There were plenty of talking points arising from this year's World Series Of Poker but the one story that has really caught the imagination of the poker world, and further afield, is that of 21 year old wonderboy, Jeff Madsen. Only a couple of months ago he was playing low-mid limit Hold'em games at "Chumash", an Indian casino not far from UC Santa Barbara, California where he is a film student.

However after winning $643,381 in the $5,000 Short-handed No-Limit Hold'em tournament, $660,984 in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event, plus $97,552 he earned by finishing third in the $2,000 buy-in Omaha High/Low Split tournament two weeks previous, Jeff is over $1.4 million dollars better off and has the likes of Jay Leno and David Letterman chasing him for an interview � not bad for a summer's work and his first visit to Las Vegas. Especially when you consider he borrowed $6,000 from his college fund and $3,500 from his incredibly supportive and understanding parents to pay for his buy-ins to six WSOP events. "We actually talked about lending him the money two or three months before,'' said his mother, Harriet. "But he convinced us because he said he could do well. I've always taught my children to believe in themselves, so why should I stop now?

I have no worries about my son being a gambler. He's in it because he's a competitor and he loves the strategy. Anything he does, he does it very, very deeply. So he's pretty deeply into being a student of poker.'' But despite teaching a few lessons to the pros in Vegas Jeff has vowed to finish school. "I've got one more year. I could drop out, but I like my school. Santa Barbara is a nice place. There's no reason not to go back. But I'll be playing poker the whole time, as many big events as I can." With his victory, Madsen not only becomes the second two time bracelet winner at this year's World Series (joining William Chen), he also becomes the youngest two time bracelet winner in the history of the World Series at 21 years old. After winning the $5000 No-Limit Hold'em Madsen did the obvious thing and signed up to Full Tilt Poker, joining the ever-growing roster of superstar poker players at that site. But by the end of the World Series, and his fourth final table, Madsen's star had risen to the point where his signature was courted by Poker Royalty, an agency representing the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi, and Phil Hellmuth.
"Given our strong relationships with the world's biggest gaming companies, Poker Royalty is ideally situated to identify the numerous poker-related sponsorship opportunities available to someone with Jeff's outstanding poker accomplishments," said Chris Porter, Director of Corporate Marketing for Poker Royalty.

Not surprisingly Madsen was made 2006 World Series of Poker Player of the Year.