Jeff Madsen Becomes the Youngest Winner in WSOP History

2006 World Series of Poker – Las Vegas

This year’s record breaking World Series of Poker continues, with the record for the youngest ever WSOP bracelet winner being broken yet again for the third year running.

In 2004, Gavin Griffin became the youngest player in history to win a gold bracelet. Then the following year Eric Froehlich won the $1,500 buy in Limit Holdem event to take over that title at an age of 21 years, three months, and three days. Now just one year later that record has been broken again, this time by Jeff Madsen at the age of 21 years, one month, and nine days.

Madsen navigated his way through a massive field of 1,578 entrants to the $2,000 No Limit Holdem, Event number 22 on the WSOP schedule. It took two full days to eliminate most of the huge field. On day three we finally got down to the final nine players who took their seats at the final table on the ESPN TV set.

The final table included several well established tournament veterans but this was the first final table at the 2006 WSOP not to include at least one former bracelet winner in the line up.

The Final Table line up was as follows:

Seat 1 - Troy Parkins - $451,000
Seat 2 - Bob Bright - $365,000
Seat 3 - Billy Duarte - $102,000
Seat 4 - Jeff Madson - $413,000
Seat 5 - Julian Gardner - $628,000
Seat 6 - Michael Chow - $125,000
Seat 7 - Robert Dylon Cohen - $419,000
Seat 8 - John Shipley - $166,000
Seat 9 - Paul Sheng - $569,000

9th Place – British Pro John Shipley was the first to leave the final table. Low on chips he was forced to play a marginal hand which resulted in his elimination. Shipley is a former EPT winner and he also made the final table of the 2002 WSOP Main Event. He left with $60,349.

8th Place – Veteran Billy Duarte, who has been playing poker for 60 years, was the next person to be eliminated on the 10th hand of the final table. Duarte started the final table as the short stack and went out after his ace-eight suited was beaten by an opponent’s king-jack suited after flopping a jack. Duarte left with $71,845.

7th Place – Next to be eliminated was Michael Chow, when his pocket nines were beaten by pocket jacks. Seventh place paid $83,340.

6th Place – Robert Bright was eliminated in sixth place when his pocket fours were smashed by an opponent’s straight. Bright left with prize money of $94,835.

5th Place – Robert Dylan Cohen found himself short on chips and made his move with jack-ten and found himself against pocket queens. The queens held up and Cohen exited in fifth place collecting $112,077.

4th Place – Only a few hands later Troy Parkins made a very aggressive move with an all-in bet on just a straight draw. Jeff Madsen thought long and hard and eventually made a very tough call holding top pair. Parkins missed his draw and left the tournament in fourth place collecting $132,194.

3rd Place – Julian Gardner, a top English poker pro who collected $1.1 million as the runner up at the 2002 WSOP Main Event, was hoping to finally win a bracelet, but he could only manage third place after his top pair lost to Madsen’s spade flush. Gardner received $172,427.

When heads up play began, Madsen held a 2 to 1 chip lead over Taiwanese born Paul Sheng. The final hand didn’t take long to arrive as Madsen’s jack-seven faced Sheng’s ace-seven. All the chips went in the pot, when both players hit a straight on the turn with 10-9-8-6 showing on the board. Sheng’s hopes were shattered when Madsen revealed the Jack and the higher straight to win the bracelet.

Sheng received $330,485 for his second place finish and Madsen collected $660,948 and a WSOP bracelet for his first place finish.

This continued a great World Series for Madsen who also scored prize money in the Omaha High-Low event of $97,552 after finishing third.

Madsen hopes he can hold onto the record of the youngest player to win a WSOP bracelet saying “I’m just lucky that my birthday was so close. It’s going to be hard to beat, since I’m 21 and one month”.

Official Results:
Event #22
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $2,000
Number of Entries: 1,579
Total Prize Money: $2,873,780
Defending Champion (2005): Erik Seidel

Top 50 places
1. Jeff Madsen Los Angeles, CA $660,948
2. Paul Sheng San Francisco, CA $330,485
3. Julian Gardner Manchester, UK $172,427
4. Troy Parkins Leesburg, VA $132,194
5. Robert Dylan Cohen New York, NY $112,077
6. Robert Bright Las Vegas, NV $94,835
7. Michael Chow Honolulu, HI $83,340
8. Billy Duarte Berthold, CO $71,845
9. John Shipley Solihull, UK $60,349
10. Efrain Lopez Miami, FL $48,854
11. Mats Gavatin Sweden $45,980
12. Anthony Tamborello Seffner, FL $43,107
13. Greg Gossard San Diego, CA $40,233
14. Michael Odeh Metairie, LA $37,359
15. Steve Crockett Costa Mesa, CA $34,485
16. Steve Malezentes Santa Maria, CA $31,612
17. Anthony Toscano Huntington Beach, CA $28,738
18. Ben Armstrong Tulsa, OK $25,864
19. Jason Strasser New York, NY $22,990
20. Reza Zand Henderson, NV $22,990
21. Shane Littlefield Manchester, MD $22,990
22. Stuart Moody Cary, NC $20,116
23. David Byer Las Vegas, NV $20,116
24. Thomas H. Ostrander Tampa, FL $20,116
25. Thomas Dykema Holland, MI $17,243
26. Cory Ward Titusville, CA $17,243
27. Alex Brenes San Jose, Costa Rica $17,243
28. Francois Scapula Bastia, France $14,369
29. Chang Huang Fort Myers, FL $14,369
30. Michael R. Scuza San Diego, CA $14,369
31. Jonathan S. Mann Portland, OR $11,495
32. Eugene Todd Brooklyn, NY $11,495
33. Philip S. Mazen Syosset, NY $11,495
34. Gabriel Nassif Paris, France $10,058
35. Tyrone Bayne Paris, France $10,058
36. Reza Payvar Tarzana, CA $10,058
37. Jonathan Little Pensacola, FL $8,621
38. Darryl Dauenhauer Laughlin, NV $8,621
39. Brian Kelley Ft. Myers, Fl $8,621
40. Edward Lundon Edinburgh, UK $8,621
41. Thomas L. Franklin Gulfport, MS $8,621
42. Kevin D. Whitaker, III San Francisco, CA $8,621
43. Daniel MacLean Highland Ranch, CO $8,621
44. Parris Holmes, Jr. Palm Desert, CA $8,621
45. Douglas Gladstone San Francisco, CA $8,621
46. Walter Chambers Baton Rouge, LA $7,184
47. Andy Davenport Horsham, PA $7,184
48. Samir Khoueis Sydney, Australia $7,184
49. Delainey Blakeney Brandon, MS $7,184
50. Philip Carver Chandler, AZ $7,184

Related Articles:

• Billirakis becomes the youngest ever winner of WSOP bracelet
• WSOP Event #13-Cunningham enters the record books
• WSOP Event #13 - Can Cunningham do it again?
• Helmuth Movie - Christensen to play Lead Role
• WSOP Event #32 - $2,000 Seven Card Stud - Lisandro and Negreanu battle it out