Matt Amodio climbs to No. 2 spot in 'Jeopardy!' streak

Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Matt Amodio has climbed to the No. 2 spot in the number of Jeopardy! games won in a row.

Amodio, a Yale Ph.D. student studying computer science, won his 33rd game in a row Friday to surpass the 32-game winning streak of James Holzhauer, a professional sports gambler, who earned the No. 2 spot two years ago.

"Tomorrow on #Jeopardy I have the chance to remind everybody how much better than me @James Holzhauer is in literally every way," Amodio tweeted on Thursday. "It would be an honor to be unfavorably compared to a person I admire so much!"

The No. 1 winning streak is still held by Ken Jennings, who currently shares hosting duties with actress Mayim Bialik and won $2.52 million over a 74-game winning streak.

Though Holzhauer won fewer games, he won more money than Amodio has in his streak.

Holzhauer won $2.46 million over the 32 games, compared to Amodio earning $1.27 million over his 33 game streak.

The professional sports gambler came close to beating the record amount of $2.52 million Jennings won over his 74 consecutive wins, but librarian Emma Boettcher beat him during his 33rd game.

Andy Saunders, who runs the website The Jeopardy! Fan, told The New York Times Amodio and Holzhauer have similar approaches in the first round of the game, as they both start off with $1,000 clues and then look for the Daily Double. However, they diverge in the second round where Holzhauer would bet larger sums of money on Daily Double clues.

"Where James might bet $13,000 or $14,000, Matt is betting $5,000 or $6,000," Saunders told The Times. "And that's pretty much the difference in their scores."

The game show has struggled to find a replacement for Alex Trebek, who died at age 80 in November of pancreatic cancer.

Mike Richards, the show's former executive producer, was announced as the new permanent host, but stepped down in August following controversy over his past remarks. By the end of the month, Richards had also exited the show as executive producer.

Bialik and Jennings will host the game show for the rest of the year.