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.

BEN LYON Industrial scale man Dallas 1995 '95 College Champion	STEVE CHERNICOFF Technical writer Berkeley, CA 1994 One of the Top 1-day winners, 1994-95	ROY HOLLIDAY Radiologist Nyack, NY 1987 5-time Champion

Jeopardy! categories: "King" Me, 35 Years of Smithsonian Magazine; Hodgepodge, B'Gosh; Art Biennials, That's Debatable; S, U or V.

Daily Double: $800 That's Debatable. Steve ($3400 to Roy's $6400 and Ben's $2200) bets $1500. The clue: October 11, 1984: these 2 Vice-Presidential hopefuls. Steve's guess: "Who were George HW Bush & Geraldine Ferraro?" Correct for $4900.

End of Round:
Ben - $1000
Steve - $6100
Roy - $7400

Double Jeopardy! categories: King Me, I Saw It on TV & I Had to Have It, Animals, From the French, Single-Letter Stocks, Edward Albee.

Daily Double #1: $1200 From the French. Steve ($6500 to Roy's $7000 and Ben's $5000) goes $2000. Clue: it's a hint or trace of something (sounds like of Campbell's). Steve's guess: "Qu'est-ce que c'est que soupçon?" Ryan is not going to let me hear the end of it if I didn't type that right. Anyway, that's correct for $8500.

Daily Double #2: $2000 King Me. Steve ($12,900 over Ben & Roy's $6200 each) fronts $3000. Clue: he's the last king of France whose reign straddled 2 centuries. Steve's guess: "Who is Louis XIV." Correct for $15,900.

End of Round:
Ben - $9400
Steve - $16,300
Roy - $10,600

Steve's on fire. Better watch out. Remember, runners-up will take home $5000, while the winner is guaranteed at least $15,000. Who will be #45?

Final Jeopardy! Category: Astronomy. Answer: it's the colorful 2-word term used to describe the motion of the galaxies coming toward us, like Andromeda is. Correct response: What is blue shift?

Ben's question: What is red shift? (WRONG) Wager: $9400. Final score: $0.
Roy's question: What is red shift? (WRONG) Wager: $9400. Final score: $1200.
Steve's question: What is blue shift? (RIGHT) Wager: $4901. Final score: $21,201.

Alex said it best. "It's Steve's to win." And truth be told, he's a heavy contender with his performance today. He is the final player to make it out of round 1, taking $21,201, and completing the roster of first rounders 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, Jonathan Groff, Brian Moore, Robert Slaven, Shane Whitlock, Michael Daunt, Steve Berman, Eugene Finerman, John Cuthberson, India Cooper, Kyle Hale, Rick Knutsen, Bruce Naegeli, Matt Zielenski, April McManus, Lan Djang, Paul Gutowski, and Lara Robillard, Phil Yellman, and Scott Gillispie.

Tomorrow begins round 2, as these 45 fight for survival amongst 9 of the best to play the game, and in the end, 18 will move one step closer... to Ken.