The 34 times Jeopardy players have won the most money in one day

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With players like James Holzhauer and Austin Rogers lighting up the Jeopardy! scoreboard with their gutty wages and record-setting single-day winnings, we were curious about the which contestants have took home the most money in one day of the popular trivia game show.

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To keep things clean, we’re only including contestants from the “regular” Jeopardy — so this list doesn’t include any entries from Celebrity, College, Teens, Kids, or Tournament of Champion episodes. Without further ado, here’s the 20 times a player ended up winning the most money on Jeopardy in one single episode.

James Holzhauer winning Jeopardy

Highest Single-Day Winnings on One Jeopardy Episode

James Holzhauer has changed the game. In addition to having a perfect game where he answered correctly on all 41 of his answers, his current streak of wins continues to re-break and re-write his own single-day winning records.

Most One Day Winnings in Jeopardy
Rank Winnings Contestant Air Date
1 $131,127 James Holzhauer 04/17/2019
2 $130,222 James Holzhauer 05/27/2019
3 $118,816 James Holzhauer 04/23/2019
4 $110,914 James Holzhauer 04/09/2019
5 $106,181 James Holzhauer 04/16/2019
6 $101,682 James Holzhauer 05/01/2019
7 $96,726 James Holzhauer 04/30/2019
8 $90,812 James Holzhauer 04/22/2019
9 $90,812 James Holzhauer 04/25/2019
10 $89,229 James Holzhauer 05/20/2019
11 $89,158 James Holzhauer 04/12/2019
12 $86,905 James Holzhauer 05/21/2019
13 $82,381 James Holzhauer 05/03/2019
14 $80,006 James Holzhauer 04/19/2019
15 $79,633 James Holzhauer 05/31/2019
16 $77,000 Roger Craig 09/14/2010
17 $75,000 Ken Jennings 07/23/2004
18 $74,133 James Holzhauer 04/18/2019
19 $73,621 James Holzhauer 04/24/2019
20 $71,885 James Holzhauer 05/22/2019
21 $69,033 James Holzhauer 05/29/2019
22 $69,000 Austin Rogers 10/03/2017
23 $68,000 Jerome Vered 05/21/1992
24 $65,600 Austin Rogers 10/02/2017
25 $65,200 Doug Lach 07/07/2000
26 $62,000 John Skelton 07/01/1998
27 $61,200 Frank Spangenberg 01/15/1990
28 $59,381 James Holzhauer 05/28/2019
29 $58,800 Mark Born 06/21/1991
30 $58,612 James Holzhauer 05/30/2019
31 $58,200 Arthur Chu 02/27/2014
32 $57,198 Michael Bilow 03/31/2015
33 $56,000 Jason Parker 06/12/2000
34 $55,600 Kevin Frear 07/05/1988
34 $55,600 Bob Blake 09/07/1989
35 $55,099 Ken Jennings 11/24/2004

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*last updated 05/29/2019 3PM EST

There’s definitely some big names on this list – Roger Craig, Ken Jennings, Arthur Chu and Doug Lach. One of the surprising things I noticed putting this together is that Jennings only makes the list twice despite winning 74 games. That says something about how Jennings played the game — steady and safe.

Looking further down The Final Wager’s list, Jennings might not be in the top fifteen as often as one would expect, but he’s all over this Jeopardy records list — having scored more than $50,000 on one day eleven times during his amazing run in 2004.

Ken Jennings' Highest Win Totals During 74 Game Streak
Contestant Money Air Date
Ken Jennings $75,000 07/23/2004
Ken Jennings $55,099 11/24/2004
Ken Jennings $52,000 7/9/2004
Ken Jennings $52,000 7/12/2004
Ken Jennings $52,000 7/22/2004
Ken Jennings $50,000 6/10/2004
Ken Jennings $50,000 6/15/2004
Ken Jennings $50,000 7/16/2004
Ken Jennings $50,000 9/17/2004
Ken Jennings $50,000 11/4/2004
Ken Jennings $50,000 11/25/2004

Good ol’ reliable Ken. Looking at his top eleven wins in terms of most money, he modestly and strategically bid so that he hit a round number — likely because no one was near him by the time Final Jeopardy rolled around.

This of course is before James Holzhauer burst onto the scene executing his record breaking strategy and demolishing all of Jennings’ one day totals.

That’s in complete contrast to Austin Rogers, who has made a name for himself by arbitrarily wagering HUGE amounts during Daily Doubles and winning them more often than not. Rogers has just six wins (as of October 3rd, 2017) and he finds himself on this list twice already, and in the top five in all of Jeopardy history.

So what’s the likelihood that a player will break the $100,000 barrier in one Jeopardy! episode?

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