Ferguson and Lederer To Be At 2014 WSOP In Two Months Time

One time Full Tilt principals Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer have been in hot water with the poker community since 2011, when the website was shut down by the US Department of Justice who accused them of running a Ponzi scheme. Damningly, both players continued paying themselves despite not having sufficient funds to cover money owed to players, but now that the debacle is almost over and the deal struck with industry leader PokerStars has ensured most players will now received their frozen funds, the two American pros are readying for a return to the poker circuit.
It would appear that Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer have calculated that sufficient time has now passed since the Black Friday nightmare and that the poker community has either forgiven them by now or at least can no longer complain to them about missing funds. Consequently, ‘Jesus’ and ‘The Professor’ are planning to make their first tournament comeback in years by entering the 2014 World Series of Poker beginning Tuesday, May 27th.
Breaking the news on TwoPlusTwo was poker journalist ‘DiamondFlush’ who explained; “He [Ferguson] has plenty of money and does lead a non-ostentatious lifestyle, but I assure you he has plans to return to poker when ppl get repaid, as does Howard. They assume all is forgiven and some regulars in the LV circuit think thats true..He expects to be back, especially for WSOP”
Both players have prudently avoided tournaments since the Full Tilt scandal broke, but Howard Lederer had been spotted playing $400/$800 cash games at Bobby’s Room in Bellagio, which has a $20k minimum buy-in and sometimes boasts million dollar pots. Lederer had also been seen playing at the Aria, and as poker grinder Siva Dhamotharan, noted at the time:
“It makes you a little angry that he’s showing his face while knowing that people still haven’t been paid..It affects me a lot of the time. That’s where I had most of my money.”
Whether, with the money situation all but resolved, the poker community will now accept the two Full Tilt ex-owners when they return to the felts remains to be seen. With the 45th Annual World Series of Poker just a couple of months away, however, we don’t have to wait too long to find out.