Winter is coming. And that means big decisions for poker players around the world. Bracelets in The Bahamas? WPT’s World Championship in Vegas? Or snow with the EPT in Prague? In this daily series, we’ll find out what the players are up to and, more importantly, why.
Jeff Madsen burst onto the poker scene at the 2006 World Series of Poker by winning two bracelets, $1,300,000, and the treasured Player of the Year award at 21. Madsen has since won two additional WSOP bracelets at the 2013 $3,000 PLO event and the 2015 $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better.
Most recently, Madsen finished third at the $5,300 buy-in PokerStars North American Poker Tour Main Event for $341,750. He has accumulated more than $7,000,000 in career tournament cashes.
Where are you playing this December?
There are so many good tournaments coming up; it's a big decision. However, since I live in Vegas, I can’t imagine not playing in the WPT event at the Wynn.
Saying that, there's a chance I'll attempt to satellite into the Bahamas WSOP events and go if I win a package. I just wish the tournaments weren't right on top of each other.
Do you think the brands should find a way to allow players to play in both?
It’s tough. It's a busy time of year around the holidays, but I think they're going to naturally compete. Perhaps they could have had their Main Events on a different schedule. The WPT Wynn is such a good event, and it's hard for people to leave Vegas when the Wynn event is happening.
Jeff Madsen at the WPT World Championship in 2023. What do you think of the WPT $5 million freeroll?
I haven't won a seat to the freeroll yet, but I will definitely try. I will play everything, including the mixed games. I'll play the main and other larger events and there's something good every day.
Where did you go last year?
I stayed in Vegas and played the Wynn events. I thought about going to the Bahamas. There was a promotion that was a good deal if you went to the series, but it wasn’t enough to get me down there.
You recently took down third at the NAPT $5300 Main Event for $341,750. Great run!
Thanks. I wasn't all in most of the tournament and at risk very often. Maybe four or five times the whole tournament.
How did you approach the final table?
I was playing a pot control style and was implementing a little bit of a limp strategy, too, which not everyone does, especially at that stage of a tournament. Most players tend to play their hands more straightforwardly.
I wasn't getting into huge confrontations with the chip leader, Nick Marchington. I was trying to avoid him a little bit, and he was playing pretty aggressively. I knew a lot of pots with him would mean me risking a decent part of my stack with mediocre hands. And I wasn’t flopping any big hands against him in a lot of the matchups.
It was a fun final table, though. I wish I had won the last hand when we were all in with Q-Q vs A-10, but the ace came on the river. If I win that flip, there was a decent chance I would get heads-up with Marchington.
Madsen picked up a long-awaited big score in the 2024 NAPT Main Event. There was a bit of controversy with a post on the PokerOrg social media account. Some people took offense to it - what did you make of it?
Personally, I didn't think it was a huge deal at all. I did get some feedback from friends who had an issue with it. They thought it had a negative slant toward me and was a needle of sorts, but it didn't offend me at all.
I think a media company needs to stir up a little bit of drama and sometimes bring up issues that are not in the most positive light. Big scores can be hard to come by if you don't play high rollers or have a massive schedule.
Poker fans want a balance between entertaining content and a headline that delivers a reason to read it. We all know that most of the media in the world realize that negative stories stir up emotions. I get that aspect of it.
But for the record, I love everyone at PokerOrg. Tiffany Michelle is one of my oldest friends in poker. There are no hard feelings about it.
Follow Jeff Madsen on X @JeffMadsenobv. DM Jeff if you are interested in poker coaching.
Photos courtesy of PokerStars/Rachel Kay Winter/Joe Giron
