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"I Felt Like This is the Best I've Played in The Last Ten Years,"; Jeff Madsen Wins Fifth WSOP Bracelet
Stud Games: 100,000 Ante, 100,000 Bring-In, 300,000 Completion, 300,000-600,000 Limits
Pot-Limit & No-Limit: 150,000/250,000 Ante, 100,000-150,000 Blinds
With 21 games to choose from, a grand total of 656 entrants came out for a shot in Event #20: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice, to generate a prize pool of $870,840 to be split between the top 99 finishers. As the day began, just ten players had a chance to fulfil their dreams of becoming the latest champion at the 2026 World Series of Poker at Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Each of them locked up $10,430 by making it this far, but only one of them would walk away with the bracelet and the $161,057.
It was 20 years ago when a young Jeff Madsen came to the WSOP to collect his first recorded tournament cash, finishing in third place in the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo for $97,522. He topped that feat by cashing for over $1.3 million that summer, final tabling three more events, winning two more bracelets, and becoming the youngest player ever to win Player of The Year. Now on the 20th anniversary of his arrival in Las Vegas, Madsen beat Philip Wess to take home his fifth WSOP bracelet to further cement his name in the annals of poker history.
Event #20: $1,500 Dealer Choice Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Madsen | United States | $161,057 |
| 2 | Philip Wess | United States | $107,341 |
| 3 | Luteng Li | Canada | $72,042 |
| 4 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | $49,383 |
| 5 | Clayton Mozdzen | Canada | $34,588 |
| 6 | Kelvin Zhao | United States | $24,766 |
“Obviously the first ones were just sort of like the dream, I was a kid with a dream. I had a little gap of seven years, but this is the longest gap. I felt like this is the best I have played in the last ten years. It probably feels the same, it’s hard to really know how I felt for the other ones. It’s sort of a big weight off my shoulders again, because I have been putting a lot of work in. I’m just very excited and happy, on my 20th anniversary. It’s wild that it's been 20 years already.”
Since his poker debut, Madsen has amassed over $7.2 million in lifetime earnings, with cashes and wins from tournaments all around the globe. In WSOP bracelet events he has cashed well over 100 times, and while this is his fifth bracelet, it is his first in 11 years.
“It’s really cool. Life isn’t just about bracelets, but it’s nice for this stuff to happen and things telling you you’re doing the right thing. I ran really well at the final table, I was super locked in, it wasn’t too tough at the end there and I just felt really good. It’s nice, it’s not everything and hopefully I’m going to win more in the summer, but it’s nice because I put a lot of work into poker. It’s an emotional moment and I’m still in a dreamlike state. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years in poker.”
Just a few days shy of his birthday, Madsen went further to talk about how important his own mindset was in the tournament and in his poker game in general.
“I know I’m very streaky, so I’m playing good right now. It’s not that you play totally different when you think you need to win, but once you get the win you’re taking more spots that you should take. You’re not like ‘I have to win this pot,’ you’re more like ‘I’m a winner already,’ which you should always tell yourself. It will help emotionally and make sure I’m playing my best game and not missing a spot because ‘I don’t want to lose this pot,’ or ‘I don’t want this not bluff to work.’ I’ve been better at lately, but there are periods where you question yourself.”
Of the many games in the mix, Madsen talked about which games he wanted to pick and the strategy surrounding it.
“I mean I do like mix because I’m pretty well rounded. But we’re not here for Hold’em, so I like Hold’em but I’m not trying to pick it in the mix. I stick to a lot of the stud games in this tourney, a lot of stud hi-lo regular because it’s like a weird game that a lot of people misplay. I’m good at the four-card games like PLO and PLO8 but I definitely didn’t choose a lot of big bet games this tournament. I did a lot of Stud games and mostly limit. A lot of other players were picking Badeucy and Badacey.
“My least favourite is I guess Hold’em, because we’re just here to play mixed and I kind of leaned on the Stud this tournament. The big bet and other stuff I like, I just wasn’t really choosing it as a strategy. Stud you just get a lot more reads and there’s a lot of chance for the hand to pan out. It’s not like some big no-limit hand where you get in ace-king to queens.”
A rail began to form as the field got smaller and eventually the rail was surrounded by Madsen’s friends all cheering for him holding posters. As he won his bracelet, his friends would surround and cheer for him and his accomplishments.
“I know so many interesting people. Not everyone gets this cool rail. My friend printed all these AI posters of me, stuff like that is pretty special. It helped me stay locked in. It’s not like I’m doing it for them, but I’m just trying to play my best game and have something to celebrate. Not that second wouldn’t have been something to celebrate, but we want the win.”
With his face already on a banner in the Horseshoe holding his first WSOP bracelet, Madsen opened up about his drive to chase another POY title 20 years after the first one.
“I already was. I’ve got a win now, I've got an eleventh in the $5k PLO and one other cash. We’re definitely at least somewhere up there. I plan to try to win one or two more. Three in a summer would be good, that doesn’t happen very often. It’s good to win one early and to win player of the year twenty years after the first time would be very crazy and kind of special in a way. Why not? Let’s do it!”
Day 3 Action
John Bunch (10th-$10,430) and Nathan Gamble (9th-$13,592) would fall in the first two levels of the day leaving just two WSOP bracelet winners remaining in the field. The two shortest stacks of Luteng Li and Daniel Geyser began to spin up in these couple of levels as Li would climb to the second biggest stack in the field. Geyser’s run would finish and he would collect $13,592 despite the spin up as he and Jeff Madsen would clash in what was the first flop game called in a couple hours, Omaha Hi-Lo. An ace-high board would see Geyser get his chips in with top pair, top kicker and a low draw while Madsen would hold top and bottom with the same low draw. No change was brought to Geyser and his run finished in eighth place, one shy of the final table.
Final Table Action
Robert Klein would fall first in Omaha Hi-Lo. Clayton Mozdzen flopped a wheel draw against Klein’s pair of threes and Klein was unable to hold up against the draw on the turn. No chop came on the river and Mozdzen chipped up while Klein ended his run in seventh place, good for $18,137.
Kelvin Zhao found himself the next to go in sixth place. His fortunes would come to a halt when he would fall to the short stack and his last hand would come in Badugi, when his nine would fall to Mozdzen’s number four. Zhao would add $24,766 to his burgeoning resume.
Madsen began his ascent up the counts just before and right after dinner, despite starting the final table as one of the shortest stacks. He saw his stack continue to grow, eventually holding over 50% of the chips in play with five players left after winning a sizeable Stud Hi-Lo regular pot off of Philip Wess.
One player not free from Madsen's wrath was Mozdzen who ended up finding his chips going in during the Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better round when Mozden got in seven-six-four against Madsen’s eight-five-three. Madsen ended up making a pair of eights and a low against Mozdzen’s pair of fours and the Canadian collected $34,588 for his fifth place finish.
There was just one bracelet winner remaining in the three-handed portion of the match as Dario Sammartino became the fourth place finisher of the event. After getting short, he clashed with Wess and Madsen in Badeucy and eventually get the last tiny amount of his chips holding a ten-low. Madsen had made both a nine badugi and a nine-seven and he raked in the pot to see number two on Italy’s all time money list collect $49,383 to add to his earnings.
Li hung around at the final table as the shortest stack from six players left down to three, but his run of laddering came to an end shortly after Sammartino’s departure. Despite an urgently needed triple up, he found himself short again as the Big O round came to put him in the big blind. He called off his remaining cards with a queen-high rundown against Wess’ aces. Despite pairing one card in his hand, Wess’ aces held up and he raked in the pot. Li finished with a career best score of $72,042, while heads up began with Madsen holding over a 3:1 chip lead.
It was a short heads up match as 3:1 was the closest that the match ever got. After a quartering, Wess saw his stack shrink further whereas Madsen held over 90% of the chips in play. Their final clash came in Pot-Limit Double Draw High in which Wess committed his last chips with a flush draw against Madsen’s pair of queens. Madsen further improved to three queens whereas Wess’ had to settle for a consolation prize of $107,341 as his flush draw bricked.
That will conclude today’s coverage of the $1,500 Dealers Choice. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the exciting updates on the ground.