You’re probably already questioning the title, so rather than provide a fancy introduction, I’ll just tell you that the winner of this week’s Sunday 500 on PokerStars was PocketFiver Andrew fergwrx Ferguson, who originally hails from Maryland. The longtime member of the online poker community features a Fergie avatar in his profile. If you click over to his profile and then crank up your computer’s speakers, you’ll even be greeted with hit tunes streaming from imeem. Fergsuon took down the Sunday 500 for $87,000 over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. He’s also a former winner of an UltimateBet Online Championship (UBOC) event for $181,000. We sat down with this up and coming poker superstar to learn more.Two massive wins in major online poker tournaments later, we asked Ferguson to compare his UBOC victory with his Sunday 500 title: “The UBOC was a much tougher tournament to win. Once I got chips, I was able to control the Sunday 500 table fairly well. It was also a much more deep-stacked environment, which I’m more comfortable with.” He is fresh off a win earlier this month in the Daily Eighty Grand Sunday Special on PokerStars for $20,000. Last month, he tasted victory in the $109 Cubed, which also takes place on PokerStars, for $16,000. In November, he chalked up a “W” in the Wednesday Quarter Million for a cool $48,000. In April, he racked up $36,000 in tournaments that qualify for the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings and has quickly established himself as a viable force in the industry.
If you’ve never played in the high-dollar Sunday 500, which comes with a price tag of $500 and offers at least $500,000 in the prize pool, Ferguson has an advanced scouting report: “It’s a very tough tournament. I think I got lucky to get a few fish at the final table. I think it’s probably the toughest tournament of the day.” This past weekend, with the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, the Sunday 500 saw an overlay of $16,000 by virtue of attracting just 967 runners. Heads-up, Ferguson bested PokerStars member ZEMBALOUIE, who earned just over $63,000 for second place.
Maryland is a breeding ground for some of the world’s top online poker players. Among those hailing from the land of crab cakes and Joe Flacco is Dan djk123 Kelly, who sits in seventh in the Rankings on the strength of two six-figure scores in Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) events over the last six months. Also hailing from Maryland is Christian charder Harder, who finished fourth in April’s World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship for well over $500,000. On his fellow comrades from the East Coast, Ferguson told PocketFives.com, “I have a ton of respect for all of them. I guess Maryland is so boring that we have no choice but to work our hardest to become better players.”
Among those who have mentored Ferguson on his rise to the top of the online poker world is Faraz The-Toilet Jaka, a Triple Crown winner here on PocketFives.com and one of the world’s top-ranked players. He won the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up and Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed on back to back weeks and also has victories in the Super Tuesday, PokerStars $100 Rebuy, and Full Tilt Poker $150 Rebuy. Other than that, he’s been pretty quiet. Jaka began coaching Ferguson in January of 2007. On how his skills have grown since then, Ferguson explained, “I was familiar with the game and basic strategies in Limit Hold’em cash games and tournaments, but working with Faraz definitely catapulted me to the next level.” Ferguson has been a full-time poker pro for over two years and recently completed a move to New York City.He relocated to the Big Apple to be with his girlfriend. While there, you can catch Ferguson seeing Broadway shows, taking in a movie, and hitting up local hookah bars. He explained, “I love to get outside as much as I can.” He’s also been able to hit the felts at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). The PocketFiver finished 107th in a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event in 2008 for $3,700 and 90th in a $1,500 buy-in Short-Handed event for $2,800. Dario Minieri and Rep Porter ultimately won those two tournaments, respectively. He’ll head out to Las Vegas this year for the Main Event after he rids his new home of boxes. On his live play, he told PocketFives.com, “The European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Copenhagen stop was my first real big live event. Then, I went to the Irish Poker Open and the 2008 WSOP.”
He’d be amiss if he didn’t send a shout out to Jaka, stevethewebguy, and pokerhausers. We look forward to more big things from Andrew fergwrx Ferguson in the future.
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