Pro sports bettor posts perfect 'Jeopardy!' game, wonders about future wagers in Vegas
James Holzhauer is dishing out so much destruction during his “Jeopardy!” reign that opponents are left to chuckle at their Final Jeopardy! misery.
He re-upped his own single-game winnings record during Wednesday’s show with $131,127 and a 10th consecutive victory.
Those who might not be laughing: bookies in Las Vegas, where Holzhauer, 34, is a respected professional sports bettor.
"I don't think the bookies in Las Vegas are going to be as willing to accept my action after this," Holzhauer said, per ESPN, adding the bookies knew him before his time on the show.
Perfect game, ‘Jeopardy!’ style
Holzhauer keeps re-setting the single-game winnings mark, which stood for nine years before he broke it, and holds the top four spots on the ranking. He is second on the all-time, regular-play winnings list with $697,787.
Ken Jennings holds the record with more than $2.5 million over 74 games.
Holzhauer set the record by going 40-for-40 on responses he buzzed in on during the first two rounds. He entered Final Jeopardy! with $71,114 while his opponents had $5,400 and $5,000. The professional bettor went with his successful tactic of wagering big money and risked $60,013 on “20th Century Literary Characters.”
The final winnings were better than his previous record of $110,914, set the week prior. He has won more than $100,000 three times while no other contestant has cracked the $77,000 mark in the show’s 35-year run.
James is already up to 10 wins! How far will he go? pic.twitter.com/dn1nsUWYkq
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) April 18, 2019
Jennings’ high was $75,000 set in 2004.
"He's thinking about the game in a whole different way, and I never would've had the stomach to make some of those bets he's making,'' Jennings told Natalie Morales Thursday on TODAY.
Gambler calls strategy ‘cold-blooded’
Holzhauer spoke with Vulture days before his perfect game and explained his strategy, which is based on starting with the most expensive clues.
Most players pick the easiest clues and work their way through an entire category. If they aren’t doing well in the category, they may jump somewhere else.
He calls it a “strategically aggressive” and “cold-blooded” strategy to try and build up a little money to leverage on the Daily Doubles. And when those come along, as well as Final Jeopardy!, he always bets big no matter if opponents can reach him or not. Many of his Daily Doubles are true, meaning he bets it all.
“A lot of people bet big when their backs are against the wall, but people don’t realize … everyone thinks, Oh, I want to go into Final Jeopardy with some chance of winning. But that’s not the best strategy.
I bet on sports, and as an example, there comes a time in a football game where a team is down three points with a minute left, so they’re going to try a field goal to tie and go into overtime. But really the best chance of winning is to go all-out for the touchdown. Players need to be playing more aggressively when they get Daily Doubles in ‘regulation time,’ so to speak.
Maybe it’s just the mind-set of football teams doing this, but in my job, I have to bet very large amounts of money from time to time. I know life goes on if you make a big bet and you lose. But if you don’t give yourself the best chance of winning, you’re going to kick yourself tomorrow. I’m used to gambling. To me, these are just points on the scoreboard and not actual dollars. That mind-set was very helpful for me.”
Holzhauer got his start in baseball gambling, he said, because he could put to use his love of baseball statistics. He branched out into sports where he thought the bookies were “behind the curve” in setting odds, he said.
As for if he thinks he “broke” the game, or if others would follow his style, he compared it to hot-dog eating in which Takeru Kobayashi set a “new blueprint” for eating hot dogs.
Filming on the 35th anniversary season wrapped and the “Jeopardy!” staff has started on preparation for season 36. Filming will begin in July with episodes set to begin airing in September.
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