James Holzhauer is a Professional Sports Gambler Turned Record Setting Jeopardy Champion

Prior to Friday April 5th, 2019, James Holzhauer was not a household name. Although he has been all over the news recently, many of you may still not know who he is, so let’s go through a quick overview...

From then Till Now:

Holzhauer grew up in Naperville, Illinois. In high school, he won first place in physics and second place in math while participating in the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering state competition. Upon graduating high school, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in which he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

Currently, he lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he is a professional sports gambler. It’s unclear how lucrative of a profession sportsbook wagering has been for him, but after watching his performance on Jeopardy, it’s clear he does alright with betting on sports.

Since the first week of April, he has been shattering long-lasting Jeopardy records at a blistering pace. He has been dominating the game show pretty much uncontested by all of his opponents over the last two weeks. He plays fast, not allowing other contestants to get much opportunity to even speak while making the difficult game show look like child’s play.

Holzhauer’s Jeopardy Run (as of 4/17/2019 according to ESPN):

On the episode that aired Wednesday, Holzhauer topped his own single-game winnings mark with $131,127 to capture his 10th straight victory. He has won $697,787 during his 10-day run and is already second on the show's all-time, regular-play winnings list, behind only past great champion Ken Jennings.

Jennings won more than $2.5 million during his 74-game winning streak in 2004. Holzhauer is on pace to surpass Jennings in 36 games and now owns the four most prolific single-day performances ever on the show.

In Wednesday's episode, he went 40-for-40 on responses in the first two rounds and went into Final Jeopardy! with $71,114 and a commanding lead. Fellow contestants, Lorelle Anderson and Hannah Pierson-Compeau, had $5,400 and $5,000, respectively, and were chuckling about their deficit heading into the final.

Holzhauer risked $60,013 on the final category, "20th Century Literary Characters," and had the answer for, "His first name refers to the ancient district in which you'd find the Greek capital; his surname is a bird."

"Who is Atticus Finch?" Holzhauer wrote in his response. He added: "This is for you Granny <3."

The $131,127 win bested his previous mark of $110,914 from his fourth game, which aired April 9. Holzhauer has won more than $100,000 three times. No other contestant has ever won more than $77,000 on a single show.

The Mind of a Champion:

Holzhauer is clearly an extremely smart individual. Not only does he know what he is doing, especially when it comes to mathematics, but he also recalls information in no time at all. The most interesting aspect of his jeopardy game is his extreme style of wagering especially during final Jeopardy. This is why he is on pace to beat Jennings in around half the amount of games it took him.

Gambling on sports to most is a hobby for fun, but one can assume he bets on sporting events like a brain surgeon. Just running the odds in his head while applying all the other general knowledge in order to hedge his bets. If you have not had the chance to watch him on Jeopardy, you might want to check him out...

Future in Vegas:

Holzhauer, 34, has been betting on sports seriously since 2006 and is considered a respected player by multiple Las Vegas sportsbooks.

During Wednesday's show, host, Alex Trebek, asked Holzhauer how he was planning to handle the fame from his run.

"I don't think the bookies in Las Vegas are going to be as willing to accept my action after this," Holzhauer said.

Trebek followed up by asking him if he was on a first-name basis with the bookies.

To this, he responded, "They know me."