James Holzhauer reached another “Jeopardy!” milestone with his 19th victory on the challenging quiz show Tuesday.
The triumph moves the 34-year-old professional sports gambler from Las Vegas into a third-place tie with David Madden, for the most consecutive wins. And he’s only one victory behind No. 2, Julia Collins, although he remains substantially behind all-time champ Ken Jennings, who won 74 times. (Champions were limited to five appearances until 2003).
Even more impressively, Holzhauer racked up another huge money win, $96,276, on Tuesday, bringing his total to $1,426,330, more than halfway to Jennings’ $2.5 million haul in just over a quarter the number of appearances.
In line with his aggressive selection and wagering style, Holzhauer’s Tuesday haul was much larger than the average champion’s winnings, but it pales next to his own record for a single show, $131,127.
The reigning champ clearly wasn’t affected by a close call on Monday’s show. His $54,017 tally gave him an $18 win over runner-up Adam Levin, although Holzhauer orchestrated the slim margin with his tactical Final Jeopardy! wager.
More: A five-time ‘Jeopardy!’ champ explains what makes current star James Holzhauer a game-changer
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Holzhauer explained his strategy in a Q&A last week with The New York Times. Unlike most players, he picks the highest-value clues first.
“You can see as soon as I get control of the board in the first game I’m going for the $1,000 clues whenever I have the opportunity,” he said, likening his approach to a poker strategy.
“There are big advantages to having a lot of chips early on in a poker tournament,” he told the Times. “You can make plays that other people can’t.”
Eddie Timanus, a five-time “Jeopardy!” winner who compiles the college coaches polls for USA TODAY Sports, describes Holzhauer as “a game-changer.”
Timanus notes Holzhauer’s mastery of the signaling buzzer, but says he really stands out in his aggressive bidding.
“While many players, myself included, prefer to play categories from top to bottom and try to stick to them, Holzhauer clears the big-dollar clues first. Thanks to his ability to ring in first consistently and rarely miss, he usually has a considerable total built up by the time he uncovers a daily double. He finds most of them since he’s able to maintain control of the board for long stretches, and, as we’ve seen, he’s not afraid to bet big,” Timanus says.
His overall assessment of Holzhauer the player: “Speed, instinct, confidence and knowledge — pretty SICK, wouldn’t you say?”
