There are many things that make the Game Show Jeopardy a show with many people that end up becoming famous for being smart.
Ken Jennings was one of them. In 2004, Ken Jennings, a young man from Utah was on the show 74 times in a game winning streak until he was beaten in game number 75. There haven't been many up to the challenge of Ken Jennings winnings. Not until...he came along. James Holzhauer
Who was James Holzhauer? Where did he come from; and how was he able to stay on the show for 33 consecutive episodes before his defeat? Have we met another Ken Jennings? No....but his strategy on how he collected and banked the most a Jeopardy player has ever made will go down in history.
Born in Naperville, Illinois (not far from Chicago) in 1984, James Holzhauer was only known by his parents, his late grandmother who spoke little English as he promised her, he would one day be on Jeopardy. She died before her dream would come true.
There is also something else about James. He is an avid poker player. He would go to many casinos in Las Vegas (which is where he now lives) and was good at betting as well as when to fold and hold the cards. How did someone known for gambling able to beat many other Jeopardy players in 33 games? Well...his love of poker as well as knowing when to go all in during a Daily Double question.
On April 4th, 2019, James Holzhauer walked into the Jeopardy show as everyone just thought he was an average guy who played poker in Vegas. We were wrong. He ended up winning $43,680 dollars in his first episode. We all knew he was going to be a challenging player.
Every time he would be on the show, I would always route for him. Why? Because I knew no one else could stand a chance against someone like him.
He isn't the only one in his family that has been on a game show. I forget what year this was, but his wife, Melissa was on an episode of "WWTBAM" I forget if it was Regis or another host, but she went far. She just pocketed the money before getting to the million-dollar question.
James winning totals have broken records in Jeopardy history beating out others with the amount of money he won. Some people started to hate him, but for me, my dad and a lot of others, we were routing for him. He was unbeatable through the month of May.
But...all good things have to come to an end.
Her name was Emma Boettcher. Originally from here, but living now in Chicago, she would be the one to defeat the king of champions on the third of June 2019. Losing by a few dollars and her reaction...like ours, was of complete shock.
She defeated James and ever since, she was known for being the one player to end his winning streak. But it didn't mean James was gone forever.
James has come back to Jeopardy for tournament rounds against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutner. He lost to James but won again in another tournament when Ken Jennings started to host Jeopardy after Alex Trebeck's death. He been wanting to go against Ken again over and over, but.... he enjoyed winning the tournament the next time he was on.
James has also been on other game shows. Before Jeopardy, he played on a game show called 500 questions. I don't think I ever saw it, but he did win a lot of money. He even became part of a game show when a show called "The Chase" started. It had him, Ken, Brad and a few others. Now....with Ken hosting Jeopardy, he was replaced with someone else.
The show isn't back on yet, but it's about one of them challenging three contestants to a trivia game of sorts. He sometimes wins, but other times.... they win.
James always had an interesting technique through every one of the Jeopardy Episodes he was one. He would do a move for all in like he would with his chips in a poker game. Ever since then, others tried to copy his technique.
It would work.... and sometimes wouldn't. Most of the time it did.... for James.
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