Chris "Jesus" Ferguson

Chris Ferguson is a three-time WSOP champion and the lead technical designer of Full Tilt Poker.

Chris Ferguson, Ph.D. – Artificial Intelligence, UCLA. Chris Ferguson: Poker Player - extraordinaire. Both these appear to be two totally different personalities, with their own unique worlds. Yet, in the persona of Chris Ferguson, the two worlds have blended, and how! Today, Chris spends a lot of his time and energies in guiding software teams developing online poker systems, and learning to, in his own words, “play the game at the highest level possible”.

Born in 1963, this genteel, Aries-born personality would appear to be more at home with bright students in a classroom setting – perhaps discussing the subtle nuances of computer-aided vision. But when Chris enters the poker room, he changes his outward appearance to look like a cowboy. With a stetson on his head, the mane carefully visible, and the French-cut beard neatly trimmed, his presence at any table guarantees excitement.

Known to be one of the nicest people in professional poker circles, Chris started flirting with the game of poker while he was still a kid. As a fourth-grader, he was taught the ropes by an indulgent father who himself teaches Game Theory and statistics at UCLA. To boot, his mother is a Mathematics Doctorate, and the trio would spend several afternoons analyzing games and inventing new ones.

This solid grounding at the grassroots level gave Chris the confidence to make occasional Las Vegas pilgrimages while still studying in college, and he soon began earning up to $4 an hour playing extremely tight games, waiting for those real good hands.

Later, he got involved with the IRC Poker Network, where there was no money involved. Chris patronized its tournament boards for quite a number of years. Gradually, Chris kept upping the stakes, till he won the first blackjack tournament in 1996, that made people sit up and take notice of him. After that, there has been no turning back for him.

Between 1996 and 2000, Chris managed to have 12 money finishes and made to the final table seven times. The year 2000 was a turning point for him. This was the year he beat T J Cloutier to win the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Championship Event. With $1.5 million prize money, the world stood up to applaud the new hero. Since then, he has won successive WSOP Bracelets, taking home hefty chunks of money.

A thorough professional approach towards the game, a phenomenal attention span honed with hours of practice, and total focus while playing one’s hand, is how he describes his successes. How does he do it? Keen watchers of the game contradict each other when explaining his style. The one feature that Chris himself admits about his game is that he strives to force his opponents to make difficult decisions, ensuring that they are out of their comfort zone. Plus, there is a constant analysis going on his mind about his opponents’ style, which leads him to predict the latter’s future moves.

With all that mastery, it is to the credit of this great master that he still considers himself a student of Poker. Poker and artificial intelligence are not his only two interests, however. Still single (at least, at the time of writing this piece – we are talking of a living legend here), Chris is very much at home on the dance floor. Not for nothing was he given the responsibility of managing the dance floor at his university. Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, Mambo, Swing … you name it, and he’s an expert at it. “Whatever you do, excel at it” seems to be his motto, and he has participated and won dance competitions too with the same ease as he bets on his up-cards in the No Limit Five Card Stud.

Chris Ferguson plays at Full Tilt Poker, where he is also a consultant. He logs on regularly to play and anyone can join his table. Expect a waiting list, though, he is a very popular man.