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.
James Holzhauer
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.
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.
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?
As a gambler, I hold myself to an especially high standard of honor, and it disgusts me when people try to cheat at games.
When I was a kid, I would turn on the television as soon as I got home from school.
Parenting is much more nerve-wracking than 'Jeopardy!'
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.
Lots of people recognize me now.
Like Dave Mustaine, I ain't superstitious.
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.
It definitely helps that I can bet big with ice water in my veins.
I've got a family and job that I really love with super flexibility.
My source of income is sports betting. I have some investments also.
I went to Illinois. Most people think I went to Princeton or something. But I was never a diligent student.
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.'
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 have no special knowledge of markets, so I invest solely in low-expense index funds, plus some cryptocurrencies.
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.
Baseball was my goal from a young age, but gambling had significantly fewer barriers to entry.
It is exciting for me to see the stats guys winning the battle and getting into MLB front offices.
There's nothing better for my interests and talents than combining math and sports for profit.
It was always my plan to go big on 'Jeopardy!,' and I'm glad I was able to stick to the plan under pressure.
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.
I really underestimated how many people are paying attention to 'Jeopardy' and what's out there.
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.
My perception of a professional gambler has always been a positive one.
Even though I'm used to losing bets every day, I am not calm when I sweat a game.
I honestly don't think I can hack it in the 9-to-5 world, though I've never actually tried.
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.
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.
I've learned more about animals just by reading to my kid than I ever did studying.
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.
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.
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.
As a general rule, the less time a bookmaker has to set his odds the softer the odds are going to be.
There were times in school where I would say, 'I should go to class.' But I could make $100 playing online poker if I didn't go.
I'm used to gambling.
I feel like I've been lucky in a lot of ways.
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 want to not lose what makes me be me.
Nobody likes to lose.
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.
Anytime you learn something new, you're just trying to file it away - might be useful one day.
If you believe in yourself, you don't have to do things the same way everyone else is doing it.
Easily the hardest 'Jeopardy!' categories to study in the kids' section are the so-called 'trashy' pop culture ones.
Jeopardy!' is a bigger deal than I realized.
The aggressive betting on the daily doubles is one of my trademarks.
I think there's a mental block for betting big amounts that doesn't exist for me but it does for other people.
I really like not having to justify my decisions to anyone else, as well as the freedom to vacation whenever I want.
