Jeopardy! Contestant Reveals How His Strategy of ‘Not Trying to Win’ Helped Him in the Champions Wildcard Tournament

“My sole goal was to advance to the semis,” contestant Jay Fisher told PEOPLE

Jay Fisher on Jeopardy!. Photo: Paramount

A Jeopardy! contestant is revealing his secret strategy.

Jay Fisher, a Jeopardy! Champions Wildcard Tournament player, took to Reddit on Wednesday, Jan. 15, to share his mindset going into the day’s episode.

As fans may know, players in the Wildcard Tournament win when they obtain the highest cumulative dollar amount. This means losing points throughout the game can be detrimental to their overall succcess. However, according to Jeopardy!‘s website, “the top four non-winners with the highest money totals will advance to the semifinals as wildcards.”

With this in mind, Fisher said his approach was simply focused on staying in the game rather than winning.

“I’m excited to watch later today as I have forgotten everything about this game except DD2, DD3 [daily double 2 and 3] and [host] Ken [Jennings] afterword [sic] complimenting me on a state capital get,” he began in the post. “I expect there may be some grumbling on the board about gameplay in this tournament format.”

“I went into the game not trying to win,” he explained. “From my research I posited that $14,000-$16,000 would give me a great chance of advancing as a wild card if I didn’t win. When I wagered on the DDs [daily doubles] my goal was not to get ahead of Drew [Goins] but to get to $14,000. The potential harm from missing was higher than the potential benefit of getting it right.”

Jay Fisher on Jeopardy!.Paramount

He continued with more thoughts on the other contestants: “Drew was Drew. A powerhouse on the buzzer with an amazing range of knowledge. Aiden [Orzech] had a bad day on the buzzer and in tournament play it is hard to get your momentum back. Another day he could easily have won.”

“Tomorrow or Friday we will see if my survive and advance was successful,” he concluded.

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In a statement to PEOPLE on Thursday, Jan. 16, Fisher confirmed that it really was him sharing his strategy on Reddit, and he clarifies that while winning wasn’t part of his plan, losing never is either.

“I wouldn’t say losing was part of my strategy,” he explained. “My sole goal was to advance to the semis. One advances by winning or being among the highest scoring non-winners.”

He reiterated that he did research that led him to aim for around $14,000, regardless of what the other contestants had.

“When I got to final I had 15,400 which I felt would get me through so I bet 0,” he says. “Beating Drew was not my goal. Making the semis was.”

Ken Jennings, Matt Amodio, Amy Schneider, and Mattea Roach on ‘Jeopardy’.Eric McCandless/Disney

Jeopardy! fans praised Fisher’s method in the comments of his Reddit post, with one writing: “Props on the approach and successfully pulling it off. At least in context to how the first two games played out (which, of course, you didn’t know), $15,400 looks real strong for a wild card spot. Heck, ALL FOUR non-winners from tomorrow’s and Friday’s games will have to surpass that for you to not advance.”

Another seemed to confirm Fisher’s hopes: “Today’s game recap at The Jeopardy! Fan estimates Jay has a 99.96% chance of advancing as a wildcard with that $15,400 total.”