Cash-in
of ‘Jesus’: $144,000!
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson today reigns as
the 2004 Winnin’ o’ the Green champion
and an official $144,000 richer. The World
Series champ arrived at the $2,500 no-limit
hold’em final table lowest chipped but
was virtually unbeatable after that. With
four players left, he had almost half
the 720,000 chips in play. When he got
heads-up with Randy Holland, he led by
548 to 172k, and the two did a chip-count
deal for all but a small remainder.
The
final table got there at 6:40 a.m. when
Young Phan flopped a set of 7s to freeze
out Alaska resident David Templeton. Not
surprisingly, this was by far the strongest
final table of all the 25 events. Along
with Ferguson were such marquee names
as “Miami” John Cernuto, Randy Holland
and Hasan Habib, in addition to seasoned
pros Phan, Frankie O’Dell, John Hoang,
Henry Chhor, Binh Do and one semi-pro,
Arnold Spee.
Action
got underway with blinds of $1,500-$3,000,
40:20 remaining. Habib had a big chip
lead of 193,000. On the third hand, Ferguson
had the big blind with K-9 against Hoang’s
A-9. When the flop came K-5-3, he moved
in for 22,500, won the pot and the man
in black was on his way.
Five
hands later, Do moved in under the gun
for 12k with A-10. Spee called with Ad-Kd,
and Do was first out when the board came
A-J-8-9-J. Four hands after that, Hoang
raised 11k all in with Jc-9c and Holland,
with seven times as many chips, called
from the big blind with 8-6. “How could
you call with that?” Hoang asked in amazement.
Well, maybe Randy knew a 6 would flop.
Two down.
To
this point, Chhor had made three uncalled
all-in moves. On hand 16 he made a smaller
raise, to 10k, with A-7. Phan had A-10
and moved him in for about 24k more. When
the flop came Q-6-2-A-8, seven were left.
On
hand 23, Ferguson looked at pocket aces
and made a small bait raise of 10k. O’Dell
bit. He had Ah-Jh and moved in for about
70k. The board came Q-J-3-7-3, and Ferguson
now had about 165k in chips, only about
10k short of chip leader Habib.
On
hand 36, Ferguson raised 10k with pocket
deuces and called after Miami John moved
in for 34k more holding Ad-2d. Ferguson
filled when the board came 5-K-K-K-4 to
bust Cernuto and take a decisive lead
with roughly 225,000 in chips. After that
he never looked back. Or even sideways,
for that matter.
By
the time limits went to $3,000-$6,000
with $1,000 antes, Ferguson had climbed
to about 350k, followed by Phan with about
120k; Holland, 100k; and Spee, 85k, while
Habib had dropped down to last position
with around 70k. Ferguson continued his
domination of the table when he busted
Phan and picked up about 60k more. Ferguson
had A-10, the flop was A-8-7 and Phan
picked a bad time to move in with pocket
4s. A couple of hands later, Holland raised
to 21k with A-Q and Spee moved in for
31k more with pocket jacks. “Be good to
me,” Spee prayed as the hands were turned
up. Nobody was listening. A queen flopped
and three were left.
Soon
after, Habib was left with 85k when he
folded after Ferguson three-bet a board
of 6-6-4-J. That went in on the next hand
when Habib raised all in with Qs-4s and
couldn’t catch Ferguson’s A-J. Ferguson
and Holland now made their deal and agreed
to jump up the blinds and play 20 minute
rounds for the remaining cash. They played
23 hands heads-up. Finally, Holland moved
in with pocket treys. Ferguson had pocket
queens, and the WOG championship was his.
BIOGRAPHY
So, where will Chris Ferguson be going
now with all that money--Disneyland? No,
to the World Series. Ferguson plans to
use the cash to play every single event
and hopefully add to his current collection
of five bracelets. The 2000 WSOP champ
recently has been specializing in only
the biggest buy-in no-limit events, but
now he’s looking for more diversity. Also,
this Winnin’ of the Green tournament was
one of the few he’s played in recently
that wasn’t a World Poker Tour tournament.
Ferguson is employed by the WPT as a consultant
where one of his key responsibilities
is selecting which cameras to use in the
telecasts.
Tonight
Ferguson was satisfied that he played
pretty well, and generally was able to
have the best hand when he went in. He
said he also changed his game plan slightly,
losening up from his recent play, and
it seemed to work.
Max Shapiro
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