Professional sports bettor sets 'Jeopardy!' record

[transplant99]

James Holzhauer won $110,914 during the episode that aired Tuesday, the most ever on a single day in the popular game show's 35-year history, according to a news release from the TV program. The previous single-day mark was $77,000, set on Sept. 14, 2010, by Roger Craig.

Holzhauer has won $244,365 during his four-day streak, also a record, and many in the "Jeopardy!" community think it's only the beginning for the 34-year-old Las Vegas family man.

http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id...eopardy-record

[Otto-matic]

Watched this last night, the man is no afraid to go all in on daily doubles. Even when he has a sizable lead.

It was a runaway after the first round.

[psyang]

Originally Posted by transplant99

http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id...eopardy-record

Ha, my wife and I happened to tune in to the episode last night. We watch Jeopardy maybe 6 times a year.

You need to be smart, but you also need a lot of nerve (or confidence) to get a score this high. When he had just over 14k (12k more than second place) he hit a daily double and made a "shove all the chips in" motion with his hands to indicate he was betting everything. Of course he got it. That was when I thought this could be a special game.

In the second round, he had about 45k, and bet 25k on a daily double which pushed him to over 70k. Then he wagered 35k in final jeopardy to get over 110k.

It was fun to watch how he played. In the first round, he picked topics by clearing the bottom row first left-to-right, then second-from-bottom, and so on moving upward. I was thinking if I was another contestant, if I got an answer, I'd pick a topic near the top to ruin his pattern and see if that would throw him off. But in the second round, he picked topics more conventionally. It was like he was toying with the game.

I'm going to try to tune in now and see how far his run goes.

[Shazam]

First round is supposed to be easier. If you know the topics well then starting from the bottom is supposed to be the correct strategy.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Shazam

First round is supposed to be easier. If you know the topics well then starting from the bottom is supposed to be the correct strategy.

Starting at the bottom provides no advantage in and of itself. The clue values add up to the same regardless. The important part is getting the daily double because of its value and since DD clues only appear in the bottom row, or sometimes 2nd from bottom, it is often a race to see who can find it first.

But even that has its own strategy. A DD early in a round has way less double up value than late in a round but the longer you leave it, the more you run the risk of letting your opponent beat you to it. Then, even if they don’t bet much, the fact they’ve kept it out of your hands evens up the game tremendously.

[FireGilbert]

Interesting points Cecil. I thought it could be a negative to get a DD in a category you are not great in but I guess it is valuable if you keep it away from an opponent.

My strategy would be to pick from the bottom on categories I am confident in and pick from the top on categories I am not. Seems like it gives you the best chances to retain control of the board.

Cool story: I get Jeopardy! in Australia but it is 14 months behind for some reason (thanks for the spoiler by the way!!!). Not sure what the deal is since Wheel is only a month behind. Anyways it makes for some fun watching whenever there are questions about a celebrity with a recent scandal. These days it is Michael Jackson questions, with Louis CK and Kevin Spacey previously, and Cosby before that.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Austin Rogers and Ken Jennings have both provided some cool insight on the show. It’s really neat. From how they study, prepare, strategy, to behind the scenes stuff and how the show works.

I recall Jennings say it’s all in the buzzer. Said something like 90% of the time all 3 contestants know the correct response to a clue and it’s all about buzzer timing. And I think it was Austin who explained in an interview about strategizing for frequent responses in categories. People who watch regularly may have picked up on this. Basically you can predict responses based solely on the category to gain an advantage and how some contestants have done a deep dive into the history of clues/responses and it helps give them an edge.

One thing I’ve always found interesting is they claim smarts has little to do with it. Memory, strategy, timing are the real deciders. That and the difference between being good in your living room and up on stage under the lights and in front of the cameras.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Starting at the bottom provides no advantage in and of itself. The clue values add up to the same regardless. The important part is getting the daily double because of its value and since DD clues only appear in the bottom row, or sometimes 2nd from bottom, it is often a race to see who can find it first.

But even that has its own strategy. A DD early in a round has way less double up value than late in a round but the longer you leave it, the more you run the risk of letting your opponent beat you to it. Then, even if they don’t bet much, the fact they’ve kept it out of your hands evens up the game tremendously.

I think starting from the bottom as a strategy is entirely related to the daily double. If the average daily double is mid round bottom up affords you the opportunity to bet several times bigger. Didn't see tonight, but he went bottom up all for of his games so far.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Starting at the bottom provides no advantage in and of itself. The clue values add up to the same regardless. The important part is getting the daily double because of its value and since DD clues only appear in the bottom row, or sometimes 2nd from bottom, it is often a race to see who can find it first.

But even that has its own strategy. A DD early in a round has way less double up value than late in a round but the longer you leave it, the more you run the risk of letting your opponent beat you to it. Then, even if they don’t bet much, the fact they’ve kept it out of your hands evens up the game tremendously.

If you think you know the category well, then you should start at the bottom. You don’t want you’re lesser opponents leaving money on the board - that is, getting the question wrong.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by #-3

I think starting from the bottom as a strategy is entirely related to the daily double. If the average daily double is mid round bottom up affords you the opportunity to bet several times bigger. Didn't see tonight, but he went bottom up all for of his games so far.

First, yes, as I explained in the post you quoted, going bottom up is mostly related to searching for the DD.

However the DDs aren’t random or time based AFAIK. You could pick it on the first choice of clue.

Getting the DD in Jeopardy isn’t as important as it is in Double Jeopardy because in DJ your score is high enough to start you can get significant benefit right away.

Originally Posted by Shazam

If you think you know the category well, then you should start at the bottom. You don’t want you’re lesser opponents leaving money on the board - that is, getting the question wrong.

Starting at the bottom is almost entirely due to the DD. Although some of it does relate to controlling the board and not leaving money on the board but I think that’s more to do with running out of time than your opponents getting it wrong.

[OMG!WTF!]

Wow. There's a guy from Calgary on Jeopardy tonight. Looks kinda stunned though.

[Derek Sutton]

Watching this now. Poor guy from Calgary, Jeff Henderson has run into the Juggernaut.

[Slava]

Tuned in tonight to see what the hype was all about.

Spoiler!

That guy’s a machine! He just gets in first almost every time and obviously is right far more often than not. The girl was desperately trying to get in, but she was no match. Anyone know the guy from Calgary?

[OMG!WTF!]

K that guy's a freak.

[calgarygeologist]

I watch a bit of Jeopardy periodically. I have seen a few episodes with this guy and he is good but not very likeable for some reason. I remember when Ken Jennings was on and making his huge run. He was unstoppable but also really likeable and fun to watch.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I have the PVR set to record Jeopardy!

I recently got back into it when Netflix uploaded a bunch of tournaments.

There are a few things that James Holzhauer does that would irk people and make him not as likable as some others.

(1) He tends to go across the board, right-to-left or left-to-right as opposed to start at the top and work down a category. I'd say viewers at home like contestants going down a category as the clues are designed to have the responses the first thing you guess, and this is easier when you're in a groove. Jumping categories you may forget the category, especially if the contestant abbreviates it.

(2) He doesn't bet values in denominations of 100. Seeing $12,316 as a person's score just seems wrong. It's not symmetrical with the standard scoring system or other players.

(3) He is monotone, and has little banter. Very robotic, it's more difficult to get behind someone who doesn't have their personality come across the screen.

(4) His smile is really forced. You can tell he's 'smiling for the camera' and is not naturally smiling.


Ken Jennings was laid back, relaxed, and charismatic.

Brad Rutter, the winningest Jeopardy! player, also is very relaxed, and charismatic. Both Rutter and Jennings loved to banter with Alex, something Holzhauer doesn't do.

Roger Craig, the former record holder of a single day winning score, while not as charismatic as Rutter and Jennings, still was laid back, and would banter a little bit (during one of the Tournaments of Champions, Alex mentioned to Craig that he was within reach of setting the single day winning record, to which Craig responded "what's the amount?" When they came back from commercial Alex said that Roger Craig was likely joking as HE was the record holder at $77,000, to which Craig had a sly smile.

Holzhauer just doesn't have those intangibles.

That said, he seems like a good guy. His wagers all reference important dates for his family, his Final Jeopardy! answer always has a shout out to a family member. It comes across as awkward but I like the kiss and heart tap to the person he does the shout out to when Alex references it. Family is clearly important to him, which is endearing.


That said, has anyone ever done the Jeopardy! test? I think today's the last day to try out for the next run. I did... not... do so great on it, haha. Made up for it with an HQ win yesterday. $0.56 USD is better than nothing.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Starting at the bottom provides no advantage in and of itself. The clue values add up to the same regardless. The important part is getting the daily double because of its value and since DD clues only appear in the bottom row, or sometimes 2nd from bottom, it is often a race to see who can find it first.

Daily Double clues do not only appear in the bottom row, or sometimes 2nd from the bottom. The top four locations for where daily doubles are located are all in the fourth row. The most frequent spot in the bottom row is the left corner, and it's only the 11th most frequent spot on the board. They are most likely in the fourth row, more likely on the bottom three rows, but they have been found in every location.

Source: http://digg.com/2018/joepardy-daily-...ability-mapped (I find it amusing jeopardy is spelled incorrectly in the url)

Starting at the bottom can be an advantage if they run out of time in the round. If you only get to answer two questions, it's obviously better to get the bottom two correct, compared to the top two, as they are worth more money. I cna't find stats on how many rounds leave questions unanswered, but I've seen it many times.

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

I have the PVR set to record Jeopardy!

I recently got back into it when Netflix uploaded a bunch of tournaments.

There are a few things that James Holzhauer does that would irk people and make him not as likable as some others.

(1) He tends to go across the board, right-to-left or left-to-right as opposed to start at the top and work down a category. I'd say viewers at home like contestants going down a category as the clues are designed to have the responses the first thing you guess, and this is easier when you're in a groove. Jumping categories you may forget the category, especially if the contestant abbreviates it.

(2) He doesn't bet values in denominations of 100. Seeing $12,316 as a person's score just seems wrong. It's not symmetrical with the standard scoring system or other players.

(3) He is monotone, and has little banter. Very robotic, it's more difficult to get behind someone who doesn't have their personality come across the screen.

(4) His smile is really forced. You can tell he's 'smiling for the camera' and is not naturally smiling.


Ken Jennings was laid back, relaxed, and charismatic.

Brad Rutter, the winningest Jeopardy! player, also is very relaxed, and charismatic. Both Rutter and Jennings loved to banter with Alex, something Holzhauer doesn't do.

Roger Craig, the former record holder of a single day winning score, while not as charismatic as Rutter and Jennings, still was laid back, and would banter a little bit (during one of the Tournaments of Champions, Alex mentioned to Craig that he was within reach of setting the single day winning record, to which Craig responded "what's the amount?" When they came back from commercial Alex said that Roger Craig was likely joking as HE was the record holder at $77,000, to which Craig had a sly smile.

Holzhauer just doesn't have those intangibles.

That said, he seems like a good guy. His wagers all reference important dates for his family, his Final Jeopardy! answer always has a shout out to a family member. It comes across as awkward but I like the kiss and heart tap to the person he does the shout out to when Alex references it. Family is clearly important to him, which is endearing.


That said, has anyone ever done the Jeopardy! test? I think today's the last day to try out for the next run. I did... not... do so great on it, haha. Made up for it with an HQ win yesterday. $0.56 USD is better than nothing.

I did, definitely harder than I was expecting. I hate that US civics questions that I have no idea about like which month the US supreme court convenes are hard for me but probably second hand to Americans who are trying out.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

Daily Double clues do not only appear in the bottom row, or sometimes 2nd from the bottom. The top four locations for where daily doubles are located are all in the fourth row. The most frequent spot in the bottom row is the left corner, and it's only the 11th most frequent spot on the board. They are most likely in the fourth row, more likely on the bottom three rows, but they have been found in every location.

Source: http://digg.com/2018/joepardy-daily-...ability-mapped (I find it amusing jeopardy is spelled incorrectly in the url)

Starting at the bottom can be an advantage if they run out of time in the round. If you only get to answer two questions, it's obviously better to get the bottom two correct, compared to the top two, as they are worth more money. I cna't find stats on how many rounds leave questions unanswered, but I've seen it many times.

Wouldn't they be answers unquestioned?

[Slava]

I don’t know if anyone else is interested, but that guy just ran roughshod over the other two tonight. He heads into Final Jeopardy with a lead of over $50k. Just unreal.

Wins over $100k today and is at $566k now.

I think eventually he’ll get a question where he bets it all wrong and won’t be able to recover, but it’s really compelling!