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Real Casinos > Poker Player Profiles > Chris Ferguson
Chris Ferguson
Of all the players and champions that have come out of the
new found fame of the World Series of Poker, none are more recognizable then
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. Gaining the
nickname Jesus from his trademark long brown hair and beard, Ferguson has taken
home five bracelets in several events.
He has an aggressive but subtle playing style that has worked well for
him through out his career. Although,
poker did not call his name until some years after his original calling and
this is the interesting part of the story.
The actual interesting part comes into play when you consider the fact
that Chris Ferguson should actually be referred to as Doctor Ferguson. Before becoming a professional poker player
Ferguson earned a PHD in Computer Science from UCLA, where he studied
artificial intelligence. This came on
the heels of his highly intelligent parents who are both Doctors of Mathematics
respectively.
Ferguson
was playing poker early on in his life and he used the many years he had at college
to perfect the craft for which he is so well known. Through use of the Internet Chat Relay he
played with others to further sharpen his skills before joining tournaments in
California in the middle 90’s. 1995
would be his first trip to the World Series of Poker and he used the time to
learn all he could about the tournament play.
This would pay off as his high level of intelligence made it all too
easy.
2000
would be the year that would forever shape his career. Making it to the final table of the World
Series of Poker main event, he was pitted against TJ Cloutier and would
eventually beat him for the top prize of over one and one half million
dollars. This would be a truly defining
moment as Ferguson would go on to win four more bracelets in other events and
is still competing with the best there is in the world.
There
are other interesting things about Ferguson that have been revealed about him
while he is on air commenting for the World Series of Poker behind the
camera. Ferguson is the president of a
dance club at UCLA and he also has the uncanny ability to throw playing cards
fast enough to cut through things like bananas and pickles. This may seem like a rather strange talent
but it is a certain crowd pleaser.
Chris
Ferguson was born April 11, 1963 in Los Angeles and at the age of 43 he is
still one of the top contenders in the poker scene.
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