Full Tilt Poker pro Chris Ferguson, affectionately known as “Jesus” in the industry, holds five World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets. He’s reached the finals of NBC’s “National Heads-Up Poker Championship” in three of the four years the tournament has been held, winning it in 2008. However, one accolade Ferguson lacks is a victory on the World Poker Tour (WPT).
Ferguson will look to complete his tournament resume when the cards hit the air for Day 5 in the L.A. Poker Classic Main Event from the Commerce Casino. He sits with 1.7 million chips, one for every dollar in prize money he could receive for winning the marquee WPT event. His defining moment on Tuesday was crippling the chip stack of Kofi Farkye, the tournament’s former leader. Farkye raised to 24,000 pre-flop and Ferguson popped it to 76,000. Farkye called and the flop came A-Q-6 with two diamonds; both players checked. The turn came the seven of diamonds and Farkye bet 120,000; Ferguson flat called. Farkye pushed for 600,000 after seeing the three of hearts fall on the river and Ferguson called for his tournament life with Ad-Kc. Farkye reluctantly flipped over 6c-5c, vaulting Jesus to the top of the chip counts. He wouldn’t look back.
After play had concluded on Tuesday, Ferguson told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman, “My day went very well. I started with 460,000 and was down to 300,000 pretty early. I had a couple of double ups, including one against the chip leader. That put me into the lead and I maintained it.” The Full Tilt Poker pro paces a talented remaining field:
1st: Chris Ferguson – 1,721,000
2nd: Payman Arjang – 1,488,000
3rd: Chris Karagulleyan – 1,146,000
4th: Xuan Nguyen – 1,130,000
5th: Binh Nguyen – 1,040,000
6th: Nick Schulman – 850,000
7th: Matt Woodward – 771,000
8th: Pat Walsh – 760,000
9th: Dan Lu – 662,000
10th: Mike Sowers – 626,000
11th: Jeremy Kottler – 614,000
12th: Tam Ly – 603,000
13th: Mark Bryan – 561,000
14th: Peter Feldman – 423,000
15th: Zach Hyman – 320,000
16th: Blake Cahail – 310,000
17th: Teddy Monroe – 264,000
18th: Donnie D’Auria – 242,000
19th: Billy Pilossoph – 188,000
20th: Cornel Cimpan – 164,000
Besides Ferguson’s ascension to the top of the chip counts, the Commerce Casino poker room was buzzing about the play of Teddy “Iceman” Monroe, who doubled up multiple times on Tuesday to remain in the hunt for the $1.7 million first place prize. Monroe told Leatherman why his game has been so successful: “A lot of guys don’t believe what I have. They second guess me all of the time. Sometimes, I tell them before we start playing, ‘I’m going to freeze you.'” Monroe finished fifth in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2008 WSOP for $67,000.
Nick Schulman, who sits with the sixth largest chip stack, won the 2005 WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals, banking $2.1 million. Two years later, he was back at the final table of that tournament, finishing as its runner up for $864,000 to Michael Vela. The 2007 World Poker Finals featured a televised table that also included Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Nenad Medic. “The Takeover” has one WSOP final table under his belt, a sixth place finish in 2007 in a $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event for $108,000. That tournament was ultimately won by online poker pro Corwin “mig.com” Mackey.
Players eliminated on Tuesday included:
21st Place: Nancy Todd Tyner ($44,433)
25th Place: Greg “FBT” Mueller ($44,433)
26th Place: Hoyt Corkins ($44,433)
28th Place: Paul Wasicka ($38,085)
29th Place: Andre Akkari ($38,085)
32nd Place: Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier ($38,085)
36th Place: Men “The Master” Nguyen ($38,085)
37th Place: Erica Schoenberg ($32,740)
42nd Place: Nenad Medic ($32,740)
43rd Place: Maria Ho ($32,740)
46th Place: Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza ($27,395)
47th Place: Steven Paul-Ambrose ($27,395)
50th Place: David “The Dragon” Pham ($27,395)
57th Place: Dan Shak ($23,052)
62nd Place: Paul Darden ($23,052)
Blinds will be 8,000-16,000 with a 2,000 chip ante when play resumes at 12:00 Noon Pacific Time on Wednesday. The action will continue until the final six-handed table is determined. It will be filmed on Thursday under Fox Sports Net television cameras and aired as part of Season VII of the WPT.