James Holzhauer’s Jeopardy Statistics

When James Holzhauer appeared on the Jeopardy stage for his first game on Thursday, April 4, 2019, some viewers already knew him as a formidable player from his appearance on The Chase and were not surprised by his runaway winnings. The next day, James did not have a runaway and doubts crept in. Was he really the next big champion teased by a Jeopardy commercial that said “records are made to be broken”?

Alex Trebek often says he likes to see the players win big and both of those wins exceeded $35,000, although neither surpassed Eric R. Backes Season 35 winnings of $48,001 on 2/11/19.

In Week 2 (Apr 8-12, 2019), James exceeded Eric’s S35 record with a $50K+ payday on Monday. The next day, he smashed Roger Craig’s longstanding $77,000 record for highest one-day winnings. By the end of the week, at $415,035 he was No. 4 in Jeopardy’s Hall of Fame for Highest Winnings (Regular Season Play).

He achieved all that in 7 games! The (R) after the winnings signifies a runaway going into Final Jeopardy!

No	Date	Winnings	FJ Bet	Daily Double 1	Daily Double 2	Daily Double 3
1	4/4/19	$43,680 (R)	+3,268	+5,000	N/A	+9,812
2	4/5/19	$38,926	+9,812	N/A	N/A	+11,914
3	4/8/19	$50,845 (R)	+7,030	N/A	+10,000	+8,615
4	4/9/19	$110,914 (R)	+38,314	+10,000	+14,600	+25,000
5	4/10/19	$54,322 (R)	+21,112	-3,000	+9,200	N/A
6	4/11/19	$27,190 (R)	-3,010	N/A	+9,800	+5,000
7	4/12/19	$89,158 (R)	+31,010	+9,812	+11,914	+11,022
7x Total		$415,035

In Week 3 (Apr 15-19), James broke his own highest payday on Wednesday and by the end of the week, he had 5 of the 10 spots in highest one-day winnings. He surpassed Dave Madden and Julia Collins in highest total winnings for regular season wins and broke too many other records to enumerate here. In his 12th game, he topped Dave Madden’s All-Time Winnings including Tournaments (without ever having been in one!!). Now there’s not much left to beat. James called it a long climb to beat Ken Jennings 74-game run and $2.5M+ winnings, and it’s an even longer climb to beat Brad Rutter’s all time $4.6M+ winnings.

This week’s haul: $436,891‬

No	Date	Winnings	FJ Bet	Daily Double 1	Daily Double 2	Daily Double 3
8	4/15/19	$45,444 (R)	+10,029	-8,400	+7,200	+8,615
9	4/16/19	$106,181 (R)	+40,000	+5,800	+11,381	+17,000
10	4/17/19	$131,127 (R)	+60,013	N/A	+11,914	+25,000
11	4/18/19	$74,133 (R)	+26,308	+3,000	+6,013	+9,812
12	4/19/19	$80,006 (R)	+35,006	-1,800	+8,200	+15,000
12x Total		$851,926

A quick look at the Games of James: James likes to bet numbers that are special to him and you can see his favorite bets are his wedding anniversary (9/8/12) and his daughter’s birthday (11/9/14). When he bet the $6,013 in second Daily Double on April 18th, he looked upwards and touched his heart, leading me to think it was his beloved grandmother’s birthday. Indeed, on the previous day, when he beat his own one-day record with that $60,013 bet in Final Jeopardy!, he wrote “This is for you Granny 💗” under his FJ! response.

In Week 4 (April 22 through 26, 2019), James won $436,891. He went over the $1 million mark on April 23rd. ‬James wrote down his last shoutout (Hi Tuesday) on Friday, the 26th and the “no shoutouts” rule went into effect on April 29th.

No	Date	Winnings	FJ Bet	Daily Double 1	Daily Double 2	Daily Double 3
13	4/22/19	$90,812 (R)	+38,686	+1,000	+9,812	+11,914
14	4/23/19	$118,816 (R)	+50,000	+8,200	+10,016	+20,000
15	4/24/19	$73,621 (R)	+24,000	+9,200	N/A	+10,021
16	4/25/19	$90,812 (R)	+35,117	+6,600	$11,218	+11,914
17	4/26/19	$49,600 (R)	+20,000	N/A	N/A	N/A
17x Total		$1,275,587

In his 5th week, Adam Levin gave James a run for the money. James couldn’t make it a runaway but managed to win by $18. James added $415,421 to his winnings by the end of the week.

No	Date	Winnings	FJ Bet	Daily Double 1	Daily Double 2	Daily Double 3
18	4/29/19	$54,017	+20,500	-$1,000	+$10,117	N/A
19	4/30/19	$96,726 (R)	+40,000	+1,000	+11,914	+9,812
20	5/1/19	$101,682 (R)	+40,784	+4,600	+10,117	+11,381
21	5/2/19	$80,615 (R)	+29,403	+6,800	+9,812	+7,000
22	5/3/19	$82,381 (R)	+35,000	+1,000	+11,381	N/A
22x Total		$1,691,008

In his 6th week, James didn’t have a runaway in his 26th game when he ran into a tough challenge from Nate Scheffey, but James prevailed and added $374,527 more to his winnings. He went over the $2 million mark on Friday, May 24th.

No	Date	Winnings	FJ Bet	Daily Double 1	Daily Double 2	Daily Double 3
23	5/20/19	$89,229 (R)	+40,000	+1,000	+10,617	+9,812
24	5/21/19	$86,905 (R)	+31,010	+4,800	+11,381	+11,914
25	5/22/19	$71,885 (R)	+28,571	+2,000	N/A	+11,914
26	5/23/19	$52,108	+20,908	N/A	N/A	+8,200
27	5/24/19	$74,400 (R)	+35,000	+11,600	N/A	N/A
27x Total		$2,065,535

The last week of May turned out to be James’ last stand with 5 runaway games and $396,681 to show for it:

No	Date	Winnings	FJ Bet	Daily Double 1	Daily Double 2	Daily Double 3
28	5/27/19	$130,022 (R)	+58,000	+8,200	+11,022	+20,000
29	5/28/19	$59,381 (R)	+18,000	N/A	N/A	+11,381
30	5/29/19	$69,033 (R)	+25,119	+2,800	+11,914	N/A
31	5/30/19	$58,612 (R)	+17,000	+4,000	+9,812	+5,000
32	5/31/19	$79,633 (R)	+27,000	+3,800	+10,021	+9,812
Total Winnings		$2,462,216

James was only $58,484 away from surpassing Ken Jennings’ 74-game winnings of $2,520,700 when he played Game 33 on Monday, June 3rd. But it was not to be: James lost to Emma Boettcher. He came in second and got the $2,000 consolation prize. These are his scores in his last game:

No	Date	Final Score	FJ Bet	DD 1	DD 2	DD 3
33	6/3/19	$24,799	+1,399	+1,000	N/A	N/A

James has his own statistics page on Jeopardy.com now!

James Holzhauer Tracker

Media Coverage: Of course, James is now the hot topic in game show news. During the chat on 4/17/2019, Trebek told James he’s a celebrity now and asked how he would handle it. James said he’s not sure the Las Vegas bookies will be so happy to accept his action anymore, but he’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it. On Facebook, “Jeopardy James” is dedicated to his appearances. There are well over a million and a half results for a google search on “James Holzhauer Jeopardy” so you’ll find plenty to read about him. Here are a few links where James has actually interacted:

Vulture Interview: Jeopardy James Holzhauer on Strategy, Alex Trebek…

The 670 Score: James participates in a quiz show game on this Chicago sports radio podcast

U.S. Bets.com: Another podcast interview with James. His segment starts at 17:10.

Also:

See James’ wife Melissa’s game on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire

Washington Post: What it’s like to lose to James Holzhauer

More game-by-game stats of players who won 10 or more games