Chris Ferguson at E3

Mike Denzler thought that he was just playing a demo of Activision's World Series of Poker®: Tournament of Champions. Then he started getting advice from the gamer behind him in line.

"You can check … or take a stab at it," said the person behind him.

As Denzler was taking on Max Pescatori and Chris Ferguson at the final table, Denzler turned around to see the guy standing behind him. It was Chris Ferguson, winner of the 2000 World Series of Poker. The real-life poker star was the one giving the advice.

Ferguson with Mike Denzler, the man who beat him in the game.

Over the next few hands, Denzler took Ferguson out in the game. "It's a once in a lifetime that you beat a guy on a video game that's standing right next to you," Denzler said with a chuckle.

Ferguson, who is known for matching his wardrobe to his black cowboy hat, eventually teamed up with Denzler and helped Mike win out at the table. Ferguson said that they modeled his mannerisms especially well. At one point the star inadvertently assumed the same pose as his video game avatar. He quickly removed his hand from his chin when he saw what he was doing.

"I play video games all the time," Ferguson said. "My favorite game is Half-Life®. I play death match and Team Force all the time."

Activision worked individually with all of the stars in the game to render their faces and perfect the different strategies. "Just being a character in a video game is awesome," Fergusson said. He really liked how many animations there were for folding, he said, noting that sometimes characters throw their cards and other times simply slide them to the dealer.

When Fergusson folded? "Unrealistic!" he shouted. "We need to work on that a bit."