Can you remember what you were doing 7 years ago, back in 2006? Jeff Madsen can – he was winning 2 WSOP Bracelets and gaining two 3rd places on his way to becoming 2006 WSOP Player of the Year at the age of just 21 years and 5 weeks. Even at that young age, Jeff Madsen was showing his Omaha skills with a 3rd place in a $2,000 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event worth $97,552.

While it may have taken him 7 years to win his next bracelet, Madsen has been a constant fixture in live poker tournaments around the world. Excelling in a variety of games, his cashes include 3rd for $121,323 in a HORSE tournament, 4th in a Pot Limit Omaha tournament for $81,056 and several WPT final tables. Until this weekend however, he hadn’t managed to add to his collection of 2 WSOP bracelets.

The unofficial final table started with 10 players, and Iaasc Hagerling (winner of Event #27) was the bubble boy for the official final 9. The chip counts were as follows:

1. Jeff Madsen – 1,320,000
2. Michal Maryska – 885,000
3. Ryan Chapman – 822,000
4. Douglas Corning – 667,000
5. William Black – 651,000
6. Joni Jouhkimainen – 472,000
7. Scott Clements – 447,000
8. Danny Hannawa – 208,000
9. Jason DeWitt – 185,000

A strong final table including Scott Clements (2 WSOP bracelets, 2 WPT Titles), rising Finnish pro Joni Jouhkimainen and Jason DeWitt (1 WSOP bracelet).

The beauty of Omaha is in the action it forces thanks to the four hold cards, so a boring final table this was not. The difference in chip stacks made for some interesting dynamics, and it was Hannawa who ended up all in first after just 6 hands, holding A K K 5. Clement’s A K J T had plenty of equity but a Queen high board with 3 low cards was good enough for Hannawa to hold on and double up to 350,000.

The first elimination occurred a few hands later following 4 players seeing a flop of 3 Q 6. DeWitt led and Black called to see a turn of 7. A check from DeWitt, an instant all in from Black, and a sigh call from DeWitt saw the table reduced to 8 before the river card was even dealt – the A K 3 7 holding of Black giving him the nut flush over DeWitt’s K J 7 5 and leaving DeWitt with 0% equity. On the plus side, 9th place paid $29,265 and I’m sure we’ll be seeing DeWitt’s name at another final table before the end of the series.

The action continued to flow, with Jeff Madsen adding 370,000 chips to his stack on the very next hand with a set of tens and extending his advantage out front. Jouhkimainen also had momentum, but unfortunately for him he was going the opposite way – slipping backwards to become short stack with just 200,000 at 10,000/20,000 and then getting it in with plenty of equity on 3 8 3 against none other than Madsen, holding A J T 2. Up against 8 7 5 4, the young Finn had an impressive 66% equity – but equity is sadly just a number, and a blank turn and river saw Madsen’s pair of 8s hold up and Jouhkimainen sent home with $37,529 for his 8th place finish.

William Black was next out a few hands later, and I doubt it will be a surprise when I tell you that his chips were being stacked by Jeff Madsen as he shook hands and thanked the table. Essentially all in preflop, Madsen held K K Q J against Black’s A A J T. The last couple of chips, however, went in after the flop (the joys of pot limit) and it was Madsen – surprise – who had shot into a big equity lead thanks to K 5 8. Two 7s on the turn and river gave Madsen a full house against Black’s two pair, and while Madsen collected Black’s 600,000 chips to add them to his stack Black was collecting $48,624 from the cashier’s desk.

The eliminations slowed down after Black’s departure but the action did not. Madsen won the first pot worth over 1,000,000 chips off Scott Clements, tabling K 7 6 3 after calling Clements’ river raise on a board of 3 3 2 7 T and seeing his opponent’s top two hit the muck. Clements’ bad luck continued as he doubled up the short stack of the table Ryan Chapman, but things started to go his way when he picked up the blinds and then doubled through Madsen despite being slightly before pre-flop.

All this action left Ryan Chapman and Scott Clements’ clear short stacks, and it was Chapman who bit the dust first – getting it in with 9 7 3 6 against Corning’s K 8 4 4 on a board of 4 8 9. Any worries Corning might have had were swiftly put to bed as the 4 on the turn gave Corning quads and a big smile, and left Chapman with $63,702 and a 6th place finish.

Scott Clements had been busy up to this point, trying to spin up his stack, and he managed to get his remaining 250,000 chips in the middle in very good shape, turning a set of 9s on Ax5x7x9x but Corning still had outs in the form of a 6 which proceeded to dutifully hit on the river – eliminating Scott Clements for $84,424 and guaranteeing the rest of the players a 6 figure score!

Just 4 players went on dinner break, and the chip standings were as follows:

1. Jeff Madsen – 3,035,000
2. Douglas Corning – 2,050,000
3. Michal Maryska – 575,000
4. Danny Hannawa – 405,000

A massive difference, with Madsen holding nearly half the chips in play. Action quietened down after dinner – full stomachs maybe? – and the first hour or so was mainly pre-flop action, with lots of raises, a few 3bets, and even fewer flops. This changed when the two short-stacks took each other on:

Maryska: J J 9 8
Hannawa: K J T 9
Flop: 2 T 8

Hannawa had a wrap straight draw, against the straight draw and overpair of Maryska, and the turn of 2 gave Hannawa a flush draw and added hope. The river was the ultimate brick – an offsuit 2 – and Maryska was back in the game. Hannawa was left with less than half a big blind, and despite picking up a pretty JT99 single suited, Madsen’s top pair top kicker knocked him out and he collected $113,340 for 3rd place.

3 handed, Maryska was still by far the shortest stack – chip stacks remaining approximately 3 million for Madsen, 2 million for Corning and 1 million for Maryska after the short stack took down several pots 3 handed showing he wasn’t afraid to put his chip stack at risk. This got him into trouble on the 100th hand though, double barrelling a Queen high board and instantly folding when Corning put him all in – dropping back to less than 500,000 chips at 20,000/40,000 blinds.

Raising two of the next four hands in a row, Maryska raise called Corning with A Q 5 2 and watched his opponent turn over A J T 4. A Q 6 6 board was a dream start for Maryska, giving him a good equity lead, but the King turn gave Corning both flush and straight draws and the Jack river gave Corning broadway and eliminated Maryska with $154,312 to soften the blow.

Stacks were evens going into heads up, with both players sitting on around 3,000,000 chips. Madsen quickly set to work changing this, with relentless aggression, raising buttons, continuation bets and firing whenever he could. It only took him a few hands to grind out a comprehensive chip lead, taking pot after pot as Corning watched his stack slowly diminishing to 2 million, then 1 million, struggling to even win a pot. Eventually, Corning took an all-in stand to make or break his tournament. Raising from the button, he called a pot size three bet of 330,000, and moved all in over Madsen’s pot bet on the flop:

Madsen: A K J J
Corning: A K 9 2
Flop: K T 2

Corning’s top pair was ahead, but Madsen still had plenty of equity with a gutshot straight draw to the Queen, a Jack for a better two pair, an Ace for a two pair with a higher kicker or 9 to split the pot with the same two pair. The 7 on the turn meant Madsen could also hit the 8 for a straight, and the river was the…

J, giving Madsen Kings and Jacks with an Ace kicker and handing him the Event 35 WSOP bracelet – the 3rd of his career. Corning took home a huge $237,374 for his time from his $3,000 entry. The spotlight fell on Madsen yet again though, and I’m not sure whether the $384,420 will be sweeter than collecting his 3rd WSOP bracelet 7 years after the first one. He’s never been out of the action, with an impressive string of cashes next to his name, but I’m sure it’ll be a relief to get back on the board at the world’s biggest poker series.