Meet the professional gambler from Las Vegas who's shattering 'Jeopardy!' records and has taken home $1.3 million in an 18-day winning streak
James Holzhauer, age 34, is a professional sports gambler.
Holzhauer lives in Las Vegas with his daughter and wife Melissa, a tutor and linguistics expert.
According to Heavy, she was also a game show contestant, winning $28,800 on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?".
Holzhauer has used family birthdays and anniversaries as "Jeopardy!" wagers several times. According to The Washington Post, his winnings of exactly $110,914 on one night during his winning streak was far from an accident — it correlates to his daughter's November 9, 2014 birthday.
Prior to Holzhauer's winning stint on "Jeopardy!", the most money a player had ever won in a single game was, according to Insider, $77,000.
When breaking his own single-day record on April 17, Holzhauer answered all 41 questions he buzzed in for correctly.
As Business Insider reported, he also holds the top five slots in the "Jeopardy!" rankings of single-day winnings.
His April 17 game with 41 correct answers was, in Jeopardy terms, a perfect game.
According to The Boston Globe, Holzhauer has a 97% response accuracy and wins an average of $73,867 per game.
That earnings average far exceeds the show's average single-day winnings of $19,980, according to a "Jeopardy!" fan site. He's on track to surpass "Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jenning's $2.52 million by his 34th game, according to The Boston Globe.
To prepare, Holzhauer spent hours rewatching old "Jeopardy!" episodes.
He also previously competed on quiz teams and has a good memory for facts, he told The Washington Post. However, he was never a "diligent student," he told The Times.
Holzhauer told the Post he's been preparing to go on "Jeopardy!" his whole life — he grew up watching it on TV on school nights and promised his grandma he'd appear on the show one day. He told the Post he doesn't take promises lightly.
He also read a lot of children's books to prepare.
"They are chock-full of infographics, pictures and all kinds of stuff to keep the reader engaged," he told The Post. "I couldn't make it through a chapter of an actual Dickens novel without falling asleep."
But Holzhauer has more than trivia knowledge — he also has an aggressive strategy.
As Business Insider previously reported, he goes for high-value clues first and bets big on Daily Doubles, often doubling his total.
In an interview with The New York Times, he noted that he thinks the traditional way of playing "Jeopardy!" is "too risk-averse."
Holzhauer also emphasizes hitting the show's iconic buzzer at just the right time.
According to The Ringer, before going on stage, he grilled "Jeopardy!" producer Maggie Speak about the specifics of the buzzer timing. Contestants have to hit the buzzer at exactly the right time after the question is asked — attempting to buzz in too early will lock them out for a quarter-second.
So far, Holzhauer has won $1.3 million.
He's donated money to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum — $100,000, according to a press release — and plans to donate some of his winnings to charity. He also plans to travel the world with his wife.
He'll vie for his 19th win on Tuesday, April 30.
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