James THREW it!! He NEVER bet so little or such an even number in FINAL JEOPARDY!!
James knew he’d lost before Final Jeopardy. It seemed rigged to me.
He knew that he could not beat the woman. He knew the woman knew she HAD to bet it all to beat him. He could bet a little and hope she missed, or he could bet it all, and risk getting blown out entirely.
He is a professional gambler, as as such, he does these types of risk assessments all the time—in seconds.
He figured the odds and knew he was probably going to lose. So why not bet for $2k instead of $1k. I know a lot of people do not think like that—but that is what he’s trained himself to do.
He knew that even if he bet everything his opponent had enough that if she bet everything he’d still lose.
So he bet hoping that she’d have the wrong answer.
He could have bet it all, still would have finished second.
It amazes me that all the smart people playing Jeopardy can’t figure out how to wager - before James came along, anyway.
“James THREW it!! He NEVER bet so little or such an even number in FINAL JEOPARDY!!”
James made the correct wager in Final Jeopardy.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jeopardy-james-holzhauer-wager-loss
He could not have won even if he’d bet his entire amount, because the winner’s bet was enough to beat that. The only way for him to win was for the woman who won to have answered Final Jeopardy incorrectly, so, there’s no way he “threw” it. And anyway, why woukd he?
If you read is reasoning it makes perfect sense. He was $6000 or so below the leader. He figured the leader was going to be all in, as she was. The only way he would win would be if she missed her question and he got the question.
OR... OR...
OR if he figured she would miss, after betting everything, and he bet enough just to cover the third place guy.
IOWs made no sense for him to bet everything, as he probably felt sure she would get the answer right.
I agree, actually when you think about it, it’s almost as though he knew the outcome in advance.
His 4 yo daughter wanted her Daddy home.
James made the correct wager.
if he and she bet it , she was going to win. he played to win if they both got wrong answer and 3rd place guy was corrct and bet it all.