The New Ken Jennings Can't Be Stopped

Cortney O'Brien | April 24, 2019 2:30 PM

A new Jeopardy! contestant is giving Ken Jennings a run for his money - and his record. During his historic 74-game winning streak in 2004, Jennings won more than $2.5 million. Now meet James Holzhauer, who, as of yesterday, became the game show's second contestant to pass the $1 million mark.

His game strategy has so far been foolproof.

He begins games with the highest-value clues to build an early lead and land on the only 'Daily Double' in the first round. When he does, he usually bets everything, as the Daily Mail explains.

"It's all about your personal risk tolerance," Holzhauer told ESPN on Monday. "I'm comfortable risking a lot if I know I have a big edge -- sometimes I don't think I have that big edge -- but on 'Jeopardy!,' I'm going to get the Daily Double right a lot more often than I'm not going to, so I just want to maximize that bet."

It's paid off.

While he has yet to amass the winnings Jennings won, Holzhauer has already beaten his single game records. On April 9 he won $110,914, then beat that on April 17 with $131,127.

Jennings, the OG, gave him kudos for the accomplishment.

First of all, I’m just gobsmacked by James. It's absolutely insane what he's doing. Like, I thought I had seen everything on Jeopardy!. And this is something I would have thought was just impossible, these numbers. Statistically¹, he’s playing at as high a level as anyone who’s ever played the game. And then he’s got these incredibly confident wagers. He’s maximizing money. He can make two or three times what any other player ever has with that same level of play, which again is top-shelf. He’s as good as anybody. (Wired)