Today’s Final Jeopardy – May 23, 2019

Current Champion

Nikolas Polsinelli, career statistics:
44 correct, 6 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
35.96% in first on buzzer (41/114)
4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,600)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,500

To win:
3 games: 64.111%
4: 41.102%
5: 26.351%
6: 16.894%
7: 10.831%
Avg. streak: 3.786 games.
(Click Here for Methodology)

Upcoming Encore Presentations

September 26-27: S42 E174 (May 7, 2026)
October 3-4: S42 E175 (May 8, 2026)
October 10-11: S42 E176 (May 11, 2026)
(Source: Bell Fibe TV program guide)

All Time Winnings

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Regular Play Only:

1. Ken Jennings $2,520,700
2. James Holzhauer $2,462,216
3. Matt Amodio $1,518,601
4. Amy Schneider $1,382,800
5. Jamie Ding $882,605
6. Cris Pannullo $748,286
7. Mattea Roach $560,983
8. Jason Zuffranieri $532,496
9. Scott Riccardi $455,000
10. David Madden $430,400
11. Julia Collins $428,100
12. Matt Jackson $411,612
13. Austin Rogers $411,000
14. Ray Lalonde $386,400
15. Harrison Whitaker $373,999
16. Adriana Harmeyer $349,600
17. Caleb Groen $346,968
18. Adam Remsen $306,415
19. Ryan Long $299,400
20. Arthur Chu $297,200

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Including Tournaments (and Consolation Prizes):

1. Brad Rutter $4,968,436
2. Ken Jennings $4,372,700
3. James Holzhauer $3,614,216
4. Matt Amodio $1,964,601
5. Amy Schneider $1,864,800
6. Yogesh Raut $1,598,403
7. Victoria Groce $1,023,801
8. Mattea Roach $897,983
9. Jamie Ding $885,605
10. David Madden $785,733
11. Cris Pannullo $754,286
12. Roger Craig $706,200
13. Andrew He $684,365
14. Larissa Kelly $671,930
15. Matt Jackson $623,612
16. Jason Zuffranieri $549,496
17. Paolo Pasco $548,717
18. Scott Riccardi $533,000
19. Jerome Vered $499,102
20. Julia Collins $495,767
21. Austin Rogers $493,000
22. Juveria Zaheer $491,000
23. Ben Ingram $449,201
24. Adriana Harmeyer $446,600
25. Buzzy Cohen $441,603

Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Jazz Classics) for Thursday, May 23, 2019 (Season 35, Episode 184):

In one account, this song began as directions written out for composer Billy Strayhorn to Duke Ellington’s home in Harlem

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s contestants:

Nate Scheffey, a technology consultant from New York, New York

Laura Schulman, a public defender from Seattle, Washington

James Holzhauer, a professional sports gambler from Las Vegas, Nevada (25-day total: $1,939,027)

James has cemented his spot in the next Tournament of Champions. Our ToC Tracker shows who else is in the field.

If you’re curious to see how James’ stats so far shape up to those of Ken Jennings, you can find them at A James Holzhauer vs. Ken Jennings Statistical Comparison.

James has reached 900 correct responses on the show and has moved to #2 all-time on that list! See who else has at least 300 on our 300 Club page!

Did you attempt any of the online tests last month? You can find last week’s questions and answers here!

The Jeopardy! Book of Answers is out now! Here’s my review.

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Correct response: What is “Take The A-Train”?

More information about Final Jeopardy:

According to the lyrics, “you mst take the ‘A’ train to go to to Sugar Hill ‘way up in Harlem.” Written in 1939 by Billy Strayhorn, it became Duke Ellington’s signature tune.

Since Alex Trebek’s diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer, many community members have been raising money. The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store is as well! All proceeds from any “Keep The Faith And We’ll Win” shirt sold will be donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. To date, over $370 has been raised.)

In order to redesign our merchandise area to serve you better in 2026, all merchandise sales have been temporarily taken offline. Look for a return in late 2026! All previous orders will still be supported.

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!

Scores going into Final:
James $31,200
Nate $25,800
Laura $1,200

Tonight’s results:
Laura $1,200 – $0 = $1,200 (What is Take 5?)
Nate $25,800 + $10,000 = $35,800
James $31,200 + $20,908 = $52,108 (26-day total: $1,991,135)

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Nate $10,200
James $6,600
Laura $1,200

Opening break taken after: 15 clues

Daily Double locations:
1) NUMERIC PHRASES $800 (14th pick)
Nate 3400 +3400 (James 5400 Laura 600)
2) SCIENCE $2000 (4th pick)
Nate 13400 +6000 (James 6600 Laura 1200)
3) MOUNTAINS $1600 (6th pick)
James 8200 +8200 (Nate 19400 Laura 1200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 245

Unplayed clues:
J! round: THE 2018 IG NOBEL PRIZES $200
DJ! Round: None!
Total $ Left On Board: $200

Game Stats:
James $24,600 Coryat, 26 correct, 1 incorrect, 42.86% in first on buzzer, 2/2 on rebound attempts
Nate $19,200 Coryat, 24 correct, 1 incorrect, 37.50% in first on buzzer, 2/2 on rebound attempts
Laura $1,200 Coryat, 6 correct, 2 incorrect, 14.29% in first on buzzer
Combined Coryat Score: $45,000
Lach Trash: $3,800 (on 3 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $5,000

James Holzhauer, stats to date:
939 correct, 29 incorrect
28/30 on rebound attempts (on 58 rebound opportunities)
57.98% in first on buzzer (850/1466)
58/62 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $534,054)
25/26 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $30,646

James Holzhauer, to win:
27 games: 98.069%
28: 96.176%
29: 94.319%
30: 92.498%
31: 90.713%
75: 38.471%
Avg. streak: 76.797 games.
(This is using the updated model.)

Tournament of Champions projections:
With a projected 76 regular-play games to go prior to the Tournament of Champions cutoff, after 500,000 simulations, our model shows:

James Holzhauer qualified 100.000% of the time.
Eric R. Backes qualified 93.911% of the time.
Anneke Garcia qualified 78.852% of the time.
Lindsey Shultz qualified 52.694% of the time.
Dave Leffler qualified 30.391% of the time.
Jonathan Dinerstein qualified 22.720% of the time.

Andy’s Thoughts:

• This was the 4th time that James was not leading after the Jeopardy! round, but the first occurrence since his 8th game on April 15.
• Between the 5th and 9th clues of the Double Jeopardy! round, James picked up $15,400, moving from $12,800 behind to $2,600 in front.
• James has been correct on his last 20 Final Jeopardy! clues.
• Nate’s $25,800 is the second-highest trailing score of all time going into Final Jeopardy, second only to Adam Levin’s $27,000 on April 29.
• $52,108 is the 28th-highest winning score of all-time. Prior to the start of James’ run in April, it would have placed 9th.
• If you took the 25 games James has already won out of the prediction model, it would still predict a streak of 50 games for James.
• The prediction model gives James a 87.241% chance of surpassing Ken Jennings’ winnings total of $2,520,700, and a 50.537% chance of James surpassing Brad Rutter’s all-time winnings total of $4,688,436. (At his current average, James would pass Ken on June 3 and Brad on July 26.)
• James’ average winning total on Thursdays is $61,423.

• In a similar situation to today’s game, Ken Jennings survived a challenger not betting enough on a Daily Double in his 23rd win on July 2, 2004.

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