Jeff Madsen (born June 7, 1985, in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

) is a four-time

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

bracelet winner and the

2006 World Series of Poker The 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 25, 2006 with satellite events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29. 40 more events in various ...

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

Early life and education

Madsen was raised in

Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. Pacific Palisades was formally founded in 1921 by a Methodist organization, and in the years that followed bec ...

, and graduated from

Palisades Charter High School Palisades Charter High School (usually colloquially known as Pali or Pali High and abbreviated as PCHS) is an independent charter secondary school in Los Angeles, United States. The high school serves the neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades, ...

. He matriculated at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

to study film. Despite originally wanting to finish his degree, Madsen dropped out of college in his final year to fully focus on his poker career.

Poker career

Madsen was introduced to the game of poker after graduating high school. While a student at UCSB, he began playing casino poker at the Chumash Casino in

Santa Ynez, California Santa Ynez (; Spanish for "St. Agnes") is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California. The town of Santa Ynez is one of the communities of the Santa Ynez Valley. It features the Santa Ynez Airport ...

, where the minimum age to play is 18. Madsen won a

no limit No Limit may refer to: Music Record labels *No Limit Records, a record label founded by Master P * No Limit Forever Records, a record label founded by Romeo Miller, son of Master P Albums * ''No Limit'' (Art Pepper album), 1977 * ''No Limit'' ...

Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...

event at the 2006 World Series of Poker just 3 years later. At the age of 21 years and five weeks, he was about six weeks younger than the previous record holder,

Eric Froehlich Eric Froehlich (born February 9, 1984 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American professional poker player, professional Magic: The Gathering player, and member of the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with h ...

, who won his first WSOP bracelet in 2005. Madsen's victory earned him $660,948. At that time he was the youngest World Series of Poker winner in history until

Steve Billirakis Steve Billirakis (born May 23, 1986 in Hampshire, Illinois) is an American professional poker player. Billirakis won the first tournament of the 2007 World Series of Poker winning the $5,000 World Championship Mixed Hold'em Limit/No-Limit even ...

became the youngest at the age of 21 years 11 days the following year. Less than two weeks prior to his victory, Madsen finished third in the $2,000 Omaha high-low split event, winning $97,552. Just six days after his first victory, Madsen won his second WSOP title, and $643,381, in the $5,000 no limit hold 'em

shorthanded Short-handed is a term used in ice hockey and several related sports, including water polo, and refers to having fewer skaters (players) on the ice during play, as a result of a penalty. The player removed from play serves the penalty in the pe ...

event. A few days later he finished third in the $1000 Seven-card stud high low split event, earning $65,971, adding up to an unprecedented four top 3 finishes, in four different

poker variants The card game of poker has many variations, most of which were created in the United States in the mid-1800s through the early 1900s. The standard order of play applies to most of these games, but to fully specify a poker game requires details ...

, in his first year at the WSOP. His showing prompted

Full Tilt Poker Full Tilt Poker is an Irish online poker card room and online casino that opened in June 2004. Formerly privately owned by Tiltware, LLC and later by the Rational Entertainment Group, the site was acquired by The Stars Group (then known as Amaya ...

to bring him in as a sponsored pro. In 2007, Madsen cashed in his first WPT event, finishing eighth at the Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship. On February 5, 2010 Madsen won the $3,500 buy-in Championship Event at the Borgata Winter Open 2010 in Atlantic City, NJ winning $625,006. As of 2022, Madsen's tournament winnings exceed $5,750,000. His 109 cashes at the WSOP account for $3,179,446 of those winnings.

Personal life

Madsen lives in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

WSOP Bracelets

Notes

External links

Sports Illustrated feature storyPokerListings.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madsen, Jeff 1985 births American poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners WSOP Player of the Year Award winners Living people People from Santa Monica, California University of California, Santa Barbara alumni