Fred “Sarge” Ferris was born in New England to Lebanese immigrants who struggled to make ends meet. Because of this, winning money in poker games was a necessity for Ferris to escape the hardship of his upbringing.
To continually win hands, Ferris had to either cheat or play extraordinarily well. Nearly all accounts of the man point to the latter. Jay Heimowitz, a six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, spoke very highly of Ferris saying, “I admired Sarge a lot because he didn't give away one crumb. He never showed his cards or gave away any information. He was the consummate pro."
Ferris, himself, also had success at the WSOP. In 1980, at the 11th annual series, he won $150,000 and his only bracelet when he came first in the deuce to seven draw. Doyle Brunson and Bobby Baldwin came second and third in this competition.
Like Heimowitz, who used his poker winnings to found a brewery which was later sold to Budweiser, Ferris found good use for some of his profit although he took a bit of persuading.
In 1980, Stu Ungar asked Ferris to bankroll him for the upcoming WSOP. The only catch was, Ungar was intending to enter the No Limit Texas Hold ‘em event, a game that he had never played before. He eventually chipped in to let Ungar, who had been given odds of 100/1 of winning the title, enter. Ungar went on to win the title, beating the esteemed Brunson heads-up in the final.
However, there was also another side of Ferris that first came to light in 1983. Playing in a high stakes game in the Horseshoe, Internal Revenue Service agents barged into his card room and seized almost $50,000 worth of chips to cover unpaid taxes.
After his death, the shakedown of the San Diego Rincon case – which was concerned with the link between organised crime and casinos – named him as one of five Las Vegans who owed money to the gangsters.
In March of 1989, Ferris died of a heart attack. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame later that year.
- by Oliver Gaywood
