After Ken Jennings' 74 game streak ended in 2004, I don't think I have watched a Jeopardy episode since... until now. Is anyone else watching James Holzhauer's historic run? After yesterday's game, he has won a total of $1,939,027. The way he plays, he has an opportunity to pass the $2 million mark today, which would be in just 26 games. Absolutely incredible.

I set up a poll that is multiple choice; with two questions in mind:

1. Do you think James will beat Ken's 74 game win streak? - YES or NO
2. How much do you think James will win during his run?
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Thanks for the link about Brad Rutter. I had no idea Jeopardy had a Master's Tournament for $1,000,000. Talk about pressure.

While I don't disagree with you about James' clicker control/timing being excellent (and imperative if you want to crush the competition); however, I think you're downplaying how many questions are actually answered correctly per "normal" show, and what the contestants really know. Traditional difficulty shows a 2 to 1 ratio of correct to wrong answers. So in reality, it's really more like 67%, than 75% to 80%. There was one season (season eight) that had a 4 to 1 ratio. Otherwise, it's typically 2 to 1.

To compare that to James, he's getting 97.31% of his buzz-in answer correct through his first 25 games compared to Ken's first 25 games at 92.49%. With the random categories you could receive in each game, that's beyond impressive.

On top of that, him "pressing" or risking 5-figure amounts with consistency on Double and Final Jeopardy is unprecedented on the show. James' average risk on Final Jeopardy is $28,720 compared to Jennings' $6,686 (through their first 25 games). People are scared and nervous to risk large amounts of money. The money amounts are grabbing everyone's attention.

In my opinion, you have to give James a lot more credit than just being fast on the clicker.

Here are a couple of great links with statistics on Jame's run:

https://www.wired.com/story/james-holzhauer-jeopardy-greatness-charts/

https://thejeopardyfan.com/2019/04/james-holzhauer-ken-jennings-comparison.html

Sorry, those headphone emojis are supposed to be a colon, followed by the number 1. LOL.

15 minutes until the new episode. James is going for $2,000,000 in winnings. Set your DVR or make sure to watch it live!

Ahh, okay. It's always at 4:30pm here in CST.

It was a great episode today.

You're right. If he doesn't get that Daily Double, the streak is over.

We'll see if he breaks the $2 million mark tomorrow.

He would have still lost. James ended up with $52,108. The guy who was in 2nd, had $25,800. If he would have risked it all, he would have been just short at $51,600.

$2,195,557 bump. New episode this afternoon/evening depending on where you are.

Wow!

It was a great run.

The librarian was one of the few contestants that had enough courage to actually bet a true Daily Double to get her ahead of James in the second round. I was also a little shocked she only bet $3,000 on the second one she found - which gave James an opportunity to pass her if he made a run on the questions that were left.

In the end (as others have mentioned), getting those Daily Doubles at the right time certainly gives you a huge advantage if you're willing to risk a good amount of money.

If he would have bet everything, he would have lost by $1.

Statistically speaking (as one poster already mentioned), the guy in third was his biggest threat. He had to box him out and hoped the librarian got her answer wrong in order to win.

spfxted I can't remember which episode it was, but this was by far my favorite Daily Double.
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I can't tell you how much I appreciate your post.

Anyone watching the Tournament of Champions with James Holzhauer in it?