Ferguson and Lederer Tag Team Outrage

When disgraced former Full Tilt owners turned up at the WSOP last summer after long absences, it ruffled more than a few feathers, but recent appearance of the most-hated duo on the poker planet took things a step further as they joined forces once again in the $1k Tag team event.

Last summer had seen Howard ‘The Professor’ Lederer use Daniel Negreanu’s blog as a vehicle for an apology which many in the community refused to accept. “I take full responsibility for Full Tilt’s failure to protect player deposits leading up to Black Friday,” he stated, his statement seen as rather hollow and self-serving words designed only to facilitate an easy entry back into the world’s most prestigious event.

With Ferguson barely commenting beyond “I’m only here to play poker”, the duo ran less of a gauntlet than expected, and this year has once again seen ‘fans’ approach the pair for autographs as opposed to the open hatred some might expect as ‘standard’ – Peter Morris from TournamentPokerEdge commented in a tweet and his account was suspended after that.

2013 WSOP bracelet winner Jared Hamby tweeted:

Over on 2+2 a lively thread is expected, with ‘pocket_zeros’ posting “Partners in crime and in poker” followed by 'H0rRUS’ sarcastic:

“Their last tag team endeavor netted them millions so obv a +ev move for them.”

 The pair, who starred in my ‘mock final table’ article last year, were joined by another former Full Tilt pro, Andy Bloch, in the 2-4 man team event – and Todd Witteles over at PokerFraudAlert wasn’t slow in making his feelings known…

With 843 runners in the smaller of the two Tag Team events (the first was won by the Igor Kurgonov/Liv Boeree combination, an event which saw Ferguson and Bloch sans Lederer competing) Team Nasty as they might become better known made it through today two, with some players and fans wondering about a final table appearance…