Jeff Madsen Is the Best Fantasy Pick You Didn't Make

Jeff Madsen just finished 11th in Event #5, the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed, for $35,704 — and the person happiest about it might be Gary Benson, who drafted Madsen onto Trump Power and also drafted himself.

We're five events into the 2026 WSOP and Madsen has already locked 30 fantasy points on the 25kfantasy.com contest with a ceiling that sat at 122 before he busted. That's real production, real early.

We're five events into the 2026 WSOP and Madsen has already locked 30 fantasy points with a ceiling that sat at 122 before he busted.

The Benson Angle Makes This Better

Gary Benson made headlines by drafting himself onto Trump Power — a move that reads as vanity until you look at who else he rostered. Madsen is the kind of multi-event grinder who can rack up points across PLO, No-Limit, and mixed games all summer. He doesn't need a bracelet to be fantasy-relevant. He just needs to keep showing up and cashing, which is exactly what he did in a $5K buy-in against a tough eight-handed field.

Thirty locked points from a single event this early is the kind of baseline that separates contenders from the field. Most fantasy rosters are still sitting at zero or single digits through five events. Trump Power already has bankable production from one player.

The Counter-Take

You could argue 11th place in a PLO event isn't worth writing about — it's not a final table, it's not a bracelet, it's not even a top-five finish. Fair. But fantasy doesn't care about prestige. It cares about points. And 30 locked points from Event #5 with 50-plus bracelet events still on the schedule is exactly the kind of early-summer floor that wins contests.

The managers who passed on Madsen were thinking about ceiling. Benson was thinking about volume. Five events in, volume is winning.

Madsen's 15 remaining points of upside evaporated when he busted, but the 30 he locked are permanent. That's the whole game in salary-cap fantasy — draft the guys who cash often enough to build a floor, then hope one of your high-ceiling picks breaks through for a bracelet.

Benson got his floor pick right. Now we see if drafting himself was genius or hubris.