When James Holzhauer beat Emma Boettcher and Francois Barcomb in 2019's Tournament of Champions, he collected a $250,000 prize. According to CNN, the win put the legend's 2019 Jeopardy! earnings at over $2.7 million, just behind Ken Jennings' $3.3 million and Brad Rutter's $4.6 million. 

Even if Holzhauer doesn't hold the record for most money made on Jeopardy!, he's blown other records out of the water. After a 32-game winning streak during which he averaged $77,000 per game and answered questions correctly 97 percent of the time, Holzhauer set the record for most money ever won by a contestant in a single episode. Per The New York Times, he not only holds the number one spot, but also the next 15. 

No one can say Holzhauer didn't work at it. It took The Jeopardy! six years to get on the show, says another, reports The New York Times. He practiced for it at home, using a mechanical pencil as a buzzer. And Holzhauer's strategy for winning was next to flawless. "Play fast, build a stack, bet big, and hope for the best," Holzhauer explained to The Atlantic, "In my mind, playing a seemingly risky game actually minimizes my chances of losing."It helps that Holzhauer's background is in sports gambling. "The real advantage I draw from my job is that I don't have a mental block about betting $38,314 on one trivia question," Holzhauer once told Wired. "It's only money."