Vegas gambler James Holzhauer is off to a good start in avenging his loss to the Chicago librarian who snapped his 32-game winning streak on Jeopardy!.
In the first leg of the show’s Tournament of Champions, Holzhauer dominated Emma Boettcher and third contestant Francois Barcomb, finishing Thursday’s game with $37,412 compared to Boettcher’s $13,200 and Barcomb’s $7,800.
While amassing his sizable lead, Holzhauer used his familiar tactic of going for the highest-priced questions first and got 23 correct answers prior to Final Jeopardy! (which he also got correct).
One question that he missed, as did Boettcher and Barcomb, was an $800 clue in “Lawyers, Law & Legality.”
The clue from host Alex Trebek: “This lawyer’s star rose while repping Stormy Daniels but fell after he was accused of trying to extort millions from Nike in 2019.”
Wow. I’m honestly surprised none of the contestants buzzed in. pic.twitter.com/L7UFeVtwtR
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 15, 2019
Answer: Michael Avenatti.
Holzhauer and the rest of the field’s non-answer led to some pretty funny reactions in the Twitterverse.
Can’t forget something if you never knew it to begin with https://t.co/dynXHiVgNZ
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) November 15, 2019
I’m only being charged with a fraction of my actual transgressions. Is this how Trump got away with it? https://t.co/ofDVqEPtpE
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) November 15, 2019
Though Holzhauer is up big, the game is far from over, as all three contestants will compete again tonight in the Tournament of Champions finale. Whoever finishes with the most money tonight following the two-week competition will go him with the $250,000 grand prize.
By Holzhauer’s standards, that’s pocket change as he earned $2.4 million during his epic winning streak over the summer, just short of Ken Jennings’ Jeopardy! earnings record of $2.5 million.
Hopefully, he’s being sarcastic …
I'm letting Dan Quinn coach the second half. Hope nothing happens to that lead! https://t.co/9WIOXJ1Qls
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) November 15, 2019
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