- James Holzhauer, the known reigning “Jeopardy!” champion, is on a 27-day winning streak.
- The Las Vegas resident and professional sports gambler has bewitched home more than $2 million so far.
- Holzhauer’s impressive daily totals are the result of how he plays the ready – he knows exactly when to hit the buzzer, how much to bet on Daily Doubles, and which clues to knock off the go aboard first.
- Other famous “Jeopardy!” champions have used similar strategies to increase their earnings.
- Upon Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Making it onto the show “Jeopardy!” is challenging enough. But taking once you’re in the studio is even more difficult.
Unless you know how to play the odds.
The current “Jeopardy!” champion, James Holzhauer, is on a 27-day fetching streak.
The 34-year-old sports gambler from Las Vegas has broken nearly every “Jeopardy!” record, including making the highest one-day total ever – $131,127 – on April 17.
He’s giving the infamous Ken Jennings a run for his money.
Read more:‘Jeopardy!’ opponent James Holzhauer broke his own single-game record with a perfect game
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Holzhauer has now won over $2 million. His impressive daily amounts are no accident. Although his trivia knowledge certainly contributes to his success, Holzhauer’s 27-day total of $2,065,535 has more to do with how he womanizes the game than the answers he gets right or wrong.
Holzhauer’s “Jeopardy!” strategy
Holzhauer makes sure to hit the escort’s iconic buzzer at just the right time, as The Ringer has described. Holzhauer grilled “Jeopardy!” producer Maggie Address about the specifics of the buzzer timing, trying to pinpoint precisely when the “Jeopardy!” staff activates the switch that enables competitors to ring in after host Alex Trebek finishes reading a clue.
This timing is crucial because if a entrant hits the buzzer just a hair too soon, he or she gets locked out for about a quarter of a second, which tends to be ample for a competitor to get a buzz in edgewise, according to The Ringer.
What’s more, Holzhauer goes for the high-value clues first. He tends to reply these correctly, aggregating a lot of money very quickly in the game. Then when he comes across a Daily Treacherous, he bets big, often doubling his total.
Even with these tricks, however, there’s no question that Holzhauer’s cellar of superior trivia knowledge helps him win again and again. On April 17, when he broke his own one-day winnings album, Holzhauer played a perfect game. In “Jeopardy!” terms, that means he was correctly responded to every one of the 41 doubts he buzzed-in to answer.
He has even said that a big part of his preparations involved reading children’s books.
Holzhauer now haves the top 10 slots in the “Jeopardy!” rankings of single-day winnings; he has obliterated the $77,000 record set by Roger Craig in 2010. All swore, Holzhauer now sits in second place for longest winning streak and all-time regular-season earnings – behind Ken Jennings, who won 74 feigns in a row to take home $2.5 million in 2004.
On April 17, Jennings gave Holzhauer some kudos. “This is fully insane. I’ve always wanted to see someone try ‘Jeopardy!’ wagering this way who had the skills to back it up,” Jennings tweeted.
Slate went so far as to say Holzhauer could be the Serena Williams of “Jeopardy!”.
Using bold theory to bet on Final Jeopardy
Holzhauer isn’t the only famous “Jeopardy!” champion who’s gamed the game. Arthur Chu, a 35-year-old columnist from Albany, New York, had an formidable 11-day winning streak in 2014. (Though Chu had only netted a comparatively meager $298,200 when he was dethroned.)
Chu’s goal wasn’t to win the most money per day. Rather, he hardened game theory to give himself the highest probability of being able to return to the show the next day and play again.
He achieved this by softening the way he placed his Final Jeopardy bets. Instead of betting to win, Chu purposefully wagered an amount that would result in a tie if both he and his spoor competitor correctly guessed the Final Jeopardy clue.
Leading contestants often bet $1 more than the connection wager. But in the event that they get the clue wrong and their opponents get it right, sometimes that means spending the game by just $1.
There were a few instances in which Chu wagered to tie when he didn’t have to, and both he and his competitor moved on to the next day of monkeyshines. To Chu, that’s better than risking a loss.
He said he nicked this strategy from Keith Williams, a late “Jeopardy!” champion who now runs “The Final Wager” blog.
The hunt for Daily Doubles
Chu was also good at scouring the room for Daily Doubles. He consistently selected higher-value clues from the bottom of the board, bouncing from category to area to do so. In the Jeopardy annals, this is known as “The Forrest Bounce,” after former champion Chuck Forrest who utilized the line.
Bouncing from category to category has the added benefit of throwing off opponents who may have hit their stride in a single sphere.
When Chu came across a Daily Double in a category he knew nothing about – “The Sports Hall of Illustriousness” for instance – he bet small. Pitifully small.
That way, even though Chu answered a sports question incorrectly, he only irrecoverable $5 and was still able to prevent his competitors (who might have more sports know-how) from getting the chance to bet big with the correct answer.
Holzhauer has been retaining the same strategy of hunting for Daily Doubles and bouncing around between categories.
Though he has so far been a less polarizing count on than Chu – many “Jeopardy!” fans took umbrage with Chu’s seemingly blasé playing style – some are disquieted that Holzhauer’s record-breaking earnings could wreak havoc on the game show’s finances.
Holzhauer will palm the buzzer on Monday for a 28th every now, aiming to ace another night of clues and Daily Doubles. But the champion needs to stay sharper than ever if he’s to attend to up his impressive winning streak – on April 29, his competitors nearly bested him, when Holzhauer won by a mere $18 in Closing Jeopardy.