The trademark long hair and black cowboy hat of Chris “Jesus” Ferguson is a staple at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) every year, and for good reason, as the WSOP has been kind to Ferguson over the years. His four WSOP bracelets include winning the Main Event in 2000, which helped push him to lifetime winnings of over $4 million at the WSOP and over $8 million in overall tournament winnings.

Chris Ferguson didn’t take the normal route of most professional poker players, as he has a doctorate in computer science and comes from a more analytic, scientific background than most poker pros. Both of his parents have doctorates in mathematics and his father teaches game theory and statistics at UCLA. While his poker success delayed him from collecting his own doctorate (it took him 13 years as a graduate student before he finished), Ferguson did finally collect his Ph.D. in 1999.

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was one of the principal figures behind the launch of online poker site Full Tilt, and is rumored to hold a sizable ownership stake in the company that could be worth hundreds of millions dollars. Unlike many pros who have little control and routinely win huge sums only to go bust weeks or months later, Ferguson has been held up as the poster child for good bankroll management. He claims to have taken $1 on Full Tilt and turned it into $20,000 in just 6 months, as well as starting with $0 and winning freerolls to eventually build up a bankroll of over $10,000.

While he’s one of the more quiet, reserved poker pros, he does have some unusual talents and hobbies that have come to light over the years, including knowing how to do various parlor tricks such as throwing playing cards and cutting bananas, carrots, and melons in half, as well as a fondness for swing dancing.