Episode 10: James Holzhauer. James Holzhauer is likely the most widely known interviewee we have had on the show. He redefined betting strategy on the game show Jeopardy!, and his massive win streak captivated viewers around the world.

1. Best Sports Betting Strategy
2. James Holzhauer Sports Betting Strategy Against
3. Sports Betting Strategy System

Betting is something Holzhauer knows a lot about, as he’s a Las Vegas-based professional sports gambler. And on the Bet the Process podcast, Holzhauer revealed some of his strategies for winning. May 21, 2019 Holzhauer’s sports betting strategy is getting some national attention as well, as Sports Illustrated recently sat down with the 34-year-old. On Tuesday, April 23, Jeopardy! Savant James Holzhauer won his 14th game, pushing his total winnings $1,061,554. With an average score of $75,825, Holzhauer is on pace to surpass all-time regular. Jun 03, 2019 James Holzhauer lost during his 33rd “Jeopardy!” game. Holzhauer’s final bet on Jeopardy was uncharacteristically low. The low bet was actually a smart gambling strategy. This image made from video.

Looking into the life of James Holzhauer, it is clear to see that large wagers and confidence are all part of the game. Holzhauer is most notably known for his time spent on the show Jeopardy! in 2019, where he dominated opponents and set a variety of records. However, he was known in smaller circles before this throughout Las Vegas sportsbooks from his professional life as a sports gambler. Raised in Naperville, Illinois, Holzhauer used his advanced understanding of mathematics to beat the books in a few different ways. Being that he is a mathematician, he has managed to work his way up to a $2 million net worth.

Starting off in college running poker sites for some commission, Holzhauer turned a few dollars into the fortune he has created today, thanks to some outlandish wagers that paid out majorly. Holzhauer has explained that it takes the utmost confidence and mindset to enter into bigger bets without the fear of losing. Whether he is taking a futures bet or studying the details for live betting, Holzhauer is always on alert, looking for any opportunity to take advantage of the odds presented.

Understanding Math And Stats With James Holzhauer

Numbers are the biggest thing when it comes to betting and Holzhauer is very good with numbers and mathematics. The math skills are what helps Holzahauer with his betting on sports. Studying fifth-grade math at the age of seven shows that Holzhauer was very smart at a young age and knew how to crunch numbers. With a Bachelor’s degree in math, this is what he leans on when it comes to betting on sports. To be able to have a special gift of being very good at math only enhances betting plays and winning opportunities and this is where Holzhauer separates himself.

James’ Intro To Sports Betting

When Holzhauer never attained the front-office position with the Chicago Cubs which he so desperately wanted, he turned his focus full time to legal sports betting. During his collegiate years, he played poker and operated poker strategy sites that would refer players to sign up, giving him a piece of commission with every user. The money he made from the card games turned into his bankroll moving forward.

Holzhauer started right out of the gates when he turned 21. Betting on 2006 World Baseball Classic as well as two large futures bets, he was able to turn these three situations into the beginning of his decades-long gambling profession. Jeopardy James won a +4000 bet on Ryan Howard to win the home run title and found even better success with the Tigers winning the AL Pennant at +10000. Now, Holzhauer focuses on handicapping games but shopping lines is his biggest asset, according to the Jeopardy champion.

Holzhauer’s Wagering Style

Shopping lines is paramount according to James and you can find much success by simply doing your research. When it comes to the betting board discrepancies, there isn’t a true desire to know which side will win, because you can play both sides. Also known as middling, Holzhauer has expressed that one site may offer a team -4.5 while the opposite team on a different site may be listed at +6. Finding these disparities can have bettors lose just the vigorish or win both for a much larger prize. According to the numbers, if you can successfully land a middle wager one of twenty times, you will make a profit.

When it comes to football and the NFL, Holzhauer loves futures bets. He typically only bets on teams that have secured a 1st round bye in the playoffs, as the probability to move into the Super Bowl are much greater, according to Holzhauer. Again, the most important aspect is to shop around and find out who is offering the best price on the same matchup, but he sees futures bets as a way to lay your money down and hedge later on.

In-game betting is a specialty of his, as live betting can make certain situations present themselves which you must take advantage of. Holzhauer has models that predict scores and outcomes but when it comes to live betting, looking at the numbers is simply the best way to go. Because of the limited time that bookmakers have to set the odds during these timeouts or commercial breaks, being able to recognize the patterns and capitalizing on lines or odds that are out of the pattern are vital to quickly placing your bet.

Jeopardy James And His Fame

While sports betting has treated Holzhauer well, it wasn’t until 2019 when he participated on Jeopardy! that he became a household name. He brought home nearly $2.5 million in 33 airings, which placed him as the third-highest Jeopardy! winner. By “flipping the board” and selecting all of the higher-priced questions first, Holzhauer was able to wager much higher amounts on the Daily Double questions, to which he nearly never got wrong. With his ability to confidently wager large amounts (and get the questions correct), viewers couldn’t help but love the passion and pragmatism that Holzhauer possessed.

After he lost on his 33rd showing, Holzhauer has donated thousands of dollars to charity in his name, in Alex Trebek’s name, and others. He has helped displaced teens through his donations, was awarded a key to the city in Las Vegas, and even contributed to his hometown’s pancreatic cancer research walk. Even after the show, Holzhauer never wanted to be the guy in the limelight. He has claimed not much in high life has changed since then and still bets on sports while being the best family man he can be to his wife and daughter.

Jeopardy! The Greatest Of All Time Tournament 2020

James Holzhauer was a contestant on the reboot of the special tournament known as “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” tournament in January 2020. The game show chose only the best players they’ve had on the show to compete and Holzhauer was one of them. He lost in the third round of the show on a $10,000 question that many sports bettors everywhere are still scratching their heads over. The question was: “This birthstone is in abrasives for polishing and grinding. The color pairs with gold as an official color for Florida State.” Rather than answer the obvious GARNET as in GARNET and GOLD, Holzhauer answered “Diamond” and lost. Not only did he lose at Jeopardy, but he also lost a lot of respect from his sports betting community and his fans after that. Who knows what 2021 holds for Jeopardy James?

Holzhauer And His Jeopardy Strategy

James Holzhauer had a strategy for his stints on Jeopardy and that was as a “board jumper.” This is when a player goes to various subjects across the board rather than sticking to just one. Host Alex Trebek has previously stated that he is not a fan of players that employ this strategy. But Holzhauer says that it’s the best way to play Jeopardy and win larger amounts of money before finally winning the entire game itself.

However, there has always been one subject that Holzhauer has shied away from when playing and that is the U.S. Senate question category or similar subjects. He has said he is not one for politics so he would jump to the $1,000 questions for every other area on the board. His strategy for Jeopardy worked well enough to make him a millionaire, winning almost $2.5 million combined, and at the end of the day it wasn’t a political question that took him down in the end but rather one about sports. How’s that for irony for a man with a history in sports betting?

Sports betting is exactly what it sounds like: gambling and playing the odds on sports events. You predict the results and place your wager on what you think will be the outcome. While it runs the gamut from football and horse racing to boxing and mixed martial arts, political races can also be in the running, as can awards shows like the Oscars and Royal baby births.

Although sports betting is most often focused on a game, make no mistake, it’s big business. A 2017 report by the American Gaming Association estimated up to $400 billion was bet each year on an estimated gross income of between $5 billion and $20 billion, just for sports betting.

In the U.S., football — both the NFL and college — is responsible for billions of dollars worth of betting each year.

People have been betting on games as long as they’ve been played. And while it has long been legal in Nevada, it took a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2018, which repealed a federal ban on sports betting, for other states to follow suit — and not all have.

How does sports betting work? The two most common ways to bet on a game or event? Point spreads and Moneyline. The easiest of the two is a Moneyline bet, as it’s simply a call about which team or person you expect to win without the complication of a point spread. Whether by 1pt or 40pts a win is a win. A point spread is about who wins and by how much. As a newbie, while betting on anything but who will win might seem daunting, for many it’s the more interesting route to take. From favourites and underdogs to over and under, The Action Network has set out the basics for beginners on how to bet on sports.

The first thing to know is that winning a bet isn’t quite a simple as picking the winner. Each bet is based on odds, which relates to the likelihood of an event happening, and so having a sports betting strategy is a good idea (more on that later). They’re set by a bookmaker, who is essentially a risk analyst looking to make money. They come up with a realistic probability of an event occurring and translate that into odds, which then determines the amount of a cash payout, with the help of an algorithm.

Best Sports Betting Strategy

While bookies don’t share how they land on their odds, they do consider a range of factors, including injuries, past performance, performance at home vs. on the road, to calculate a spread that offers them the best return. And like any gamble, you can be sure the house always wins.

That said, James Holzhauer has more than held his own. Since college, he’s been bankrolling his life as a sports gambler and became a household name in 2019 after a record-setting run on Jeopardy with 32 straight wins and $2,464,216 in total winnings. His last ‘real’ job was slinging fried chicken when he was 16.

His approach on the show was much the same as his approach to gambling: “I sketched out what I believed to be my optimal strategy for Jeopardy: Play fast, build a stack, bet big, and hope for the best,” he told The Atlantic in April.

There’s nothing he loves to bet on more than the NFL. In an appearance on the Bet the Process podcast, Holzhauer said one of the biggest edges you can get betting on the league in Vegas is to place a futures bet on a team that has a good shot of earning a first-round bye in the playoffs.

“In football, one of the big sources of edge I’ve had for years and years now, and I’m still waiting for it to disappear, is sportsbooks underestimate the advantage going to the 1 and 2 seeds,” he said. “I’ll virtually never place a futures bet on a team unless they’ve got a really good shot at earning the first-round bye. The math is so, so slanted in favour of those teams. There are times when they don’t understand the tiebreakers.”

Holzhauer is also big on in-game betting. He said that gives him an advantage on the house as the sportsbooks can overcompensate for the team that’s winning at halftime, which can make the team that’s trailing a solid bet. That’s particularly true when they’re not losing by much.
“Football halftimes are big,” Holzhauer told the podcast. “In-play football betting, I think they make a lot of mistakes on that.”
He’s gotten so good at betting on the NFL that most outfits in Vegas have capped the amount he’s allowed to wager. His success is probably due to the fact he learned early on to never bet with his heart — only his head. After all, research is key in this game.

While you may not find yourself in Holzhauer’s league, his sports betting strategy above is sure to set you on the right path.

James Holzhauer Sports Betting Strategy Against

But what do you do if you win?

Sports Betting Strategy System

Unlike in Canada, gambling wins in the United States aren’t tax-free. So rest assured the Internal Revenue Service will claim its share. In fact, the agency will automatically withhold up to 30 percent. That’s not to say it will get to keep it, however. Refund Management Services has been helping clients reclaim their winnings since 1998. Get in touch to find out how you can reclaim yours.