Chris Ferguson: Heads-Up Champion

The third time was a charm for Chris “Jesus” Ferguson this past weekend at the 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship.  After finishing second to Phil Hellmuth in 2005 and runner-up again to Ted Forrest in 2006, Ferguson finally got the monkey off of his back by winning the Championship two matches to one against fellow Full-Tilter Andy Bloch.

Ferguson had Bloch on the ropes in their first match, but after pulling into the lead when his flush beat Ferguson’s set, Bloch flopped trips on an A-9-9 board to win it, besting Ferguson’s A-K.  The second match was almost a mirror image to the first, with Bloch taking a big lead and Ferguson climbing back to win.  

The rubber match ended on a coin flip.  Not a 50/50 race of cards, but an actual coin flip.  Chris Ferguson had pushed all-in with the board showing 10-7-3-7 and Andy Bloch, holding 10-4 (which four to a flush) and fewer chips than his opponent, didn’t know what to do.  To finally force himself to make a decision, he flipped a coin.  It came up heads, forcing Bloch to call.  Ferguson held pocket Jacks, dodged Bloch’s outs, and won $500,000 for the victory.

In the quarterfinals matches, Bloch ended Orel Hershiser’s Cinderella run, Huck Seed beat David Benyamine, Phil Ivey defeated Gus Hansen, and Chris Ferguson eliminated Jonathan Little.  Bloch advanced to the finals by taking out Seed, while Ferguson defeated Ivey.