Chris “Jesus” Ferguson Prevails As National Heads-Up Poker Champ
The NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship was held on February 28th through March 2nd, in Pure Nightclub at Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas. It included sixty-four celebrities, poker professionals and amateur players including actors; Jason Alexander, Don Cheadle, Brad Garret, actress/poker pro Shannon Elizabeth (2nd straight year at the final four table) and; poker pros, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, Joe Hachem, Phil Ivey (2008 World Poker Tour Champ), Daniel Negreanu, Andy Bloch, and Vanessa Rousso and MLB legend Orel Hershiser (who astonished all and added excitement by ending up in the final four of the game!). Each player put up $20,000 to play in this poker championship.
The following is an excerpt from the recap of the final day’s play that my boyfriend wrote. You can check his piece out at http://www.PokerOwnage.com.
Full Tilt Poker Pro Chris Ferguson finally shook off the National Heads-Up Championship monkey off his back.
In what was built up to be the “Battle of the Bridesmaids,” it was the tourney veteran Ferguson who would defeat fellow FTP pro Andy Bloch en route to the 2008 National Heads Up Championship title.
Andy Bloch, who has been known for not being able to close out the “big tournament” at times, was last put in this situation in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, where he lost both a huge chip lead and [eventually] the heads up battle against the late Chip Reese. The final match against Chris Ferguson would prove to have a similar fate, although he didn’t go down without a fight.
In fact, the best-of-three match would go down to the wire. The 1st one went to a rallying Andy Bloch, as he came back from a 4-to-1 chip deficit to beat out Ferguson’s TPTK with a flopped set. With momentum clearly in Bloch’s corner, it was the man they call Jesus who had to now come from behind. In the 2nd match, Ferguson did just that. He hit quad Queens against his fellow Full Tilt pro, and the match was squared up at 1 apiece.
In the 3rd and final match, it would be a coin-flip that would decide the players’ fate in the Heads-Up Championship. On a flop of 10 7 3 (with 2 spades)…..For the rest of this article, please visit http://www.PokerOwnage.com.
