WEBVTT - Beating The Book: Jeopardy James Holzhauer 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:12.080 Check it down, Man down, Man skill, Alexander. I love 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.560 when people say this next guest needs no introduction, and 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:16.880 then they proceeded to reduce ing. I will do the same. 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:19.880 This next guest really does need no introduction, but just 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:22.799 for the sake of introduction. Uh. He won thirty two 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.960 consecutive games on Jeopardy that were aired between April fourth 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.480 and June two. He raked in more than two point 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:34.720 four million dollars I'll be exact, two million, four two 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.080 hundred and sixteen dollars worth of prize money. That is 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.600 an average of when you factor in game thirty three, 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:43.720 which was the game he lost. When you put it 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.760 all in the mix, he averaged seventy four thousand, six 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.720 hundred and seventy three dollars per episode. That average beats 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.640 the previous single game high before he ever showed up. 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.280 Ladies and Gentlemen Jeopardy James James Holt Tower, good morning 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.920 to you, sir. How you doing? I hate to correct you, 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.440 the previous gameer was seventy seven thousand, and there actually 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.880 is a vocal community of fans online who are disappointed 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.000 that I didn't get a little bit more to beat 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:12.039 that average. Throughout the whole run, just a little short 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.920 of it. So so yes, so so my my intel 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:16.920 here is incorrect then, so you just fell short of 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.120 that pretty close though. Um, First of all, Jeopardy James, 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.039 do you like that name or do you sort of 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:25.880 coming at the the U R L from my original 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:28.280 fan page on Facebook? So I can't be too upset 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:30.640 with that. I mean, people like alliteration. There's nothing wrong 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:32.559 with that, and I don't. It's not like I feel 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:34.720 that people are trying to define my entire life by this. 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.320 They're just you know, it's kind of the celebrity persona 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.560 I got. So. So, first of all, thank you for coming. 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:42.559 I we're going to get into your sports betting because 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:43.880 you are a sports better and I want to talk 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.640 to you about that during this hour. But and I 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.280 know you've you've talked about the Jeopardy aspect of this 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.440 in the background many many times in other media. But 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:54.360 for those who are tuning in for the first time 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.960 who have not, how did when did the Jeopardy bug 0:01:58.240 --> 0:01:59.920 start for you? How did you ever get it in 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.440 your mind? Hey, I want to go on this show. Well, 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.560 it's kind of been a long time coming, I would say, 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.000 when I was eight. I like to say that my 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:10.359 life path was set out early in life because I 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.280 happened to grow up in the Chicago area and I 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.160 would have kind of access to the TV before my 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.440 dad got home from work. And in the Chicago area 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:19.360 on like most places, we had day baseball because the 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.079 Cubs played afternoon games all but like eighteen games a 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.480 year when I was living there. And then we had Jeopardy, 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.600 and so Jeopardy was on at three PM there what 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.079 normally airs, you know, just before primetime in most markets. 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.880 So I would be watching baseball and Jeopardy when an 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.200 age where I think most kids wouldn't be allowed to 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.120 catch these things on at night, and I got the 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.320 idea like, hey, I'm really into baseball stats, I'm really 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.680 into this game show. You know, maybe one day I 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.600 can probably these into a career. You know, just kind 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.040 of happened that way. Um, I would say, when I 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.040 was a young adult, I would take the Jeopardy test 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.320 online and kind of just be glad to get on 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.040 the show. But then down the road, I thought, We'll 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:00.840 wait a minute. You know, this is I want opportunity 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.160 at this one. I really try to do my best. 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:05.920 You know, do things no one's ever seen before. I 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:10.040 really think that the potential for human achievement is sometimes 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.000 so much higher than anyone realizes until you try it. Yeah, 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.720 I I sort of comically say on this show when 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:18.480 I bet unders and games, I'm betting against human achievement. 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.840 That's sort of I think I gravitate towards uh So 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:23.440 it's interesting that use that phrase. So just to clarify, then, 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.360 so you were intrigued by Jeopardy Jeopardy as a child. 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:29.120 You were on a couple of game shows internationally before 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:33.560 Jeopardy correct. Yeah, so Jeopardy was always the dream. I 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.600 would say, um, but run two thousand eleven, I took 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:39.880 a hiatus from sports betting for a few years, and 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.200 you know, I needed a project then. So I've seen 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.480 somewhere in the media people say I intentionally took off 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.240 work to prepare for Jeopardy, which is not really true. 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:49.240 But at the same time, I was, you know, I 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:51.760 kind of on sabbatical and needed something to do, and 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:53.720 I thought I could do really, really good. It's trivia 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.080 and you know, really knocked the show dead when I 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.720 get on there. And while I was waiting for Jeopardy 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.160 to put me through the Ring learned, get me on. 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.040 There are a couple other shows, the Chase and five 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.440 hundred questions that I did get on. So how many 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.600 times did you audition or go through the the application 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:10.960 process if you will. So for Jeopardy before they called 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:12.839 you back, they have an online test and I've taken 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.200 that every year since two thousand six. Um, this is 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.719 only my second in person audition. So if you pass 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:19.400 the test, I think they have a random draw for 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:21.359 who gets to go to the in person audition, and 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.080 then maybe like ten of the people who go to 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.560 the in person audition get to go on the show. Okay, 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.560 So there's two elements of this. Obviously, there's then Okay, 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:32.880 they call you back and you're like, hey, we want 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.560 you to be on Jeopardy. You there's gotta be a 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:37.960 knowledge base that you've got to acquire. What did you 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.080 lean on? Now you have how much time was between 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:42.919 that phone call and your first appearance on Jeopardy? How 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:44.520 much time are we talking about there? So there were 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:48.240 three weeks and my first episode taped on February five, 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.719 which is two days after the Super Bowl. So it's 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.160 kind of tricky for me to determine how to how 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:57.000 is gonna divide my time between prepping for the show 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.160 and betting Super Bowl props. And you know, it turned 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:02.679 out to be a great super Bowl for me because, 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:04.159 as you know, the pro has often bet on a 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.360 boring game happening, and like, oh my god, you can't 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.320 get it more boring super Bowl than we just had. 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:10.960 So you know it was great because I kind of 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.279 walked into the studio with like, well, you know, this 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:15.279 is a great week for me financially, even if I 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.640 punked this right now. Um yeah, you know, three of 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:21.240 the three weeks they give you is not enough time, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:22.880 religio to prepare for the show. You kind of have 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:26.039 to be doing your prep work in advance even before that. 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:30.320 And you know, they require a really broad knowledge base, 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:32.160 but not a particularly deep one. So I would say 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.440 my one of my key strategies was to go to 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.320 like the children's section of the library, look for a 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.320 book that's aimed at twelve year olds that they know, hey, 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.320 this reader doesn't have a great attention to span, they're 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.160 not really that interested in the subject, but let's get 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.360 them interested, you know, And that that really worked well 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:49.640 for me. So so children's books because they cover a 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.360 wide variety of subjects in a succinct manner. That was 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.480 sort of your hack on that. You also, you know 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.120 there's a lot of literature, for instance, that that is 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.320 asked about on Jeopardy. You're not reading entire books. What 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.160 was your sort of shortcut for that? Well, you know, 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:07.960 there there's a lot of material out there for everything. 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:11.640 You know, they have these people who draw I would say, 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.680 they dropped like an animated summary of Shakespeare play that 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.080 boils down into a seven minute video you can watch 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:19.000 on YouTube. You know, if you're able to process that, 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.159 and you you don't want to actually read the Shakespeare 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.919 play like me, you know, then most of the nuts 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:25.680 and bolts of what Hamlet is about are on there 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:28.599 if you really want to get it that way, and 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.120 for the most part, I mean, if it's not like 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.880 the Bible or Romeo and Juliet. They don't expect you 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.719 to have actually read the book and taken notes on 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:37.360 it or something like that. You know, you're supposed to 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.839 know the major themes, the character names, that kind of 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.440 stuff the author obviously, So talking to James Holt Tower, 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:47.159 by the way, who just fell shy of Ken Jennings 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:51.400 all time money hall in the history of Jeopardy, but 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.960 set so many records within the within the context of 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.720 the show. By himself and by many, is regarded as 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.080 the greatest Jeopardy player who has ever played, because that 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.960 missed a grand total of four daily doubles the entire 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:07.200 run and one final Jeopardy the entire run. So there's 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.240 the knowledge base that we just talked about. That's one 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.280 thing that's obviously sort of baseline level that every Jeopardy 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.160 contestant would study on their own. You had your own 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.400 way of doing it, Others would have their other way. 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:23.000 But your real differentiator, um was the fact that you 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.920 came up with a Jeopardy strategy, and that now in retrospect, 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.520 having seen you play it this way, seems so obvious 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.880 to every viewer. But what was it that you determined? 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.080 I assume that when you were eight years old, first 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:36.720 first dreaming about Jeopardy, that's not what had happened for you. 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.520 When did you come up with your special? I'm gonna 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:41.720 instead of going one hundred to two D three hundred, 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:43.920 I'm gonna start with big money and then I'm going 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:50.239 to use my sports betting acumen when betting in daily doubles. Yeah, so, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:52.720 you know, the way I approached sports betting is similar 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:54.680 to way I approach jeopardy. You know, you don't look 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:56.480 at what everyone else is doing and then just try 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.240 to copy it and add a few sprinkles here there. 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.160 What you can do is just kind of look at 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:02.560 the rules of the game and think, like, how can 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.200 I best approach this? You know, how would a computer 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.080 program to play this game optimally approached this thing? And 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:09.640 you know, it turns out that that's often a lot 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.440 different than what everyone else around you is doing, you know, 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:14.920 and sometimes it takes someone else doing it for you 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:16.880 to recognize that, hey, this is a valid approach that 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.440 can work for you. I think, you know, if poker, 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.880 I've I haven't really tried to play poker competitively for 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.440 a number of years, But if you look back fifteen 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.400 years ago when I was playing the strategy people are 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.000 doing compared to now, you know, it's completely different because 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.120 it took some people saying, hey, wait a minute, you know, 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.640 we we need to start occasionally five betting pre flop 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.960 as a bluff. You know, it might not have occurred 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.319 to anyone to do it, but you know, some someone 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.720 who was really trying to optimize their strategy would have 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.440 thought of this. You know, someone is trying to optimize 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:47.360 the Jeopardy strategy would think, well, wait a minute, what 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:48.640 does it do good? Just do me to hit a 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:50.679 daily double? If five a thousand dollars in front of me, well, 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:52.839 if you have six thousand, now you can really make 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.760 a big dent with that, well you would accute you. 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:57.840 So you would start. In other words, you were you 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.600 were accumulating as much money as possible. You were oftentimes 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:04.160 starting at the bottom of the grid and Jeopardy, whereas 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.360 four years and years folks would just go in sort 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.480 of a systematic order down. And then when you would 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:10.600 get to the daily doubles, it was sort of a 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.480 you know, serve two purposes. One, you would bet to 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.439 have a huge, big lead um beyond what was normal 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:20.959 in the past, and it also served to eliminate those 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.880 daily doubles, which are the high variants moments that could 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.439 have allowed other people back into the game. So it's 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:30.840 sort of this perfect strategy. If I'm playing you in Jeopardy, 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.680 there's really no wouldn't I employ the same strategy like 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.720 that would be how you would advise me to play you. Yes, 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.040 And you know, I will say, most of my opponents 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:40.840 when they were up there, you know, even if they 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:42.720 only see me for a game, they knew, Okay, you 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:44.240 know this guy is different. I need to change up 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.440 the game plan I had coming in here. And I 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.000 guess one of the downsides of this is I'm you're 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.160 kind of teaching the opponents to play better against you, 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.079 and this almost cost me um one of my I 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:56.240 want to say, my twenty six game, there was a 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.360 player who built up a huge lead against me, and 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.400 he uh could moved all in a daily double, but 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.440 didn't send. I think he's still bet like half his 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.040 stack when he already had a big lead, which I 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:06.600 think is more than he would have done otherwise. But 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.920 you know, I was kind of training my opponents to 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:11.640 play this hyper aggressive approach that's you know, worked better, 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:13.520 a lot better against me than what they were planning 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:18.360 to do going in. Probably I in preceding this interview, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.600 I went on some of these Jeopardy sort of sites 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.959 that people are super super involved with Jeopardy, and there 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.040 is some history. There was one guy back in the day, 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.280 for like a five game run, he employed this strategy. 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.319 Were you aware of him? That was like the one 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.400 historical example of someone who had employed the strategy that 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.840 you did. I mean, I'm aware of all the things 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.320 that have come before me. I would I would say 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.079 I developed the strategy myself, but I I don't, Uh, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.520 I mean, there are certainly elements that are similar to 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.120 people who have come before me. Absolutely well, So yes, 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.200 everyone can now take your strategy into it. Emily Butcher 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:55.000 I believe was her name, she beat you on the 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.880 thirty three which aired on on June three. She only 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:02.320 lasted three games herself, so clearly it's not that easy 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:04.400 to do right. You have to be able to do everything. 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.600 And your key Alan Boston, Well, I'm not sure if 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.640 you're familiar with Alan Boston, famous college basketball better who's 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:11.200 a friend of this show and has been on many times. 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:15.440 Avid Jeopardy watcher watches it every night and he's like, look, 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:20.080 he said James's skill set, James's number one skill is 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.280 his ability to anticipate the buzzer. Would you agree with that? Yes? 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.079 I mean, you know, if I had to play two 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.520 people from the street to Jeopardy, my knowledge base would 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.439 rule over everything. But the people who are on the show. 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:31.640 You know, they passed a difficult test to be there. 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.200 They all know most of the clues up there. Maybe 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.440 not as many as I do, necessarily, but most of 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.679 the board. You know, if they're if you uh are 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:41.760 buzzing in only thirty three percent of the time, then 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.360 you know that's really gonna make it tough to win 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:46.079 and you gotta rely on all kinds of other stuff. 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:47.720 But I was winning the buzzer race, I think I 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.160 don't know fifty six something like that, and that really 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.160 just gives you a huge leg up over the competition. UM. 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:57.000 I noticed in the pregames warmups that Emma seemed to 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:58.600 have a really great buzzer control, and I was kind 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:00.280 of worried about when I was going to have to 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.400 face her. And I think I won the buzzer a 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:03.839 few more times that she did in our game, but 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:07.080 she was clearly like top notch at it, really great 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.000 buzzer control. But so now let me just ask one 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.319 follow up to that. Everyone can see the question. So 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.240 what I'm assuming you're doing, you're reading it fast. So 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.520 Alex Trebeck is very deliberate how he reads it right, 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.920 He's very clear, very concise, how he reads it. It's 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:23.360 sort of a slow tenor to what he's doing. So 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.840 I assume you're reading it quicker, but your opponents can 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.520 do the same thing. What would you say, distill at 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:31.520 to one point? Why are you so much better at 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.040 the buzzer? Like, what is it you just have a 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.200 quicker reaction time? What is it you speed read better? 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.520 I don't know about that. One thing I definitely worked 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.480 on is trying to solve the clue in less time 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.080 than it took two to read it, So you know, 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.280 you can kind of I'm not a neuroscientist, but I'm 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.280 under the impression that people can create like new neural 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.040 pathways where if you say, study the order of the 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.760 president's enough, then as someone calls out eighteenth president is 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:57.480 just like answering two plus two. You know you don't 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:59.400 have to think about it. You just know that it's 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.360 ulysses as Grant. I had to think about that a second. 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:06.000 That actually, but um, you and once you kind of 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.000 get to that level, you okay, Now you have the 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.480 entire clue to focus on either Alex's voice or when 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:12.240 the board lights are coming on. If you have a 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.280 hd percent of your attention on that instead then it 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.640 really helps your ability to react to that moment um. 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:19.880 I had a practice buzzer that I kind of built 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.760 out of a mechanical pencil at home. And you built 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.400 a practice buzzer out of a mechanical pencil, I did. 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:28.200 And you know, this is actually a very common thing 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.040 that people on the show do. Most of them just 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.120 don't don't get the opportunity to talk about it, but 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:36.160 they'll take a pen or they're popular choice is actually 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.120 the tube that's your toilet paper sits on. You can 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:45.400 press the retractor thing on that's that's right. Um, so 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.160 you bring up you lists grants. So this kind of 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.040 jogs in my in my thinking, in your is their 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:54.280 Jeopardy data? Like I grew up in d C, people 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.840 cheated on driver's test from year to year when they 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:58.960 got to sixteen years of age, because they passed the 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.440 same test from the year forward, so they knew the question. 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.720 They knew actually the order of the multiple choice. Is 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.240 there a history? Is there a database of Jeopardy questions 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.880 where let's take Ulysses S Grant where Ulysses s Grant 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:14.040 questions weren't asked as much on Jeopardy as say I 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.920 don't know Chester A. Arthur questions, Yes, they they have 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.320 a it's kind of a fan created archive. I assume 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.400 that the show has its own archive. It is not 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.280 publicly accessible, but there is one that is free to 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.960 the public called the Jeopardy Archive, and they have like 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.240 fans transcribing all the shows basically, and they've got a 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.560 search function where you can kind of Now it's tricky, 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:35.920 you know, because if you search for Ulysses Grant, not 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:37.640 everyone says the first name on the show, so you 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:39.160 might have to search for just Grant and then you 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.840 get like if someone wrote a grant for a million dollars, 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:43.720 that will pop up to But for the most part, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.760 you can kind of run searches and see how often 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:48.720 these names come up, and you'll determine, okay, it's five times. 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.000 It is important to know George Washington as Chester Arthur, 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.160 and you kind of know where to focus your attention there. 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.640 So you're aware of all of that going into it. Well, 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.040 I mean, there might be other sites I'm not aware of, 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:00.720 but this this one is. But you had you had 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:02.720 some sense that you needed to study that sort of thing, 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.480 like you figure out what they ask more than than others. Yes, 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.080 you kind of get the idea, Like, you know, I 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.240 watched pro wrestling and I listened to a lot of 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:13.120 death metal stuff and that I know it was never 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.040 gonna come up on the show, and it's it's too bad. 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.880 But uh, you know, you you recognize which subjects they 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:19.560 are going to ask about and which ones they aren't. 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:21.520 You were just telling me off air, you just were 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.920 on vacation. You were in Prague, you were in Lisbon, 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.240 you were in Barcelona as well, and you were recognized 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.520 there as well. Pretty often. Yeah, I would say it 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.360 happened virtually every day. Uh, you know, especially when I 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.160 was at the airport or something, and you you get 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:35.840 the only tourists at the airport and a lot of 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.960 Americans are I assume are they're Americans out there and 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.560 asking me, oh, are you Jeopardy James? You know they 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:44.440 do you embrace that? You love that, Like is this 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.320 a good development in your life or is it getting 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:47.960 to a point now where you're sort of like, I 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:49.520 don't know if I like this so much or is 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:51.920 it all good? Well? I would say, like there were 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.360 definitely times where my my daughter was acting out in 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.840 public and I would have preferred that that exact moment 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.360 to have an anonymous face. But for the most part, 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:01.800 it's nice to see fans out there. You alluded to 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:04.160 the fact that there was a gentleman who almost beat 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.240 you during your thirty two games streak, uh, and obviously 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.600 Emily Butcher eventually did on Emma Butcher rather on on 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.800 your thirty three Were there other times throughout this run? 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:16.520 Now that you look back on it and sort of 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.520 do the inventory, how many times do you think you 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.080 got with all the things we just talked about, your 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:28.280 knowledge base, your buzzer ability, uh, your instincts for um, 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.040 the Jeopardy database of questions, the fact that you employed 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.360 the perfect Jeopardy strategy, all of that in the mix. 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:36.360 Just like in poker, you can still have everything set 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.240 up perfectly, but then there's a certain element of luck involved. 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:41.760 How many times did you did the thirty two game 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.880 streaks stay alive in your assessment based on just sheer luck? Oh, 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.680 it's I mean, I don't know how sheer luck is defined, 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:51.920 but certainly I needed some element of fortune at least 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:53.920 ten times over the streak. You know, I think there's 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.480 one time in my second game where I had I 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:58.280 basically moved all in on a daily double than I 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:00.240 did because I was behind in the score. That's time. 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.720 And they asked which UH college was nicknamed Sadie Lew 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:05.720 And I knew this really only because my wife and 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.040 I talked about naming our daughter Sadie and she she said, Oh, 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.280 it's a diminutive of Sarah. It's very nice, and I thought, Okay, 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:12.800 it's gonna be something Sarah Sarah Lawrence makes sense, you 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.560 know that. You know, I don't think that Sadie Leew 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:17.160 is a well known nickname. So that's like the only 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:18.760 way I could have gotten there on this is because 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:23.360 something like that happened. It's kind of crazy to think about. Well, 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.199 and I think that's you know, and so many of 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.800 the correlation. You know, we talked about eliminating the the 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:33.160 high variance daily doubles, UM, your your risk, your aversion, 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:37.080 the ability to treat the money. UM. You know, I 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.200 think most people come on a show like Jeopardy, they're 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.080 constantly thinking, well, I'm betting sixteen thousand dollars you as 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.399 a sports bet you just don't have that mentality. And 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.840 I think that portion right there that we just talked 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:51.160 about UM is obviously something that as a poker player, 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.359 as you said, as a sports better, you're more conditioned for, 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.480 right You You embrace the fact that there's going to 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.760 be this kind of variance, and you're okay with the 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:01.040 fact I did, oh yeah, that this is going to 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.520 be part of this game. Sometimes the chips fall where 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:07.040 they may. In other words, you kind of uh developed 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.680 the mindset not only of okay, I can lose this money, 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.199 but also you know, I can lose some money and 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:13.959 still keep playing the game. You know, if I if 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:16.520 I quit work every day every time I lost the bets, 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.879 I've never did anything done, you know, even I was. 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.400 I mean, I don't even know if the gambling background 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.320 helped that much. I noticed, like there are people I 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.240 was playing against who came from all sorts of professions. 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.359 You know, Emma as a librarian. I thought, okay, well 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:32.560 she hit this daily double against me when she had 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:34.400 I think maybe two thirds of my score in our game. 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.120 And I thought, okay, well she's a library and maybe 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:37.560 she won't bet at all here. And now she did. 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.199 She knew she that was the move she had to do, 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:41.720 and uh, you know, kudos to her. She pulled it out. 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:43.960 It had to help and most But where do you 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.560 think it helped the most? The sports betting background, though, well, 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.000 I mean that's definitely a part. I mean in terms 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.160 of just winning the game. I'm not sure how much 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.119 the Giants daily double bets actually helped. But you know, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.640 in terms of like setting up these these huge pay days, 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.359 you know, that required a level of us that I 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:02.879 think most non yamblers wouldn't have displayed in that moment. 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:05.560 One more thing about this and we'll get onto your 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:09.560 sports betting here after the break. But the show aired April. 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:12.560 You're you're part of the show from April fourth, I 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.040 believe it was to June three. Um, you had obviously taped. 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.760 This was your entire taping before the run. Was it 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.320 staggered in the middle, Yeah, it was, the entire thing 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:23.639 was before. I think my last tape day was something 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.000 like March twelfth, which you know worked out well for 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:27.919 me because it was right before March Madness. I can 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:29.560 get back to work alt and I did not win 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:32.960 on March Madness. So so when your shows were airing, 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.399 you obviously knew how far you got. You knew the 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:39.080 outcomes when the hype was growing, and I don't use 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:41.680 hype with any connotation to it. But when the publicity 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.879 was growing and your your que factor, your star power 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:48.600 was getting bigger and bigger because you knew that you 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:52.360 just fell short of some of Ken's records, Like obviously 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:56.560 the game streak, he went a crazy amount seventy four games, 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:58.920 was it um and he was winning a lot at 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:04.480 a much uh lower clip than you were. But as 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.479 that hype was developing, was there a little part of 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.240 you that sort of wanted to downplay it publicly because 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.479 you knew this outcome. I was always curious about that 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:15.719 because I was trying to when I was hearing you 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.119 in interviews and watching you, I was looking for tells myself, 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:21.359 and I was like, I don't know if he broke 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:23.360 it because he seems maybe you're just the most super 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:25.439 humble guy in the world, but it almost seems in 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.040 some cases that he was bashful. Was I reading into 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:31.120 that at all correctly? Um? Maybe? I mean I would 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:34.760 say like, first of all, I was completely blown away 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.600 by how much attention I was receiving. You know, some 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:39.800 people tried to prepare me for this, and I said, like, okay, 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.280 come on, it's jeopardy. You know, there's not that many 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.240 people out there who are that interested in this stuff, 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:48.040 but yeah, I was just in awe of the different 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:50.640 media types that wanted to talk to me and how 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.560 many people, it turns out our closet Jeopardy fans or 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.000 either that or they're just really excited to see someone 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:59.359 do with something very differently than anything they've ever seen before. 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:03.200 So I kind of, you know, was reacting to the 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:05.639 level of attention being I don't know five times what 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.080 I expected it to be. Um, I would say, like 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:11.359 it was if I had to not break the record. 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:13.119 It was kind of nice to come so close to 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:17.000 doing it, you know, making a really spectacular sweat down 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:20.199 the line. And I didn't really want to downplay that 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:22.240 because I thought it was kind of cool how how 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:24.639 close I got and came just short. It was awesome. 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:26.200 It was amazing. Were you were, I mean, what was 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:28.440 your love? How bummed were you at that moment? Were 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.640 you just super dejected or were you okay with it? Uh? 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.440 You know, it's a funny story. So when right after 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:36.720 the taping finish and I kind of had to go 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:38.840 sign my forms to collect my second place money, one 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:41.240 of the producers came up to me and she gave 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:43.600 me a hug, and she actually started crying because she 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:45.800 was She said she had never seen anyone play the 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:47.960 game so beautifully before, and I had to like kind 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.920 of pat her on the back and comfort her. That's amazing. 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.119 This was ending wow. But you know, I mean, I 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:56.480 would say like it was kind of a bitter sweet moment. 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:58.640 Obviously I wasn't happy to lose. But at the same time, 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:01.359 you know, I uh, it was getting a little stressful, 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:05.040 um going back there every week, and you know, I 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.080 was kind of like I had I had put this achievement, 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.880 checked it off the bucket list, you know, like it's 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:15.520 okay to move on with life now. Well, absolutely obviously 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:17.560 no shaving that. I love that you're comforting herds, you 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.680 appreciating just how well you played the game well. James 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:23.399 holts Ower for those two and again biggest Jeopardy winner 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:27.239 by season among his records, biggest one game winner at 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:28.720 first he broke it. He had he had a one 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.040 hundred and ten thousand dollar plus night and then a 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:35.520 one hundred thirty one thousand dollar event, largest successful daily 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:38.960 double wager of twenty five thousand dollars, largest successful final 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:42.240 Jeopardy wager of thirty eight thousand first, then uh, I 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.119 believe it was a sixty thousand again after that sixty 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:48.240 thousand plus on one wager. We will get into some 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:50.800 of your sports betting stuff next. How about that? Do that, 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:52.679 James holtz Our right here on a numbers game at 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:55.480 Visa down back to a numbers game with your host, 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:58.919 Gil Alexander, broadcasting live from our visa in studios in 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:01.840 Las Vegas. On a numbers game. We're sports betting analytics, 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:05.879 live actionable sports betting information. It's Gil Alexander UM Update 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:09.479 Open Championship in Royal Port, Russia. There in Ireland. Shane 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:13.040 Lowry still with the two stroke lead. Shane has played 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:16.160 thirteen holes so five left to go, two stroke lead 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:19.720 over JB. Holmes, who's in the clubhouse eight under par, 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:22.879 Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood three shots currently back in the 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:27.520 clubhouse as well at seven under as Eldrick tiger Woods 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:29.320 fails to make the cut. I just want to point 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:31.680 that out as well this morning, and um, of course 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:34.040 we'll follow it all weekend long right here on Visa. 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:37.040 Back on the show here with James holtz howerd Jeopardy. 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:39.239 James kind enough to join us, James, I said, we're 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:42.200 gonna move on to your your sports betting. One last thing, though, 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:46.120 I mentioned in the previous segment that in your entire run, 0:23:46.760 --> 0:23:50.399 you missed four daily doubles and one final Jeopardy question. 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:53.040 I want to see how how much this has stuck 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:54.760 in your crawl or how your brain works if you 0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:56.280 just moved on. So I just want to ask you 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.800 one of the random daily double questions that you missed. 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:01.600 This was all the way back on the show that 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:05.199 aired on April eleventh. The question that Alex Trebeck, by 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:07.000 the way, is he had just a wonderful, sweet guy. 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:10.840 You know, I can't be seeing off camera fraternizing with 0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:14.080 him because they have every the appearance of impropriety is 0:24:14.080 --> 0:24:16.200 a huge deal in game shows. But you know, from 0:24:16.320 --> 0:24:18.000 every interaction I've had with him, he strikes me as 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:21.040 a consummate professional. I was really admired him keeping coming 0:24:21.040 --> 0:24:22.600 into work when he knew he was dealing with this 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:25.439 serious health issue. Wish him the best with his with 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:28.879 his health issue. April eleventh, Alex put this question out there. 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:31.399 He said, this inductee into the Video Hall of Fame 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:35.480 sold seventeen million copies of video cassette she released in 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:38.280 nineteen eighty two. The category, by the way, with celebrities, 0:24:38.680 --> 0:24:40.280 and this was a this was a fine, this was 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:43.520 the final Jeopardy one and that you risked three thousand, 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:45.399 ten dollars on this one. Do you remember what your 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:47.800 answer was? Yes, it was Madonna? And do you remember 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:49.720 what the real answer was? Jane fond And you know, like, 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:51.320 I know it's easy to say this now, but if 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:53.359 I had twenty more seconds, it would have occurred to me, 0:24:53.400 --> 0:24:57.080 like cassettes can be for home workouts too. How many 0:24:57.119 --> 0:25:00.320 times during the actual regular play did you just buzz 0:25:00.359 --> 0:25:02.480 without knowing the answer and you're just I just want 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:04.600 to get there first, or you a guy who you 0:25:04.680 --> 0:25:06.920 only buzzed when you kind of had an inkling. I 0:25:06.960 --> 0:25:08.920 would say it wasn't a lot of times. There were 0:25:09.720 --> 0:25:11.920 maybe five or so. Now, there were a couple where 0:25:11.920 --> 0:25:13.800 I thought I knew the answer and that I changed 0:25:13.840 --> 0:25:16.200 my mind in the middle of the buzzing process, which 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:18.760 sometimes worked out in my favor and sometimes not did not. 0:25:19.240 --> 0:25:22.119 All right, so sports Betting, you identified yourself as a 0:25:22.160 --> 0:25:24.159 sports better on the show, and by the way, in 0:25:24.160 --> 0:25:26.640 that regard, let me just on behalf of everybody. Thank 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:29.879 you for elevating just what a sports better is in 0:25:29.920 --> 0:25:33.000 the public domain, right because most the average person thinks 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:34.920 of a sports better. And I was like, oh, that's 0:25:34.920 --> 0:25:38.600 some degenerate stuff right there. But here you were crushing 0:25:38.680 --> 0:25:41.399 people and identifies a sports better. And I think I 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:43.080 think a lot of people may have sort of been like, 0:25:43.080 --> 0:25:45.400 oh that, well, that's interesting. Yeah, some people have tried 0:25:45.440 --> 0:25:47.000 to claim that I got to legalize in an extra 0:25:47.080 --> 0:25:51.959 couple of states being up there above that. Yeah, all right, 0:25:52.000 --> 0:25:54.080 So when did you first, Like, how did you get 0:25:54.119 --> 0:25:57.000 into sports betting? First of all, Uh so in college 0:25:57.040 --> 0:25:59.280 I played a lot of online poker, as many so 0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:03.680 many gambler to live in Las Vegas now did, and uh, 0:26:03.720 --> 0:26:05.320 you know, I kind of so the idea of like 0:26:05.400 --> 0:26:08.399 sending money to this offshore place and you know, trusting 0:26:08.440 --> 0:26:10.600 them to pay you back was ingrained in my head. 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:13.119 And then like the idea that hey, people can actually 0:26:13.119 --> 0:26:15.280 win doing this if they have the right strategy was 0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:18.680 also there. Um. I was also into fantasy sports, and 0:26:18.800 --> 0:26:20.399 you know, from a young age I really wanted to 0:26:20.880 --> 0:26:22.879 know all the statistics of the baseball players and know 0:26:22.920 --> 0:26:25.040 what they meant, you know, so I would be that 0:26:25.119 --> 0:26:27.360 kid who I would trade you for your baseball cards 0:26:27.359 --> 0:26:28.800 if I didn't have them yet, and try to acquire 0:26:28.800 --> 0:26:30.760 a complete set of the players and put them all 0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:34.160 into Excel and take a look at these numbers, like, well, 0:26:34.200 --> 0:26:35.600 you know, what does it really mean that this guy 0:26:35.640 --> 0:26:39.520 is slugging for seventy that last year? You know, But 0:26:39.560 --> 0:26:40.920 believe it or not, there was a time when four 0:26:40.920 --> 0:26:43.680 seventy was a really good slugging percentage, right in a 0:26:43.760 --> 0:26:47.560 different era. Yeah, but uh so I kind of got 0:26:47.680 --> 0:26:49.480 into it first of all, because you know, I was 0:26:49.840 --> 0:26:51.560 already in the business of trying to figure out which 0:26:51.560 --> 0:26:54.240 players and teams were gonna succeed unexpectedly next year, and 0:26:54.240 --> 0:26:55.680 I thought it might as well make a little money 0:26:55.680 --> 0:27:00.000 doing it. And you know, the old like Baseball Prospectus site, 0:27:00.000 --> 0:27:03.960 it's had kind of ways to convert this information into probabilities, 0:27:04.000 --> 0:27:06.080 you know, Clay to have import used to run this 0:27:06.800 --> 0:27:09.280 Monte Carlo simulation of how often teams would make the 0:27:09.280 --> 0:27:11.879 playoffs at the end of the year, and the idea 0:27:11.920 --> 0:27:15.359 of you know, kind of simulating randomness into the equation like, Okay, 0:27:15.400 --> 0:27:16.880 we know this team is the best team, but maybe 0:27:16.880 --> 0:27:19.880 their players get injured or maybe they you know, bad bounces, 0:27:19.920 --> 0:27:23.040 just get them along the way. You If you try 0:27:23.080 --> 0:27:26.120 to simulate the baseball season, the standard deviation of where 0:27:26.160 --> 0:27:29.080 your forecast should start them where they should end up 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:30.639 is something like nine games. You know, that's a lot 0:27:30.720 --> 0:27:33.000 of variants into the equation. You really got to be 0:27:33.040 --> 0:27:36.560 a lot better than your competition to sweat that. So 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:39.600 do you You know, here's the thing, when when one 0:27:39.640 --> 0:27:41.919 says they're professional better, So my audience and an audience 0:27:41.920 --> 0:27:44.679 of Vista very sensitive. Those the best pro betters that 0:27:44.760 --> 0:27:47.600 I know, right, the people who are truly they devote 0:27:47.600 --> 0:27:50.680 their life to betting, they're very sensitive. Right, So when 0:27:50.720 --> 0:27:52.680 someone calls themselves a professional sports and I don't know 0:27:52.680 --> 0:27:54.760 if you've gotten any of this in your sphere, right, 0:27:54.760 --> 0:27:57.320 So there are those who are like, well, does James 0:27:57.640 --> 0:28:00.240 is he an originator of his own handicapping? Is the 0:28:00.280 --> 0:28:04.119 one doing his own handicapping? Or is he more of 0:28:04.160 --> 0:28:06.000 a guy and by the way, no judgment from hating 0:28:06.040 --> 0:28:07.520 for me on any of this. Or is he a 0:28:07.600 --> 0:28:12.119 guy that is really about finding marketed efficiencies? Is he 0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:16.560 a screen saper scraper? Is he just looking for an 0:28:16.680 --> 0:28:19.760 edge numerically rather than just as an originator of a 0:28:19.840 --> 0:28:22.840 hand as a as a handicapper. Uh. Yeah, you know, 0:28:22.880 --> 0:28:24.480 I don't know if you've ever had Mitchell Lichtman on 0:28:24.520 --> 0:28:26.359 the show, but I remember I used to comment on 0:28:26.800 --> 0:28:28.480 because I have not had him on the show, but 0:28:28.520 --> 0:28:29.960 I'm very aware of it. Yeah, so I used to 0:28:29.960 --> 0:28:32.280 comment on some of his old blog posts. Uh. And 0:28:32.560 --> 0:28:34.600 you know, it's just myself as a professional gambler, and 0:28:34.640 --> 0:28:36.000 he would be like, who is this guy? You know, 0:28:36.040 --> 0:28:42.080 where are his criticious um virtue regarding the what I'm doing? 0:28:42.160 --> 0:28:44.480 I do it all. You know. When I started out 0:28:44.480 --> 0:28:46.800 in two thousand six, I was just purely running my 0:28:46.800 --> 0:28:49.880 own numbers against the market and nuts, you know, especially 0:28:49.920 --> 0:28:52.040 I wasn't living in Vegas then. I didn't have access 0:28:52.040 --> 0:28:53.520 to the best odds all the time, and you know, 0:28:53.560 --> 0:28:55.959 they didn't have these aspect then obviously, so I couldn't 0:28:56.000 --> 0:28:58.280 just drive around and expect the odds to still be 0:28:58.280 --> 0:29:01.400 there when I got there. Uh. My focus largely on 0:29:01.440 --> 0:29:03.760 baseball futures at that time because I thought that was 0:29:03.800 --> 0:29:07.800 the most inefficient market. And you know it's I guess 0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:12.200 it's easier to if you see alignment's off, to think that, Okay, 0:29:12.200 --> 0:29:14.560 no other professionals are looking at this market. I can 0:29:14.720 --> 0:29:17.360 go drive across town to the Hilton, then throw down 0:29:17.360 --> 0:29:19.360 my money on this and expect it'll it'll still be 0:29:19.400 --> 0:29:22.920 there when I wanted to be uh and you know, 0:29:23.000 --> 0:29:25.160 I would say, like one one thing I used to 0:29:25.160 --> 0:29:27.320 do every year, this is the first year I haven't done. 0:29:27.360 --> 0:29:30.320 It is like kind of run a baseball futures hedge fund, 0:29:30.320 --> 0:29:32.760 where if I see that a team is under priced, 0:29:32.800 --> 0:29:34.360 now I will just load up on them, you know, 0:29:34.400 --> 0:29:37.120 way more than the Kelly criterion says I should, knowing 0:29:37.160 --> 0:29:39.200 that I can bet against them in the World Series 0:29:39.200 --> 0:29:41.320 if they make it there. You know, maybe I'm giving 0:29:41.400 --> 0:29:43.360 up a couple of percentage points on the other end, 0:29:43.400 --> 0:29:45.240 but it's still you know, works out to a long 0:29:45.320 --> 0:29:48.480 run profit that way. Um, But you know, I definitely 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:50.400 do a lot of line shopping and stuff now. You know, 0:29:50.400 --> 0:29:52.520 there are times when if I see that the spreading 0:29:52.520 --> 0:29:54.400 money line are off in a football game, I'll bet 0:29:54.440 --> 0:29:57.200 both sides of it. That kind of thing. Or you know, 0:29:57.240 --> 0:30:00.400 if I think the market is over overreacting to breaking 0:30:00.440 --> 0:30:05.000 injury information, now you know, be happy to take a 0:30:05.000 --> 0:30:07.800 position on that, even if I don't think anything else 0:30:07.840 --> 0:30:10.960 of the game because because the futures angle is is interesting. 0:30:11.280 --> 0:30:12.840 But you know, most would say you're not going to 0:30:12.960 --> 0:30:16.160 make a living just betting futures, right like specifically, So 0:30:16.240 --> 0:30:17.880 that's why the other stuff you're talking about is is 0:30:18.280 --> 0:30:21.680 interesting to me. Are you nowadays? Are you looking more 0:30:21.720 --> 0:30:24.840 at halftime lines? Are you doing a lot of in 0:30:25.000 --> 0:30:27.840 game stuff? Like? What? What? How do you approach that? Yeah? 0:30:27.880 --> 0:30:30.080 So you know back back in the day I was, 0:30:30.760 --> 0:30:33.520 the market is totally changed. Of course, as your listeners all, well, no, 0:30:33.720 --> 0:30:35.720 you know now that you have access to these apps 0:30:35.720 --> 0:30:38.760 and you can bet at the biggest sports books from home, 0:30:38.800 --> 0:30:41.240 it gives you this ability to do stuff you could 0:30:41.280 --> 0:30:44.160 never do before, like getting in you don't have to 0:30:44.160 --> 0:30:45.880 physically be present at the sports book to make a 0:30:45.880 --> 0:30:48.000 halftime bet. Now it's the huge deal, or is the 0:30:48.040 --> 0:30:51.320 in game stuff, especially although almost most of the apps 0:30:51.320 --> 0:30:53.000 in town have limited my end game bets to a 0:30:53.080 --> 0:30:57.440 hundred zero dollars now unfortunate, but yeah, you always that right, 0:30:57.480 --> 0:31:00.800 they have limited you. Yeah, yeah, this I think. I 0:31:00.840 --> 0:31:02.600 don't think there's a sports booking talent that hasn't at 0:31:02.680 --> 0:31:05.280 least collared me at some level. About about half of 0:31:05.280 --> 0:31:06.800 them won't take a bet from me at all, and 0:31:07.160 --> 0:31:09.200 the other half field you know, takes some fraction of 0:31:09.200 --> 0:31:12.760 what's they would take from a Joe off the street. Um. 0:31:12.800 --> 0:31:14.800 That that all started before Jeopardy, So I don't think 0:31:14.840 --> 0:31:18.040 that this has necessarily affected anything that applied to far 0:31:18.040 --> 0:31:21.240 away places as well. Yes, I would say, I mean, 0:31:21.280 --> 0:31:23.720 you know, like there there's some that deal with professionals 0:31:23.760 --> 0:31:25.800 and they just don't care. I mean they do care 0:31:25.800 --> 0:31:27.200 in the sense that they move the line more when 0:31:27.200 --> 0:31:29.360 I bet than they will for someone else. Right, because 0:31:29.360 --> 0:31:31.760 there are there are shops, right, we know, the two 0:31:31.800 --> 0:31:34.840 sort of pillars in far away places that will not 0:31:34.880 --> 0:31:39.320 ban anybody, right, Pinnacle or a bookmaker like that. Um. 0:31:39.360 --> 0:31:41.400 But I'm that's interesting that you said that half will 0:31:41.440 --> 0:31:43.200 not take any of your bets here in Vegas and 0:31:43.240 --> 0:31:46.520 half will limit you. Yeah, that's about how it breaks down. 0:31:46.600 --> 0:31:49.560 So if that's the case, Um, I mean how much 0:31:49.640 --> 0:31:51.600 you know Listen, you just came off of Jeopardy, which 0:31:51.640 --> 0:31:53.240 I don't know if you know this, James, you just 0:31:53.320 --> 0:31:56.000 want two point four million dollars, like did you have 0:31:56.120 --> 0:31:58.120 you because of all of those you put all of 0:31:58.160 --> 0:32:01.160 that into the soup if you will. Um, has it 0:32:01.360 --> 0:32:04.240 changed your outlook on life, like in other words, look, 0:32:04.240 --> 0:32:07.400 I got this nest egg. Um, they're doing all these 0:32:07.440 --> 0:32:10.880 things to make my life difficult, betting perhaps I don't 0:32:10.960 --> 0:32:14.600 do this moving forward. It has certainly occurred to me, Um, 0:32:14.640 --> 0:32:17.920 you know, there's people, without revealing too much about what's 0:32:17.920 --> 0:32:20.280 going on in my email inbox, there are people offering uh, 0:32:20.880 --> 0:32:23.680 large sums of money for you know, chunks of my 0:32:23.760 --> 0:32:25.720 time that I might not necessarily want to give up. 0:32:25.760 --> 0:32:27.480 But it has occurred to me like, how wait a minute, 0:32:27.480 --> 0:32:30.000 you know, if I if I'm making like I don't know, 0:32:30.320 --> 0:32:32.960 let's say five thousand dollars and a typical college football Saturday, 0:32:33.000 --> 0:32:35.840 working from sun up to sundown? Is that worth my time? 0:32:35.840 --> 0:32:39.160 When I could go give a speech at some quant 0:32:39.240 --> 0:32:42.160 fund for more than that, you know, And I don't know, 0:32:42.200 --> 0:32:44.360 it's a it's a thought like and then it occurs 0:32:44.360 --> 0:32:46.000 to me, maybe I shouldn't care about the money at all. 0:32:46.040 --> 0:32:50.120 You know. It's uh like the idea I really enjoy winning. 0:32:50.120 --> 0:32:53.040 I would say that's kind of driving me more professionally 0:32:53.200 --> 0:32:55.520 right now than anything else. Is the idea like, hey, 0:32:55.560 --> 0:32:57.960 you know I can I can find something that's that 0:32:58.040 --> 0:33:01.120 no one else sees, Uh that you know, a factor 0:33:01.160 --> 0:33:02.840 that no one else is considered here and use that 0:33:02.880 --> 0:33:05.480 too to make some money. I think that's that's always 0:33:05.520 --> 0:33:07.560 been a really important reason why I got into this 0:33:07.600 --> 0:33:09.440 line of work. And you know, if I still feel 0:33:09.440 --> 0:33:11.880 that spark, of course I'm gonna keep doing it just because. 0:33:12.000 --> 0:33:15.240 But yeah, you know, it's the thought has occurred to 0:33:15.240 --> 0:33:17.480 me like, well, you know, maybe I spend some of 0:33:17.480 --> 0:33:20.080 my Saturday playing with my kid instead of in front 0:33:20.080 --> 0:33:23.280 of don Best screen. Might might be maybe a bit 0:33:23.320 --> 0:33:26.120 more balanced life for you at this point. Yeah, you 0:33:26.160 --> 0:33:29.000 alluded to some things, some things in your email inbox. 0:33:29.080 --> 0:33:31.360 I want to get into some of your email inbox 0:33:31.400 --> 0:33:34.240 because I know you've had some chats and you have 0:33:34.360 --> 0:33:36.360 some aspirations and if you don't mind if we get 0:33:36.400 --> 0:33:39.320 into that, maybe a professional sports life for you. I 0:33:39.320 --> 0:33:41.880 don't know, we'll find out. We'll get with it with 0:33:41.960 --> 0:33:44.360 James Holt Tower right here exclusively on a numbers game 0:33:44.360 --> 0:33:46.800 at Visa down Back to a numbers game with your 0:33:46.880 --> 0:33:50.480 host Gil Alexander, broadcasting live from our visa in studios 0:33:50.480 --> 0:33:52.840 in Las Vegas. It is a numbers game, it is 0:33:52.840 --> 0:33:55.640 Gil Alexander. It's serious X Channel two four. Jeff Pearls 0:33:55.720 --> 0:33:56.800 is here, or as we like to call him now, 0:33:56.880 --> 0:34:00.640 Jeff Parlay, Maybell do Pearls is Parlay? How will we 0:34:00.680 --> 0:34:04.520 had not thought about that before? We should see if 0:34:04.560 --> 0:34:07.720 Vinny said it earlier. Yeah, I'll give Brendan credit and 0:34:07.800 --> 0:34:10.200 David credit back here for saying it about a month ago, 0:34:10.239 --> 0:34:12.720 and then it just disappeared from my brain. No baseball 0:34:12.719 --> 0:34:14.920 pick from Jeff today. By the way, James Holtzauer is 0:34:14.960 --> 0:34:17.600 here from Jeopardy thirty two wins in a row on Jeopardy. 0:34:17.640 --> 0:34:20.279 We're just talking off air about how, you know, when 0:34:20.320 --> 0:34:21.560 I told some of my buddies that you were on 0:34:21.600 --> 0:34:25.480 the show, the different reactions, and one of which is, uh, 0:34:25.640 --> 0:34:27.120 just talk about the sports, but don't talk about the 0:34:27.160 --> 0:34:29.600 Jeopardy part. And and and you know, I'm sensitive the fact 0:34:29.640 --> 0:34:31.439 that you have to talk about the Jeopardy part over 0:34:31.480 --> 0:34:34.239 and over over again. But to me, that's still like 0:34:34.280 --> 0:34:37.880 the strategy you employed is still the most fascinating aspect 0:34:37.880 --> 0:34:40.560 of all of this, right, because it's that's the biggest 0:34:40.560 --> 0:34:42.840 window to your brain of all this. I get that 0:34:42.920 --> 0:34:44.800 you have the knowledge base and all the other stuff 0:34:45.160 --> 0:34:47.840 and sports betting you do in your own private you know, 0:34:47.880 --> 0:34:52.120 in your own privacy. Um, but that, to me is 0:34:52.200 --> 0:34:54.920 what is the main point of all this. It's the 0:34:55.000 --> 0:34:57.239 fact that you came out with that came up with 0:34:57.280 --> 0:35:00.280 that strategy, and the fact that sports bettors right should 0:35:00.280 --> 0:35:03.520 always be looking for a different way to approach things, 0:35:03.520 --> 0:35:05.879 different markets and such. So I hope you don't mind 0:35:05.920 --> 0:35:07.919 that we rehashed all the gems. No, it's no problem 0:35:07.960 --> 0:35:10.760 at all. I mean, frankly, I'm a little relieved because 0:35:10.800 --> 0:35:12.879 I took like the months of April to June off 0:35:12.920 --> 0:35:14.880 work to deal with everything else that was going on 0:35:14.920 --> 0:35:18.200 in my life. So I'm well behind on the baseball season. 0:35:18.200 --> 0:35:21.399 I just started doing my football research this week. So 0:35:21.960 --> 0:35:24.360 do you have any baseball futures that you like? No, 0:35:24.560 --> 0:35:27.759 you know, I decided I would be mostly sitting out 0:35:27.760 --> 0:35:29.839 this season. I mean there's a lot of factors. First 0:35:29.880 --> 0:35:31.600 of all, I got, you know, so much stuff to 0:35:31.640 --> 0:35:33.560 manage with the Jeopardy fall out. But also, you know, 0:35:33.600 --> 0:35:35.880 every year I like to take vacations during the summer. 0:35:35.920 --> 0:35:38.600 It's kind of a slow sports season, and as you know, 0:35:38.680 --> 0:35:41.080 the weather here gets intolerable after a certain point. I 0:35:41.080 --> 0:35:45.279 haven't noticed. Yeah, um, okay, so I know a little bit. 0:35:45.320 --> 0:35:48.640 By the way, nothing on football yet you're researching. I've started, 0:35:48.800 --> 0:35:51.840 but okay, no thoughts yet, you know, I mean my 0:35:51.880 --> 0:35:53.440 thoughts are kind of the same as they always are. 0:35:53.440 --> 0:35:56.160 If you look at the odds. I'm kind of aggregating 0:35:56.160 --> 0:35:58.319 all the odds for season wins and futures right now. 0:35:58.360 --> 0:36:00.560 And if you look, no surprise, you know, the worst 0:36:00.560 --> 0:36:02.120 bets tend to be on the teams that have all 0:36:02.120 --> 0:36:04.360 the hype right now, like the Cleveland Browns. I cannot 0:36:04.360 --> 0:36:06.280 believe I'm saying this, but are the most hyped team 0:36:06.840 --> 0:36:09.040 and they're they're probably the worst bet. If you want 0:36:09.040 --> 0:36:12.120 to put our Super Bowl future out there, I would agree, uh, 0:36:12.680 --> 0:36:16.440 no value, that's correct. Um, all right, so I hacked 0:36:16.440 --> 0:36:20.680 into your inbox. So Seattle Mariners. Have you had a 0:36:20.760 --> 0:36:23.879 chat with the Seattle Mariners. There was a talk, Yes, 0:36:23.960 --> 0:36:26.280 a chat is a good term for It was all casual. 0:36:26.360 --> 0:36:29.080 You know, there's no job offer anything. But I talked 0:36:29.120 --> 0:36:30.839 with a couple of people from their front office and they, 0:36:30.920 --> 0:36:34.440 you know, they seemed to have running running a really 0:36:34.480 --> 0:36:37.200 good organization there, you know, despite what it would seem 0:36:37.280 --> 0:36:38.920 like from their on field performance. But they know what 0:36:38.920 --> 0:36:42.080 they're doing, you know, they know that, Hey, we were 0:36:42.080 --> 0:36:44.920 in the business of investing in assets for years from now, 0:36:44.920 --> 0:36:49.000 and they've been buying low on some players. That's uh. 0:36:49.200 --> 0:36:51.760 Other teams have decided they don't want to deal with anymore, 0:36:51.760 --> 0:36:54.560 you know, Domingo Santana, Dan vogel Buck, They you know, 0:36:55.280 --> 0:36:57.520 players that other teams don't want basically, and they they're 0:36:57.520 --> 0:36:59.480 finding some value there. I think. Yeah, we've been talking 0:36:59.520 --> 0:37:02.240 about the science recently here who won thirteen and fifteen 0:37:02.280 --> 0:37:05.000 games of San Francisco Giants and the conundrum that they 0:37:05.040 --> 0:37:07.319 have moving to the July thirty first trade deadline of 0:37:07.640 --> 0:37:10.120 what do you do? You know, you've been selling You've 0:37:10.120 --> 0:37:12.440 been in a cell mode all this, you know mentally 0:37:12.480 --> 0:37:15.680 this whole way, and their GM was hired to you know, 0:37:15.719 --> 0:37:19.200 look to the future. But the team's not cooperating with 0:37:19.239 --> 0:37:21.520 the narrative right there, just winning so many games that 0:37:21.560 --> 0:37:23.120 they're right in the thick of the wild card race. 0:37:23.360 --> 0:37:25.720 What do they do? And it makes baseball very unique. 0:37:25.840 --> 0:37:29.800 Do you aspire to a baseball front office job? Or if, 0:37:29.960 --> 0:37:34.759 say James the local franchise here in hockey, let's say 0:37:34.760 --> 0:37:37.880 the Vegas Golden Nights came calling, would that be something 0:37:37.880 --> 0:37:41.160 of interest to you? So Baseball was the dream definitely 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:43.600 half a life ago when I was thinking about this 0:37:43.719 --> 0:37:46.239 sort of thing. But you know, I will say, I mean, 0:37:46.520 --> 0:37:49.200 most people who follow baseball closely know they're they're doing 0:37:49.360 --> 0:37:51.520 all kinds of stuff they didn't do fifteen years ago, 0:37:51.760 --> 0:37:54.479 and you know, they're really playing. I would say, close 0:37:54.520 --> 0:37:57.680 to an optimal approach now of how do we find 0:37:57.719 --> 0:37:59.600 the best players, how do we pay them, how do 0:37:59.640 --> 0:38:02.080 we train in them? You know, it's getting like so 0:38:02.120 --> 0:38:05.000 good now. Whereas I think football and hockey the two 0:38:05.040 --> 0:38:06.719 major of the four major sports, of the two that 0:38:06.760 --> 0:38:09.640 really I think could use an infusion of data and 0:38:09.960 --> 0:38:14.080 like different approaches to the problems they're facing right now. 0:38:14.120 --> 0:38:16.480 And you know, I think that in terms of what 0:38:16.520 --> 0:38:18.080 I would enjoy the most, I'm not sure, But in 0:38:18.200 --> 0:38:19.719 terms of where I could deliver the most value to 0:38:19.719 --> 0:38:22.280 a team, it would more likely be in a different 0:38:22.320 --> 0:38:25.440 sport than baseball, I would think, because baseball has had 0:38:25.760 --> 0:38:29.480 is sort of the analytics began decades ago, and others 0:38:29.560 --> 0:38:32.759 other sports haven't sort of evolved necessarily as far. Yeah, 0:38:32.760 --> 0:38:35.000 and I understand the player tracking data is about to 0:38:35.040 --> 0:38:37.160 explode in the NHL. I think there's probably a lot 0:38:37.160 --> 0:38:39.600 of stuff we can learn from that that it's just 0:38:39.760 --> 0:38:41.279 you know, breaking in. Of course, you know, I don't 0:38:41.320 --> 0:38:43.640 have access to the same data sets that these teams have. 0:38:43.960 --> 0:38:46.440 So I have noticed that, and forgive me for a 0:38:46.480 --> 0:38:49.560 step your last. I have noticed that when baseball comes up, 0:38:50.239 --> 0:38:52.279 and more often, not more often than not, but a 0:38:52.280 --> 0:38:54.440 few times you sort of you on your own, will 0:38:54.480 --> 0:38:56.759 segue towards hockey. I know that I did right here 0:38:56.800 --> 0:38:58.839 with the Knights. But honestly, if you could make if 0:38:58.840 --> 0:39:02.040 you could waive the magic on though seriously like and 0:39:02.200 --> 0:39:04.359 you know, let's just say some of the Night's front 0:39:04.400 --> 0:39:08.280 office might be listening, would that be, honestly like something 0:39:08.320 --> 0:39:11.080 that you would absolutely embrace, like you would want to 0:39:11.120 --> 0:39:13.200 have that meeting. Well, there's a couple of things, you know. 0:39:13.200 --> 0:39:15.440 First of all, if I could work for a hockey 0:39:15.480 --> 0:39:18.160 team on site, I cannot leave Las Vegas, which you 0:39:18.200 --> 0:39:22.240 know unless the Oakland the Oakland slash Las Vegas Raiders 0:39:22.239 --> 0:39:24.239 call me. Is the only way I can really do 0:39:24.360 --> 0:39:28.160 this without leaving this city, which I've come to really like. Um, 0:39:28.280 --> 0:39:29.880 you know the reason the Mariners came up. And my 0:39:30.080 --> 0:39:32.399 wife is from Seattle. She really envisions us moving back 0:39:32.400 --> 0:39:34.480 there one day and so I kind of just tossed 0:39:34.480 --> 0:39:36.120 in an offhand comment about how this would be a 0:39:36.160 --> 0:39:37.880 place she would like me to work, and you know, 0:39:38.000 --> 0:39:40.200 things just blow up on the internet now for no reason. 0:39:40.239 --> 0:39:43.600 It's incredible you've noticed. Um, yeah, you know they working 0:39:43.600 --> 0:39:45.919 for the Knights. I don't entirely know what I could 0:39:45.960 --> 0:39:47.680 do with the data they have because I don't know 0:39:47.719 --> 0:39:49.840 what it is, but yes, that would definitely be a 0:39:49.840 --> 0:39:53.400 thing that would interest trying to get you a gig here. Um, 0:39:53.600 --> 0:39:56.240 do you aspire now, Look, you've had the Jeopardy experience 0:39:56.280 --> 0:39:59.759 again two point four million dollars plus in your pocket. Uh, 0:40:00.000 --> 0:40:02.720 you have the two previous experiences internationally on game shows. 0:40:02.880 --> 0:40:05.439 Do you aspire to be on any other game show? 0:40:05.480 --> 0:40:07.080 Or was Jeopardy, as you said as a child, that 0:40:07.160 --> 0:40:09.960 was the pinnacle? Um? Would another game show even let 0:40:09.960 --> 0:40:12.520 you on anymore? Well? You know, I mean, I think 0:40:12.520 --> 0:40:15.719 they have to consider their prize budget accordingly. But you know, 0:40:15.760 --> 0:40:17.279 for the most part, these guys are looking to make 0:40:17.320 --> 0:40:19.319 a splash to get ratings. You know, I noticed Ken 0:40:19.440 --> 0:40:21.440 Jennings has been on at least like four or five 0:40:21.480 --> 0:40:23.400 other shows since he was on Jeopardy, and they the 0:40:23.400 --> 0:40:25.440 producers are like Hey, you know, maybe he'll win a 0:40:25.440 --> 0:40:27.680 little money, but we'll we'll get the name Ken Jennings 0:40:27.680 --> 0:40:30.120 on our marque out of it. Uh, And you know, 0:40:30.200 --> 0:40:31.960 maybe that will be the right thing for me down 0:40:31.960 --> 0:40:35.000 the road. I don't know. Uh. There's certainly some people 0:40:35.000 --> 0:40:38.000 who have emailed me about producing a TV show around 0:40:38.000 --> 0:40:40.840 me as on their talents, and you know, it's something 0:40:40.840 --> 0:40:44.480 I'd not necessarily considered before, but maybe we could find 0:40:44.520 --> 0:40:46.720 something that works out there. Do you enjoy the media 0:40:46.760 --> 0:40:48.640 blitz because you, like you said, when you come back 0:40:48.640 --> 0:40:51.480 from vacation, you're expecting, not expecting. But we probably know 0:40:51.520 --> 0:40:53.799 already that there's another media blitz coming towards you. People 0:40:53.800 --> 0:40:56.640 aren't done talking to you yet, as obviously evidenced here. 0:40:56.840 --> 0:40:58.960 I assume they would be done by now, but it 0:40:59.000 --> 0:41:01.680 turns out there not. That's that's been a surprise to me, 0:41:01.680 --> 0:41:03.560 and it's it's nice to to be in demand. I 0:41:03.600 --> 0:41:05.440 will say that. Okay, So when we leave here and 0:41:05.480 --> 0:41:07.759 we have to win a couple of minutes, Um, what 0:41:07.880 --> 0:41:10.560 bets are you making today? Are you making any bets 0:41:10.600 --> 0:41:12.879 at all? What it? What is the rest of your 0:41:12.960 --> 0:41:15.520 day look like from a sports betting standpoint? So I'm 0:41:15.560 --> 0:41:18.279 still kind of in the information gathering process of by 0:41:18.680 --> 0:41:23.120 the NFL preseason. Um, I will say I would I 0:41:23.160 --> 0:41:25.320 probably would make a bet at the book once I 0:41:25.400 --> 0:41:27.680 leave the studio today, except now that they've updated their app, 0:41:27.719 --> 0:41:30.000 I haven't transferred over to the new South Point app, 0:41:30.040 --> 0:41:31.640 so I can't actually check what their odds are on 0:41:31.680 --> 0:41:34.759 the futures market. And you know, if I if I 0:41:34.800 --> 0:41:36.440 had these things in my spreadsheet, I might have had 0:41:36.760 --> 0:41:39.399 a little target sign drawn on a team or two. 0:41:39.440 --> 0:41:42.120 But I gotta go kind of switch my account over 0:41:42.160 --> 0:41:45.359 and get that information first. I appreciate you coming in, James. 0:41:45.400 --> 0:41:47.440 I appreciate a couple of things that you shared here 0:41:47.440 --> 0:41:49.920 today that you haven't shared anywhere else. The one the 0:41:49.960 --> 0:41:52.640 story about at the end of Jeopardy when the girl 0:41:52.680 --> 0:41:54.600 giving you the money sort of gave you the hug 0:41:54.600 --> 0:41:58.319 weeping saying how beautifully you played that. So appreciate that nugget, uh. 0:41:58.360 --> 0:42:00.960 And the note that you are I they're banned from 0:42:01.040 --> 0:42:03.759 half or limited at half of the sports book here 0:42:03.800 --> 0:42:06.520 in Las Vegas. I don't think you've you've said that 0:42:06.640 --> 0:42:09.960 quite as strongly before in that way. If I'm not mistaken, Yeah, well, 0:42:10.000 --> 0:42:12.879 you know it's not a fact that necessarily interests most people. Oh, 0:42:12.920 --> 0:42:16.680 I think this audience is very interested in something like that. Um. 0:42:16.719 --> 0:42:19.480 I think I think that might be the big headline 0:42:19.680 --> 0:42:23.360 from this. Um. Yeah. I went on the pet McAfee podcast, 0:42:23.360 --> 0:42:24.799 and you actually thought that was like the coolest thing 0:42:24.800 --> 0:42:26.359 he had ever heard, that someone could be banned from 0:42:26.360 --> 0:42:27.960 a sports book for winning, and like, well, you know, 0:42:28.000 --> 0:42:30.719 when you're a professional, it's actually not that cool. Well, 0:42:30.760 --> 0:42:33.239 I mean, listen, what is what is your sort of 0:42:33.440 --> 0:42:36.800 you know, because obviously there's many kinds of folks. There's 0:42:36.840 --> 0:42:39.120 that faction that is anti sports book no matter what, 0:42:39.120 --> 0:42:40.680 they're the worst thing in the world. How dare they? 0:42:40.680 --> 0:42:43.600 How dare they? Or do you are you more of 0:42:43.600 --> 0:42:45.600 that sort of level headed where you're like, hey, look 0:42:46.360 --> 0:42:49.279 I get it. This is how there's some of their 0:42:49.280 --> 0:42:52.400 business models are and it's just this is this is 0:42:52.480 --> 0:42:54.960 how it is. And so I understand that this is 0:42:55.000 --> 0:42:57.920 their position, and I'm okay with it given that, No, 0:42:58.040 --> 0:43:00.680 I definitely okay with it. Now. Kind of wish William 0:43:00.719 --> 0:43:02.799 Hill would come out and say publicly, hey, we we 0:43:03.160 --> 0:43:05.840 banned players, instead of waffling around it every time they 0:43:05.880 --> 0:43:08.280 get interviewed about it. But you know, it's a business. 0:43:08.320 --> 0:43:10.400 They know what they're doing. They're they're offering a service 0:43:10.440 --> 0:43:12.920 to certain slice of the population. You know, I I 0:43:12.960 --> 0:43:14.560 can still bet on sports. I just have to do 0:43:14.560 --> 0:43:17.800 it somewhere else. James um, your homework assignment is to 0:43:18.080 --> 0:43:21.560 watch my pinned tweet on Twitter after you here. Based 0:43:21.600 --> 0:43:23.200 on your last comment, I think that's a good thing. 0:43:23.200 --> 0:43:25.000 I think I think what you're saying is right. At 0:43:25.040 --> 0:43:27.440 least be honest about it. Then we'd respect you more. 0:43:27.960 --> 0:43:31.520 James Holt Tower, everybody two point four million dollars appreciate 0:43:31.560 --> 0:43:33.239 you taking the time this morning. I know you have 0:43:33.239 --> 0:43:35.000 a little girl who you want to get back to. 0:43:35.280 --> 0:43:38.000 Thank you so much for being on. Thank you, James Holts, 0:43:38.000 --> 0:43:49.600 our greatest Jeopardy player there ever was, by my money.