Back in 2004, I tracked Ken Jennings’ statistics daily and updated a toteboard. With James Holzhauer dominating his Jeopardy! games in ways unseen in years, I’ve decided to track James’ daily statistics in many of the same categories, alongside Ken’s statistics at the same point in his streak from 2004. Links are also provided to help define any statistics that may not be readily familiar or intuitive to the casual viewer.
This page will be publicly updated daily between 8:00 and 9:00 PM Eastern. (If you are a member of the media wishing to see the comparison earlier in the day, you’re welcome to contact Andy privately.)
Last Updated: June 3, 2019 (through 33 games)
| James Holzhauer | Ken Jennings | |
| Games Played | 33 | 33 |
| Total Winnings | $2,462,216 | $1,100,460 |
| Correct Responses | 1186 | 1158 |
| Incorrect Responses | 36 | 109 |
| Unforced Errors (buzz in w/ incorrect response) | 31 | 88 |
| Correct Response % When Buzzing In | 97.21% | 92.45% |
| Times First In | 1077 | 1112 |
| First In %age | 57.81% | 59.31% |
| Rebounds | 33 | 43 |
| Rebound %age (of all rebound opportunities) | 48.53% | 40.19% |
| Categories With 5 Correct | 36 | 38 |
| Categories With 4 Correct | 95 | 95 |
| Categories With 3 Correct | 122 | 115 |
| % Of Categories With At Least 3 Correct | 63.89% | 62.63% |
| Categories With 0 Correct | 11 | 15 |
| % of Bottom-Row Clues Responded To Correctly | 58.59% | 53.16% |
| Daily Doubles Played | 76 | 69 |
| Daily Doubles Correct | 72 | 59 |
| Daily Double %age | 94.74% | 85.51% |
| Average Daily Double Wager | $8,984 | $3,265 |
| Total Net Gain On Daily Doubles | $654,416 | $159,299 |
| Average Net Gain On Daily Doubles | $8,611 | $2,309 |
| Average Score At End Of First Round | $12,564 | $9,327 |
| Average Lead At End Of First Round | $8,273 | $5,555 |
| Average Score At End Of Second Round | $47,655 | $30,015 |
| Average Lead At End Of Second Round | $36,750 | $20,730 |
| % Of Runaway Games | 87.88% | 84.85% |
| Final Jeopardy Clues Correct | 32 | 22 |
| Final Jeopardy %age | 96.97% | 66.67% |
| Average Final Jeopardy Wager | $27,891 | $7,292 |
| Average Final Score | $75,364 | $33,347 |
| Average Margin of Victory | $62,269 | $25,144 |
| Average Coryat Score | $30,576 | $27,552 |
| Average Opposition Player Coryat | $7,415 | $5,948 |
| Average Combined Coryat | $45,400 | $39,448 |
| Triple Stumpers Average | 3.39 | 5.36 |
| Unrevealed Clues Average | 0.55 | 0.18 |
Since Alex Trebek’s diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer, many community members have been raising money. The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store is as well! All proceeds from any “Keep The Faith And We’ll Win” shirt sold will be donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. To date, over $370 has been raised.)
If you are going to quote any statistics from this page or this website, attribution is required.
Pure speculation, but is there any value to changing the game rules such that it is not so controlled by buzzer skill and becomes more of a pure knowledge test? I have the sense that, were Brad, Ken and James to meet only once, the winner would be the one who wins the buzzer.
No. That wouldn’t be Jeopardy!; it would be something Jeopardy!-like, but not actual Jeopardy!.
Very interesting site.
Thanks for crunching all the numbers!
Here’s an interesting scenario that could happen with James. The T.O.C. stats indicate that James is 100% qualified for the tourney. But, if he crosses seasons, like Ken Jennings did, then he doesn’t qualify for this year’s T.O.C. Instead, he will qualify for next year’s T.O.C. And, furthermore, some agreement could take place, as it did with Ken Jennings, where he never takes part in a T.O.C. Ken Jennings waived his right to take part in the T.O.C. when he agreed to be an automatic finalist in the Ultimate Champions Tournament. Just some food for thought.
Thanks for all the stats. Do you happen to have the same stats you compiled for Ken for some of the other Jeopardy! greats? With Holzhauer exceeding Jennings on most stats, I’d be curious to see how he stacks up to other champions as well across all these metrics. To that end, do you also have a sense of what the prediction model was implying for some of these champions. i.e. with Holzhauer at a 97-98% chance to win any given game, how does that stack up to say Julia Collins or Austin Rogers?
You can search for Austin Rogers; the prediction models were operational for his games. For the first 48 games of Ken’s run, challengers received very little practice time, so there isn’t as much of a direct comparison possible.
In the photo of Ken, are those James’ fingers creeping up on Ken’s left shoulder?
Jay,
I think you will find that to be Alex Trebek’s hand from a picture of Ken posing with Alex. So, I’m guessing your question is in jest.
Yes – just trying to be funny as I knew it was due to cropping and his picture was with Alex. But looking at it post-cropped there is no arm or other person readily visible so at it appears that it is someone slowly creeping up from behind ready to pull him down (like in some bad horror movie) and then I went to – who could that threat be – clearly it is James.
From a Chicago Sun-Times Q&A published after game 25.
Q. What’s your single greatest memory from this historic run?
A. My greatest memory hasn’t aired yet!
That sounds revelatory, but it’s still cagey. Only Season 35 has been recorded. If the “historic run” extends into Season 36 or oh, say, 40, his greatest memory is likely to be of something that hasn’t happened yet, so by definition it hasn’t aired yet. All he’s revealed is that he’s on more games than we’ve seen so far, and we knew that.
hah! correct Karl. I just liked it cause it sounds like something Forrest Gump might say.
As James keeps winning, doesn’t the odds that are on your list of players with a chance to play go up the longer his streak goes on? Haven’t been playing a lot of attention to that but was curious if you looked at.
That was a horrible question, since I failed to identify what list of players I was looking at. TOC list. Sorry, though I think I do know the answer and know how to determine the answer. So, sorry again for such a stupid question. My next comment will be better.
If James makes it through into June, current averages says he’ll break Ken’s regular season win total on June 3. A little less than current averages would make it on June 4.