Chris Ferguson Biography

Chris Ferguson, otherwise known as “Jesus,” was born on April 11th, 1963 in Los Angeles, California. Raised by scholars, Chris himself became an educated man by attending UCLA. He spent 18 years in college, 5 years as an undergraduate and 13 as a graduate student. While in college, he earned his PhD in Computer Science. When “Jesus” was in college, he played poker on online chat rooms where he consistently won.

Poker Career

Chris Ferguson uses a more mathematical approach to his game when he plays. This is not hard to see as his father teaches game theory and probability. It has paid off for him as he started playing in 1994 in poker rooms around California and started to create a resume of tournaments finishes. He decided to try his hand at bigger tournaments in 1995 but his big break did not come until 2000 where he beat TJ Cloutier in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Winning this event earned Chris the elite title of being one of very few to win this event and collected the bracelet and $1.5 million purse for his efforts.

Since then, Ferguson has earned 5 bracelets with most of them being in different games. Chris currently has bracelets in the Stud event, Main Event, 2 Pot Limit Omaha events, and a bracelet from a 1/2 limit 1/2 Stud event. As of recent, Chris has earned over $7.3 million dollars in tournament winnings and had an excellent year in 2008, earning over $600,000. Some of his other accolades include coming in second place in the NBC Heads Up Challenge in both 2005 and 2006, only to come back in 2008 to win the event. He has the best record to date, winning 16 of his matches and only losing 3.

Aside from the tournament trail, you will find Chris Ferguson playing on Full Tilt Poker where he also helps behind the scenes. It was on this site where he accomplished 1 of 2 different bankroll challenges. The first bankroll challenge Chris attempted he turned $1 into over $20,000. The second bankroll challenge was made more public and he made it known that he was going to turn $0 into $10,000 through proper bankroll management. He set guidelines for himself and strictly adhered to them while fighting his way through the stakes. The hardest part for him had to be starting out. As you are probably aware, freerolls are very difficult to do well in and he had to win these to get an initial bankroll started. Several times, he would accumulate money, but due to having low funds to deal with variances, he would quickly bust out. After a while, Chris eventually made his goal of $10k which just proves that anyone can achieve success with proper strategy and money management.

If you can not find Chris Ferguson either live or on Full Tilt, it has been said that he enjoys swing dancing. He also has a few tricks up his sleeve as well. He states that he can throw a playing card fast enough to cut through carrots and even melons. While you may not be able to do that, be sure to try your own bankroll challenge by signing up to Full Tilt Poker today.