James Holzhauer is a 34-year-old native of Naperville, IL who now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada as a professional sports bettor. The Jeopardy! champion graduated from Naperville North High School in 2001. After high school, he attended and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelors degree in math in 2005.

James Holzhauer education
Holzhauer took his childhood passions into college. He was a member of the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering team that won the state competition while in college. It’s no surprise that his contribution was winning first place in physics and second place in math. Holzhauer told the Naperville Sun: “I have a B.S. in mathematics, but my real major was online poker.” His poker skill helped pave the way for Holzhauer’s current line of work as a professional sports bettor. After college, he spent time running a poker strategy website. He told ESPN that “Now, I focus largely on in-game betting, where the oddsmaker often struggles to put an accurate line with only a few seconds to think about it.” He continued, “I think my work is similar to an investment bank, except that I’m the analyst, trader, fund manager and day trader all into one.”James Holzahuer’s wife
Holzhauer and Melissa Sassin were married in 2012 and today they live in Las Vegas with their four-year-old daughter. It’s probably not much of a coincidence that his wife is also sort of a trivia buff having appeared on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” in 2014. The most shocking revelation about Holzhauer is that his wife revealed that he doesn’t like dogs. GASP!How James Holzhauer got on Jeopardy!
Holzhauer told Jeopardy! that being on the show has been a dream since he was a child watching the show with his grandmother. He followed his dream by taking the Jeopardy! online test for six years before he was finally asked to audition for the show in person. He tried out for Jeopardy! twice before being accepted to the show. Holzhauer told the New York Times that the best piece of advice he received for his audition was to smile. That tip worked as viewers have seen James Holzhauer smile to a variety of records during his epic Jeopardy! run.James Holzhauer tracker: daily updates and records
Holzhauer set a new bar for Jeopardy! contestants. He now holds every slot for the Top 10 Single Game earnings list. Holzhauer crushed his opponents by an average of more than $60,000. His average winnings per game were more than $70,000. The $131,127 won on April 17 is the most money ever won in a single game of Jeopardy! His 32 consecutive wins ranked second behind Ken Jennings’ record of 74. He also amassed $2,462,216 in winnings, also behind only Jennings.Did Jeopardy James win today?
No. James Holzhauer’s streak ended on Monday, June 3. His last Jeopardy win came on Friday, May 31. Holzhauer’s 32-day total finished at $2,462,216 — only $58,484 behind Ken Jennings’ all-time record.