Chris Ferguson ’86, Ph.D. ’99

Just blocks away from the UCLA campus, in a high-rise on Wilshire Boulevard, Jesus sits in his office, transfixed by a program on his laptop computer.

“No, he tied me! We both got full houses, I had an ace kicker and he had a nine. He got lucky, that’s OK. I’m usually extremely happy there’s luck in this game.”

The game in question is No Limit Texas Hold’em Poker, and Jesus – real name Chris Ferguson ’86, Ph.D. ’99 – is one of the world’s best players. He’s also a proud of his Bruin pedigree.

“I love UCLA, I was there for a long time. I went as an undergraduate and then as a graduate student.”

Specializing in artificial intelligence, Ferguson has a strong background in mathematics and computers. His enthusiasm for UCLA is inspired partly by his parents, both of whom attended UCLA. In fact, his father, Tom Ferguson ’72, M.S. ’74, Ph.D. ’78, is an emeritus statistics professor. With both of his parents interested in game theory, Ferguson’s fascination with games began at an early age.

“Game theory is a branch of mathematics that deals with decision making in a competitive environment, where there are forces working against you,” Ferguson explains in the patient manner he employs as an occasional UCLA guest lecturer. “I like all games: video games, war games, backgammon, card games, Go…”

Taking a mathematical approach to poker, Ferguson is one of the field’s most successful and popular figures. Though he is unassuming and soft-spoken, it’s his colorful appearance at poker tables around the world – in addition to his tactical playing – that draws attention. Always dressed in a cowboy hat, impenetrably dark shades and long brown hair, Ferguson quickly became known as “Jesus” among the poker cognoscenti. His visage is seen in teaser ads and the opening segments for both ESPN’s World Series of Poker coverage and the Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour (even though Ferguson has yet to appear at a WPT-televised final table).

Ferguson currently holds five World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets – each signifying he won an event. The WSOP takes place every summer in Las Vegas (where else?), and entrants compete in 30 different poker variants. In 2000, Chris Ferguson won the notable No Limit Texas Hold’em event that costs each contestant a whopping $10,000 entrance fee, for the chance to win $1.5 million in prize money. The event has been eloquently captured in James McNamus’s best-selling novel, Positively Fifth Street.

“I like that book a lot,” Ferguson says. “I’m good friends with everybody at that final table – even the guys I put the worst beats on. There is a strong sense of community with some of the poker players.”

At this year’s WSOP Hold’em event, Ferguson finished in an impressive 26th place (out of a record 2,576 entrants). The showing was nothing to complain about as Ferguson walked away from the event winning $120,000.

Taking his UCLA education to the table, Ferguson began his professional career under quaint circumstances. He always excelled at poker and other games, and he really came into his own as a UCLA student.

“I’d go to Vegas every couple of months with my friends and I’d just sit there for 10 hours a day and play,” Ferguson explains. “It was a challenge for me: the challenge was to go to Vegas and eek out a living. Basically I wanted to make at least enough money to pay for my hotel, my gas and all of my meals – just make a little bit of money. The idea was proving I was a man and proving I could survive in a competitive environment.”

In addition to his Vegas-excursions, a large portion of Ferguson’s poker training came via the Internet, before the days of DSL and broadband. Ferguson admits that many professional poker players look down on Internet players, but confesses that he hones his own skills with regular online play. In fact, he has parlayed his experience into an online business venture, www.FullTiltPoker.com, where he plays along with several other notable professional poker players, including Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey. Ferguson sits down in front of a computer for a minimum of 10 hours each week, playing rounds with anyone up for a game with a professional.

“You can play anywhere. You can play from home, the beach,” Ferguson says enthusiastically about the Web site. “If you live in Los Angeles, you have to drive an hour to play poker. In a lot of other places you have to travel more than an hour to play in person.”

Since Ferguson’s approach is based less on natural than it is on mathematical computation, he prefers the leisurely nature of playing online to traveling long distances and dressing up in his formal duds. Despite his stated preference, though, UCLA’s poker guru is still spotted at all of the major tournaments. Today, Ferguson plays poker all over the world; his itinerary is a dizzying daily whirlwind.

“Two weeks ago I was in Ireland playing in a $10,000 buy-in tournament. A week and a half ago I was in Syracuse, New York playing in a $10,000 buy-in tournament. And a week ago I was in Paris playing in a tournament.”

While Ferguson has built a name and a flashy image for himself as an exemplary circuit poker player, he also gets attention for his more quirky talents. ESPN has aired footage of Ferguson throwing a playing card over 78 miles per hour. More recent footage shows his forceful throw wrenching a card through both a pickle and a carrot.

In addition to poker, Ferguson is a skilled ballroom dancer, an interest of his for years. Though his hectic travel schedule occasionally encroaches on his available time for dancing, he still enjoys spending time out of his cowboy hat and shades, working on the precise (and occasionally competitive) nature of ballroom dancing.

But on this day, the only dancing is Ferguson’s hands dancing across the keyboard. He busily clicks buttons to raise and fold hands in online play. Then he steals a pot of digital chips with a measly ace-nine hand. An online message window displays a message from one of Jesus’ eight opponents: “That’s the hand you took the 2000 WSOP with.” Chris smiles, appreciating that fans notice these details. He continues to be amazed by the level of notoriety he has achieved through poker. Having become something of a celebrity, Ferguson admits he sometimes finds himself juggling interview requests and now gets recognized on the street.

“I just ate at Baja Fresh in Westwood and this guy asked me for an autograph,” Ferguson says proudly. “I love people coming up to me, I think it’s amazing.”

— Originally published in UCLAlumni Magazine, November 2004