Youngest poker winner does it again

LAS VEGAS - A week after becoming the youngest player to win a World Series of Poker event, 21-year-old Jeff Madsen proved it was no fluke.

The University of California, Santa Barbara film student who scraped together $9,500 for buy-ins from his parents and a college fund has now cashed in for a cool $1.4 million. And he's still playing.

"It feels amazing," said Madsen, who just turned the legal gambling age in Nevada on June 7. "It's surreal."

A week ago, Madsen turned heads by beating a field of 1,578 players over three days to earn $660,948.

On Saturday evening, he was raking in chips again, this time at a final table from renowned pro Erick Lindgren, despite having a stack about half of Lindgren's.

On the final hand, Madsen was holding a queen and nine. The flop gave him a pair of queens and he pushed all-in. Lindgren called, holding a suited ace and jack. The board showed king, queen, two, five and three, giving Madsen the winning pair, victory over 506 players and $643,381.

Madsen, who honed his game since age 18 at an Indian casino in California, earlier placed third in an Omaha high-low event to collect $97,552. The World Series of Poker, the game's largest tournament, began June 25 and wraps up Aug. 10.

Tournament media director Nolan Dalla called Madsen's cool performance stunning.

At the same age, 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan was washing dishes in his parents' restaurant, and the late three-time World Series main event champ Stu Ungar was hustling gin rummy games in New York, Dalla said.

"That's how far this kid is ahead of them," he said. "That doesn't mean he'll go on to be the greatest of all time, but it's pretty remarkable."

Madsen's mother Harriet, a 54-year-old health insurance agent, said her son was taking the victory in stride. After winning Saturday, he rushed home Sunday morning for a memorial service for his grandmother, who died at age 86. By Monday, he was back in Las Vegas playing in another event.

"Jeffrey is so cool as a cucumber," Harriet Madsen said. "You would not know, sitting next to him at the memorial service, that this boy just became a millionaire."

News Added: 25 July, 2006

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