Christopher Philip Ferguson (born on April 11, 1963) is an American professional poker player. In his career he has won five World Series of Poker bracelets, including the bracelet for the 2000 WSOP Main Event, and was the winner of the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.[citation needed]
Biography
Ferguson was born in Los Angeles, California.[citation needed] Ferguson's parents have doctoral degrees in mathematics and his father, Thomas Ferguson, teaches game theory and theoretical probability at UCLA.[citation needed]
Ferguson attended UCLA where he earned a Ph.D. in computer science (focusing on virtual network algorithms) in 1999 after five years as an undergraduate and 13 years as a graduate student.[2] His Ph.D. advisor was Leonard Kleinrock.[3]
His style is highly mathematical, using a strong knowledge of game theory and developing computer simulations to improve his understanding of the game.[citation needed]
Poker
Ferguson was playing poker before age 10. In college he honed his skill on IRC playing poker for play money in chat rooms. In 1994, he began playing in tournaments in California and in 1995, he entered his first World Series of Poker. Ferguson beat T. J. Cloutier at the main event of the 2000 WSOP to win the $1.5 million prize. In 2004, he made another deep run in the WSOP main event, earning $120,000 for his 26th place finish (out of 2,576 players). Also in 2004, Ferguson helped launch the online poker site Full Tilt Poker.[citation needed]
Ferguson finished runner-up to Phil Hellmuth in the 2005 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. He made the finals again in 2006, but again finished second, this time to Ted Forrest. In 2008 he made the finals for the third time, this time defeating Andy Bloch and winning the title. He has the most wins in the four-year period of the tournament, with an overall match record of 16-3.[citation needed]
In 2008, Ferguson cashed for US$677,905 at the WSOP,[4] a number that greatly exceeded his 2007 WSOP cash total of $84,562.[5] As of 2009, his total live tournament winnings exceed $7,800,000.[6] His 59 WSOP cashes account for $4,031,499 of those winnings and his 59 cashes put him in 3rd for most all time cashes at the WSOP, behind Phil Hellmuth and Men Nguyen.[7]
World Series of Poker bracelets
| Year |
Tournament |
Prize (US$) |
| 2000 |
$2,500 Seven Card Stud |
$151,000 [8] |
| 2000 |
$10,000 No Limit Texas Hold 'em World Championship |
$1,500,000 [9] |
| 2001 |
$1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Eight or Better |
$164,735 [10] |
| 2003 |
$2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split Eight or Better |
$123,680 [11] |
| 2003 |
$2,000 1/2 Limit Hold'em - 1/2 Seven Card Stud |
$66,220 [12] |
In addition to these bracelets, Ferguson is the only player to have won three World Series of Poker circuit events.[13]
Nickname
Ferguson is nicknamed "Jesus" because of his trademark long brown hair and beard.[14] He is a relatively quiet player who often adopts a characteristic motionless pose in situations where he could be "read". He adopted his trademark wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses consciously, trying to disguise the fact that he was a college student.[15]
Trivia
- On television, some interesting truths about him have been revealed, including his presidency of a swing dancing club at UCLA, as well as his ability to throw playing cards fast enough to cut through bananas, carrots, and even melons.[16]
- He claims to have painstakingly turned $1 into more than $20,000 on an online poker site over six months, as a personal challenge. He talks about this in an evening as a guest on Poker Night Live, which can still be seen on the channel's online video player.[citation needed]
- Similarly, to show that it could be done, he turned $0 into $10,000 on Full Tilt by first winning freeroll tournaments, and then playing with the prize money. Despite passing the $10k target the challenge continues and was at one point over $20k.[17]
- Although his nickname is "Jesus", taken from the central figure of the Christian religion, Ferguson is an atheist.[18][citation needed]
- He has developed an algorithm for deal making for players who reach the final table in Full Tilt Poker's online tournaments.[19]
References
- ^ "Chris Ferguson player ID". Worldseriesofpoker.com. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/players/playerprofile.asp?playerID=201. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ Brooks, Michael (May 2007). "Time enough for countin'". NewScientist 194 (2604): 52–53.
- ^ "PhD students supervised". Leonard Kleinrock. http://www.lk.cs.ucla.edu/LK_students.html. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
- ^ 2008 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Standings, worldseriesofpoker.com
- ^ 2007 World Series of Poker Player of the Year Standings, worldseriesofpoker.com
- ^ "Hendon Mob tournament results: Chris Ferguson". Pokerdb.thehendonmob.com. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=82. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ World Series of Poker Earnings, www.worldseriesofpoker.com
- ^ "2000 $2,500 Seven card Stud". Worldseriesofpoker.com. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/event.asp?tourneyID=1838&groupID=197. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ "$10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship". Worldseriesofpoker.com. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/event.asp?tourneyID=1854&groupID=197. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ "$1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo". Worldseriesofpoker.com. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/event.asp?tourneyID=1857&groupID=196. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ "$2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo". Worldseriesofpoker.com. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/event.asp?tourneyID=1761&groupID=5. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ "$2,000 1/2 Limit Hold'em, 1/2 Seven Card Stud". Worldseriesofpoker.com. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/event.asp?tourneyID=1767&groupID=5. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ "Chris is first to three Circuit wins". http://www.poker.com/news/Chris_Ferguson_wins_Lake_Tahoe_WSOP_Event.html.
- ^ ""Jesus" origin". http://poker.about.com/od/playerprofiles/p/chrisferguson.htm.
- ^ "Chris Ferguson interview". http://www.palisadespost.com/content/index.cfm?Story_ID=1369.
- ^ Texas Throw'em #1 - #5
- ^ "Chris Ferguson Challenge". Fulltiltpoker.com. 2006-11-26. http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/chris-ferguson-challenge. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ "Oddjack". http://www.oddjack.com/gambling/poker/celebrities/index.php. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
- ^ Automatic Tournament Deals, fulltiltpoker.com
External links
