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(@Jeopardy) April 18, 2019 Family is important to Holzhauer, who has made sure to shout out his late 'Granny' during Final Jeopardy, because he first grew to love the show as a kid by watching it. Look for today’s full Jeopardy! Recap with the Daily Doubles and more information on Final Jeopardy! Between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. (Central) right here at Fikkle Fame in the Jeopardy Recaps category. Occasionally, we get preempted. In that case, we’ll let you know and have the recap and results up as soon as possible.
OK, it’s now too impressive to confine to the lower portions of this newsletter: Jeopardy! record-shatterer James Holzhauer, a professional sports gambler from Las Vegas, won again on Thursday, upping his streak to 11 straight and his total earnings to an incredible $771,920. Holzhauer still has a long way to go to join Julia Collins and the great Ken Jennings in the 20-win club, but what’s most impressive about Holzhauer is the way he’s doing it.
Before James Holzhauer rolled into the studio, the all-time single-day record for earnings was $77,000, set by Roger Craig in 2010. Holzhauer shattered Craig’s mark early in his run with an astonishing total of $110,914. He cleared the $100,000 mark again in his ninth win, then won — wait for it — $131,127 in his tenth game.
It’s nuts. It took ten games for this guy to have all four of the top four single-day scores in Jeopardy! history. If you’re looking for a comp in sports, the best one — honestly — is probably Babe Ruth. No joke. In 1919, Ruth broke the all-time single-season MLB home run mark by hitting 29. The next year, he hit 54, and the year after that, he hit 59. Dude did something no one had ever seen before in his sport, then did it in far more impressive fashion, then did it again and again.
Unlike some of the more flamboyant, memorable, and, some would say, obnoxious winners of recent seasons, Holzhauer’s style is pretty low-key and likable. When he makes his huge Daily Double bets, he often goes with numbers corresponding to important dates in his life — his anniversary, loved ones’ birthdays, and the like. That’s why he winds up with random scores like $89,158. He avoids using the term “true Daily Double” in favor of saying things like, “all the chips,” or “all in,” which feels a little bit shtick-y, but whatever. Dude’s breaking records every night; he’s earned the right to spit on Jeopardy! tradition far more than he has.
What’s especially fascinating about Holzhauer’s run, beyond how quickly he moved into second place behind Jennings on the all-time regular-season earnings list, is how it demonstrates the quickly shifting tide in Jeopardy! strategy. This is purely based on anecdotal evidence, but it felt like in the first 20 years I watched the show, every single candidate started with the low-money questions and moved down the categories individually. As recently as 2014, it still seemed unusual to watch contestants like Arthur Chu jump all over the board in search of Daily Doubles.
Now, “fishing,” as it’s called, is a totally commonplace strategy. But Holzhauer’s approach is slightly different: Rather than starting with the $600 and $800 clues where the Daily Doubles are most often found, he opens with the $1000 clues to build up a bigger pot before he lands on a Daily Double. This, as I’ve alluded to a couple times in this newsletter, is a plan I held as a closely guarded secret until Holzhauer came around and exposed its effectiveness. In my eyes, board control is the key to the game, and starting with the toughest clues in the categories you know is the best way to maintain it. If there’s a sports category, for example, and you know about sports, you should always start with the $1000 sports clue. Most people on Jeopardy! know almost nothing about sports, and but the answers tend to be fairly easy for those that do.
Ken Jennings himself, a far more conservative player than Holzhauer who won on the strength of his buzzer quickness and his otherworldly knowledge base, called Holzhauer’s streak “insane” and said, “I’ve always wanted to see somebody try Jeopardy! wagering this way who had the skills to back it up.” That feels like a dig at Roger Craig, but it probably isn’t one.
Until someone comes within, like, 30 games of Jennings’ record 74-game win streak, I will go to my grave insisting it is the most impressive run in the history of competition. It’s crazy to think about: The guy won 74 straight games when no one else has won more than 20 in a row. You have to qualify it a bit, because contestants were limited to five games until 2003. But still: We’ve had this format for 16 years now, and Jennings won 54 more regular-season games than anyone else. You’d think random bad luck would get in the way just once in there, somewhere. The consistency and the stamina are so remarkable. The Warriors went 73-9 in 2016, and that’s really good, but they only played one opponent at a time, they did lose nine games, and they still won one fewer contest than Jennings did in his streak.
Friday Jeopardy Results
As a pathetically vain man who cares far more about my ego than my wallet, I’d rather stay on Jeopardy! for the longest possible run than risk ending a streak on behalf of huge paydays. But as a professional gambler, Holzhauer likely values total winnings above all else, and no one has ever racked up money nearly so fast on the show. He’s changing the game, I think, and the attention around his performance means copycat players will likely follow suit and go all-in all the time. This is the competitive landscape in 2019: We have more information at our disposal than ever before, and the accompanying sea change in practically every sport and game will continue until strategies are perfected.
Thursday’s big winner: Jamal Murray
Murray’s Denver Nuggets lost their first-round playoff matchup with the Spurs on Thursday, but only after Murray got in a good jab at NBA analyst Charles Barkley. Green lantern berkley mi. After Barkley called out Murray for wearing an NBA Jam themed T-shirt featuring Murray and teammate Nikola Jokic after Game 2, Murray showed up in San Antonio wearing a T-shirt bearing the likeness of none other than Sir Charles himself. It must be cool to play in the NBA and have the resources to drum up practically any T-shirt you can imagine in a 24-hour period. Barkley was so impressed that he guaranteed the Nuggets would win. They did not.
Quick hits: Kimbrel, Embiid, Fog, Thrones
– All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel remains a free agent even after a bunch of hopeful MLB contenders have lost key bullpen pieces to injury in the early weeks of the season. I looked around the league and concluded that there are really only two teams who don’t need Kimbrel, and neither is really in an enviable position.
Point spread betting football. – Joel Embiid apologized for a flagrant foul he committed against the Nets, but had to stop in the middle of his apology to laugh.
Jeopardy Winner Tonight
Until someone comes within, like, 30 games of Jennings’ record 74-game win streak, I will go to my grave insisting it is the most impressive run in the history of competition. It’s crazy to think about: The guy won 74 straight games when no one else has won more than 20 in a row. You have to qualify it a bit, because contestants were limited to five games until 2003. But still: We’ve had this format for 16 years now, and Jennings won 54 more regular-season games than anyone else. You’d think random bad luck would get in the way just once in there, somewhere. The consistency and the stamina are so remarkable. The Warriors went 73-9 in 2016, and that’s really good, but they only played one opponent at a time, they did lose nine games, and they still won one fewer contest than Jennings did in his streak.
Friday Jeopardy Results
As a pathetically vain man who cares far more about my ego than my wallet, I’d rather stay on Jeopardy! for the longest possible run than risk ending a streak on behalf of huge paydays. But as a professional gambler, Holzhauer likely values total winnings above all else, and no one has ever racked up money nearly so fast on the show. He’s changing the game, I think, and the attention around his performance means copycat players will likely follow suit and go all-in all the time. This is the competitive landscape in 2019: We have more information at our disposal than ever before, and the accompanying sea change in practically every sport and game will continue until strategies are perfected.
Thursday’s big winner: Jamal Murray
Murray’s Denver Nuggets lost their first-round playoff matchup with the Spurs on Thursday, but only after Murray got in a good jab at NBA analyst Charles Barkley. Green lantern berkley mi. After Barkley called out Murray for wearing an NBA Jam themed T-shirt featuring Murray and teammate Nikola Jokic after Game 2, Murray showed up in San Antonio wearing a T-shirt bearing the likeness of none other than Sir Charles himself. It must be cool to play in the NBA and have the resources to drum up practically any T-shirt you can imagine in a 24-hour period. Barkley was so impressed that he guaranteed the Nuggets would win. They did not.
Quick hits: Kimbrel, Embiid, Fog, Thrones
– All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel remains a free agent even after a bunch of hopeful MLB contenders have lost key bullpen pieces to injury in the early weeks of the season. I looked around the league and concluded that there are really only two teams who don’t need Kimbrel, and neither is really in an enviable position.
Point spread betting football. – Joel Embiid apologized for a flagrant foul he committed against the Nets, but had to stop in the middle of his apology to laugh.
Jeopardy Winner Tonight
Jeopardy Winner Friday April 19
– The Yankees have a fog machine now. It’s ridiculous, but it’s dope. If you’ve come looking for anti-fog-machine takes, you’re in the wrong place. Fog machines make everything cooler. When I was in a band, I once fogged up a venue so good that the fire department came.
Final Jeopardy Friday
– Everyone keeps talking about this Game of Thrones, but who’s going to win it? FTW’s weekly Iron Throne power rankings are here.
