James Holzhauer won his 23rd game ofJeopardy!in a row on Monday after a two-week hiatus from the show. Despite finishing with a total $1,780,237 in winnings after Monday’s victory, the 34-year-old Las Vegas native is far from the show’s biggest and longest reigning champion.
Ken Jennings won a total of $2,520,700 after 74 games back in 2004. He still holds every top 10 slot for the highest single-game winnings.
While Jennings entered the show as an erudite computer scientist, Holzhauer has a background in professional sports gambling, with manyJeopardy!purists undermining Hozhauer’s run as simply a cash-grab.
Jennings came to Holzhauer’s defense ina Sunday editorialforThe Washington Post, where the 44-year-old Jennings announces Holzhauer is “getting within spitting distance of the $2.5 million all-time cash record. All right, fine, if you insist: my all-time cash record.”
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Holzhauer’s aggressive strategy in going for higher value clues over starting low throws off his more traditional opponents, who typically work their way down a particular category. The professional sports bettor also actively seeks out Daily Doubles, which often gives him an early lead.
Jennings applauded Holzhauer’s approach to the game, adding that the point of the show has always been about out-earning opponents.
“It’s not true, as some have implied, thatJeopardy!has long been a genteel scholar’s game of knowledge that this brash Vegas arriviste has soiled with his unseemly cash grab,” he wrote in thePost. “Winning onJeopardy!has always been about out-earning your opponents, and the game pivots on four clues every game that allow players to risk their money: three Daily Doubles and one Final Jeopardy. That element of risk is called out in the name of the show, for crying out loud.”
Courtesy of Jeopardy!
“That’s what we should appreciate about Holzhauer: the insane confidence of even trying to playJeopardy!according to an untested personal strategy,” said Jennings.
Holzhauer currently averages winning $76,864 per game with $131,127 being the most he’s won in a single game. He holds a 97 percent accuracy rate for his responses and a 93 percent Daily Double accuracy rate, according to theJeopardy!website.
source: people.com
