Famous Poker Players: Chris Ferguson
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson

The year was 1999 and Chris Ferguson was looking for a career.  Having spent 18 years of his life at UCLA they decided to pull the plug on his academic life pursuing a PhD in Computer Science.  Since getting his degree 13 years earlier the powers that be decided he was taking rather too long on the PhD. Chris was not one to give up and turned his attention to something else that was important in his life; poker.  He had been playing poker for much of his life and was very good at it.  In an interview he recounted the heart break of losing 35c playing draw poker when his trip queens lost to a flush.  Of course he was only 10 at the time, but it made him determined to improve his game and never go broke again. In the late 80s he became one of the original online poker players playing IRC text only poker.  Back then the graphics were non-existent and the play was for glory only.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson

But the glory was pretty consistent for Chris Ferguson, even before he became Jesus.  He remained king of the IRC poker scene for some six years never falling far from the number one or two position in the poker league tables.  During this time he also enjoyed some real life trips to Vegas and lost on only two of his 22 visits to the city.  It was clear at this time Chris Ferguson did not like to lose.

In the year 2000 Chris Ferguson traveled to Vegas and competed in the main event at the World Series Of Poker and took the winners bracelet along with the rather nice $1,500,000 first prize, the first year the prize exceeded one million dollars.  His unmistakable look gave Chris Ferguson the "Jesus" nickname which has stayed with him ever since.

Chris Ferguson has won five titles at the World Series and has finished in the money several times since he started entering in 1995.  In 2002 he used some of his computer skills and combined them with his poker skills to develop the website Full Tilt Poker.  He also has an official home page at ChrisFerguson.com.