Chris Ferguson Wins Heads-Up Championship

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson got rid of the bridesmaid title as he won the 2008 National Heads-Up Championship, defeating Andy Bloch in the Final. Ferguson had finished second in 2005 and in 2006.

The Heads-Up Championship is played in a bracket format similar to the NCAA March Madness basketball championship except that the final is a best of three.

Ferguson lost the first game against Bloch but came back to win the next two, taking home the $500,000 first place prize. Ferguson defeated John Juanda, Gavin Smith, Mike Matusow, Jonathan Little and Phil Ivey before defeating Bloch in the final. Bloch took home $250,000 for second place. Huck Seed and Phil Ivey finished tied for third and took home $125,000 each. It was a nice week for Ivey as he also won the L.A. Poker Classic. The first episode of the Heads-Up Championship will air on NBC April 13th and the final will air in late May.

The field had the best talent in the world and also featured some good story lines including baseball great Orel Hershiser. The fans were totally behind Hershiser and he made a great run into the final eight. He defeated Ted Forrest, Allen Cunningham and Freddy Deeb before losing to Bloch in the quarterfinals. Hershiser took home $75,000 for his quarterfinal finish. The quarterfinals saw Huck Seed take out David Benyamine as he hit a full house to eliminate Benyamine. Hershiser and Bloch had a nice match in which Hershiser pulled ahead for a little bit but Bloch came back to win.

Ferguson had to make a nice comeback against Jonathan Little in the quarterfinals. At one time in the match Ferguson trailed about 6-1 in chips. Phil Ivey was able to defeat Gus Hansen to make the semifinals. In the semifinals the big hand for Ferguson was his pocket eights against Ivey’s pocket sixes. The other semifinal went back and forth between Bloch and Seed before Bloch’s A-Q took out Seed’s pocket nines when an Ace fell on the river.

The best of three final came down to the final match and ended when Ferguson had pocket Jacks against Bloch’s 10-4 of spades. The flop was 10- 7-3 with two spades. Eventually both players got all-in and Ferguson’s hand ended up being best, giving him the title.