James Holzhauer it literally changing the way Jeopardy! is played with his strategy of going for big-ticket questions first, betting big on Daily Doubles and his extensive trivia knowledge combined with this quick finger on the buzzer.
His episodes have captivated diehard Jeopardy! fans, casual fans and people who never watch the game show but are now. If you haven’t seen it, we highly recommend it, as the 34-year-old professional gambler from Las Vegas is on a 16-episode win streak and has won more than $1 million dollars.
But with all this talk about Holzhauer win streak and gambling-inspired strategy, the Jeopardy! contestants who have lost to him have been left behind. So The Washington Post‘s Emily Yahr tracked down some of the people who had the misfortune of competing against Holzhauer, whose episodes started taping in February.
The delightful feature about the losing contestants — who seem to be excellent sports about it — highlights the five stages they experienced while losing to Holzhauer. And they shared their reactions to the pro gambler’s domination.
Claudia Walters, game 14: They said, “Here’s our returning champion, James, he’s won 12 games so far.” And you’re sitting there nodding and thinking, “Oh wow, that’s cool, maybe he’s going to be a Buzzy Cohen or Austin Rogers.” Then they said, “He has [$851,926].” I pulled out my calculator . . . and kept staring at it: He’s averaging over $70,000 a game. This is nuts! This is something no one has ever seen before. This is a different kind of “Jeopardy!” and you have no idea what you’re up against.
After quickly realizing there’s clearly something unique about Holzhauer, contestants said at a certain point, they accept they’re going to lose and just enjoy the ride. But what’s it like in the middle of a game?
Lewis Black, game 6: Any other day, any other opponent, the results might have been different, but you just happen to get there and run headfirst into a buzzsaw.
Yikes.
Even if some of these players have a sense of humor and positive attitude about their practically guaranteed loss months later, it had to be crushing at first to realize you actually made onto Jeopardy!, only to have to compete against a literal game-changer.
Contestants said Holzhauer isn’t a robot; he’s just focused and instinctually not revealing all his cards. Others who lost to him called it an “honor” to lose to the best Jeopardy! player and that they’re also rooting for him.
More from The Washington Post:
[Kevin Donohue, game 14]: James is 100 percent amazing. It has been really fun to see him take all of the best pieces of “Jeopardy!” players and combine them into a master strategy. . . . It’s kind of the best of both worlds: You either take down a machine, or you’re just one more person that loses to a guy who is incredible at this game.
Read the full story over at The Washington Post.
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