James Holzhauer moves into second place on ‘Jeopardy!’ wins list
Thursday was another really good day in the life of “Jeopardy!” champion James Holzhauer.
In the afternoon, the Las Vegas-based professional sports bettor was given the key to the Las Vegas Strip in a ceremony at the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign and received a proclamation declaring it “James Holzhauer Day” in Clark County.
In the evening, Holzhauer took over sole possession of second place on the game show’s all-time consecutive wins list with his 21st victory.
Holzhauer, who already owned the No. 2 spot on the “Jeopardy!” all-time regular play earnings list, won $80,615 to run his 21-day total to $1,608,627.
Ken Jennings, of Edmonds, Washington, is the all-time regular play money leader with $2,520,700, which he won during his record 74-game win streak in 2004.
It took Jennings 48 games to match Holzhauer’s total through 21 games, according to thejeopardyfan.com. The site’s prediction model gives Holzhauer a 75.6 percent chance to break Jennings’ earnings mark.
The 34-year-old Las Vegan owns the 11 highest one-day totals in the 35-year history of the show.
Holzhauer’s record streak of consecutive clues without giving an incorrect response ended at 187. The previous record, believed to be 179, was set by Liz Haigney Lynch, of Montclair, New Jersey, in June 2016.
Overall, Holzhauer has correctly answered 759 times in 786 attempts (96.6 percent). He’s been first on the buzzer 58.4 percent of the time (691 of 1,182) and is 47 of 51 on Daily Doubles for net earnings of $450,035.
He’s also 20 of 21 in Final Jeopardy, at which he’s riding a record streak of 15 consecutive correct answers.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
