$2 Million in 27 Games: James Holzhauer’s in a ‘Jeopardy!’ League by Himself

James Holzhauer, the “Jeopardy!” contestant currently on a 27-game victory streak, passed $2 million in winnings in the episode that aired on Friday. Holzhauer is still about $455,000 behind Ken Jennings, who won $2.5 million* during his record streak of 74 victories in 2004.

But if Holzhauer, a 34-year-old professional gambler in Las Vegas, continues his current streak, he’ll close that gap quickly.

Ken Jennings

74-game

streak

$2.5 million

James

Holzhauer

27-game

streak

Total

winnings

$2m

$1.5m

$1m

$500k

20 wins

40

60

Consecutive wins

Ken Jennings

74-game

streak

$2.5 million

James

Holzhauer

27-game

streak

Total

winnings

$2m

$1.5m

$1m

$500k

20 wins

40

60

Consecutive wins

James

Holzhauer

27-game

streak

Ken

Jennings

74-game

streak

$2.5 million

Total

winnings

$2m

$1.5m

$1m

$500k

20 wins

40

60

Consecutive

wins

Source: J-archive.com

By The New York Times

Jennings averaged around $34,000 per episode, but Holzhauer is more than doubling that pace, pulling in an average of about $76,500.

His strategy bucks “Jeopardy!” play tradition: He starts at the bottom of the board going for the high dollar clues, then searches for the Daily Doubles, instead of starting at the top of a category and working down. He is also very fast with the buzzer, often leaving his competitors stunned. By the time he gets to Final Jeopardy (here’s Friday’s clue) he has almost always put the game out of reach.

If he continues to win at his current rate, Holzhauer would surpass Jennings’s dollar total in six more episodes, or in less than half the time it took Jennings to reach that amount.

If Holzhauer wins as many games as Jennings did — he’d have to win 47 more — and continues to win at his current rate, he would amass more than $5.6 million.

$5 million

If James

Holzhauer

keeps

winning

at his current

pace.

$4m

$3m

Ken

Jennings

$2m

$1m

Consecutive wins

20 wins

40

60

$5

million

If James

Holzhauer

keeps

winning

at his current

pace.

$4m

$3m

Ken

Jennings

$2m

$1m

20

40

60

Consecutive

wins

Source: J-archive.com

By The New York Times

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

*The all-time top earner, including the “Tournament of Champions” games when previous winners compete against one another, is Brad Rutter, at $4.7 million. Including those games, Jennings has won $3.4 million.

Kevin Quealy is a graphics editor and reporter. He writes and makes charts for The Upshot about a range of topics, including sports, politics, health care and income inequality. @KevinQ

Larry Buchanan is a graphics editor and also writes, reports, makes charts and flies drones. He joined The Times in 2013 and previously made interactive graphics for The New Yorker. Before that, he lived in a log cabin in Indiana. @larrybuch • Facebook

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