• Player Bio Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson is the 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. Chris spent 18 years attending UCLA (5 years as an undergrad and 13 as a PhD candidate) before earning his doctoral degree in computer science.
• Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. Chris Ferguson known in the poker world as “Jesus” due mainly to his likeness of the original, began playing cards at the age of ten but didn’t actually become a.

From poker prince to pariah and back to champion – so goes the card career journey of one Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. Jesus, (as he’s nicknamed due to his long locks), became one of the more well-known faces of poker, during the poker boom of the early to late 2000’s.

Chris Ferguson is just about the most well branded poker player about. Whether it was on purpose or whether by luck Chris has become one of the most recognisable poker players.

He is now even more notorious in the industry due to his involvement in the former Full Tilt Poker before it was taken over by new parent company Pokerstars.

Known for his Cowboy hat, smart black suits and his ‘Jesus’ like beard, there are not many poker fans around that don’t know who Chris is.

A Statistical Background

Chris Ferguson is an academic through and through. Both his parents are academic professors at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His father in particular had an influence on Chris as he held a doctorate in statistics and gaming theory and was always passing this knowledge onto Chris by playing various different games with him throughout his childhood.

Chris was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, USA

By the age of 10 Chris was already playing Poker and the statistical and analytical side of poker was already being taught to him by his father.

Chris went on to achieve similar academic achievements as his parents, first spending five years getting a bachelors degree in Computer Sciences. After this he then spent a further thirteen years as a graduate student working towards a PhD in Artificial Intelligence.

Chris is the ultimate example of how to brand yourself and create a celebrity status

During this time Chris spent his spare time earning money as a day trader, which financed his other hobbies such as Ballroom Dancing, and computer technology.

It was while day trading that Chris met and became friends with Ray Bitar, a friendship that would eventually lead to the creation of Full Tilt Poker.

In fact way before online poker, and even before the days of the world wide web as we know it, Chris was playing poker with his friends over Internet Relay Chat (IRC) which essentially was an early version of the internet before it evolved.

Thrown into the Spotlight of the Poker World

Chris played Poker right throughout the 90′s and was entering local tournaments in L.A. He didn’t play too much on the tournament circuit and preferred playing his poker online at the time. He did however play in the WSOP events each year and he started to become noticed by other professionals and was well respected for his analytical approach to the game.

It was in 2000 that Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson was thrust into the public spotlight, when he booked his place in history by winning the 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event and in doing so defeated one of the most respected and decorated Pro’s in T.J. Cloutier at the final table. Since then Chris has gone on to win over $3 million in WSOP cashes.

Chris was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, USA

After this, Chris became a regular on the Poker Circuit and built his persona around the nickname of ‘Jesus’ that he had been given. This persona is the same one that everyone recognises and loves today with the black suit, cowboy hat and trademark beard.

Chris Ferguson's Major Title Record

WSOP Bracelets

5

EPT Wins

0

WPT Wins

0

The Brain Behind Full Tilt Poker

Chris’s love of Poker and his interest and academic background in computer technology came together when he along with his friend from day trading, Ray Bitar, came up with the concept of Full Tilt Poker.

Chris’s vision for Full Tilt was simple, an online poker site that is designed and owned and endorsed by actual professional poker players who know the game and needs of players better than anyone else.

With this in mind, he and Ray started to build up the funding required for the start-up company with only well known professional poker players permitted to invest in the company who would not only offer much needed cash, but also bring their name, endorsement and knowledge to the table.

This was Chris Ferguson’s former avatar at Full Tilt Poker

It was this concept that fuelled the rapid growth of Full Tilt Poker backed by celebrity poker players like Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Phil Gordon, John Juanda and many others all who drew users and fans to the operator. Chris was the largest shareholder with a 19.2% ownership of what was now a billion dollar company. In fact Ferguson received $85 million in distributions from the company.

Of course, the golden world of Full Tilt Poker turned black with the events of Black Friday where the US Department of Justice indicted and took action against key players in the online poker industry who were accepting US players.

This led to spiralling events at Full Tilt Poker who had insufficient funds to repay players balances and were in effect bankrupt. This was eventually resolved by Pokerstars rescuing and taking over the company but many fans still blame Chris along with other major shareholders and directors for the mismanagement of the company finances which lead to the troubles the company suffered after “Black Friday”.

CEO Ray Bitar was indicted in the original Black Friday Criminal case and a Civil Case was brought against Ferguson along with other directors Howard Lederer and Rafe Furst.

Jesus Ferguson Poker Games

Due to this animosity held against him Chris Ferguson has not been seen playing poker since 2011 when these events happened. It is expected that one day he will speak out and reveal some of the facts behind what happened in an attempt to clear his name.

In a similar interview, another director and shareholder Howard Lederer spoke out in defence of Chris saying how he fought hard to keep FTP alive and even gave up $14 million that the company owed him in order to keep the company going for a little longer.

Until we hear his side of the story, it will be difficult to understand his true involvement.

Full Tilt Poker is now relaunched under it’s new parent company Pokerstars which is the largest poker operator in the world. Under it’s leadership Full Tilt has now grown once again to be the second largest online poker site, and is as popular as it has ever been.

Love and hate are among the strongest emotions and the poker world evokes its fair share of them both. Today it’s the latter we’re going to focus on, with a top 5 countdown of poker’s most hated personalities..
Of course ‘hate’ is a strong word - perhaps you’ll agree with the list but want to replace ‘hate’ with ‘dislike’ or ‘annoying’, or even intensely annoying - which brings us to our first player in the list…

5. William Kassouf

“You’re a bully, it’s rude, it’s mean – it’s not called speech-play, it’s called being a bad person! You should really check yourself, check your privilege!”

Many of you will instantly recognize these words, and if you don’t, the video is below and well worth a watch.

Jesus Ferguson Poker Series

The English ‘motormouth’ is about as jarring a player as you could hope to meet at the tables… Kassouf aiming a never-ending stream of ‘verbals’ at everyone and no-one.

It’s not unusual that someone likes the sound of his own voice, but Kassouf’s “Nine high like a boss!” antics have often crossed the line between banter and bullying, with his 2016 WSOP deep run and exit going viral.

Having already been pulled up several times for his notorious ‘speechplay’, the showdown with Griffin Benger was the final straw.
The infamous “Check your privilege!” hand saw Kassouf exit in a kings vs aces blow-up that has gone down in poker history.

4. Daniel Negreanu

You can’t keep everyone happy all of the time, and Negreanu, as well as our next A-lister poker legend, Phil Hellmuth, it’s a polarising personality that bags them spots on this list.

Both men evoke ‘love’em or loathe’em’ tags to go with their hold’em prowess, but the reasons differ, of course, with DNegs’ politics being the main reason for his haters to go ape. A firm anti-Trumper, Negreanu even took out US citizenship in 2016 to vote against the now-former President.

For a number of poker players, it was DNegs’ PokerStars ambassadorship role that riled them, the infamous ‘more rake is better’ row with Doug Polk, and before that his wavering stance on the SuperNova Elite issue.

For many, of course, Daniel is still their favourite poker player of all time, which can also be said for our next pro on the ‘hate list’…

3. Phil Hellmuth

As with Daniel, so with Phil, the Poker Brat bringing his own special brand to the table – one that is equal parts ego, self-belief, annoyance, and skill.

You don’t get a nickname like Poker Brat without good reason, and his “Honey, did you see what he called me with?” line of disbelief has often descended into anger and insults.

In his ego-filled fashion, he claimed his book, ‘Positivity’, would “help maybe tens of millions of people”, and as the run-up to his highstakes feud match with Negreanu have shown, Phil can never quite believe it when others dismiss or overlook his record.

2. Annie Duke

Deciding on the top two was a bit of a coin-toss, as both (or all) for various reasons give excellent reasons for their detractors to boo them out of town.

Jesus Ferguson Poker

So, Annie Duke, the sister of Howard 'The Professor' Lederer who we shall meet shortly, and one of the main players (co-founder and Commissioner) behind the failed Epic Poker League. Duke got paid while the players got short-changed on a $1million freeroll.

Allegedly nicknamed ‘Annie Puke’ by Vegas dealers, and described as a “fucking cunt” by Daniel Negreanu, she was also a spokesperson for Ultimate Bet, which had erupted in scandal in 2008, although Duke walked away unscathed.

What seems to anger the poker community more than even these incidents, however, is her re-invention as a public speaker, with Duke called upon as some kind of poker expert by the mainstream media, completely failing to acknowledge her dodgy and dubious past.

1. Chris Ferguson/Howard Lederer/Ray Bitar/FTP

Taking top spot has to be the trio of worthies behind the Full Tilt Poker scandal, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Howard 'The Professor’ Lederer and CEO of the online poker, Ray Bitar.

Who exactly did what, and who was responsible for what when the site went belly up to the tune of $440million has never been fully clarified, but we do know that the players were the victims.

Jesus Ferguson Poker Show

Once the most successful poker site of all, when Black Friday hit in April of 2011, however, the glory days turned to dust – Full Tilt Poker’s bosses suddenly unable to meet player withdrawals.

It transpired that player funds had not been kept separate, effectively being used to fund the lavish bonuses and lifestyles that the trio had become used to.

The failure to reveal what really happened, and apologise for their parts in it, have seen Ferguson and Lederer held as pariahs by the community.

Business specialist Tom ‘BizDoc’ Ellsworth, put it quite succinctly:

Jesus Ferguson Poker

“Founder greed is not unique to online poker…but when you see it, it really makes you sick.”

Well, there you have it, the top 5 rundown of poker’s least loved legends. Did we miss someone? Disagree with our list? Let us know in the comments…

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