$2.4million Jeopardy! Winner James Holzhauer Teams Up with Mike Sexton for WSOP Run!

Record-breaking Jeopardy! Star James Holzhauer will kick off his WSOP debut today courtesy of partypoker chairman Mike Sexton, the legendary poker pro sponsoring two events for the quiz show genius

Holzhauer won $2.46 million for his 32-game winning streak on the classic game show and today the former ‘semi-pro’ online poker player will try his hand at the live game, joining Sexton in the $1,000 Tag Team tournament.

First up for James, however, will be the $1,500 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty, the Vegas man explaining:

"I decided to enter because Mike Sexton contacted me and offered to sponsor my buy-ins. I don't have any plans to enter another WSOP event beyond those two”.

Holzhauer’s phenomenal Jeopardy! Streak ended earlier this month, with viewing figures through the roof – James’ efforts posting the 16 highest one-day scores in the show's history.

A professional sportsbettor by ‘trade’, James explained to PokerNews earlier this week:

“I played online poker semi-professionally in the early 2000s, but I don't intend to make a career of it now, as I'm sure I wouldn't be good enough at it to justify forgoing other opportunities."

Three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Ben Yu, a close friend, has long been impressed by Holzhauer’s abilities, stating:

“He has a phenomenal gambling mind. We do a lot of sports betting work together, share a lot of information. He’s definitely someone I look up to.”

Should the Jeopardy! Champ find his way into the money at the Rio, he has promised 50% of it to charity – James and wife Melissa having already donated around $300,000 to good causes.