Last night, James Holzhauer lost in Final Jeopardy!, and his 32 day win streak came to an end. He fell just about $36,000 of catching Ken Jennings and becoming the winningest Jeopardy! contestant of all time (in a single run). He had made $2,464,216 million playing Jeopardy! and his strategy caught the world by storm. His decision to start with the $1000 questions first and then hunt for the Daily Double was something no one else had done before in regular play (in the Tournament of Champions though, basically every contestant did that). His strategy threw off his competition and often before they had a chance to retaliate they were down $5,000-$10,000 before the first commercial break.
This strategy allowed him to get massive leads and, as a result, bet massive amounts of money on the Daily Doubles, which, led to him breaking the largest single day total over a dozen times while on his way to winning 32 days straight.
James's winning streak transcended just regular Jeopardy! fans and broke into popular culture and the sports world at large.
He received a variety of reactions because of his strategy, from fans who loved how he was changing the game, to others who said he ruined it. I find that argument absolutely absurd, and I addressed it here. Ken Jennings even supported his streak because he's a massive Jeopardy fan like the rest of us.
James was even interviewed on Sports Center by Scott Van Pelt because Scott wanted to know how he succeeded in not only Jeopardy!, but in sports gambling as well.
Fundamentally, his career as a professional gambler, his massive wagers, and his winning streak is what made him so interesting to fans from all different types of worlds (sports and beyond).
So we have to ask, what is the legacy of Jeopardy James and how will it affect the game going forward?
But it's only been a day? Why are we asking this question already? Well, because there's nothing like asking a good legacy question only hours after somebody loses a major event (just ask Tom Brady or LeBron James).
How will his streak affect future contestants?
I think to start, you are going to see tons of poor copycats of James as future competitors see the massive returns you can get on betting everything and going for the $1,000 clues first. We will also see lots of people begin to treat Jeopardy! the same way James did, like a job. You will have people going forward that study and practice Jeopardy! which will obviously have mixed results in the short term. Because people will practice, there is a good chance that we could get another James like run sooner rather than later, but it also will increase the level of competition among current contestants.
This will improve the level of play for Jeopardy!, but it may have some unintentional adverse effects. Since so many contestants who hope to follow in James path, will be training to win, it may phase out the casual contestants who just get on because they love the show and trivia. This is certainly a concern that the show needs to be aware of and I am sure they are figuring out how to address it.
However, I compare a moment like this to the implementation of the shot clock in basketball. The strategy to shoot more 3s than 2s was always there; no one chose to do it though until the Magic ('09) and Rockets ('17-'19) did it out of necessity and an attempt to break the NBA with math. The strategy James chose to play by has always been there.
No one else chose to attack that way though; that is not to the fault of James or any other contestant. It takes a while for people to break out of old habits and try revolutionary techniques like James or the Rockets did because a lot of the time you only have one shot at it. When it does happen though every freaks out about it. In the moment, we all overreact and declare that "the sport is broken".
Eventually everything returns to the mean and fixes itself. It may just take some time and we may have some bumps along the way. Just like how NBA defense have reacted to the Rockets style of play, contestants on Jeopardy will also figure out how to counter James's style of play and maybe ever create a more efficient one.
Then we will all say he or she ruined the game.
The imitators will try their best to be the next James, but I have a suspicion most of them will end up looking like the Washington Wizards rather than the Houston Rockets as they attempt to imitate James. You can't play a certain strategy well unless you commit to it and you're good at it. James's strategy was successful because he was good at it.
Fundamentally, Jame won so much at Jeopardy because he knew more than everyone else. He answered questions with precision and strategic educated guesses. He studied topics he didn't know by reading books in the children's section of the library. He practiced unconventional methods in order to become a champion.
Just like during Ken Jenning's run, he eventually ran into a Final Jeopardy he didn't know and his competitors adapted to his strategy. I am personally glad that social media didn't exist during Ken Jennings's run because who knows what kind of crazy hot takes we would have had about how he ruined the game in the moment!
So his strategy and style of play will definitely influence future contestants, but I feel like if you want to win on Jeopardy!, you need to be incredibly serious about it leading up to the game anyway.
There are multiple contestants every season that tell Alex Trebek Jeopardy! was their favorite show growing up or that they're seen every episode of it. If you want to win at this show, or even get on, you probably need to be obsessed with it from a young age. James's strategy was bold but his mentality wasn't unique to contestants who make it on the show in the first place.
James Holzhauer will go down as one of the best Jeopardy! contestants ever and he certainly revolutionized the game for the better. His legacy will be felt throughout Jeopardy for years to come and there will be another winner who will eventually match or break his streak. Until then, let's continue to watch Jeopardy! each night at dinner and think to ourselves "I could be on Jeopardy! I'm getting all of these questions right!", because we all do that. Don't pretend you don't.
*image found via USA Today