Jeopardy! - James Holzhauer


James Holzhauer (b.1985)
  • Game Show Contestant and Professional Sports Gambler
  • Best known for his 32-game winning streak as champion of Jeopardy! from April to June 2019.
  • On his final game, #33, James was finally defeated.
  • James walked away with $2.4 million in total winnings.

James currently holds 21 spots in the top 25 single-game totals.

Biographical Information:
  • When he was 4, James' teacher was astounded by his arithmetic abilities and developed advanced classwork just for him.
  • At age 7, James skipped 2nd grade, and was moved up to a 5th grade math class (with 10 year-olds). 
  • James consistently got A's on math tests and competed on the "High School Math Team".
  • Despite high marks on individual tests, James was a C student overall, as he often skipped class and homework on the grounds that he could use the time more productively, such as playing online poker, and memorizing obscure baseball statistics.
  • A member of the "Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering" Team that won the state competition at the University of Illinois, 
    • James received "First place in Physics" 
    • and "Second place in Mathematics".
  • At age 20, James graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics 2005.


Jeopardy! (2019)
  •  James took a year off from his occupation as a sports gambler to study for Jeopardy!
  • James credited reading fact books written for children, with their heavy use of info-graphics, for allowing him to learn vast amounts of information in an easily digestible manner.
  • James appeared on 33 episodes of Jeopardy!, from April 4, to June 3.
  • He won $43,680 on his first game.
  • In his 4th  game, James broke the previous single-game Jeopardy!  winnings record by winning $110,914, which corresponds to his daughter's date of birth, 11/09/14.
  • James set a new all-time single-game record set on April 17, when he won $131,127.
  • He is also the 1st and only player to win $100,000 or more in a single episode, a feat he accomplished 6 times.
  • James set a new “1st five days” winnings record with his $298,687 total winnings.
  • James won a total of $2.46 million, averaging over $75,000 per episode.
    • James's average winnings were more than the $43,000 per episode that host Alex Trebek earns.
    • James was finally defeated in his 33rd game, June 3, 2019, watched by 14.5 million people.
  • In July 2019 Jeopardy! confirmed that James would return for the Tournament of Champions in November.


Strategies
  •      James selected the highest-value clues first to maximize the money to wager on a Daily Double.
  • On Daily Doubles and during Final Jeopardy!, James bet aggressively; his average wager on Daily Doubles was $9,000. James was correct on 72 of the 76 (95%) Daily Doubles he hit.

     Response to gameplay
Craig, who held the single-game winnings record before James,  
"To me, it's clear that he's one of the top players of all time."
Jennings admitted
"It's absolutely insane what he's doing."
 Of James' strategies, Jennings said,
"He’s got these incredibly confident wagers.
He's maximizing money.
He can make two or three times what any other
player ever has with that same level of play,
which again is top-shelf.

He's as good as anybody."

Labbett, meanwhile, recalled James's The Chase appearance as
"The worst beating I've ever had", adding,

"I've got to give Jeopardy! immense credit…
- in Britain, James would not have made it onto The Chase, because he's just too damn good.

They would never have him on."

Gambling career
2006 World Baseball Classic
He grew his sports betting bankroll in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Believing the round-robin format of the tournament and variance in baseball had skewed the odds, he bet heavily on each team except the US and Dominican Republic to win the tournament.

Las Vegas (2008)
  • After graduating from college, James moved to Las Vegas in 2008 to bet professionally on sports.
  • James says he has built predictive models for baseball, NFL, and college basketball, but now focuses largely on in-game betting.
    • In-game wagering - wagering on a game while it's happening. Sportsbook odds for the in-game will only change during a timeout or commercial break.
  • World Series of Poker
    • James failed to win any money playing poker.


Records held by James:
2019
Biggest winner by season
$2.46
Million
April 4,5,8,9,10
5-day Biggest play winnings
$298,687
2019
Biggest one-game winner
(Set record twice)
$110,914
then
$131,127
2019
Largest successful Daily Double wager
$25,000
2019
Largest successful Final Jeopardy! Wager
(Set record twice)
$38,314
then
$60,013







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