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Bill Rice, Jr.'s avatar

A few of James Holzhauer's radical "Jeopardy strategies"

* James went sideways across the board (not top-to-bottom in one category) and started at the bottom of the board, trying to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible.

* He was always looking for the Daily Doubles and when he hit one he almost always went "all-in" and bet everything he had (knowing he had about a 98 percent chance of correctly answering the question).

He bet as much as he could in Final Jeopardy.

And a few other wrinkles. Basically, he viewed the game as a chance to make money and wanted to make as much as he could while he could. He could also put away his competitors early in the game and must have left them dismayed and thunder-struck.

It's interesting to me that nobody since James has used the same strategies. However, James was invited to participate in a two-day tournament with the show's Top 3 all-time players, including the all-time champ (as far as number of shows won), Ken Jennings, who is now the host of the show.

Jennings surprised me by beating James in this Jeopardy Super Bowl. However, the way he did this was playing exactly like James' played. In other words, he beat James at his own game.

Jennings was smart enough to know that was the only way he could beat James. So the smartest player knows Holzhauer did indeed figure out how to play Jeopardy better than anyone else ever had.

Jennings admitted he was a nervous wreck playing this 'cut throat" brand of Jeopardy and not many people would have the nerves to play the game this way.

James probably also figured out the State of California and Uncle Sam would take at least 50 percent of his Jeopardy winners' winnings. So James didn't really make $2.2 million. He made about $1.1 million. The State of California (where the show is taped) and the IRS - which didn't answer one question correctly - made just as much money as James.

James was fortunate he lives in a state, Nevada, that doesn't have a state income tax or the government would have stolen even more of "his" money.

To still make a lot of money with all these taxes, you need to maximize your winnings.

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Lori Weintz's avatar

Really insightful article, Bill. This is a big concern! I felt alarmed when multi-billionaire Larry Ellison announced from the White House, in connection with Trump's AI investment announcement, that AI would help with customized mRNA shots w/in 48 hours of disease diagnosis. Absolutely the WRONG DIRECTION!!

https://x.com/LoriWeintz/status/1882280216380514453

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