Jeff Madsen - Youngest Bracelet Winner Ever

By Chuck Ansbacher Jul 17, 2006 | 3 years ago

Jeff Madsen after winning the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em Tournament

Although the pros have been keeping pretty quiet at the WSOP so far this year, the events have still been extremely exciting. First the world was buzzing about Bill Chen taking down his second bracelet of the year, and now Jeff Madsen stepped it up to become the youngest bracelet winner ever. I know it's redundant to say that he was excited to win a bracelet, but honestly think about it. The kid is 21, and he can buy a house. Excited doesn't even begin to describe what this kid was feeling. He gave me a few minutes before he headed out to hit Vegas up in a serious way.

So you've gotta be super excited, man. You're the youngest guy to ever win a bracelet.

I'm so excited.

And you're 21, and you're in Vegas, and you just won $600,000.

It doesn't get much better than that, does it?

How nuts are you gonna go?

Um, I'm gonna go crazy. Yeah, I'm going to go completely crazy tonight.

Did you freak out when you saw the flop on that final hand?

[laughs] Yeah. It was the first hands heads-up, and I flopped a straight. Plus the jack-seven is a hand that me and my friends have a name for, and there's this big story behind it. And it's not even my story really. It's like a hand of legend. It's a guy that played in my home game before I even got there, and he called it the Diner Special.

And so you always play the jack-seven?

Well it wasn't really my hand before, but now it is I guess. But yeah, I kind of crapped my pants when I saw the flop. And then, well, that hand really played itself. Paul raised me and then went all-in after the turn. It was just really lucky for me. I mean, not as lucky as the queens versus aces. (Jeff doubled up off Troy Parkins with pocket queens against Troy's pocket aces - he caught a queen on the flop.) That was the hand of the tournament obviously.

Do you think this will completely change your life? Are you planning on pursuing poker a lot more now?

I mean, I was pursuing it anyways. I thought I was a good player, but now I actually have money to back it up, and I can actually play on that level that I've always wanted to.

Are you in school now?

Yeah, I go to UC Santa Barbara. I'll finish it out.

Awesome, man. Be safe tonight.