‘Jeopardy!’ champ James Holzhauer dominates in 28th win, has over $2.1M
There’s no rest for the victorious.
On Monday night, while the rest of America reeled from Memorial Day celebrations, James Holzhauer obliterated his rivals on the way to his 28th straight “Jeopardy!” win.
The 34-year-old from Las Vegas emerged from the match with $130,022 — just shy of his the $131,127 record he set back in April for single-game earnings — and now has a total of $2,195,557 in his “Jeopardy!” coffers.
The professional sports gambler is fast encroaching on Ken Jennings, who is the No. 1. player of all time both with respect to number of consecutive games won (74, in a historic streak that played out over 2004) and total amount of money accumulated during regular-season play ($2,520,700).
Based on Holzhauer’s average per-game earnings of about $77,000, he is predicted to unseat Jennings in early June.
While all three contestants answered the Final Jeopardy clue correctly on Monday night, Holzhauer entered the final round with a commanding lead: $72,022 to his two opponents’ $6,200 and $6,600. That wide margin guaranteed him a win.
Experts and past champions chalk up Holzhauer’s implacable playing style to several strategies: he targets the high-dollar-value clues at the bottom of the board in search of Daily Doubles; he bets aggressively when given the chance; he has lightning-quick buzzer reflexes.
“He’s perpetually fascinating, but the games are boring,” Austin Rogers, a New York bartender who won $411,000 over 12 games in a row in 2017, told The Post last month. “It’s like watching a Steph Curry 3-point onslaught and it’s a 131-98 game. What’s the point in that?”
