Jeff Madsen
This player has the honor of being the third youngest winner of any WSOP event, and the youngest to win a bracelet. He’s now the proud owner of two bracelets. He was born in 1985 and hails from Santa Monica, California. He was raised in Los Angeles and attended the University of California, where he studied film theory. Like many rising stars of poker, he now lives in Las Vegas. He’s a neighbor of Brandon Cantu, another young poker star and double bracelet winner, and the two are firm friends.
Jeff Madsen
Both of Madsen’s bracelet wins came in 2006, when he first won the $2K No Limit Hold’Em event to take home $660,948. He went on to triumph just 6 days later in the $5K No Limit Hold’Em Short Handed 6/Table for a similar sum of $643,381. Madsen is quoted in interview as having been more proud of the bracelets than of the cash he won. Which is not to say that he’s unaware of the value of his winnings. He really did choose poker as a career and a craft, and it shows in his playing, which displays maturity far beyond his years.
Madsen was lucky to have had a supportive family around him when he was finding his way in the world of poker. The support of his family has proved to be well founded as he’s gone on to dizzy heights in the WSOP. They lent him the money to buy into his earliest contests, and he’s made sure to pay them back when his ship came really truly came in.
The achievement of being the youngest player ever to win a WSOP bracelet is certainly a significant one. As Madsen’s mother says, he is a student of poker, and as a diligent one he’s bound to do well. There’s a very bright future ahead of this young player.
