In gambling we say you are 'on tilt' when your mood gets in the way of making your best decisions. And nobody plays well on tilt.
— James Holzhauer
I am in awe of Ken Jennings's accomplishments, as all 'Jeopardy!' fans are. Simply being compared to him is an honor.
I'm used to gambling.
I get mad at football coaches who are afraid to call for a big play early in the game, you know, because they want to still be in the game at the end, and then it turns out they have no chance but a Hail Mary or something similar to that at the end.
I have no special knowledge of markets, so I invest solely in low-expense index funds, plus some cryptocurrencies.
I honestly don't think I can hack it in the 9-to-5 world, though I've never actually tried.
I think the best way to quickly describe my personality is that I'm a maximizer rather than a satisficer, i.e. I want to squeeze every drop out of an opportunity rather than settle for 'good enough.'
My family and I were already living our best lives before 'Jeopardy!' called, so we mostly want to continue that while also giving back to the children of the Las Vegas community.
Baseball was my goal from a young age, but gambling had significantly fewer barriers to entry.
I bet sports all the time and very rarely get in a spot where someone offered me even money on something I'm going to get right five out of six times.
I know life goes on if you make a big bet and you lose. But if you don't give yourself the best chance of winning, you're going to kick yourself tomorrow.
When I was a kid, I would turn on the television as soon as I got home from school.
I'm a pro sports gambler. You have winning days and you have losing days. But you know if you've got the right strategy, you're going to get it in the end.
I really underestimated how many people are paying attention to 'Jeopardy' and what's out there.
It definitely helps that I can bet big with ice water in my veins.
In Chicagoland, they had afternoon 'Jeopardy!' and afternoon Cubs games when they were at home, so that was basically what I would watch and it's what got me interested in Jeopardy! and sports statistics at an early age.
It's really funny seeing all these media depictions of me as an intellectual because I'm a connoisseur of low culture.
I sketched out what I believed to be my optimal strategy for 'Jeopardy:' Play fast, build a stack, bet big, and hope for the best. In my mind, playing a seemingly risky game actually minimizes my chances of losing.
Holzhauer Haters' is pretty catchy, but I have not encountered too many haters. I'm sure they are out there, but I don't spend my free time looking up every person's opinion of James Holzhauer.
Even though I'm used to losing bets every day, I am not calm when I sweat a game.
I spent almost no time studying categories like geography and sports, even though they came up frequently on 'Jeopardy,' because I'm already strong in those subjects.
I wouldn't recommend sports betting as a career. It requires a ton of effort and mastery of many different skills, and successful bettors are unwilling to teach you because you would be their competition.
All good professional gamblers are selectively aggressive.
If I can really work in any sport, I wonder if the Golden Knights have an opening in their analytics department?
I've got a family and job that I really love with super flexibility.
I stopped playing online poker due to a combination of the UIGEA legislation and realizing that I could make more money with less effort by betting sports.
It's one thing to skip class to play poker, but if I'm learning how to think in the real world playing poker, then maybe that's more valuable than a college education could've been.
When I watched 'Jeopardy!' as a kid, I would primarily watch with my grandmother. She was the most beautiful person the world has ever seen. Her first language wasn't English, so she couldn't follow along well, but she wanted to share this experience with me since she saw it was something I really liked.
I think if you're talking about 'Jeopardy' style, I'm not afraid to throw the deep ball, even if it might get picked off, so Deshaun Watson I think would be the best comparison.
There's a lot of attention on me which can be good, it can be bad. Sometimes my daughter's acting up in public and I really wish I could become anonymous for a few minutes.
I don't involve personal biases in my handicapping or wagering. I bet against the Cubs in the 2016 World Series, which tainted the victory a little. It was still incredible to watch.
The first bet I remember was on the Chargers in Super Bowl 29 with my classmates. I lost a lot of weeks' allowance.
As a sports fan, I like the one-and-done playoff setups of the NFL and NCAA, but a best-of-seven gives the favorite a much better chance of prevailing in the end.
My parents read me some typical children's books: 'Green Eggs and Ham,' 'The Little Engine That Could,' 'Peter Rabbit.' But I quickly developed a preference for nonfiction books about baseball and math, by the likes of Bill James and Martin Gardner.
My parents were both very frugal, and I think they're responsible for my attitude of always looking for good value, especially in my work. In a way, sports betting is like a big game of 'The Price Is Right:' just like I'd pay $3 for a Coke Zero but not $4, I'd lay three points on the Bears-Packers point spread but not four.
As a gambler, I hold myself to an especially high standard of honor, and it disgusts me when people try to cheat at games.
My daughter learned to say, 'They're not even trying to cover!' before her second birthday.
There's nothing better for my interests and talents than combining math and sports for profit.
I really like not having to justify my decisions to anyone else, as well as the freedom to vacation whenever I want.
You need to pick your spots and bet big when you identify them. That's basically my 'Jeopardy!' strategy in a nutshell.
I always dreamed of working in an MLB front office and ruining baseball, but I have to settle for ruining 'Jeopardy' instead.
It is exciting for me to see the stats guys winning the battle and getting into MLB front offices.
I feel like I've been lucky in a lot of ways.
My perception of a professional gambler has always been a positive one.
I first got into gambling because it was a way for me to leverage my love of baseball statistics. For the first few years, that's all I would focus on.
There are times when you'll only have one or two seconds to decide if you're going to bet on something and you need to be decisive. You need to do math quickly in your head.
I figured, maybe one in five, one in 10 people would recognize me. But no, it's everywhere, especially in Las Vegas. I think the city's kind of embraced me which is good.
I have doubted myself on several Daily Double answers.
I kind of didn't look at anyone else's strategy for 'Jeopardy!' I thought, I'm going to build this from the ground up... If I had never seen a 'Jeopardy!' game played before, what would I have to do to play it to maximize my winnings, maximize my chances of winning?
Anytime you learn something new, you're just trying to file it away - might be useful one day.
