James Holzhauer/Evaluation

Evaluation

A document summarizing the evaluation of James. After Ken Jennings wrote the new history of Jeopardy in 2004, the James Holzhauer era arrived 15 years later, bringing a new wave of change.

After Ken's departure, it was rapidly leveled down, and the Warring States Period continued after Arthur Chu. In the middle, David Madden followed with a 19-game winning streak, but there was no Superchampion following him for a while. After that, he was recognized as the best player with just 5 wins in a row, and it was a difficult time to even win more than 6 consecutive wins.

After Arthur Chu, Superchampions came out at intervals of one year, and the number of female champions with more than 6 consecutive victories increased, but no champion surpassed Ken Jennings' stronghold. David Madden's Regular Game money record stood until James came along, and Julia Collins' record for longest winning streak stood for five years. Matt Jackson and Austin Rogers are superchampions who have accumulated similar prize money to Ken Jennings, but they also dropped out in the low $400,000 range.

In addition, Roger Craig after Ken recorded $77,000, breaking Ken's record for the most prize money in a single play by $2,000. But other than that, wins over $40,000 are rare, with Austin Roger coming close ($69,000).

After James' appearance, all kinds of records were broken, and it even caused a topic. If he had more consecutive wins, he showed great skill in terms of prize money speed and skill to the extent that he could have broken not only Ken's regular game prize money, but also Brad's career prize money.

After his departure, eight super champions appeared in two years, including Jason Zuffranieri, Matt Amodio, Jonathan Fisher, Amy Schneider, Mattea Roach, Ryan Long, Cris Pannullo, and Ray Lalonde. In the Ken Jennings system, only 7 Superchampions came out in 15 years, but after James, 8 champions appeared in 2 years. Also, Superchampion under the Ken Jennings system did not win the ToC championship, but after James, Amy vomited the spirit of winning the ToC as a former super champion. Also, there are many broken jinxes after James. Not only the super champions, but also the champions who won 5 to 9 consecutive games played a big role.

After James, many talented people appeared, but the super champion who succeeded him unanimously said that it would be difficult to come out in the future. Among them, Amy and Cris are evaluated as similar, but they do not reach James' prize rate or correct answer rate.

In particular, accumulating more than $100,000 is a feat he has achieved, and it will be difficult to find a talented person who can succeed him in the future, but it can be said that he is another heyday of Jeopardy and a champion who has driven the wave of change.

Records

In a nutshell, a lot of great records came out during James's days, the records he set are as follows:

• 4th longest winning streak in history (32 games)
• One-day highest winning: $131,127 (4/9/19)
• Up to $100K+ (6-times)
• Perfect Game (without any incorrect response in entire game) (11-times)
• Most consecutive $30,000+ Coyrat score (7 times - from 19 game to 25 game)
• One-day 3rd-highest Coryat Score: $38,200 (5/1/19)
• Most consecutive correct Final Jeopardy answer (28): From the 7th game to the ToC quarterfinal
• Maximum number of questions answered correctly in one round without giving a single wrong answer (including FJ): 44 (4/30/19, 5/3/19)
• Most consecutive correct answers without incorrect answer (181)
• All-time highest total Coryat Score: $53,200 (6/3/19)
• Biggest 5-day Jeopardy! regular play winnings leader ($298,687)
• Biggest Regular Daily Double gamble and earning: $25K (4/9/19, 4/17/19)
• Biggest True Daily Double gamble and earning: $20,200 (1/14/20 from Greatest of all-time tournament)
• Biggest Final Jeopardy! gamble and earning: $60,013 (4/17/19)
• Highest Jeopardy! round score: $21,800 (5/27/19)
• Highest Jeopardy! round score: $22,012 (4/12/19)
• Highest Double Jeopardy! round score: $72,600 (4/9/19)

Although buried in james, the challengers' skills were also great. During his tenure, there were 9 episodes with a team Coryat Score of $50,000 or more, and 3 episodes where no one, including FJ, gave a single wrong answer (5/1/19, 5/21/19, 5/28/19) Also, the last two episodes are the episodes where everyone got the second most correct answers without giving a single wrong answer so far (58). Later, on 7/4/19, it was tied with this record.

He even broke his own records several times. He surpassed the record set during his 4-game winning streak four times, and continued to break records for the most wager in FJ as well as the most wager in DD, showing a true fight against himself.

Adam Levin, a loser in an 18-game winning streak, set the record for the best among contenders, and even left an all-time high Coryat Score of $53,200 when James dropped out. Interest was very high, and during the time he was active, not only did the ratings rise quite a bit, but there were also spoilers before he left.

In particular, he was a champion who aroused overwhelming interest while maintaining his position as the champion for 32 games, and the main reason was his daring challenge in the Daily Double and his outstanding skills. Because of that, there were many reactions such as 'I want to see more of his skills' and 'I am looking forward to a match every time,' so there were many people who regretted his departure.

After his departure, the S35 also recorded various records, including two tiebreakers, and later S37 ToC winner Sam Kavanaugh and later Jason Zuffranieri joined Ultrachampion with 19 straight wins.

It can be said that it is another heyday of Jeopardy following the Ken Jennings reign, and many fans miss that time after COVID-19.

Here's a site that compares Ken, Matt A, and Amy's regular games to James'. (#)

ToC Winner

Another record of his is that he became the first Superchamp to win ToC. Now, 20 years after the unlimited winning streak system was changed, among the super champions and champions who have accumulated more than the 2006 ToC winning prize money, there are only two ToC winners: he and Amy Schneider. Some people are of the opinion that he achieved this record because he was good at planning the bracket, but the bottom line is that this is absolutely not the case.

Because his skills are far superior to other ToC participants, all opponents he competes with are not easy opponents. First of all, among the participants who competed in the Quartfinal and Semi-final, Alan Dunn and Steven Grade are the contestants who won 5 games in a row before his reign, and there are only two people who have won 5 games in a row since Kyle Jones, who won 7 games in a row. Considering that it is the Warring States Period, it can be said to be a great record, and among them, Lindsey Shultz, who won 4 times in a row, and Rachel Lindgren, who won 5 times in a row after defeating an opponent who had beaten the champion who had won 5 times in a row, are also participants who showed good skills. Despite being overshadowed by his performance, Francois Barcomb is a talented player who set the record as one of only eight tournament winners to advance to the ToC finals.

In other words, his ToC bracket, which set various records, is by no means easy, and above all, it must be taken into account that in a large competition like ToC, the competition is so intense that even a long-term winning streak is not guaranteed to win.

Strategies

• A typical player will hit from top to bottom, but James secures the high amount in the 5th row first to secure the wager he spent on the Daily Double.
• On average, there is a high probability that Daily Double appears in the 4th row, so use it to secure his wager.
• Based on the fan site database and various knowledge, it shows the Daily Double correct rate of 94.7% (72/76).
• In the Final Jeopardy, even when the lock game already confirmed, he bet boldly. Occasionally adjust his wager to coincide with anniversaries.
• Holzhauer's strategy is what he refers to as "strategically aggressive". He starts with the $1,000 clues and moves his way across the bottom of the board, then does the same with the $800 clues, and so on. This way, he could have as much money as possible when he hit a Daily Double. Upon hitting the Daily Double in the Jeopardy round, he would either wager everything he had, or an important date in his life, as most of his Daily Double wagers are, if he had a high enough bank. The average winning score in Season 34 was $20,022;
• Holzhauer sometimes had more than that going into the Double Jeopardy round, with a record high of $24,600, set on May 24, 2019, the game he passed the $2 million mark. In his thirty-three games, Holzhauer found seventy-six (76.7%) of the ninety-nine Daily Doubles available and was correct on seventy-two of them (94.7%). Many champions have since adapted Holzhauer's strategy and tactics, including Amodio, who used them to the fullest extent in his 38-game run in 2021.

He took a two-pronged approach to play. He selected the highest-value clues first in an attempt to maximize the money he had available to wager when he hit a Daily Double. This strategy does not always work, as a Daily Double is more likely to be behind a high-value clue, and often he hit the Daily Double before accumulating a large sum to wager. On Daily Doubles and during Final Jeopardy! clues, Holzhauer bet aggressively; his average wager on Daily Doubles was $9,000.

While aggressive betting is disadvantageous if a player responds incorrectly, Holzhauer was correct on 72 of the 76 Daily Doubles he hit (94.7%). This strategy was not entirely new; Roger Craig and Alex Jacob. This tactic has also been used since then by Sam Kavanaugh, Matt Amodio, Andrew He and others. They say that they try to finish the game before FJ by walking when DD comes out to widen the gap. Also, in FJ, leaving funny answers is a bonus. On the other hand, if True DD fails, the game is twisted. While there are many failure cases among them, James has succeeded in all DDs of more than $10K so far. Thanks to that, we can write a lot of all-time records.

In his case, if he fails to hit the DD or loses the DD to another player, there are many cases where he wins or loses by the edge. In the regular game, in the case of non-lock games, it is the case of taking 1 or hitting 1. (4/5/19 (1/1), 4/23/19 (1/2), 5/23/19 (1/1)) I also took the early DDs when I got off, Emma took two DDs from the DJ While taking all of them, he was frustrated at the threshold of the great record. In Emma's rematch, in the second round of the ToC finals, she was in danger of being reversed by failing one of the two, but was able to win thanks to accumulating a lot of points in the first place. His failure to win at GoAT is also attributed to his failure to take many DDs. In other words, it was mostly thanks to DD that he was able to continue his record.

Holzhauer's Average coyrat score of $30,800 during his 32-episode winning streak (57% of the $54,000 available in each game) is higher than the $28,786 averaged by Jennings, who was far more conservative in his wagering.

Holzhauer considered it more logical to make large bets that will usually pay off, since, during the first 25 episodes of his winning streak, he averaged 35.5 correct and only 1.04 wrong responses per game. On the episode he lost, he did not respond to any clues incorrectly.

Although Amy and Matt A, who later became Millionaires, are similar to James, only Coryat and Average Right/Incorrect are both below James.

• Matt A: R - 33.46 / W - 3.12 / C - $27,913
• Amy: R - 32.609 / W - 1.87 / C - $26,946

He credited reading fact books written for children, with their heavy use of infographics, with allowing him to learn vast amounts of information in an easily digestible manner. He took a year off from his occupation as a sports gambler to study for Jeopardy! Many champions have since adapted Holzhauer's strategy and tactics, including Amodio, who used them to the fullest extent in his 38-game run in 2021, and Cris Pannullo, who did so in his 21-game run in 2022.

Speed of Total Winnings

After his departure, a total of 7 ultrachampions appeared by 2022. In particular, from 2021 to 2022, as many as six people appeared, of which Jonathan and Amy won 5 consecutive wins or more and became ultrachampion. Even so, no champion has emerged that surpasses the stronghold of Ken or James. Matt A, Amy, and Cris are the ultrachampions who received a somewhat similar evaluation to James, but they are also evaluated as being relatively behind compared to James.

As you can see, in just 20 games, except for Ken, he surpassed all the Total winnings of Superchampions. Even then, Ken Jennings was less than half the record he had set ($622,760), so you can see just how great his Total winnings record is:

• 5-day: $298,687 > Jonathan Fisher (11x, $246,100), Seth Wilson (12x, $265,002), and Arthur Chu (11x, $297,200)
• 6-day: $325,877 > Ryan Long (16x, $299,700)
• 7-day: $415,035 > Adriana Harmeyer (15x, $349,600), Harrison Whitaker (14x, $373,999), Ray Lalonde (13x, $386,400), Austin Rogers (11x, $411,000), and Matt Jackson (13x, $411,612)
• 8-day: $460,479 > Julia Collins (20x, $428,100), David Madden (19x, $430,400), and Scott Riccardi (16x, $455,000)
• 9-day: $566,660 > Jason Zuffranieri (19x, $532,496) and Mattea Roach (23x, $560,983)
• 11-day: $771,920 > Cris Pannullo (21x, $748,286)
• 19-day: $1,426,330 > Amy Schneider (40x, $1,382,800)
• 20-day: $1,528,012 > Matt Amodio (38x, $1,518,601)

Quiz Skill

He is a champion who left a strong impression among the Super champions, and a participant who has been solo for a long time since Ken Jennings. In particular, unlike other champions, he was able to earn money quickly, and he showed a skill that surpassed Ken Jennings.

To some extent, his five-game winning streak of $298,687 beats Arthur Chu's 11-game winning streak ($297,200) and Seth Wilson's 12-game winning streak of $265,002.

Also, when senior Ken Jennings raised $1 million and $2 million in 30 and 59 days, respectively, James did the job in 14 and 27 days. That's twice as fast as the 28 days of Matt Amodio and Amy Schneider, who have since become millionaires.

It was none other than the Daily Double that he was able to break multiple records in a short period of time. His Daily Double earned him a whopping $654,416. What's more, he's failed a Daily Double in only 4 of 76 regular games.

In his case, like a gambler, he bet big on Daily Double and Final Jeopardy, and he did a great job winning most of them. Others are safety-oriented and bet only a small amount when they enter the safety zone, but he bet at least $10,000, and most of them got it right.

It was the DD that made him stand out. In the meantime, the DD wager was within $10K, no matter how high. Usually, it was mostly $2-6K, and $10K was occasionally seen in event specials such as ToC rather than regular games.

On the other hand, in the case of James, he often bet more than $10K (usually $11,914 often), and in some cases more than $20K. During his career, 32 out of 90 DDs were over $10K, and 4 times were over $20K. Also did $10K+ DD twice in one episode in 8 times. Occasionally, the only case where you bet $1K is when DD comes out from the beginning. Even better, he never missed a single $10K+ DD. It's then well ahead of Roger Craig, Matt Amodio, and Andrew He's 7 times, both of whom have had a losing career.

In FJ, like DD, He bet a lot of Wager, and the success rate was high. In a regular game, there are only 5 times for less than $10K, and only 9 times in total. In addition, from 7 games to 32 games, he wagered a FJ wager of at least $10K, and all of them were correct. Along with James, another person with a high DD success rate is Cris Pannullo, who has been successful in all but 4 out of 45 attempts. FYI, contrary to James, all the failures came from the DJ.

Another thing that sets him apart from other Regular millionaire is his extremely low amount of incorrect responses, with just 36 throughout the entire 33 games of his streak; for reference, Jennings, Amodio and Schneider clocked 109, 103, and 62 incorrect responses through the same point in their respective streaks. He also achieved 212 consecutive correct responses and is the only champion to have 3-straight perfect games (i.e., games where no incorrect responses are given at any point).

The reason why he stood out in Jeopardy following Chase is because the formal systems of Chase and Jeopardy are similar. Both are trivia quizzes in speed format, and since he had already adapted from Chase, he was able to play a big role in Jeopardy, which has a similar format.

Because he performed so much better than Ken Jennings, people expected a match against Ken Jennings, and there were many people who expected that he would break Ken Jennings' regular game and winning streak record, as well as the all-time cash record set by Brad Rutter on Jeopardy.

However, even for him who set such a great record, Ken's winning streak and prize money were not allowed. On June 3, 2019, he, who had been on a long winning streak, handed over the title of champion to Emma, ​​and his glorious history came to an end. People expressed disappointment that the result could have been different if James did not pick the Daily Double at the beginning of the jeopardy round at this time, but picked it midway. On the other hand, there was an opinion that it was fortunate that he did not meet a talented person like Emma in the beginning.

Nevertheless, his activity continued even after the regular game. In the ToC, he won the ToC, which was not even a champion with more than 10 wins, and in the meantime, many contenders came up, but no one was victorious, so Ken won the battle between Brads.

All in all, he was better than Ken Jennings, but unfortunately, he didn't have luck at the crucial moment. There was also an opinion that the result would have been different if he had hit more Daily Doubles when he was playing against Ken on GOAT.

Anyway, it is not an exaggeration to say that he opened a new paradigm as a person who changed the history of Jeopardy 15 years after Ken, and later challengers who achieved more than $70,000 such as Matt and Amy appeared.

Matt Amodio and Amy Schneider later joined the ranks of millionaires, dropping their winning streak to fourth place with 38 and 40 wins, respectively. Still, it maintains the 2nd place with the most prize money in a regular game.

Because of that, there are a lot of fans who regret that he left early.

Television Rating

Nielsen ratings for Jeopardy! rose 11% nationally during the first two weeks of Holzhauer's run and as much as 50% in select local markets, with a continuing upward trend over the course of his streak; by the fourth week of his run, ratings were up 30% nationwide and had doubled in select markets.

Former Game Show Network executive Bob Boden said the ratings would help compensate for any short-term financial losses Holzhauer's run caused, and that the show's profitability up to this point (both Jeopardy! and sister program Wheel of Fortune combine to generate approximately $125 million in revenue while costing $100 million) would allow them to absorb the increased payouts. It was also noted that the improved ratings would not immediately allow the show to increase advertising rates, since those are set on a season-by-season basis as part of long-term ad buys.

The highest-rated episode during Holzhauer's run was his final one, which at 14.5 million same-day viewers was the highest-rated episode since Jennings's last episode in 2004, the highest-rated episode of a syndicated show that season and the third-most-watched episode of a running series in the 2018–19 season (behind only the series-ending "The Stockholm Syndrome" episode of The Big Bang Theory and an episode of 60 Minutes that had led out of an NFL on CBS contest), not counting DVR or streaming views, the latter of which Jeopardy! does not offer.

The episode had been spoiled several hours before it aired on most affiliate stations; Sports Illustrated credited the spoilers with creating buzz, counteracting the conventional wisdom that people would not tune in without the element of surprise. Even if the result had not been spoiled, Holzhauer was on pace to break Jennings's regular play record that day had he won, which might also have had a part in the increased ratings.

Aftermath

As time goes on, he is being re-evaluated, not only himself, but also Emma and Francois, who reached the finals together. Since then, there have been 7 champions with more than 10 wins in a row, but at ToC, Ryan Long (x16) and Jonathan Fisher (x11) were eliminated from the qualifiers, Jason Zuffranieri reached the semifinals, but lost to Ryan Bilger and Jennifer Quail respectively, and even Matt Amodio They also failed to beat Professional winners Sam Buttrey and John Focht in the semifinals. Mattea Roach even lost to Andrew He who defeated Jonathan. Among them, Amy Schneider saved her pride by making it to the finals, and in the end, she won after a fierce battle with Andrew He and Sam Buttrey. In addition, Cris Pannullo also failed to reach the semifinals, he who has maintained his pace so far and won the ToC, as well as the other two finalists, are being re-evaluated.

In less than three years since his departure, there have been eight Superchampions, and that is why some people want a showdown between James and them. However, as contestants are barred from competing on the show if they know someone who works for the show, Ken’s duties as consulting producer and guest host have effectively disqualified both Brad and he from competing on the show again.

Because of that, many people are expressing regret that the rule was created. Ken and Brad have been active for 20 years, but he has to show up for only 9 months due to that rule, and it is a big regret because of the great success he showed.

However, during those 9 months, he made a new history for Jeopardy, and in his 2-month regular, he performed very well, setting several new records.

A 32-game winning streak isn't short, but it may feel relatively short as Matt Amodio later won 38 and Amy Schneider won 40. Nevertheless, considering his achievements, it is highly likely that no one else will change the history he left behind in Jeopardy for a while. Some believe that his activities were short and thick. also, since he is said to be working as a Chaser in The Chase, let's support him as he dreams of a second challenge in the future.

Three years later, he reappeared at the Jeopardy! Masters Tournament.