The James Holzhauer discourse spreading like a bright blue wildfire throughout the game-show community has prevented us from seeing an amusing bit of Jeopardy! trivia until now, and it comes from none other than Holzhauer’s elder buzzer statesman, Ken Jennings. Responding to a jokester on Twitter who expressed admiration of Jennings’s penchant for wagering $69 in his Final Jeopardy rounds (to be clear, he sadly never did), the reigning Jeopardy! superchamp admitted the very nice number actually is banned as of late, depriving us of what would undoubtably be an incredible Alex Trebek reaction. “This is officially forbidden on Jeopardy! now, as of last year,†he wrote. “Not even joking.†Holzhauer also confirmed $69’s demise, adding that four other numeric wagers aren’t allowed: “Actually, there are five banned wagers. This is probably the most innocuous one.â€
Holzhauer, a professional sports gambler from Las Vegas, is currently on track to beat Jennings’s astonishing Jeopardy! record. As of publishing time, he has amassed just over $1.2 million in 16 consecutive games, edging him closer to the $2.5 million Jennings earned over 74 consecutive games. “I guess I’d call it strategically aggressive. I didn’t model my strategy after anyone in particular,†Holzhauer told Vulture about his strategy. “My theory is that you need to be betting very aggressively on Daily Doubles and in Final Jeopardy. A lot of people bet big when their backs are against the wall, but people don’t realize … everyone thinks, Oh, I want to go into Final Jeopardy with some chance of winning. But that’s not the best strategy.â€