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Thats what we call appointment television and were ready to fight Merriam-Webster on that.
You could say its been a damn good strategy, albeit not a super-popular one.
I was one of those kids who wanted to get every single baseball card in the set.
You just have to look for it.
Do you enjoy gambling on baseball more than other sports?Kind of.
I first got into gambling because it was a way for me to leverage my love of baseball statistics.
For the first few years, thats all I would focus on.
Its easy to analyze those odds mathematically.
The next few years I transitioned to betting on individual baseball games, which has a much bigger market.
You have to find different ways to get edges.
In-game betting has become very popular.
Every time theres a commercial break, new odds are set for the game.
Now I bet on hockey a lot, too.
It seemed easy to me, but I made the mistake of telling my wife about it.
I never tell my wife when I make bets like that anymore!
She was the most beautiful person the world has ever seen.
I promised her Id one day be up on that stage for her.
I dont promise anything unless I intend to fulfill it.
To me, its fulfilling the promise I made to her 25 years ago.
Once I really decided to take this seriously, I wasnt going to half-ass it.
How did you prepare for the show?
I would look at Daily Double wagering.
What can I do thats a little ahead of the curve?
It was finding a little bit of an edge in every aspect of the game as I could.
How do you think your experience as a gambler further enhanced your gameplay?
Did you go in with an advantage compared to the other players?Yeah, I definitely think so.
Players need to be playing more aggressively when they get Daily Doubles in regulation time, so to speak.
I know life goes on if you make a big bet and you lose.
But if you dont give yourself the best chance of winning, youre going to kick yourself tomorrow.
Im used to gambling.
To me, these are just points on the scoreboard and not actual dollars.
That mind-set was very helpful for me.
How else would you define your strategy besides being aggressive?I guess Id call it strategically aggressive.
I didnt model my strategy after anyone in particular.
I wasnt trying to do that at all, it wasnt my goal.
But maybe since they didnt go in with that game plan, they were less comfortable with that.
That gave me a home-court advantage, so to speak.
You say your goal wasnt to throw everyone off with your strategy.
I was very happy I got the opportunity to do that.
I didnt have a this will be a failure if I dont win more than X gamesmind-set.
Why do you think the vast majority of pastJeopardy!players never adapted to your aggressive technique?
But if youre like me, who goes in cold-blooded about it, then you play the cold-blooded strategy.
Everyone is doing the best things for themselves.
The general chatter on social media is that you broke the game with your playing style.
Would you agree with that?I wouldnt agree with that at all.
I thinkJeopardy!is a great game that could never be broken.
I see it as a compliment, but theres nothing about the game that needs fixing.
It didnt get broken, I just found a way to play that fit well with my style.
I dont foresee them changing the rules or anything going forward.
I would actually like to see something like that.
It would make me feel good.
Do you follow hot-dog eating?
So Id be interested to see if there was a new paradigm in the show.
Has Roger Craig reached out to congratulate you onbreaking his single-day record?Yeah, Roger did reach out.
He was really gracious.
He congratulated me and offered some advice about the media frenzy that he knew was coming for me.
I wasnt ready for it, but he helped me prepare me a bit better than I wouldve been.
I play the game very differently than Ken does.
Its a credit to them that they had this stuff figured out before I did.
Okay, you brought up the buzzer.
I have a weird question for you.Shoot.
What does it actually look and feel like?
But a lot thicker.
I heard others took an old toilet paper tube and worked with that.
That helped me improve my comfort level before I even got onstage.
You got to spend some time with Alex before he gavea not-so-great updateabout his pancreatic cancer.
He pointed to the audience, where the next two contestants were sitting.
We were going to tape the next show in about 15 minutes.
And he just looks over at me and whispers, Look at them, theyre thinking,Oh shit.
We have to face James next.[Laughs.]
There was something about hearing your elderly uncle on television whip out this curse word that was very entertaining.
I have to ask, did you have fun playing?
Was this a fun experience?You know, I definitely did have fun.
They keep it light.
Everyones laughing in the green room.
