Forrest wins National Heads-Up Poker Championship

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Ted Forrest won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship early Tuesday morning, beating an elite field of pros and sending Chris "Jesus" Ferguson to his second defeat at the final table in two years.

Forrest, the winner of five World Series of Poker bracelets who hones his play at cash games in Las Vegas, defeated five professionals in the unique one-on-one, bracket-style event to reach the last table.

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Then he came from behind in the best-of-three final, besting Ferguson with three kings to take home $500,000 and first place.

"The players here are all super-high caliber so it means a lot," Forrest said. "I've kind of seen what my opponents were willing to give me and adjusted at the table."

Ferguson, known as "Jesus" for his long brown hair and beard, said he was disappointed, but had no regrets about his play, including calling Forrest's all-in bet before the flop with a queen of clubs and jack of diamonds on the last hand. Forrest held a king of clubs and seven of diamonds, but had a commanding 5-to-1 chip lead to support the bet.

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"It really isn't that much pain," Ferguson said. "I would have absolutely loved, loved to win this. It's a very, very important championship, in my opinion. But you can't do it every year. I'm really proud of finishing second two years in a row. That's way harder than winning it once."

Ferguson, who has a Ph.D. in computer science from UCLA, lost to Phil Hellmuth Jr. in the final of the 2005 Heads-Up event. Hellmuth was knocked out in the first round Saturday to pro Chip Reese, who lost to Ferguson in the next matchup.