Who Is James Holzhauer? And How Did This Las Vegas Man Become Jeopardy’s All-Time Winner?

LOS ANGELES, CA. (THECOUNT) — It took just eight days for James Holzhauer single-day winnings record on Jeopardy! to be broken. On Wednesday (April 17) night, Holzhauer broke his own record winning $131,127 as he won for the tenth straight time.

Holzhauer set the record by going 40 for 40 on questions in the first two rounds, giving him a commanding lead heading into Final Jeopardy. He wagered $60,013 on the final category and nailed the question, even adding “This is for you Granny <3” to the end of his written response.

When the professional gambler first appeared on the show, he set a goal of breaking Roger Craig’s one-game winnings record, which was established on September 19, 2010, when he took home $77,000.

“I said all along that I wanted to break Roger Craig’s one-game record and I did it,” Holzhauer said in a press release after he set the record for the first time.

Holzhauer has won a total of $697,787 during his ten-game winning streak, but still has a ways to go if he wants to hold the all-time Jeopardy! winnings record. That title currently belongs to Ken Jennings who won over $2.5 million during his 74-game winning streak in 2004. At his current pace, Holzhauer could set that record in 36 games., according to 957TheJet.

Holzhauer’s wife Melissa Sassin Holzhauer is no stranger to game shows herself. Before he was a star on “Jeopardy,” Melissa was a contestant on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The couple was then living in Seattle, Washington, and during that game show appearance, it was James Holzhauer who was in the crowd rooting on his wife.

Only one being has ever defeated Brad Rutter at Jeopardy!. IBM’s Watson. That’s it. Rutter is the former top winner on the popular long running ma show.

Rutter is the highest-earning Jeopardy! contestant of all time (including tournament winnings) with over $4.35 million in winnings over the course of his many tournaments. He originally became a contestant in 2001, and went on to dominate in the Tournament of Champions, the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Million Dollar Masters, and others.

Through all that, he still never found the formula to defeat good ol’ Watson. But the big question is could be beat Holzhauer?

Jeopardy host Alex Trebek was recently diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, according to reported by TMZ.

Trebek, 78, said he plans to attempt to finish out this season of “Jeopardy!,” reports the gossip outlet.

Sources connected to Trebek told TMZ, the TV game show legend was just informed of the diagnosis. He recorded a video message announcing the news.