Chris Ferguson
Christopher Philip Ferguson is an American professional poker player. He has won six World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 [World Series of Poker|2000 WSOP Main Event], and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Ferguson is a computer scientist by training and education.
On September 20, 2011, the U.S. Justice Department filed a motion to amend a civil complaint, with the belief that Ferguson and three other directors for the popular poker client Full Tilt Poker were running a Ponzi scheme that paid out $444 million of customer money to themselves and the firm's owners.
Early life and education
Ferguson was born in Los Angeles, California. Both Ferguson's parents have doctoral degrees in mathematics and his father, Thomas S. Ferguson, teaches game theory and theoretical probability at UCLA.Ferguson attended UCLA, where he earned a Ph.D. in computer science in 1999 after five years as an undergraduate and 13 years as a graduate student. His Ph.D. advisor was Leonard Kleinrock. While at UCLA Ferguson appeared on the Ricky Jay Television Special "Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women" as an assistant.
Poker career
Ferguson began playing poker at the age of 10. In college, he honed his skill on IRC poker playing online 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. He is a relatively quiet player who often adopts a characteristic motionless pose to avoid providing information to his opponents. He adopted his trademark wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses consciously, to point towards a table image that does not display outright the fact that he was a college student. Ferguson is nicknamed "Jesus" because of his trademark long brown hair and beard. His style is highly mathematical, using a strong knowledge of game theory and developing computer simulations to improve his understanding of the game.In the 2000 WSOP Ferguson won his first bracelet in the $2,500 Seven-Card Stud event for $151,000. He followed this up by defeating T. J. Cloutier heads-up at the Main Event to win the $1.5 million prize. In 2004, he earned $120,000 in the Main Event for his 26th-place finish.
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.
At the 2017 WSOP, Ferguson set a record with 23 cashes. He also won his sixth bracelet, and first in 14 years, at the 2017 [World Series of Poker Europe|WSOP Europe] in the €1,650 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event. With these results Ferguson won the WSOP Player of the Year award.
As of September 2020, his total live tournament winnings exceed $9,500,000. His 168 WSOP cashes account for over $6,800,000 of those winnings.
World Series of Poker bracelets
An "E" following a year denotes bracelet won at the World Series of Poker EuropeIn addition to his six bracelets, Ferguson was the first player to have won three World Series of Poker Circuit rings.