The Story of the 2000 WSOP Main Event
As poker began a new millennium, there were major changes afoot at the World Series of Poker. From just 16 events in 1999, there were 25 tournaments in 2000 where players could win the most prized trophy in poker – the gold WSOP bracelet given to each event’s winner. In the Main Event, there was a massive influx of new players, a new record set, and a resurrection as ‘Jesus’ came back from the dead to claim World Series gold.
A Month of Poker Glory
Heading into the 2000 World Series of Poker, it was decided that the world’s biggest poker tournament now merited a full month at the felt. The $500 Dealers Tournament was a pre-cursor to the now legendary Casino Employees Event, which kicks off each WSOP festival. This one was taken down by Dave Alizadeh, who won a massive $21,800 after defeating the 109 entrants to the event.
The other preliminary events featured more well known players. Johnny Chan won his first WSOP bracelet in some years when he took down the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event #6 for $179,400, beating Josh Arieh heads-up for the gold. Jennifer Harman staked her claim as the best female poker player in the world by taking down the $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event #12 for $146,250, and Phil Ivey won his first bracelet in the $2,500 PLO event #14 for $195,000 after beating one of the great legends of the game, Amarillo Slim, in the final heads-up competition.
All three of those big events were rebuy tournaments, and in particular, the last one really brought out the cream of the crop. The final table featured Chris Bjorin, Phil Hellmuth, and Dave ‘DevilFish’ Ulliott. Generally, rebuys are won by the better players as they give them another route to the latter stages if they lose their original stack.
Big Name Players Win Bracelets
Other big events featured household names lifting gold, too. Jay Heimowitz took down a $5,000 Limit Hold’em event #22, David Chiu conquered the $5,000 Limit Seven-Card Stud tournament (Event #19), and Huck Seed followed up his 1996 WSOP Main Event title win and 1999 final table appearance with victory in the $1,500 entry Limit Razz event #17. In the Ladies Event #24, Nani Dollison won the top prize of $53,200, beating out 132 other women.
In the $2,500 Seven-Card Stud event #9, Chris Ferguson won the top prize of $151,000, outlasting a final table that contained former WSOP stars Perry Friedman and Kevin Song.
The other bracelet winners that year were Tony Ma (Event #2: $2,000 Limit Hold’em), Jerri Thomas (Event #3: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud), Ivo Donev (Event #4: $1,500 Limit Omaha), Randy Holland (Event #5: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo), Nat Koe (Event #7: $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), Diego Cordovez (Event #8: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em), James Athanas (Event #10: $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em), Chris Tsiprailidis (Event #11: $3,000 Limit Hold’em), Joseph Wynn (Event #13: $2,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo), Richard Dunberg (Event #15: $1,500 Limit A-5 Lowball Draw), Michael Sohayegh (Event #16: $2,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), Mike Carson (Event #18: $3,000 Pot Limit Hold’em), Chris Bjorin (Event #20: $3,000 No Limit Hold’em), and Howard ‘The Professor’ Lederer (Event #21: $5,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo) earned his first bracelet. After a media event, it was time for ‘The Main Event’, and Ferguson, known as ‘Jesus’ to other players because of his long flowing hair, was looking to be a threat.
Everybody was looking forward to the World Championship of 2000, which was by far the biggest yet. With 512 entries, it broke new ground. A few years later, a certain ‘moneymaking’ winner would define the poker boom of the decade, there can be no doubt that the year 2000 contributed massively to this phenomenon.
“This is the event that every poker player, amateur or professional, wants to play.” Said the late, great Mike Sexton. And it was true. Las Vegas was packed to the rafters,
“Nowadays, with computers everyone is good at it! Everybody is as good as me.” Laughed Johnny Chan.
“It used to be that only 15 people could play. Now, everybody can!” said Amarillo Slim.
“It’s very hard to win any of these events, ” said Chris Ferguson. “I’ve been trying for seven years now.”
It was time for the Main Event, which was boasting a prize pool of $5.12 million.
The Largest Main Event Field Pays 45
In 2000, 45 players were paid, a big increase from previous years, when, even with over 300 competitors, only 27 would reach profit. As always, some stellar names exited before the final table of six was formed, with Mel Judah (38th for $15,000), Barry Greenstein (31st for $25,000), and Humberto Brenes (25th for $32,600) all making it into the money but not the latter stages.
Legendary lady Kathy Liebert made it all the way to 17th place for $39,120, and British poker legend Barny Boatman, a member of ‘The Hendon Mob’, cashed for the same in 16th. Mike Sexton busted in 12th place for $52,160, while Annie Duke – eight months pregnant at the time – lasted two places further, crashing out in 10th for the same amount when her ace-nine ran into Chris Ferguson’s pocket aces.
After ‘Captain’ Tom Franklin left in 8th for $97,800, everyone was guaranteed six figures and Jeff Shulman won $146,700 in seventh place. That meant the final six were ready to play down to a winner. In previous years, this had meant a million-dollar top prize, but not this year. So many players had entered the event this year that whoever became world champion would cash for an astonishing $1.5m!
Entering the final six with a massive chip lead – 57% of the chips in play – was Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson. While he did have a huge stack, in order to win the event, he would have to get by one of the best in the game – T.J. Cloutier.
Jesus Rises as Cloutier Comeback Cut Short
Heading into the final half-dozen, a Rabbi, a video store owner, and a novelist assigned to write about the WSOP before playing in the Main Event were all in the mix. Ferguson had absolute heaps of chips and seemingly only had to beat Cloutier, who was last on the leaderboard with just 4.2% of the chips in play at the finale of the championship Texas Hold’em poker table.
Roman Abinsay busted in sixth place for $195,600 before the novelist James McManus, didn’t get his happy ending, finishing fifth for $247,760. A bad beat came on the two-outer river that slayed him in a previous hand, forcing him to shove when short. Video store owner turned poker player Hasan Habib busted in fourth place for $326,000.
When Steve Kaufman, a professor of ancient languages and ordained Rabbi, busted in third place, the heads-up battle began.
When the heads-up battle began, Chris Ferguson had a 10-to-1 chip lead, but T.J. Cloutier, who had laddered all the way to the final duel, played back and got right into contention. It looked like one of the biggest comebacks in poker history was possible.
After a back-and-forth battle, Ferguson decided to call Cloutier’s AQ all-in with his ace-nine, saying “I’ll gamble again, I call all-in.” The stage was set.
A board of K-2-4-K had played out, and it looked like Cloutier had won a huge double-up and would be back in the action. Unfortunately for Cloutier, a nine on the river meant Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson had beaten the tournament favourite.
“It’s not every day you win $896,000. I gave it a good try – he played well.” Said T.J. Cloutier, who became the all-time money leader in WSOP events with his runner-up finish.
At a special dinner celebrating Chris Ferguson’s achievement, he was toasted as ‘the best world champion ever.’
A decade later, Ferguson’s role in the Black Friday scandal rocked poker and ended Full Tilt Poker. The lasting effect of the scandal is still seen as a major obstacle to online poker in the United States and tainted the WSOP Main Event of 2000. ‘Jesus’ may have been resurrected by that fateful nine on the river in the year 2000, but Chris Ferguson might well go down as the worst poker world champion ever to win the bracelet thanks to his influence on the biggest scandal the game ever suffered.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson | United States | $1,500,000 |
| 2nd | TJ Cloutier | United States | $896,000 |
| 3rd | Steve Kaufman | United States | $570,500 |
| 4th | Hasan Habib | United States | $326,000 |
| 5th | Jim McManus | United States | $247,760 |
| 6th | Roman Abinsay | United States | $195,600 |
| 7th | Jeff Shulman | United States | $146,700 |
| 8th | Tom ‘Captain’ Franklin | United States | $97,800 |
| 9th | Mickey Appleman | United States | $74,980 |