Fred Bernard "Sarge" Ferris (December 1, 1928 – March 12, 1989) was an American professional poker player. In 1978, Ferris was considered among the top 12 poker players in the world at that time, as ranked by Poker Magazine. In the

1980 World Series of Poker The 1980 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a series of poker tournaments held at Binion's Horseshoe. Preliminary events Main Event There were 73 entrants to the main event, with each paying an entry fee of $10,000. The 1980 Main Event was Unga ...

, Ferris won a

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker p ...

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, suc ...

in deuce-to-seven draw, winning $150,000. He defeated some of the best professional poker players of that time to win the tournament, including two-time world champion

Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...

, who finished the tournament in second place, and 1978 WSOP Main Event champion

Bobby Baldwin Bobby Baldwin (born c. 1950)MGM Mirage's 2006 proxy statement, filed on April 30, 2006, recorded Baldwin's age as 55 is a professional poker player and casino executive. As a poker player, Baldwin is best known as the winner of the 1978 World ...

, who finished third. He won a tournament at the

1983 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker (also known as Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker or SBOP) was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s. While the World Series of Poker was already drawing larger crowds as more and more a ...

, organized by Amarillo Slim. Ferris was mainly a cash game player, but also had tournament winnings exceeding $240,000. On April 22, 1983, Ferris gained notoriety as the Internal Revenue Service seized $46,000 during a high-stakes game at the Horseshoe Casino. Ferris died in March 1989, and was posthumously inducted into the

Poker Hall of Fame The Poker Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional poker in the United States. Founded in Las Vegas, it was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino, to preserve the names and legacies of the world's greatest p ...

in December of that year.Poker Hall of Fame inductees
Accessed March 2, 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferris, Sarge Ferris, Fred Super Bowl of Poker event winners World Series of Poker bracelet winners People from Waterville, Maine 1989 deaths 1928 births Poker Hall of Fame inductees