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August 16th 2006
Jeff Madsen: WSOP Wunderkind
Of all the stories to come out of this year’s WSOP the only one which can stand toe-to-toe with Jamie Gold’s main event win is the one scripted by Jeff Madsen, the youngest ever winner of a World Series bracelet and the 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year.
At just 21 Madsen came to Vegas having been used to playing low to mid-limit Hold’em games at “Chumash”, a mid sized Indian casino not far from Santa Barbara, California, where he goes to school.
He first showed up on the radar when he finished third in the $2000 Omaha Hi/Lo tournament, a game not too many have mastered by 31, let alone 21. That was good for a $97,552 payday and would amount to a good debut World Series for any normal player.
Of course, as we know now, Madsen isn’t a normal player, a fact he proved when he went on to win the $2000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament little over a week later. That win made him the youngest player to win a WSOP bracelet, and credited $660,948 to his bankroll.
Already a sensation for his performances up to that point, when Madsen won the $5000 No-Limit Hold’em Shorthanded event a few days later, overcoming a super-strong final table including “Captain” Tom Franklin and Erik “EDog” Lindgren, he went supernova. “You have got to be kidding,” read the headlines that day, reflecting the general mood of disbelief surrounding this kid.
At this point Madsen did the obvious thing and signed up to Full Tilt Poker, joining their ever growing roster of superstar poker players. But by the end of the WSOP, after yet another final table (this time a third place finish in the $1000 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo) Madsen’s star had risen to the point where he signed for Poker Royalty, an agency representing the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi, and Phil Hellmuth. He even has Jay Leno and David Letterman clamouring for an interview. Now that’s some debut World Series!
It is stories like Madsen’s that make the poker world go round. Whilst Jamie Gold’s win was superb, and made greater by the fact that he was not a seasoned poker pro, Gold was a rich man before the World Series and had Johnny Chan in his corner. It wasn’t exactly a story that would inspire the average Internet player.
Madsen on the other hand lived the dream. A complete unknown before the tournament began; his was a journey the average low-mid limit online player could imagine for themselves. It was a truly inspirational achievement; one that will be remembered for many years to come and one that made him one of the most deserved Players of the Year in recent times.
Submitted: 16/08/2006 11:58:02
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