James Holzhauer, the Las Vegas sports bettor who is on a historic run on "Jeopardy!" returned to the airwaves Monday and got right back to business.
Holzhauer won his 23rd consecutive game in Monday's episode, racking up $89,229 to close in on past champion Ken Jennings' all-time, regular-play winnings record. It was Holzhauer's first appearance on "Jeopardy!" in two weeks due to a teachers tournament.
Holzhauer has won $1,780,237 during his run. Jennings won more than $2.5 million during his record 74-game winning streak in 2004. Holzhauer is on pace to surpass Jennings in 10 more games.
Holzhauer, a 34-year-old husband and father, has used an aggressive style -- often risking large sums on Daily Doubles -- and an uncanny knack at buzzing in first to dominate competition. During Monday's episode, he buzzed in first 56.15 percent of the time, found all three Daily Doubles and won $21,429 on them.
Holzhauer's run has even drawn the attention of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
If James loses on Jeopardy tonight I'll eat a strawberry on IG live tomorrow.
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 20, 2019
James doesn't lose and I don't eat strawberries... keep it moving.
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 20, 2019
Holzhauer had $49,229 heading into Final Jeopardy. Second-place contestant Jenny Gibbs, a handywoman and gardener from Charlottesville, Virginia, had $4,600. Holzhauer risked $40,000 on Final Jeopardy and faced a category of "Name the French Author."
Holzhauer had the correct response to, "I am making myself liable to articles 30 & 31 of the law of 29 July 1881 regarding the press, which make libel a punishable offense" by writing down "Who Is Emile Zola?"
During his run, Holzhauer has provided 841 correct answers and only 27 incorrect responses, according to thejeopardyfan.com data. Through 23 games, only two contestants have gone into Final Jeopardy within striking distance of Holzhauer.
Holzhauer holds the top 13 one-day totals in the show's 35 seasons.