^^^
So, by now it's almost impossible to check out a news or pop culture site and
not see an article about Holzhauer. ESPN had an
excellent article on James and his history in trivia and sports betting (
link).
From that article and others I've read, it's all about the buzzer.
Someone even wrote an eBook called
Secrets of the Buzzer, to which James attributes some of his success. This online article about James and his mastery of the buzzer was also interesting (
link here). A few quotes, in case nobody is in a clicking mood:
Quote:
It’s not all luck, of course—far from it; you still need the far-flung know-how and the wagering gumption to make it count. But what sets apart the really, truly dominant players like James isn’t just luck, smarts, or betting strategy: It’s the buzzer, and James is very, very, very good at using it.
“He had a lot of questions about the subtlety of the buzzer right away,” says Jeopardy! producer Maggie Speak, who oversees contestant coordination and leads an hourlong group orientation for new players each taping day. “Before he ever hit the stage, it was: ‘Well, what if I do this?’ He had a lot of very specific questions about the timing of the buzzer.”
“And clearly my answers must have helped him,” she says, laughing.
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...
Quote:
The most obvious way you can tell James is good with the buzzer is that he keeps winning. The average Jeopardy! contestant is no slouch: By the time a player is onstage, he or she has passed the show’s famously rigorous entry test twice—once online and once in person. Jennings puts it this way: “Almost all of the contestants know almost all of the answers almost all of the time,” he says. Which is to say that more often than not, all three players know a given clue’s answer, and all three are attempting to ring in—meaning buzzer timing is hugely important. James, who has lately shown off knowledge about subjects including the Book of Daniel and Tammy Wynette, says he took the online tryout test 13 times—every year that it was offered—and had two in-person auditions before he was finally invited on.
“If you put random people up there on Jeopardy!, the most important thing would be who knows the answers,” says Jennings. “But with players that good, buzzer timing really becomes what tends to separate the winner from the non-winners.”
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And finally, for those into stats,
here's a site that tracks James' progress and compares it to Ken Jennings epic run from years ago.