Jeff Madsen burst onto the poker scene in 2006, becoming the youngest player ever to win a World Series of Poker bracelet at the tender age of 21 years and 5 weeks.
He concluded that summer by claiming the WSOP Player of the Year award after winning a second bracelet less than a week later and adding a pair of third-place finishes.
Since then, Madsen has become a fixture in the poker world, adding two more bracelets to an esteemed career, but none since 2015.
In the 20th anniversary summer of his WSOP debut, and 11 years after winning his fourth, he added his fifth, taking down the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice event on Friday.
“It’s just nice because I put a lot of work into poker. It’s an emotional moment. I’m still in a dreamlike state right now, but yeah, I can’t believe it’s been 20 years in poker. More to come, more to come.”
Madsen’s win, topping the record-setting field of 656 players in the increasingly popular mixed-game showcase, was worth $161,057.
What a rail!
Each pot Madsen won was celebrated wildly by his boisterous rail, especially when their guy knocked out a player to get that much closer to the bracelet.
He did so with three of the final four eliminations on the night and gave them plenty to cheer for before that, too, as he seized control of the chip lead before dinner break and never looked back.
“It was great. I just know so many interesting people. Not everyone gets this kind of cool rail, you know what I mean? I’ve got people from different walks of life and weird characters. My friend printed out these AI posters of me, s*** like that is pretty special. Most rails aren’t like that. It was awesome.”
The wild card comes just short
His rail’s final and biggest celebration came as Madsen eliminated his final opponent, Boston’s Philip Wess, a relative unknown in the tournament streets but well known in the mixed cash games in both the northeast and here in Las Vegas.
Wess was trying to join the ranks of many bracelet winners he faces in Las Vegas’ regular $80/160 mixed game, which he comes to town to play in.
While he fell just one spot short, Wess was grateful to make a run even he didn’t see going as deep as it did.
“I thought I had a decent shot to get pretty far, but never thought I would make it all the way here. As the tables started consolidating and I started to see all the bracelet winners at the tables and all the players who are really amazing poker players, it was humbling to be there, so I thought it was an amazing experience."
Mixed master Madsen
Dealer’s Choice is one of the most challenging events on the schedule as players alternate selecting between 21 different poker formats.
It requires players to be proficient in as many games as possible, along with the added strategy of knowing which games your opponents are not as comfortable playing.
Because of this, winning this event, and certainly the $10,000 Championship edition, is seen by many as one of the toughest accomplishments on the WSOP schedule.
Adam Friedman’s incredible run of three straight $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Championships in 2018, 2019, and 2021 is seen as one of the greatest accomplishments in WSOP history.
The latest champion gave his thoughts on the added significance of winning a Dealer’s Choice title.
“It’s got to be the most prestigious because you’re playing the most games. You could argue High Rollers or the $10K Deuce [2-7 single draw], there are certain specific games that might be higher skill, but I think this is a good showing that I’m a well-rounded player. If people questioned if I was a good player, it’s hard to say that when I win a tournament like this against really good players.”
$1,500 Dealer's Choice final table results:
- Jeff Madsen - $161,057
- Philip Wess - $107,341
- Lufeng Li - $72,042
- Dario Sammartino - $49,383
- Clayton Mozdzen - $34,588
- Kelvin Zhao - $24,766
- Robert Klein - $18,137
Additional images courtesy of the WSOP.
