Advertisement

James Holzhauer to face the woman who beat him in 'Jeopardy!' Tournament of Champions final

Even when James Holzhauer’s record, jaw-dropping run on “Jeopardy!” ended sooner than anyone expected, we knew it wouldn’t be the last we see of the player on the iconic show.

There was still the Tournament of Champions, and, wouldn’t you know it, Holzhauer is in the finals after another set of dominant performances. As luck would have it, a chance to avenge his loss to the woman who ended his original run awaits him.

That woman is a librarian named Emma Boettcher, who took down Holzhauer, a Las Vegas-based professional sports gambler, right before he was set to surpass Ken Jennings for the all-time winnings record on the regular iteration of the show.

In his original run, Holzhauer racked up $2,462,216 in winnings across his 31 victories, just $58,484 shy of Jennings’ record (accomplished over 74 games). No other contestant has broken $600,000. And then, Boettcher struck. Holzhauer took the loss quite well, but it was still tough for fans hoping to watch him make even more history.

Boettcher has also made her way through the Tournament of Champions, making the two-day final round scheduled to air Thursday and Friday a must-watch for fans of the show. Cheering Boettcher along the way was, naturally, Holzhauer.

Holzhauer still owns the 16 biggest wins in “Jeopardy!” history, and could add $250,000 to his overall winnings with one more win this week.

Of course, now that Holzhauer is in the tournament phase of his career, he’ll have a new, even bigger, target for the future: multi-event winner Brad Rutter’s $4,688,436.

James Holzhauer is back on "Jeopardy!" (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
James Holzhauer is back on "Jeopardy!" (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)

More from Yahoo Sports: