Oso planning to go pro
Those two other contestants yesterday looked like they wanted out about halfway through the second round. The middle one looked pissed because he was answering everything.
Is anyone paying attention to the guy who is just crushing it on Jeopardy? I don't generally watch, but I heard them talking about it on the radio, so I've tuned in the last couple of days.The guy is a sports bettor from Vegas. In just 10 days, he's amassed just under $700,000. Before he started on the show, the highest single-day total ever was $77,000. This guy has broken that four times in 10 shows, including $131,000 yesterday (and also $110k, $106k and $89k). Hell, he had $71,000 yesterday before even making his final wager (the competition had around $5,000 each). He's a machine.Yes, I know...totally geeky to be watching (much less posting about) Jeopardy!
Dude is fascinating. Not only is he a great player, he's clearly applying game theory and +EV (very common fundamentals for poker players and gamblers), which shockingly nobody really has before. Its the difference between him and someone like Ken Jennings who was just a great trivia mind.670 had him on the other day. Definitely kind of an awkward dude, but it is fascinating. Hard to see who can stop him short of a weird board he just doesn't connect on. If he starts getting into 20-30 win totals, much less approaching Ken Jennings, they might start sweating cause their potential loss is substantial.
Why is their potential loss substantial? The guy is ridiculous. He is a perfect storm of a Jeopardy player. He is extremely knowledgeable on a wide range of topics. He is a gambler and bets large sums when he hits the Double Jeopardys. But I think the biggest thing is that he has the buzzer timing down. I would guess about 25-30% of the questions are ones that more than 90% of Jeopardy contestants know, and he gets the lion's share of those. You can't buzz in until a millisecond after Alex finishes reading the question. If you buzz early there is a delay before you can buzz in again. He seems to have that timing down perfectly.
Ken Jennings wont $2.5MM over 74 episodes. Holzhauer has $700K thorough 10 episodes. At this rate, he'd pass Jennings in the mid 30s and would be over $5MM if he approached his streak, and thats assuming he's not hitting these $100-110K rounds regularly. Jeopardy is fine, Trebek makes like $10MM a year, so its not like he'll bankrupt the show, but they will be paying out WAY more money than usual.
Beat me to it. Can't imagine why no one has ever done this before. How many times have we seen a guy get the daily double on an $800 dollar question and "risk" only $1000? Almost every contestant is worried about losing money rather than going for it to make money.
There are a lot of really smart things that he's doing. First of all, by hitting the high value clues first, he's getting to those before his competitors are getting comfortable in the game which gives him an immediate advantage. Also, by hitting those first he's building a substantial bankroll before he hits the daily double -- which allows him to bet a large amount. The other day he was at $20k or so when the went to the first commercial break.And the smartest thing he's doing: answering all the questions correctly. That's probably his best strategic move. I heard on the radio this morning that he was 40 for 40 last night.It's also interesting that sometimes when he has a seemingly insurmountable lead in double jeopardy, he seems to take a break for a while. I haven't paid that close of attention, but I wonder if it corresponds to when one of the other players is in the negatives. I wonder if he's giving them a chance to get back above zero to compete for second place.
Easy to see why he's a professional gambler.
And the smartest thing he's doing: answering all the questions correctly. That's probably his best strategic move. I heard on the radio this morning that he was 40 for 40 last night.
It also helps if you don't have knowledge gaps.
The whole dynamic of positioning yourself well for Final Jeopardy is why you usually don't see big bets. If you are losing, making a big bet that risks you going underneath the 50% threshold where you can't win is a losing play.OTOH, the only time it makes sense to make big bets when you leading, is when you are WAY out in front. Like he usually is. So the reason he can afford to make big bets is because he is generally way out in front. There have been times late in the game where he makes small bets to make sure he stays at least double to the second place person to ensure a win.What's smart is that he's not guessing. Ringing in a guess is what gets a lot of contestants in trouble. Only ring in when you are reasonably sure you know the answer - or at least can figure it out in the few seconds you have.
They will be paying out way more money than usual, but, I assume, they will also be getting a ton more viewers than usual as his streak continues to grow.
That really would suck to spend your entire adult life hoping to get on Jeopardy, and then when you get your chance, you're playing against a f'ing machine.
Trebek is at his best when he is snarky, dismissive, or flat out annoyed by the contestants. That was great
Best game show host ever. Did I read/hear that he is suffering from pancreatic cancer?