Chris Ferguson Full Tilt

Full Tilt Poker used to be one of the biggest and most popular destinations during the early days of onlinepoker, and while it had to compete with the likes of PokerStars and Party Poker, Full Tilt managed to hold its own over the years for many reasons.

The first and the most obvious one was their
roster of high-profile players.

With the likes of Phil Ivey, Chris “Jesus”
Ferguson, Howard “The Professor” Lederer, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan wearing their
colors, Full Tilt quickly became the number one destination for poker fans.

Secondly, their software was unique and quite
modern for the early to mid-2000s. Featuring a cartoonish design and funny
avatars but still offering a very player-friendly and easy-to-use interface, it
was well ahead of its time.

Lederer and Ferguson were part of a civil lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department in September 2011 alleging Full Tilt Poker was a Ponzi scheme. Federal prosecutors claimed Lederer. The real beautiful game. It’s even more beautiful when you play it with Full Tilt. Sit down in the presence of the greats, like Texas Hold’em and Omaha.Play at lightning speed with Zoom, the fastest poker game in the world, or mix it up with one of our many other poker variants.Whatever way you like to play, be like thousands of other poker players all over the world and play harder. Ferguson is a very patient man, and his $10,000 challenge is proof of that. Starting with $0 in his Full Tilt Poker account, Ferguson challenged himself to turn that $0 investment into a staggering $10,000. He never spent more than 10 hours per week on this challenge and started off playing in. The short answer is that both Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson were managing officers and the public faces of the once-popular online card room Full Tilt Poker. In September of 2011, Full Tilt was sued in federal court over allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors alleged that both Lederer and Ferguson collected more than $40,000,000 each over a four-year period from unscrupulous and illegal. Full Tilt Poker initially opened as an online poker card room with the involvement of poker professionals Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman and Chris Ferguson. Full Tilt Poker was launched by parent company TiltWare, LLC in June 2004 and began full.

So, what happened to Full Tilt Poker?

If you try to look up the room today, you might
get excited initially as the website still exists.

However, that excitement will be short-lived as
you’ll quickly realize it’s just a skin of PokerStars that kept some of the
original design, but not much else.

If you’ve been wondering what happened to FTP,
this is the full story, from the glorious beginning to the bitter end.

Full Tilt Poker Takes
The Poker World By Storm

The poker boom started during the early 2000s, before things really took off in 2003 after the legendary WSOP Main Event win by Chris Moneymaker.

The writing was on the wall, and those in the
know saw a huge business potential in the game.

Chris Ferguson, already an established and
accomplished player at the time, was among those who saw the opening and
decided to take his chances. He paired up with Ray Bitar, and together they
launched Full Tilt Poker in July of 2004.

They wasted no time bringing big names onboard.

The likes of Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Erick Lindgren, and Jennifer Harman joined Full Tilt Poker, and the room devised a very clever strategy to attract new players.

Under the slogan “play with the pros” FTP appealed
to the masses of poker fans who rushed to the site for their chance to sit
across from one of their favorite players.

The room received plenty of additional
marketing thanks to High Stakes Poker’s sponsorship, easily the most popular
poker show ever filmed.

On top of all this, many fans of the game would
log in to Full Tilt just to observe some high stakes cash game action.

The site became the go-to place for everyone
seeking to playonline nosebleeds, with $300/$600+ games running regularly.

By the end of 2005, Full Tilt Poker had taken over the onlinepoker scene, leaving Party Poker and PokerStars, their two biggest competitors at the time, far behind.

Full Tilt was the synonym for onlinepoker
during those early years.

FTP Rolls The Dice As The UIGEA Is Passed

By this point in time, there is hardly anyone
in the poker world, especially if they happen to be from the U.S., who doesn’t
know about the infamous Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

The Act was targeted at financial institutions in the States, expressly forbidding them to process any transactions directed towards online gambling sites.

This was a big hit for onlinepoker.

Prior to 2006, players from the U.S. made up a
large percentage of the overall player pool.

However, the UIGEA was directed at financial
institutions and not gambling and poker operators themselves, so there was some
grey area.

Party Poker decided that it was too much of a
risk to continue operating in the States, but PokerStars and Full Tilt saw
another opportunity here.

The people behind Full Tilt Poker decided to
roll the dice and continue business as usual. Some years later, this would
prove to be a big mistake.

Once the initial dust had settled, it seemed
things were back to normal.

With one competitor less to worry about, Full
Tilt made the brand even stronger and it seemed like their decision to ignore
the UIGEA was spot on.

This was just an illusion, though.

Things were happening behind the scenes that
the general public and even some of those inside the company weren’t aware of.

The pin was about the drop, and when it finally
did, FTP received a huge blow that it would never recover from.

The U.S. Department Of Justice Takes On Online Poker

April 15, 2011, is a date that almost every
poker player who’s been around for a while is well familiar with.

It became known as Black Friday as it was easily the hardest and ugliest day in the relatively short history of onlinepoker.

Players who logged on that day were faced with this shocking message:

On that day, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) made it very clear that pretending the UIGEA didn’t exist wasn’t the best move.

They spent several years building the case and collecting the evidence, but they went hard when they were ready to go.

In a single day, they took down websites of
three major poker operators in the U.S. Apart from FTP, PokerStars and Absolute
Poker’s domains were also seized.

The shock that players experienced on that day
when they tried to log in to their Full Tilt accounts can hardly be put into
words.

Many people had substantial amounts of cash
stuck on the site, and no one saw the DoJ coming.

False Promises And The
Fall Of Full Tilt Poker

Initially, Full Tilt Poker issued several
reassuring statements that players had nothing to worry about as their money
was safe.

With the promise of paying U.S. players in
full, the room was allowed to continue operating in the rest of the world for a
short while.

However, after a few weeks, it became clear
that something wasn’t right. The DoJ shut down FTP once again, and underlying
problems started to surface.

It would turn out that the promises about funds
being safe were completely false.

The room didn’t have all the players’ money
readily available, and the DoJ launched a full-scale investigation into the
matter.

Soon after, the claims of the “Ponzi
scheme” operation came about.

Full Tilt Poker has been experiencing problems
processing payments for years.

Some payment processors that dealt with U.S.
deposits weren’t sending them money, but the room continued to add it to the
players’ balances just the same, while actual transactions were stuck in limbo.

While the room was operational, they could
handle the backlog, although players were complaining about delayed withdrawals
long before Black Friday.

But, once they were forced to shut down the
operation and money from new players stopped coming in, it was the end.

There simply wasn’t enough money in FTP’s accounts
to cover everyone’s balances.

Players were furious and felt betrayed, but
there wasn’t much anyone could do at that point. It was hopeless situation.

Who Was To Blame For Full
Tilt Poker’s Fall?

Once the FTP scandal came to light, both the
authorities and players started to ask questions.

Whose fault was it? How did such a big room
with such a great market position end up where it was?

All eyes were directed at the main honchos: Ray
Bitar, Howard Lederer, and Chris Ferguson.

At the very least, they had to know about these
issues, and they had the responsibility to act before it was too late.

But, the poker community was hit with deafening
silence for the most part – they never got the answers they were hoping for.

By that time, Ferguson (below) was no longer as involved with the company management.

Lederer did a few interviews, but his response to most questions was, “I don’t know.” Bitar stayed away from the public eye.

During the investigation, it was revealed that
the management of FTP further deepened the crisis by issuing big loans to some
of their big-name players.

In the end, the blame for the FTP fiasco falls
to those in charge at the time.

Chris Ferguson Twitter

For that reason, they were ostracized by the
poker community and had to pay hefty fines.

But, the whole story of what was actually
happening behind the closed doors in those last years and months of Full Tilt
Poker was never told in full.

One must wonder what would have happened if
Black Friday had never occurred.

Perhaps the story of Full Tilt Poker would be
much different. Maybe they’d have found a way to get the funds, and we’d have
been none would be the wiser.

PokerStars Buys Full
Tilt And Restores Player Funds

The uncertainty surrounding FTP was concerning.

It soon became clear that the company couldn’t
pay players back, so they had to find someone willing to take over and rectify
the situation.

With the brand tarnished and the player trust
severely shaken, this was not an easy feat.

In July 2012, former FTP players could finally
see the light at the end of the tunnel after long and painful months of
waiting.

PokerStars agreed to purchase the fallen star and
reimburse all players’ balances: those from the U.S. and the rest of the world
alike.

Shortly after, the ROW players could log back in
to their old FTP accounts and access their funds.

Money was available for withdrawal, and players
could also opt to transfer it to their PokerStars account through a rather
simple process.

However, U.S. players weren’t so lucky.

Although the repayment money was secured, there
was a long process ahead. It wasn’t before 2014 that first installments started
to come in for those who went through necessary steps to claim what was owed to
them.

It took several years for this process to
complete.

With financial issues out of the way, the
question became: what would happen with Full Tilt Poker?

For a little while, the room was up and running
again, and with PokerStars now backing the brand, some players believed the
room would bounce back and reclaim its position.

FTP Discontinued: The
End Of An Era

Chris Ferguson Liberty

It seems that PokerStars entertained the idea
of keeping Full Tilt Poker alive but eventually decided not to go through with
it.

While the brand certainly had some value,
everything that happened over the years made it very difficult to rebuild the
trust.

Plus, with PokerStars being the biggest brand
worldwide now that FTP was out the picture, there wasn’t much incentive to
spend resources on what used to be its competing brand.

PokerStars created a huge amount of goodwill
with the player base by purchasing FTP and reimbursing players in full.

They came through like a knight in shining
armor, making sure everyone got every single cent of their money back.

From a marketing perspective it was a great
move, even if a costly one.

PokerStars demonstrated their care for the
community, regardless of what their business motivation might have been. They
came through on their promise with no excuses.

But Full Tilt Poker had to go.

Once repayments were done, PokerStars decided
it was time to send the legendary room to the sidelines.

They kept the domain and the software, as this
was a part of the purchase, but FTP stopped existing as a standalone entity.

Instead, it is now just a skin of PokerStars
with a slightly different design.

If you download Full Tilt Poker today, you’ll
find that it features exactly the same games and players as the original
PokerStars client.

The Final Goodbye To
Full Tilt Poker

Those involved with onlinepoker during the
early 2000s will always remember Full Tilt Poker with a bit of nostalgia.

Chris Ferguson Full Tilt Scandal

It was the place where some of the most epic
high stakes battles took place and where many up-and-coming players made a name
for themselves.

On the other hand, heaps of freerolls and
small-stakes games and tournaments made it possible for everyone to experience
the game and build their bankrolls from scratch.

Had chips fallen differently, there is no
telling what would’ve become of Full Tilt Poker.

Perhaps it would be the strongest brand today.
Perhaps it would run its course and shut down, like so many other rooms over
the years.

In the end, the story of Full Tilt Poker wasn’t
a glorious one, but the room certainly had its moments.

It’s a shame that PokerStars decided to put it
away for good, but maybe it was for the best.

For more articles in this series, check out:

Chris Ferguson, known at the poker tables as “Jesus” because of his long
brown hair and full beard, has a very interesting poker career under his belt.
He shined in the early 2000s, especially when it came to his performance at the
WSOP. Then, a scandal involving Full Tilt Poker would leave him missing from the
live tournament scene for nearly half a decade. Now, he is back full force and
ready to take on any competitor that stands in his way.

For more information on Chris Ferguson’s professional poker career and for
more details on his involvement in the Full Tilt Poker scandal, please feel free
to read through this elaborate biography.

Early Years

Chris Ferguson was born on April 11th, 1963, in Los Angeles, California. From
an early age, the importance of a good education was instilled in him. Even
while in grade school, he would spend the majority of his free time studying or
reading. Every once in a while, he would be able to take a break from that and
play a round of poker with his father. His father, who taught game theory at
UCLA at the time, helped Ferguson develop his own winning strategies for the
game. It wasn’t long before the teacher became the student, though, as
Ferguson’s skills quickly surpassed his father’s.

Ferguson’s excellent grades in high school were bound to get him into any
school he wanted. Since both of his parents had doctoral degrees in mathematics
from UCLA, it was expected that Ferguson would do the same. He took a slightly
different path, though, choosing to go to UCLA to pursue a doctoral degree in
computer science instead. Since that was closely related to mathematics, his
parents were supportive of his decision.

It was while studying at UCLA that Ferguson’s love of poker grew. He would
stay up late playing Texas hold’em online for play money at various chat rooms,
which is how was able to fine-tune his skills. Ferguson and his friends would
also regularly take trips to Las Vegas to play low-limit stud and hold’em games
there. This is when he started wearing his signature wide-brimmed hat and
sunglasses. At the time, it was to make him appear older than he really was.
Now, he believes it helps bring him luck.

Poker Achievements

Ferguson entered his first official poker tournament in 1993, landing a
4th-place finish and a cash prize of $1600. He regularly entered tournaments
after that, with the Masters of Poker Championships and the LA Poker Open being
his favorite ones to participate in. His confidence continued to grow, and in
1995, he was ready to enter one of the most intense poker tournaments in Las
Vegas: the World Series of Poker. After making it to the final table of the
$1500 Seven-Card Razz event that year, Ferguson decided to make playing poker
his profession.

At the turn of the century, in 2000, Ferguson won his first WSOP gold
bracelet in the $2500 Seven-Card Stud event. As if that wasn’t exciting enough,
Ferguson also went on to win the $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold’em World
Championship that year for the grand prize of $1.5 million. In order to win, he
had to take down the legendary T.J. Cloutier, which was no easy feat. It was
such a memorable game, in fact, that it is actually described in the book
Positively 5th Street by award-winning author Jim McManus.

To date, Ferguson has won a total of 6 WSOP gold bracelets, with his most
recent win being in 2017. For more details on each of his wins, please refer to
the table below.

Believe it or not, Ferguson has found success outside of the World Series of
Poker. In 2001, he won the California State Poker Championship, which takes
place in Los Angeles, California, on a yearly basis. That win brought him in a
cool $22,570. He also managed to land a 1st-place finish at NBC’S National
Heads-Up Championship in 2008, which earned him an astonishing $500,000.

Ferguson also enjoys playing on shows like Poker After Dark and The Poker
Lounge. He has won both shows on several different occasions for a grand total
of $360,000 in profits. His most noteworthy performance on Poker After Dark was
in 2009 when he managed to take down his entire table of top competitors. He
beat out Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, and Daniel Negreanu. Then, he
found himself heads-up against the boisterous Phil Helmuth Jr., who was unable
to call him on his bluff.

In total, Ferguson has accumulated over $8.9 million from live tournaments
alone. That gives him 7th place on California’s All Time Money List and 44th
place on the United States’ All Time Money List.

$10,000 Challenge

Ferguson is a very patient man, and his $10,000 challenge is proof of that.
Starting with $0 in his Full Tilt Poker account, Ferguson challenged himself to
turn that $0 investment into a staggering $10,000. He never spent more than 10
hours per week on this challenge and started off playing in freeroll tournaments
exclusively. Several months into the challenge, he was only up to $6. While many
people would have been discouraged at this point, Ferguson was still hopeful.

He kept a very strict budget, never putting more than 5% of his bankroll at
risk at one time. When it came to tournaments, he had even stricter guidelines,
refusing to pay more than 2% of his bankroll on a tournament entry fee. After
about 9 months into the challenge, he had finally reached $100. It would take 9
more months of persistent play for him to accomplish his goal of $10,000.

This challenge proved how profitable online poker can be, and it helped draw
players to the Full Tilt Poker website. Since then, many other online players
have accepted this challenge and have managed to turn their $0 investments into
$10,000 and sometimes even more.

Full Tilt Poker Scandal

Full Tilt Poker launched in 2004, quickly becoming one of the most popular
online poker sites on the web. Not only did Full Tilt Poker offer just about
every variant of poker, from Texas hold’em to Razz, but they also had a team of
professional poker players involved in the day-to-day operations of the site.
Ferguson, one of Full Tilt Poker’s co-owners, was responsible for developing
much of the site’s software.

There were no complaints centered around Full Tilt Poker until April 15,
2011, the day that would later become known as Black Friday. It was on this day
that the United States’ Department of Justice would cease the domain names of
several poker sites, including Full Tilt Poker, saying they were in violation of
the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Players rushed to their online accounts, only to discover that they were
unable to withdraw any of their funds. It became obvious very quickly that Full
Tilt Poker had been a part of a huge Ponzi scheme. The US filed a civil lawsuit
against Chris Ferguson and the other co-owners of Full Tilt Poker: Ray Bitar,
Rafe Furst, and Howard Lederer. They misled players into thinking their funds
were safe and secure while they knowingly took $350 million from various
players’ accounts.

Ferguson reached a settlement with the Department of Justice nearly 2 years
later, in which he agreed to pay back a portion of the funds owed to players. He
refused to apologize for his actions and has lost a lot of respect from the
poker community because of this incident. To avoid tension, Ferguson took a
leave of absence from the live poker scene for 5 years, not making an appearance
until the 2016 WSOP.

Personal Life

When Ferguson isn’t playing poker, you will probably find him out dancing. As
the former president of a swing dancing club at UCLA, Ferguson still enjoys
going to dance clubs during his free time. He has a lot of experience under his
belt, having taken classes to learn the waltz, the tango, the foxtrot, and the
mambo in addition to ballroom dancing.

One of his more unique hobbies involves him throwing playing cards at various
fruits and vegetables fast enough to slice them in half. He claims this is his
favorite way to make a fruit salad. Videos of him doing this have been shown in
short segments during ESPN’s broadcast of the World Series of Poker.

Ferguson is currently single. He has had several different girlfriends over
the years, but none of those relationships lasted. He considers himself to be a
lone wolf who doesn’t need to be in a relationship to be happy.