J! Question

[alfonzos]

What my roommate would like to know who has won the most money without being asked back to compete in a tournament of champions? How much did that person win?

[PYLdude]

Depends on what your definition of a tournament is. Because if you're talking the normal TOC, Ken Jennings is the answer.

[Kevin Prather]

I'll assume this goes for any ToC or Mega-ToC. It also depends on your definition of "asked back to compete". Do you want to count alternates for the ToC since they didn't compete?

I searched j-archive for the last four seasons. These folks were alternates for the ToC, but never competed:

Kevin Joyce: 3-day champ from 4/2009: $113,299
Sara Heard: 4-day champ from 4/2011 $87,601

Among those who never got even an alternate spot, these are the top three winningest champions from the last four seasons that I could find:
Nick Condon: 3-day champ from 6/2011: $82,101
Francis Lansangan: 3-day champ from 11/2011: $80,401
Elyse Mancuso: Teen Tournament winner from 5/2012: $79,600

The answer to your question is probably a 3-day champ. I can't imagine a 4-day champ winning that much money without getting at least an alternate spot.

[TLEberle]

As it stands right now the first alternate for the next championship has $112,000+ in four victories. If there's another five game winner before the next TOC he's your guy.

[alfonzos]

Thank you, everyone.