James Holzhauer to donate half of World Series of Poker winnings
“Jeopardy!” champ James Holzhauer’s 15 minutes of fame aren’t over just yet.
The professional sports gambler ended his game show run after 31 wins, banking $2.46 million in prize money. Now, he’s hoping his winning streak will carry over during the World Series of Poker at the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas.
At the behest of Hall of Fame poker player Mike Sexton, Holzhauer, 34, is competing in the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’Em Super Turbo Bounty tournament and the $1,000 buy-in Tag Team No-Limit Hold’Em.
“I decided to enter because Mike Sexton contacted me and offered to sponsor my buy-ins,” Holzhauer tells the Las Vegas Review Journal, admitting he hasn’t played in eight years — since a 2011 crackdown imposed by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. “I played online poker semi-professionally in the early 2000s, but I don’t intend to make a career of it now.”
He says he also realized that he could “make more money with less effort by betting sports.”
“Honestly, my poker skills are so rusty that my main goal is to get lucky,” he adds.
Holzhaurer may be out of practice, but poker all-star Ben Yu says his friend will likely be a force to reckon with.
“In poker, the smartest people are probably like Scott Seiver, Isaac Haxton — [Holzhauer’s] right up there with them for sure,” says Yu. “He has a phenomenal gambling mind. We do a lot of sports betting work together, share a lot of information. He’s definitely someone I look up to.”
A modest Holzhauer deflects his pal’s praise — joking that the other WSOP players just want more beatable opponents.
“Ben Yu is a close friend, but he has bigger fish to fry right now than teaching me how to play cards,” he says. “Other friends have encouraged me to play in the series, but I think they might just be hoping to get more dead money in the field.”
Ever the gracious winner, Holzhauer has already promised to donate 50% of his Vegas winnings to charity. Over the course of his reign on “Jeopardy!” he donated some $300,000 to charities, including the Las Vegas-Clark County Library, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum and the Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas.
Earlier this month, he also gave exactly $1,109.14 to a Chicago-based pancreatic cancer walk-athon in the name of longtime “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, who was diagnosed with the life-threatening disease in March. The oddly specific dollar amount is a reference to the birthdate (Nov. 9, 2014) of Holzhauer’s 4-year-old daughter, Natasha, who had sent Trebek a sympathy card during her dad’s trivia show stint.
“I want to express my thanks to your beautiful little daughter, Natasha, for having made this get well card for me,” Trebek told Holzhauer during the contestant’s final episode. “That was very sweet of her.”
Along with his donation, Holzhauer wrote the note, “For Alex Trebek and all the other survivors.”
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