Browse > Home / Player Profiles / Poker Star Profile: Chris Ferguson

Poker Star Profile: Chris Ferguson

October 17, 2009

  • 5 WSOP Bracelets
  • 3 WSOP-C Rings
  • National Champion, Heads-Up No-Limit Hold ‘em, 2008
  • WSOP Main Event Champion 2000

Chris Ferguson plays online exclusively at Full Tilt Poker.

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. As the son of two mathematicians, Chris was destined to join the academic world. He spent a total of 18 years at UCLA, with five years as an undergrad and 13 as a graduate student. In 1999 he graduated with a Ph.D. in computer science and left the comfort of university life.

Chris started playing poker on an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel – one of the first forms of online poker – during his student years, and quickly became the highest ranked tournament player. He applied this knowledge of game theory to live poker in the LA area in 1994 and played his first World Series of Poker event just a year later. After leaving academia, Chris decided to concentrate on his game.

Within five years, Chris made seven WSOP final tables and cashed in 12 events. He won his first bracelet in the $2.5K Seven-Card Stud event, before going on to win the 2000 WSOP Main Event bracelet and $1.5 million the same year. Known for his versatility, Chris won his next WSOP bracelet in 2001 in the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo Split event, followed by two further WSOP bracelets in 2003. The first of these was the $2K Omaha Hi/Lo Split event, followed by the $2K Limit Hold ‘em & Seven-Card Stud event.

More recently, Chris won the 2008 NBC Heads-Up Championship after battling through a tough 64-person field. He then made two more impressive finishes at the 2008 WSOP, with a 3rd place finish in the $1.5K No-Limit Hold ‘em event and 2nd place finish in the $5K World Championship 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo event. Chris got off to a good start in 2009 with a 2nd place finish at the Aussie Millions in the AUD 10K HORSE event in Melbourne.

Chris Ferguson

Chris is recognized as one of the most skilled poker players in the world. He’s made 25 WSOP final tables, won five WSOP bracelets, cashed 42 times in a range of WSOP events and won three WSOP Circuit championship rings. His WSOP earnings alone total over $6.7 million.

Chris has also played an active role in the evolution of online poker, working with players and programmers to design Full Tilt Poker. He’s also dedicated himself to helping players improve their game by contributing to publications including “The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition” and the “Little Blue Book: More

Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Texas Hold ‘em”. He later proved the value of bankroll management with the Chris Ferguson $10K Challenge, demonstrating how to turn $0 into $10K.

When he’s not playing poker, Chris can be found dancing West Coast Swing in his local club or showing off his incredible card tricks. You can play poker with Chris Ferguson online at Full Tilt Poker.

Written by admin · Filed Under Player Profiles 

Comments

Got something to say?





I have just recently come across one of the most entertaining poker games of all time. Crazy Pineapple Poker is another variant of regular texas hold'em poker with a fruity twist. The game starts out very differently and ends up being the same as hold'em towards the end. Like Texas  Hold'em, the 2 players to the left post blinds before the deal. Then the changes begin for a brief while. Instead of being dealt 2 hole cards as in Texas Hold'em, each player gets 3 hole cards to begin. After the 3 hole cards are dealt, there's a round of betting. After the betting is complete, the flop is dealt, and another round of betting begins. From this point onwards is where the "Crazy" begins- after the second round of betting is done, all players remaining in the hand choose 1 card from their 3 hole cards to discard. So everyone now only has the regular 2 hole cards just like in Texas Hold'em again. From this point onwards the game is identical to Texas Hold'em. The turn is dealt, a round of betting happens, the river is dealt, another betting round, and then there's the showdown. Players can use any combination of the 2 hole cards in their hands and the 5 board or community cards on the table to make the best hand, and the best hand wins the pot. This game is very exciting and extremely fun to play with a group of poker players looking to have a refreshing take on poker. Let me know if any of you have tried it.