After winning 32 games in a row and earning a whopping US$2.4 million, James Holzhauer is the new 鈥渘umber one鈥� Jeopardy! player of all time, according to one devoted fan.
Andy Saunders, the site administrator for , says Holzhauer has unseated Ken Jennings as the best player to have ever competed in the popular TV trivia game show.
鈥淭he game is so much different now than it was when Ken Jennings played,鈥� Saunders told CTV News Channel on Tuesday. 鈥淭he fact that James was able to play against, for the most part, much stronger opposition than Ken did, I think that James has to be the number one player of all time.鈥�
The professional sports gambler lost to librarian Emma Boettcher on the latest episode that aired Monday night. He came $58,000 shy of Jenning鈥檚 record total winnings of $2.5 million in 2004. However, Holzhauer only played 32 games compared to Jenning鈥檚 72-game streak.
鈥淚 think the most impressive to me is that of the 33 Final Jeopardy clues that he played, he only got one of them wrong so that鈥檚 absolutely unheard of,鈥� Saunders said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one reason why he鈥檚 been able to make so much money is because he just hasn鈥檛 gotten those clues wrong and he鈥檚 averaging $35,000 on those bets.鈥�
Now that Holzhauer鈥檚 reign is over, Saunders said he expects the show will still be interesting to watch because the gambler introduced a unique style of betting, which involved selecting the clues worth the most at the beginning of the game in order to bet the accumulated wealth during Double Jeopardy questions and Final Jeopardy.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l see people start to emulate the strategy and I think you鈥檒l start to see more exciting Jeopardy games down the line,鈥� he said.
