Christopher Philip Ferguson (born April 11, 1963) is an American professional

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

player. He has won six World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event, and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Ferguson is a

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

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

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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 Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Both Ferguson's parents have doctoral degrees in mathematics and his father, Thomas S. Ferguson, teaches

game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...

and theoretical probability at UCLA. Ferguson attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, where he earned a Ph.D. in

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(focusing on virtual network

algorithms In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for per ...

) in 1999 after five years as an undergraduate and 13 years as a graduate student. His Ph.D. advisor was

Leonard Kleinrock Leonard Kleinrock (born June 13, 1934) is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. Kleinrock made several ...

. 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 IRC poker was a form of poker played over the IRC chat protocol before the surge in popularity of online poker in the early 2000s. A computer program was used to deal and manage the games. Commands could be typed in directly with a standard IRC c ...

playing online for play money in chat rooms. In 1994, he began playing in tournaments in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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 Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

" because of his trademark long brown hair and beard. His style is highly mathematical, using a strong knowledge of

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 (out of 2,576 players). 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 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(s) won at the World Series of Poker Europe In addition to his six bracelets, Ferguson was the first player to have won three World Series of Poker Circuit rings.

Full Tilt Poker scandal

In 2004, Ferguson co-founded the online poker site Full Tilt Poker.What Would Jesus Bet?
Alec Wilkinson, The Sporting Scene, The New Yorker, March 30, 2009 On September 20, 2011, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

amended an existing civil complaint against Full Tilt Poker, alleging that directors Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Rafe Furst "lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited." A lawyer for Ferguson denied the allegations, suggesting that the issues may have been the result of mismanagement not malice. While the legality of

online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...

remains controversial, Ferguson's case was dismissed on February 19, 2013.

Personal life

Ferguson's interests include being president of a swing dancing club at UCLA, as well as his ability to throw

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

s fast enough to cut through bananas, carrots and even melons. His card throwing ability was showcased on a side segment called ‘The Nuts’ on the ESPN broadcast of the World Series of Poker.

References

External links

Card Player profileHendon Mob profilePokerNews profileWSOP profileWPT profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Chris 1963 births World Series of Poker Main Event winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners WSOP Player of the Year Award winners World Series of Poker Circuit event winners National Heads-Up Poker Championship winners Poker After Dark tournament winners University of California, Los Angeles alumni Poker players from Los Angeles Living people