OK, here's my NSH Opinion. James is too smart to have made that mistake accidentally. It was totally unlike any play he has bade to date. I think he 'threw' the game on purpose because he knows his skill is unassailable, and doesn't want to be forever branded as the 'Giant Killer who defeated ken Jennings, for whom he has some affinity. He can go back to his 'regular' life- if being a professional gambler can be called 'regular.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it.
Jim
James didn’t make a mistake
He hit the daily double on first question, the winner got the other two. She bet her entire amount the first time and enough to put it out of reach the second time. Only one question was missed the entire show. James knew his only chance was for her to miss on final jeopardy so he bet enough to get ahead of the third player and just enough so if she missed he would be ahead of her.
I don't think James threw the game on purpose. He seemed to be quite intent on his answers and selecting categories in the 2nd dbl jeopardy round. He kept coming back answering questions, but couldn't quite catch up to Emma the librarian. I think if anything the 3rd contestant was the spoiler for him, beating him to buzzer on several questions.
Even if James did want to finish his Jeopardy run, we'll never know if he tried to end it by be slower on his buzzing. As a pro gambler, he knows that after a long run, the odds do catch up, so that 1 in 'x' chance does actually occur. So although he most times found those Double Jeopardys, this game his opponent got 2 of them and he got the 1st one when he didn't have anything to wager, so couldn't double his money as Emma did on her Double Jeopardy chance.
Anyway James was a great sport loser
on this show, & goes out an extremely memorable Jeopardy name for many years. He'll hopefully be back for their Tournament of Champions. Maybe even compete against Ken Jennings some day.
If he doesn't get some publicity and name recognition for a sports team job, I don't know what else could help him in that regard