He is a sexy half European, half Japanese man.

Anonymous wrote:He is amazing! However, a lot of people are not fans. It is hilarious to read some of the comments on the Jeopardy Facebook page. People are irrationally angry at him for his skipping around on the board (“hard to follow”), his buzzer method (“he needs to show his hands”) and his winning streak (“winners should have to leave after 5 games except for Ken Jennings.”) People don’t seem to realize it’s a game to win money, not a leisurely game of chess.

This really is hilarious - people are weird. He's playing the game beautifully and certainly doesn't need to "show his hands"! How ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:He's changed the game forever, but in a good way. Love how he is laid back and forever destroyed the legacy of the obnoxious Buzzy (who I could not stand but was afraid was the next Jeopardy legend).

OMG, Buzzy! He reminded me of a cartoon character, like someone from The Incredibles. He seemed like a nice guy, but so over-the-top with his wacky glasses and suits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Sometimes he even cuts off Alex Trebek! He breadth and depth of knowledge is amazing as well.

the buttons to click in are not active until alex reads the last syllable of the answer. and if you click in too soon, you get blocked out for a short period of time. there are lights that indicate whenthey can click in..

so not only bust you be very knowledgeable, quick thumb as well

Yes, the part where I saw him cut off Alex Trebek was a daily double. He didn't need to click in for that.

I think he tends to cut off Alex Trebek because he doesn't want to waste time - Alex tends to comment on the questions, thus eating into their time. James is all business and wants to answer as many questions as possible. Can't say I blame him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What is his strategy?

Works the board from the bottom up, answering the highest value questions first. Bets big when he gets a daily double, often doubilng up. And he's super fast & almost always right, he barely lets his opponents answer any questions.

Maybe they should let him take over Alex Trebek's job when Trebek gets too sick to work.

I've been waiting for someone to use this strategy for years! It's exciting to see it happening and to see my hypothesis on its effectiveness playing out. It just makes sense: start in the categories with which you feel most comfortable and get the big $$. The daily double is most often found in the middle of the board to upper area. That way when you find it, you have a good bit of money to wager AND you're able to double your money on an easy-ish question.

So many times people find the first round DD early on, maybe 3-5 questions in, and have just over $1,000 or under $1,000 to wager. Even with making it a true daily double, the max you'll win is $2k.

+1
I've asked my husband so many times why contestants don't START with the high-value questions on the bottom row and work their way up, thus maximizing their winnings before time runs out (the way James does). It's never made sense to me when they start at the top with the low-value questions. I want to say, hurry up and get the big ones!!

Time for my nightly date with James!

Anonymous wrote:

What is his strategy?

Works the board from the bottom up, answering the highest value questions first. Bets big when he gets a daily double, often doubilng up. And he's super fast & almost always right, he barely lets his opponents answer any questions.

Maybe they should let him take over Alex Trebek's job when Trebek gets too sick to work.

They may have to give him the job to end his reign as a contestant.

He's changed the game forever, but in a good way. Love how he is laid back and forever destroyed the legacy of the obnoxious Buzzy (who I could not stand but was afraid was the next Jeopardy legend).

He is amazing! However, a lot of people are not fans. It is hilarious to read some of the comments on the Jeopardy Facebook page. People are irrationally angry at him for his skipping around on the board (“hard to follow”), his buzzer method (“he needs to show his hands”) and his winning streak (“winners should have to leave after 5 games except for Ken Jennings.”) People don’t seem to realize it’s a game to win money, not a leisurely game of chess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Sometimes he even cuts off Alex Trebek! He breadth and depth of knowledge is amazing as well.

the buttons to click in are not active until alex reads the last syllable of the answer. and if you click in too soon, you get blocked out for a short period of time. there are lights that indicate whenthey can click in..

so not only bust you be very knowledgeable, quick thumb as well

Yes, the part where I saw him cut off Alex Trebek was a daily double. He didn't need to click in for that.

Anonymous wrote:

What is his strategy?

Works the board from the bottom up, answering the highest value questions first. Bets big when he gets a daily double, often doubilng up. And he's super fast & almost always right, he barely lets his opponents answer any questions.

Maybe they should let him take over Alex Trebek's job when Trebek gets too sick to work.

I've been waiting for someone to use this strategy for years! It's exciting to see it happening and to see my hypothesis on its effectiveness playing out. It just makes sense: start in the categories with which you feel most comfortable and get the big $$. The daily double is most often found in the middle of the board to upper area. That way when you find it, you have a good bit of money to wager AND you're able to double your money on an easy-ish question.

So many times people find the first round DD early on, maybe 3-5 questions in, and have just over $1,000 or under $1,000 to wager. Even with making it a true daily double, the max you'll win is $2k.

Anonymous wrote:This guy is incredible. He said he never really liked school. (He must have been too smart for regular school). He said he read children's books to learn stuff about topics he doesn't know. There is a great article in today's WP in the Style section about him. (I get the print version so I don't have the link...sorry).

I have never seen anyone who knows so much about so many issues. The guy is only 34 years old.

I had a Physics professor in college who had a whole shelf in his office dedicated to children's books on Physics' topics. He encouraged all of us to come in and read them if there was a topic we were struggling with. Know what? It worked. The children's books helped you understand the difficult topic and get a good grasp on it. Once you had that, it was easier to go back to our materials and really start learning the more in-depth stuff.

Holzhauer has frequently made inside references to his family's personal information in his Jeopardy! wagers. In his first six-figure win, he wagered in Final Jeopardy! so that the score resulting from a correct response would match his daughter's date of birth (110914); he has also used wagers such as $11,914, $9,812 (a nod to his anniversary; another show had Holzhauer calculating an $80,006 final total, which resembles, with extra leading zeros, 9/0008 upside down), $3,268 (his nephew's March 26, 2008 birthday), and $7,030 (for his father's July 30 birthday).[citation needed]

On the April 17 episode Holzhauer dedicated his win to his late grandmother, whom he described as Japanese with a very limited command of English and whom he said he had promised he would appear on Jeopardy! someday.

He's a professional gambler in Nevada... So odd.

Anonymous wrote: Sometimes he even cuts off Alex Trebek! He breadth and depth of knowledge is amazing as well.

the buttons to click in are not active until alex reads the last syllable of the answer. and if you click in too soon, you get blocked out for a short period of time. there are lights that indicate whenthey can click in..

so not only bust you be very knowledgeable, quick thumb as well