‘Jeopardy!’: Major Bet Opens Door to More Invitational Tournament Success for Returning Player

Meaghan Darwish March 21, 2024, 8:30 pm

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Leonard Cooper, Jason Zuffranieri, and Larissa Kelly for 'Jeopardy!'s Invitational Tournament — Jeopardy!, Inc.

Jeopardy!‘s Invitational Tournament continued, and the latest game yielded some promising results for one returning player among the three former contestants invited to play in this special round of games.

Among the competitors for the March 21 game were 2013’s Teen Tournament winner Leonard Cooper, 2021 Tournament of Champions semifinalist Jason Zuffranieri, and 2019 All-Star Games winner Larissa Kelly. But only one of them could emerge victorious to land a spot in the semifinals of the Invitational Tournament.

(Credit: Jeopardy!, Inc.)

It turned out to be Larissa who had a sizable victory over Leonard and Jason, winning $40,200 over their respective $14,300 and $13,600. Ultimately, it was a big bet in Final Jeopardy that led to Larissa’s latest success as she and Leonard were the only ones to provide correct responses in the last round.

The category was “20th Century Novels,” with the clue being, “Virginia Woolf disliked this book that was ‘cutting out the explanations and putting in the thoughts between dashes.'” The correct response was “What is Ulysses?”

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Ultimately, Larissa wagered the right amount, raising her initial number from $25,200 to $40,200 with a $15,000 bet, shooting her to first place. Is it a sign of things to come?

There are a lot of quarterfinal games yet to play out, but stats rarely mean a thing when it comes to competitions like these. For instance, Jason was a previous superchampion having won 19 games during his regular season gameplay, while Larissa only won 6 regular games before.

Fans couldn’t help but congratulate Larissa on her win as they commended her strong gameplay. See some of their reactions, below:

Congratulations to Larissa Kelly on advancing to the semifinals of the first-ever “Jeopardy!” Invitational Tournament! She really is one of the best female players in “Jeopardy!” history.

— Joshua Bellamy (@JoshuaBellamy4) March 22, 2024

Nice work, Larissa! #Jeopardy

— Head Meets Heart (@HeadMeetHeart) March 21, 2024

Wow, what a run after the last Daily Double by Larissa to storm back and re-take the lead.#Jeopardy

— Matt Carberry (@mfc248) March 21, 2024

Larissa BLAZING out the gate with more than $10K after converting on DD1 before the first commercial break! #Jeopardy #JeopardyJIT

— Jeric Brual (ジェリック) (@thejericbrual) March 21, 2024

Jeopardy!, Weeknights, Check your local listing