rebound opportunities) 37.83% in first on buzzer (216/571) 11/17 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $36,400) 5/10 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,280 28.137% to win quarterfinal 46.662% to advance to semifinal 14.650% to advance to final 4.274% to win tournament |
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Karen Farrell Chesapeake, Virginia  243 correct, 26 incorrect 15/20 on rebound attempts (on 52 rebound opportunities) 37.88% in first on buzzer (225/594) 8/13 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,900) 9/11 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,491 26.048% to win quarterfinal |
Overall Thoughts: The tournament looks to get started with one of the stronger matches, with the seeded Amodio Rodeo returning to face off against Drew Basile and Karen Farrell. I’m sure we won’t see any words from Drew whatsoever about this draw, while I think Karen has traditionally been underrated by many fans. I think Matt will advance, but both Drew and Karen will make his life difficult along the way.
Friday, February 6, 2026:
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Eric Ahasic Minneapolis, Minnesota  210 correct, 25 incorrect 17/20 on rebound attempts (on 44 rebound opportunities) 36.84% in first on buzzer (189/513) 15/17 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $65,000) 3/9 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $19,022 34.005% to win quarterfinal |
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Roger Craig Johnstown, Pennsylvania  588 correct, 120 incorrect 33/42 on rebound attempts (on 98 rebound opportunities) 40.50% in first on buzzer (601/1484) 35/41 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $155,400) 14/24 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,436 40.017% to win quarterfinal |
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Veronica Vichit-Vadakan Portland, Oregon  162 correct, 18 incorrect 10/14 on rebound attempts (on 42 rebound opportunities) 29.76% in first on buzzer (150/504) 5/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $8,200) 5/9 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $13,533 25.978% to win quarterfinal |
Overall Thoughts: If Quarterfinal #1 wasn’t strong enough for you, Quarterfinal #2 is the strongest of the six per the Unified Prediction Model. I feel for Veronica a little bit, as she was not given a favorable draw at all. I think she’s only improved since her Tournament of Champions, and I think that will make this the best three-way battle of the event. Both Eric and seeded Roger are among the best of all time on the Daily Doubles as well; I would not be at all surprised to see a combined score entering Final Jeopardy over the board value of $54,000.
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Monday, February 9, 2026:
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Liz Feltner Baton Rouge, Louisiana  49 correct, 6 incorrect 6/6 on rebound attempts (on 23 rebound opportunities) 19.65% in first on buzzer (45/229) 0/0 on Daily Doubles 2/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $8,450 18.581% to win quarterfinal |
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T.L. Cubbage Dallas, Texas  255 correct, 21 incorrect 16/19 on rebound attempts (on 54 rebound opportunities) 31.60% in first on buzzer (231/731) 11/13 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $14,500) 12/13 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,292 46.526% to win quarterfinal |
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Drew Goins Washington, D.C.  221 correct, 29 incorrect 10/12 on rebound attempts (on 41 rebound opportunities) 37.54% in first on buzzer (214/570) 11/14 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $26,600) 5/10 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,300 34.893% to win quarterfinal |
Overall Thoughts: T.L. is the “seeded” player in this one, having won a Tournament of Champions. He also last missed a Final Jeopardy about four months into the elder Bush administration. Since then, he’s won a College Championship, a Tournament of Champions, and made the semifinals of Battle of the Decades. Certainly, had anybody run a pre-tournament betting line, I think Tom would probably be where most of the smart money would have ended up—the Unified Prediction Model has T.L. at a similar level as Paolo Pasco, and we all saw what Paolo just did in the ToC. Liz’s “strength of schedule” helps her in the Unified Prediction Model here, as she played in the 2022 College final against Jaskaran Singh and Raymond Goslow, both of whom are among the best players of the modern era, while fans will be happy to see Drew Goins once again.
Tuesday, February 10, 2026:
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Mehal Shah Seattle, Washington  170 correct, 24 incorrect 13/13 on rebound attempts (on 33 rebound opportunities) 35.68% in first on buzzer (162/454) 9/11 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $37,200) 1/8 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,925 25.726% to win quarterfinal |
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Jen Giles Longmont, Colorado  109 correct, 18 incorrect 4/6 on rebound attempts (on 25 rebound opportunities) 31.78% in first on buzzer (109/343) 3/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,400) 3/7 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,829 25.182% to win quarterfinal |
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Andrew He Concord, California  557 correct, 76 incorrect 36/42 on rebound attempts (on 99 rebound opportunities) 31.52% in first on buzzer (521/1653) 32/41 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $147,400) 15/29 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,007 49.092% to win quarterfinal |
Overall Thoughts: Seeded Andrew He has been given Colorado teacher Jen Giles and Seattle software engineer Mehal Shah in this one. We haven’t seen Jen since the All-Star Games in 2019, while Mehal had a heartbreaking exit from the 2025 Tournament of Champions. Mehal’s 1/8 in Final will do him no favors in a format that might require a correct response in Final Jeopardy to advance, while Jennifer has always seemed to draw difficult opponents in her tournament returns. UPM thinks Andrew has a very good chance of advancing while Mehal and Jen battle for second.
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Wednesday, February 11, 2026:
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Josh Hill North Little Rock, Arkansas  207 correct, 32 incorrect 4/7 on rebound attempts (on 25 rebound opportunities) 42.43% in first on buzzer (213/502) 7/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $24,195) 4/9 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $17,578 32.198% to win quarterfinal |
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Alison Betts San Jose, California  150 correct, 31 incorrect 10/12 on rebound attempts (on 42 rebound opportunities) 37.59% in first on buzzer (150/399) 10/12 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $31,000) 4/7 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $13,257 28.698% to win quarterfinal |
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Isaac Hirsch Burbank, California  513 correct, 104 incorrect 30/37 on rebound attempts (on 102 rebound opportunities) 36.87% in first on buzzer (525/1424) 20/30 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $17,000) 15/25 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,288 39.104% to win quarterfinal |
Overall Thoughts: Seeded Isaac Hirsch takes on Josh Hill and Alison Betts in this one. All three of these players have been staying pretty fresh, so I’m expecting a closely contested game in this quarterfinal. The Unified Prediction Model does give Isaac a slight edge due to his run to the Masters semifinals last year.
Thursday, February 12, 2026:
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Long Nguyen Las Vegas, Nevada  104 correct, 18 incorrect 5/7 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities) 36.14% in first on buzzer (103/285) 6/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $16,400) 4/5 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $13,840 37.073% to win quarterfinal |
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Will Yancey Gadsden, Alabama  156 correct, 37 incorrect 10/13 on rebound attempts (on 25 rebound opportunities) 34.43% in first on buzzer (157/456) 10/15 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $15,600) 4/8 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,850 28.447% to win quarterfinal |
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Adriana Harmeyer West Lafayette, Indiana  497 correct, 62 incorrect 30/40 on rebound attempts (on 102 rebound opportunities) 32.96% in first on buzzer (469/1423) 17/25 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $24,400) 18/25 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,144 34.480% to win quarterfinal |
Overall Thoughts: Our last quarterfinal features Long Nguyen, Will Yancey, and seeded Adriana Harmeyer. Interestingly, Adriana is the only seed in this event not favored to win by the Unified Prediction Model—Long is the second-best player in the field in terms of taking advantage of Daily Doubles (behind Eric Ahasic), and that’s giving him the edge per UPM in this one.
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Alright gonna make some predictions cause why not. Also not predicting the wild cards cause those are just harder to choose.
Game 1: Matt. I know Drew and Karen could very well win, but I just can’t count Matt out.
Game 2: Tough game, going with Roger
Game 3 T.L is good, but it’s also been over 10 years since he’s played, so I’m going with Drew
Game 4: Going with Andrew and his long hair
Game 5: Can I choose all of them? These 3 are some of my favorites, but I’m gonna go with Isaac
Game 6: Probably Will
I’m ready for the JIT! Let’s Go!
Forgot to post:
Winners:
Matt Amodio
Eric Ahasic
Drew Goins
Andrew He
Isaac Hirsch
Long Nguyen
Wild Cards:
Roger Craig
T.L. Cubbage
Adriana Harmeyer
Finalists:
Matt
Roger
Andrew
WINNER: MATT AMODIO