In round one, there are 135 players competing in 45 games. The winners of those games will take on nine seeded opponents. The 18 winners then face off for six slots. The two winners of those semifinal games have a date with destiny in the form of one Ken Jennings for a three-day final. The winner of those games wins $2 million. Second place is guaranteed $500,000, while third place is guaranteed $250,000.

No wild cards, no second chances. It's (my favorite words when it comes to Jeopardy! tourneys) win or go home.

JOHN ZHANG MIT freshman orig. from Lexington, KY 2003 2K3 Teen Tourney Winner	DAN KATZ Lawyer Owings Mill, MD 1990 5-time Champion; Bruce Springsteen fan	BRIAN MOORE Astronomer Houston 1993 5-Time Champion

Once again, no relation to our own Brian Moore, who hails from Wisconsin.

Jeopardy! categories: Literary Quotes, 23 Skiddo, Legal Lingo, Art-isms, Sing a Song of Six Packs, Cheers

Daily Double: $800 Legal Lingo. Dan ($600 to John's $2400 and Brian's $1000) bets the max of $1000. The clue: the 5th Amendment clause known by this 2-word name protects you from the feds; the one in the 14th, from the states. Dan's response: "What is due process?" Correct for $1600.

End of Round:
John Z - $4000
Dan - $3400
Brian - $5000

Double Jeopardy! categories: The 60s, Movie Songs, Island Hopping, Grammat, Know Your Congress, "E" Gads!

Daily Double #1: $1600 Grammar. Brian (who came to life in the DJ round with $17,000 over Dann's $5400 and John's $3200) fronts $6000. Clue: in the sentence "Sailing is fun", "sailing" is this, also called a verbal noun. Brian's guess: "What is a gerund?" Correct for $23,000.

Daily Double #2: $2000 Island Hopping. Dan ($7000 to Brian's $23,800 and John's $6400) bets $5000. Clue: it's the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea that belongs to France. Dan's guess: "What is Corsica?" Correct for $12,000.

End of Round:
John Z - $2800
Dan - $12,800
Brian - $29,000

Remember, runners-up will take home $5000, while the winner is guaranteed at least $15,000.

Final Jeopardy! Category: Words. Answer: this 6-letter word can mean both a bright light above someone's head & a dark cloud above our heads. Correct response: What is a nimbus?

John's question: What is shadow? (WRONG) Wager: $2800. Final score: $2800.
Dan's question: What is a nimbus? (RIGHT) Wager: $7200. Final score: $20,000.
Brian's question: What is a nimbus? (RIGHT) Wager: $3000. Final score: $32,000.

So Brian, who exploded in Double Jeopardy!, is now at least a threat level player with $32,000, as he joins Eric Terzuolo, Michael Rankins, Arthur Phillips, David Traini, Bob Harris, Vinita Kailasanath, Bev Schwartzberg, Dan Melia, Mark Eckard, Michael Dupee, Jeff Richmond, John Beck, Tad Carithers, Jerome Vered, Bruce Borchardt, Fred Ramen, Ed Schiffer, Grace Veach, Ryan Holznagel, Mark Dawson, Michael Rooney, Pam Mueller, Steve Newman, Chris Miller, Leah Greenwald, and Jonathan Groff in the next round.

Next time, reigning grand champion Russ Schumacher takes on Bill Pitassy and Robert Slaven.