James Holzhauer and Emma Boettcher: Library to Jeopardy

Photo by chuttersnap

The journey for “Jeopardy James” Holzhauer has come to an end after 32 games with a total winning of $2,464,216.  He lost to Emma Boettcher, a 27 year old librarian from Chicago. What a great achievement!  Holzhauer, a professional Vegas sports gambler has been very open about the strategies he had used to win which included going after the Daily Double questions first.   

In an interview with the New York Times, when asked how he knew so many facts, James answered by saying “I have a strategy of reading children’s books to gain knowledge. I’ve found that in an adult reference book, if it’s not a subject I’m interested in, I just can’t get into it.  I was thinking, what is the place in the library I can go to get books tailored to make things interesting for uninterested readers? Boom. The children’s section.”

So was it a coincidence that the person James lost to was a librarian?

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