# The Jeopardy thread \[was James Holzhauer\]\[contains spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** reality-or-game-show\ **Created:** [April 17, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696 "2019-04-17T21:53:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 28
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/541 "2019-06-04T10:28:21Z")
last night’s episode was filmed in mid March. Had no idea it was such a long gap between taping and airing of the episodes. His first episode aired in first week of April. He had to keep quiet about when he lost for 2.5 months. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/542 "2019-06-04T11:05:20Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > You couldn’t have scripted a better ending: the unassuming librarian takes down the champ. I was looking at it the other way around: imagine that you’re Holzhauer, and you’re right on the brink of breaking a trivia record set by Ken Jennings, and you hear that, _oh, hey, we found a librarian who earned a graduate degree in Jeopardy._ (And I don’t get the relevance of saying his “final wager was not anything near what he normally wagered.” He normally went into the final with a lead — and he could wager so that he’d win even if everyone got it right, and so he did. This time, he _couldn’t_ do that; he went in _without_ the lead; regardless of how he wagered, he was already going to lose unless his opponent screwed up.) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/543 "2019-06-04T11:06:09Z")
I saw the spoiler on CNN’s website, but the headline was something like “Did James beat Jennings’ total?” I have no self-control and I read the article, then I had to keep from sing-songing “I know something you don’t know” when I got home. Still, I enjoyed watching James, The Final Chapter… for now… ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/544 "2019-06-04T11:47:36Z")
LOL on the sing-songing. 😃 CNN’s headline actually seems like a good approach. What would have been much trickier is if he lost on a day when no record was on the line. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/545 "2019-06-04T11:51:29Z")
> [@magnusblitz](#): > > I am really disappointed about how easy it was to get spoiled - Google had it as their top story, Reddit had a thread reach the front page (the title wasn’t a spoiler but c’mon, the mere fact there was a Jeopardy thread on the front page makes it obvious) and even fucking ESPN had a spoiler in their headline. Kinda bullshit for something that’s not a live show on at the same time in every time zone, but even worse was all of these were posted in the morning before the show even aired. It was also spoiled on at least two radio stations yesterday morning during my drive dropping off the kids at school. It was a story about the leak, and they all said “spoiler alert” before saying it, but, come on, first it’s radio, so you have to be quick on the draw to either change the station or cover your ears (which you don’t want to do while driving, of course.) And the mere fact that there was a Jeopardy! spoiler meant most likely that James lost. One of the hosts tried to perhaps somewhat un-spoil it by commenting on James’ wager being unusually low and questioning the authenticity of the leak, but, as explained above, that only proved to me that the leak was 100% legit. I did read it here first, though. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/546 "2019-06-04T12:09:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think Jeopardy should revisit its buzzer system. A guy who can master that timing has an unfair advantage over his opponents, particularly when he gets a few games under his belt and is playing against those new to the buzzer. I’d rather see a turn-based game. Life ain’t fair, Bubby. You still need to answer the question. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/547 "2019-06-04T12:09:36Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Glad to know I’m not the only one who wondered about this. > > You couldn’t have scripted a better ending: the unassuming librarian takes down the champ. I thought it was jaw droppingly obvious that he threw the game. I won’t speculate as to what agreement he and the show’s Powers That Be may have come to, but unless it comes to light that he was running a high fever or had just lost a loved one, that was the fakest loss I can remember seeing. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/548 "2019-06-04T12:13:09Z")
As far as James’s FJ wager goes, I quote from [thejeopardyfan.com](http://thejeopardyfan.com): > [@thejeopardyfan](#): > > There was absolutely nothing wrong with James’ Final Jeopardy bet of $1,399. He knew that Emma was overwhelmingly likely to bet what she did and, thus, his only chance of winning was if Emma did not get Final Jeopardy! correct. $1,399 ensures that his score stays above Jay’s and gives James the best chance of winning the game. Had James gone all-in, he would have finished at $46,800 and lost by $1. Really, this sort of betting math is quite common, and you see wagers like James’s all the time from second place contestants. Betting a huge amount wouldn’t have helped him. If he and Emma had both gotten Final Jeopardy wrong, James would have won the game, and everybody would be talking about how savvy he was for betting so conservatively. Nevertheless, the [conspiracy theories](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ftw/2019/06/03/jeopardy-star-james-holzhauer-shoots-conspiracy-theories-after-loss/39542011/) are already coming out. Really, he lost in exactly the way that people have been predicting he might lose: someone else found the Daily Doubles. What will be interesting to see is whether James’s approach to the game will start to become more common. Emma basically adopted his strategy: go for the big value clues first, accumulate as much money as possible as quickly as possible, and bet big if you find a Daily Double. I’m curious to see whether that will become the norm for contestants. Alex seemed to be tearing up a bit at the end, and I suspect it wasn’t just because James lost. This week’s episodes were recorded the day after he announced his cancer diagnosis. I imagine that he was dealing with a lot of emotions at that time. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/549 "2019-06-04T13:39:48Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/550 "2019-06-04T14:00:46Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I thought it was jaw droppingly obvious that he threw the game. I won’t speculate as to what agreement he and the show’s Powers That Be may have come to, but unless it comes to light that he was running a high fever or had just lost a loved one, that was the fakest loss I can remember seeing. Why would he do that right before beating Jennings’s money record? I could see right after. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/551 "2019-06-04T14:05:24Z")
I can’t believe there are baseless conspiracy theories that James threw the game. He bet basically as I predicted he would bet. He knew he couldn’t win if whatshername got the question right so he bet to win if she got it wrong. It was the best strategy going into the final round as an underdog. Maybe he didn’t play quite as well as he had the day before, but: > [@MrAtoz](#): > > Alex seemed to be tearing up a bit at the end, and I suspect it wasn’t just because James lost. This week’s episodes were recorded the day after he announced his cancer diagnosis. I imagine that he was dealing with a lot of emotions at that time. I didn’t know this but any seeming weakness in James’s game could be tied to that announcement. James had been a Jeopardy fan since he was a kid. He loves the show and from what I could tell, he loves Alex Trebeck. They had gotten to know each other at least a little from a few weeks of taping together. And James’s here just announced that he had cancer. James delivered a handmade card from his beloved daughter to Alex. Perhaps, James was a little off his game because he could see that this game and the coming games really are the end of an era, defined not by James taking taking the all-time money winning lead, but potentially by the looming absence of the man who has defined the game for his entire life. So yeah, maybe James was a bit distracted and someone else got the better of him. In an interview, Ken Jennings said its really hard for a winner to follow up with another victory after beating a long time champion. The game usually films at a rhythm with the returning champ getting a few minutes of break and going right into filming the next episode. When a long-time champ gets defeated, the rhythm is broken while the new champ has to film promos and do interviews. Then they resume the next game. It’s probably overwhelming and puts the the new champ off her best performance. It might be a lot to expect her to hold on for even one more game. It would be interesting to have a giant-slayer tournament where the people who beat Ken, James, and Julia (who had a 20 game winning streak). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/552 "2019-06-04T14:10:07Z")
[QUOTE=MrAtoz;21679621 Nevertheless, the [conspiracy theories] ([Jeopardy: James Holzhauer shoots down conspiracy theory after loss](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ftw/2019/06/03/jeopardy-star-james-holzhauer-shoots-conspiracy-theories-after-loss/39542011/)) are already coming out. Really, he lost in exactly the way that people have been predicting he might lose: someone else found the Daily Doubles. [/QUOTE] Yeah, the conspiracy theories are just plain dumb. He didn’t throw the game or anything like that. He just plain lost. It almost happened to him a week or so ago (and it _should_ have happened to him then), but his opponent bid too timidly on a Daily Double and allowed James to catch up. A more aggressive wager and James would have been toast. Also mentioned, the trifecta of James hitting a $1000 Daily Double on the first play of the game, effectively turning it into an ordinary $1000 clue, and Emma hitting both Daily Doubles and betting reasonably aggressively in the second round was James’s undoing. James even got more questions right than Emma (25 vs 21) If he was trying to throw the game, he really wasn’t doing a very good job of it. If James just hits one of those Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy, or hits the first Daily Double with a bit of bankroll, Emma is toast. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/553 "2019-06-04T14:23:03Z")
When the scores going into final are two people over $20k and the last person over $10k, nobody was frigging throwing the game. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/554 "2019-06-04T14:30:37Z")
Claiming James threw it is just a shot against Emma. She played an absolutely outstanding game, and I’m happy he went down that way as opposed to a “James beats James” scenario that I predicted. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/555 "2019-06-04T14:38:55Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Claiming James threw it is just a shot against Emma. She played an absolutely outstanding game, and I’m happy he went down that way as opposed to a “James beats James” scenario that I predicted. The fact that someone affliated with the University of Chicago beat James somehow did not surprise me at all. I’ve been to their trivia nights at the student pub (my wife was a doctoral student there), and their trivia nights made Jeopardy! look like the Junior Edition of Trivial Pursuit. I’m lucky if I’d get 1 or 2 questions of 10 right in each round. (Whereas in normal bar trivia or Jeopardy, it’s more like 8/10 for me.) Now, I know she didn’t go there for undergrad or grad, but U of C does seem to attract a certain type of hyper-smart hyper-focused intellectual. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/556 "2019-06-04T15:21:05Z")
Apart from the luck of getting both DDs in FJ, and not answering any clues incorrectly, a big part of Emma’s win was that she was just as quick as James on the signalling device. ITSM that the real difference in last night’s game was that James didn’t answer nearly as many clues as he usually did. And that inevitably reduced his chances of finding a DD. It’s also significant that, even though she knew nothing about James and his strategy before going into that game, Emma (and to a lesser extent, Jay) immediately started using it as well. It was frustrating (if understandable) to watch most of his previous opponents stick with the “old way” and go for low-value clues when confronted with the Holzhauer method. Most of them, all those who didn’t play in the first game of their tape day, had had a chance to watch James in action, but only a few had the guts to mimic his game play, and only Emma beat him at it. Here’s what Jennings told the NYT about maintaining a long run: [“People don’t realize how fragile a ‘Jeopardy!’ streak is,” Jennings said. “Any night could be the game with your name on it. You just never know.”](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/arts/television/james-holzhauer-jeopardy.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article) ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/557 "2019-06-04T15:56:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > James even got more questions right than Emma (25 vs 21) If he was trying to throw the game, he really wasn’t doing a very good job of it. If James just hits one of those Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy, or hits the first Daily Double with a bit of bankroll, Emma is toast. This. On the question before the first Daily Double, James had $12,600 and Emma had $6,400. She got the $1200 question right and was at $7,600 when she found the DD. She doubled her score for the lead. But consider if James answers the $1200 question correctly and then finds the DD. He would be at $13,800 and, given his history, would probably bet at least $8,000. A correct answer would put him over $21,000, at least $15,000 ahead of Emma. And he would probably have won the game. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/558 "2019-06-04T16:03:11Z")
I saw an article about this yesterday in which James said it took him a second to remember the answer to the Duke of Albany question and that allowed her to answer it and then pick the DD question next (and he said that he would have gone for the same question next). So that’s where the game shifted. Also, the article said that she studied locations of Daily Doubles and practiced buzzer timing using, I think, a ballpoint pen. I think Alex suggested that we’d see James challenging Ken Jennings at some point, so perhaps a three-way tournament among them and Brad Rutter would be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/559 "2019-06-04T16:09:32Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > This. On the question before the first Daily Double, James had $12,600 and Emma had $6,400. She got the $1200 question right and was at $7,600 when she found the DD. She doubled her score for the lead. Yes but IIRC James later took the lead back, and then Emma finally took the lead back again and maintained that lead going into FJ. It was exciting, even watching it a 2nd time last night and knowing how it ends. I still think Emma reminds of Lilith of Cheers. Her vocal inflections and delivery timing. It’s really kind of amusing. Anyone else pick that up? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696/560 "2019-06-04T16:11:39Z")
I don’t think James threw it, but his FJ bet still surprises me. I would think his best approach would be to assume he gets FJ right and - crossing his fingers - that Emma gets it wrong. Bet everything, or almost everything, why not? I’ve read the posts upthread but don’t get why he would be at all concerned about the third-place guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=27) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-jeopardy-thread-was-james-holzhauer-contains-spoilers/832696.md?page=29)