2026 Jeopardy! Masters – Pre-Taping Preview

With Season 4 of Jeopardy! Masters taping this week, here is my pre-taping preview of the 2026 event.

It should be noted that contestants are being introduced in this preview identically to their most recent appearance; there is a chance that any or all of the six players will be introduced from a different location this year.

I am also anticipating a schedule similar to Season 2, with 6 “preliminary round” episodes, advancing 4 players to the semifinals, with scores resetting to 0 for Episodes 7 & 8, and a final Episode 9.

Here are the announced airdates for this year’s Masters:

Episode 1: Tuesday, August 25
Episode 2: Wednesday, August 26
Episode 3: Thursday, August 27
Episode 4: Friday, August 28
Episode 5: Tuesday, September 1
Episode 6: Wednesday, September 2
Episode 7: Thursday, September 3
Episode 8: Friday, September 4
Episode 9: Tuesday, September 8

As always, the % chances are informed by the data from the Unified Prediction Model.

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My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.

Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my Betting Strategy 101 page. If you want to learn how to bet in two-day finals, check out Betting Strategy 102. In case the show uses a tournament with wild cards in the future, there is also a strategy page for betting in tournament quarterfinals.

Are you looking for information on how to stream Jeopardy! in 2026? Find out information here on how to stream from most places in North America!

You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 23 players, including Caleb Groen, Adam Remsen, Tristan Williams and Jamie Ding, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!

You can now listen to Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy! episodes from TuneIn Radio without leaving The Jeopardy! Fan — listen now!

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Yogesh Raut, Springfield, IL (16-15)

721 correct, 62 incorrect
58/64 on rebound attempts (on 134 rebound opportunities)
35.05% in first on buzzer (659/1880)
25/27 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $155,694)
19/33 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,097

To win: 20.00%
To make finals: 58.04%
To make semifinals: 76.64%

Andy’s Thoughts: The only reason why Yogesh Raut is as disliked as he is right now is that Fox News felt it necessary to amplify Yogesh. I honestly believe that a lot more people would have come around on Yogesh had the right-wing mouthpiece just decided to ignore Yogesh’s initial run back in 2023, and I still believe that it was a deliberate effort by Fox News to injure the show—especially because the FOX network itself failed to purchase the rights to the show in major markets from many ABC owned & operated stations. (Somehow, bearing witness to “deliberately injuring a media entity that you were unable to purchase” is a recurring theme around The Jeopardy! Fan, especially when it comes to certain media entities stealing my content here.) What do I think of Yogesh’s chances? I think he has a very strong chance of making the final, but if he does not, then whoever eliminates him might become incredibly popular.

Juveria Zaheer, Whitby, ON, Canada (9-11)

462 correct, 86 incorrect
22/28 on rebound attempts (on 93 rebound opportunities)
35.70% in first on buzzer (468/1311)
23/30 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $112,000)
14/22 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,583

To win: 14.76%
To make finals: 44.28%
To make semifinals: 60.08%

Andy’s Thoughts: If I had a nickel for every time someone from the Toronto area took a surprise second-place finish at Jeopardy! Masters, I’d have two nickels… (and I think we all know the cliché from here.) That said, I do think Juveria may have her work cut out for her to make it back to the finals (much like Mattea Roach struggled more in Season 2. However, I do want to say that there’s a lot of variance in this game, and Juveria always seems to be able to pull out victories when she needs to. I also love that Juveria makes reference to Jeopardy! as “adult Reach for the Top”.)

Victoria Groce, Pittsburgh, PA (19-7)

676 correct, 92 incorrect
23/28 on rebound attempts (on 82 rebound opportunities)
42.11% in first on buzzer (670/1591)
35/42 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $170,905)
16/28 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,850

To win: 20.52%
To make finals: 59.56%
To make semifinals: 78.20%

Andy’s Thoughts: Despite her third place finish in 2025, Victoria Groce is the favorite to take the overall Masters crown for the second time; her brain is working well as well, having won the most recent World Quizzing Championships. One thing that I wish that the show/ABC would do, is highlight that players like Victoria, and others in this event, as incredible as they are at Jeopardy!, still maintain full lives outside of trivia and Jeopardy!. One thing that I am seeing is a growing misconception that you somehow have to dedicate your life to trivia in order to reach this level—and I would say that many of the contestants in this year’s Masters prove that this is not the case.

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Paolo Pasco, San Diego, CA (12-1)

314 correct, 19 incorrect
15/16 on rebound attempts (on 56 rebound opportunities)
37.92% in first on buzzer (281/741)
21/23 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $86,400)
8/13 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,846

To win: 15.40%
To make finals: 48.32%
To make semifinals: 64.24%

Andy’s Thoughts: Paolo Pasco dominated the 2026 Tournament of Champions in order to reach this field, and the Unified Prediction Model thinks he is the most likely to reach the final after Victoria and Yogesh. If Paolo can still keep performing incredibly well on the Daily Doubles, he will absolutely do so.

Andrew He, Concord, CA (18-16)

653 correct, 94 incorrect
42/50 on rebound attempts (on 124 rebound opportunities)
31.79% in first on buzzer (616/1938)
35/47 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $147,800)
17/34 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,241

To win: 14.24%
To make finals: 47.36%
To make semifinals: 64.04%

Andy’s Thoughts: Andrew He makes his return to the Jeopardy! Masters stage after a victory in the 2026 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament. I also think that Andrew has a further opportunity to prove himself here, especially considering that the tournament itself does have a more “wide open” feeling.

Long Nguyen, Las Vegas, NV (5-4)

194 correct, 33 incorrect
15/18 on rebound attempts (on 45 rebound opportunities)
31.93% in first on buzzer (182/570)
14/17 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $40,400)
6/10 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,820

To win: 13.92%
To make finals: 42.44%
To make semifinals: 56.80%

Andy’s Thoughts: Long finished second to Andrew He at the aforementioned Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament. While the Unified Prediction Model does show Long as having the lowest chance of advancing, I also expect that Long will perform well in this field overall, and his chances will likely improve as his “strength of schedule” in the model increases. I should also say that Long’s general attitude of “Aw, shucks, why am I here and not at pickleball?” has endeared him to large swaths of America, and I hope that continues during Masters.

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