James Holzhauer, Jeopardy champion

[gallahadesquire]

Sapiophilia

[Elvis]

Sapiophilia

 

I think I love you!

Say something in Italian.

[Boink]

Sapiophilia

 

You didn't say "What IS...."

[gallahadesquire]

I think I love you!

Say something in Italian.

Qualcosa

[Elvis]

Qualcosa

 

I would have expected nothing less. Bellisimo!

[+ purplekow]

Well he lost as the odds caught up with him. He is a very smart guy and his strategy was to try to acculumate as much money as possible early and then catch a daily double late in rounds and bet heavily. He rarely answered a question wrong but he answered what for most champions would be an average to slightly above average number of questions. So his bet heavy, know what you know stlyle got him very far.

In the game he lost, he found the Daily Double on the very first question so, as opposed to the multiple thousands he usually bet, the question was only worth the face value of the question which was $1000. At the end of the first round, he was in the lead but only by a few thousand rather than the demoralizing leads he had in other games. In the second round, the second place contestant found the first Daily Double and felt compelled to bet it all. She got the question correct and took the lead. A few questions later, she found the second Daily Double while holding a very slim lead and she bet conservatively but as all the high priced answers were off the board, even if he answered all the remaining questions, the champ would not have enough value to catch her.

For Final Jeopardy, the champ bet conservatively but strategically, insuring that he would not drop to third as he realized that the leader was not going to bet in a manner which would have allowed him to win if they both got the question right.

In Final Jeopardy they all got the question correct.

So, what led to his downfall was a low value Daily Double holding down his first round score.

Not finding the Daily Doubles in the second round,

Two contestants who were both very competent so he was not able to get in for every answer he knew.

A leader who was not afraid to bet it all when she needed to do so.

A contestant who understood that she needed to be bold to beat him.

It took all of those things for him to lose.

As opposed to Ken Jennings who won something like 72 times to accumulate 2.5 million, this champ took 32 games to accumulate a total only $60000 less.

[JayCeeKy]

I read that the winner, like James, had been preparing for Jeopardy! for many years and, like James, had many hours of practicing (at home) with a self-made "buzzer" (she used a click pen) - one of the keys to winning is developing a "fast buzzer." Also, like James, she had tried on several occasions to get on the show, without any luck. Maybe it's my conspiratorial nature, but I am wondering if the producers were trying to "stoke the fire" a bit in throwing two extremely knowledgeable opponents at James in the hope of creating a less-than-runaway game, per James' standard? James, to his credit, was a gracious loser and, I have no doubt, we will be seeing him again during "Tournament of Champions." I am dying to see him go toe-to-toe with Ken Jennings.

[MikeBiDude]

Well he lost as the odds caught up with him. He is a very smart guy and his strategy was to try to acculumate as much money as possible early and then catch a daily double late in rounds and bet heavily. He rarely answered a question wrong but he answered what for most champions would be an average to slightly above average number of questions. So his bet heavy, know what you know stlyle got him very far.

In the game he lost, he found the Daily Double on the very first question so, as opposed to the multiple thousands he usually bet, the question was only worth the face value of the question which was $1000. At the end of the first round, he was in the lead but only by a few thousand rather than the demoralizing leads he had in other games. In the second round, the second place contestant found the first Daily Double and felt compelled to bet it all. She got the question correct and took the lead. A few questions later, she found the second Daily Double while holding a very slim lead and she bet conservatively but as all the high priced answers were off the board, even if he answered all the remaining questions, the champ would not have enough value to catch her.

For Final Jeopardy, the champ bet conservatively but strategically, insuring that he would not drop to third as he realized that the leader was not going to bet in a manner which would have allowed him to win if they both got the question right.

In Final Jeopardy they all got the question correct.

So, what led to his downfall was a low value Daily Double holding down his first round score.

Not finding the Daily Doubles in the second round,

Two contestants who were both very competent so he was not able to get in for every answer he knew.

A leader who was not afraid to bet it all when she needed to do so.

A contestant who understood that she needed to be bold to beat him.

It took all of those things for him to lose.

As opposed to Ken Jennings who won something like 72 times to accumulate 2.5 million, this champ took 32 games to accumulate a total only $60000 less.

He had a pro gambler’s view on things...his wagering on Jeopardy was pretty saavy.

[LoveNDino]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwgdVoDLHpY

[Wanderoz]

Well, he did disrupt the old way of playing and developed a the New Jeopardy Paradigm to replace it.

I can think of many ways I'd like to comfort him...

[+ poolboy48220]

I'd swear I saw a tear in Alex Trebek's eye at the end of the show as he said goodbye to James.

[+ poolboy48220]

Emma Boettcher, who beat James, is definitely using SOME of his strategies; she's going for the high-value answers first, and is betting big when she hits the Daily Doubles. She's on a three-day streak so far. Alex mentioned that the woman who beat Ken Jennings only lasted one day.