ShareOne of the winningest Jeopardy! contestants of all time was a poker grinder before turning to the quiz show, Cris Pannullo recently bagging $748,286 on the popular quiz show!
38-year-old New Jersey man Pannullo won 21 straight contests before falling at the 22nd hurdle, his run one of the best the show has ever seen.
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings introduced Pannullo on Monday night’s show, stating: “Well, we know he’s a former poker player who is comfortable with big ‘Daily Double’ wagers despite not being a risk-taker in everyday life.”
That may be the reason why Pannullo gave up poker for a career as a customer-success operations manager, although his lack of recorded results may also be a reason for the change.
A 2010 WSOP satellite cash – 7th place for $1,731 – means that he was likely a cash game or small stakes online player, with a brief stint as a freelance writer for CardPlayer magazine in 2008 showing he knows his way round the poker table.
Like fellow poker fan James Holzhauer before him, however, Pannullo proved his Jeopardy! ability outshone his skills on the green felt.
His 21-game run places him 5th on the all-time Jeopardy! games won list and his $748,286 winnings places him 5th on the all-time Jeopardy! regular-season winnings list:
- Ken Jennings 74 wins $2.52 million
- James Holzhauer 32 wins $2.462 million
- Matt Amodio 38 wins $1.518 million
- Amy Schneider 40 wins $1.382 million
- Chris Pannullo 21 wins $748,286
Pannullo also had an appearance on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2018, but got the $7,000 question wrong and bowed out penniless.
Admitting “I’m not as good as James Holzhauer,” fans of the quiz show saw Pannullo’s run come to an end when he lost out to San Diego professor, Andy Tirrell, in the “Final Jeopardy” part of the show.
Pannullo, in the lead, and Tirrell were faced with the puzzler: “A 1609 story in which an exiled king of Bulgaria creates a sea palace with his magic may have inspired the plot of this play.”
Pannullo guessed wrongly with “The Little Mermaid” while Tirrell chose the correct “The Tempest” to leapfrog Pannullo and end his excellent run on the show.
Another poker buff who did well in Jeopardy! was Alex Jacob, the 2006 United States Poker Championship Main Event winner, who won six straight shows back in 2016.
