James Holzhauer is crushing it on Jeopardy!, and now he’s only got Ken Jennings to chase down. The professional Vegas sports bettor has dominated Jeopardy! since he made it on the trivia show, making history with the highest single-game win total last week.
He beat Roger Craig’s record of $77,000 won in a single day with a winning total of more than $110,000. He’s cruised to a five-day streak, ensuring he will be in the Tournament of Champions in the future. But on Monday his dominance went to another level.
This was so much fun to watch, congratulations to James for obliterating the old record! Those bets were 🔥 and I can only hope there are many more in store for us… https://t.co/Pb9RzcBEGB
— Roger Craig (@rogcraig) April 10, 2019
Holzhauer won for the eighth straight day on Monday and now has won $460,479, good for second all-time in the show’s history. He was close to the mark on Friday, but his big day on Monday put him well over the top of Austin Rogers and Dave Madden, who had previously held second place on the list.
Get it, @austintylerro? Your current position on the highest winnings list is "in Jeopardy!" https://t.co/QXAER3vHyf pic.twitter.com/ACwR0es88F
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) April 12, 2019
The hallmark of Holzhauer’s run has been his extreme aggressiveness — he consistency wagers it all on Daily Doubles and isn’t afraid to go big on Final Jeopardy. And that’s exactly what happened on Monday. Despite missing the first Daily Double and going back down to $0 (losing $8,400). But he simply kept getting questions right, gaining it all back and then some as he had the game in hand well before Final Jeopardy. Which he also got right, adding another $10,029 to his total to finish with $45,444 on the day.
“When I watch at home, I always root for the contestants to bet big on Daily Doubles. They get them right most of the time, and it can give them a big leg up on the competition,” Holzhauer said in a release. “I’m proud of myself for sticking to that attitude when it was my money on the line.”
Holzhauer has dominated, reaching second in winnings in just eight days. The previous player with that mark, Madden, won $430,400 over the course of 19 games. But he’ll have to win a whole lot more to reach Ken Jennings’ all-time winnings mark. He earned $2,520,700 over the course of a record-setting 74 wins.
