LEX LIVE 3: Meet ‘Ferris2000’, a staple of Lex’s chat making his first trip to meet the community

In the build-up to the highly anticipated Lex Live 3, we’ll be introducing you to a different member of Lex Veldhuis’ Twitch community every week.

This week our guest is Todd Slater, although you may know him better by his Twitch handle: ‘Ferris2000’.

The 51-year-old Canadian is a staple of Lex Veldhuis’ community and is frequently one of the first names to pop up in the chat when Lex’s stream countdown begins. However, because he lives all the way over in Vancouver, Ferris2000 hasn’t been able to attend a Lex Live event. Yet.

He’ll rectify that come April when he attends Lex Live 3 in London. But as Ferris2000 tells us, LL3 is just the start of his European trip, one that he’ll be on for six weeks in total.

Here we chat about what he does for a living, what he has planned after LL3, and his excitement for his first Lex Live event. Enjoy.


PokerStars Blog: Hey Ferris2000, we hear you’re making the trip across the Atlantic to attend LL3 (your first Lex Live). You must be excited?

Todd ‘Ferris2000’ Slater: Oh yeah. I knew after the last event that I was 100% coming to Lex Live 3. The very day Lex announced the dates for the event I booked my flight to London.

Since I’m paying a pretty good chunk to come out to London, I figured I may as well make it worthwhile, so I also planned a six-week trip to Eastern Europe after Lex Live. Once we’ve said all our goodbyes, I’ll be on a flight to Macedonia the day after the event finishes. In fact, when Lex Live 4 happens sometime this fall, I’m hoping to do the same thing.

Ferris2000 on his travels

What are you looking forward to the most at Lex Live 3?

The thing I’m looking forward to the most is that first moment when I walk up to Lex and say “Papa?” and he says “Hello my child”. I might be 51 but I always call Lex papa. Granted he looks older than me with all his grey hair, but, yes, I’m actually older than him.

Of course, it goes without saying that I can’t wait to meet all the community members I’ve grown to love. It’s funny to say, but playing poker at LL3 is kind of an afterthought for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be playing a lot of poker, but I’m more excited to meet everyone.

When did you first discover Lex?

I got into poker at the same time a lot of people did – when [PokerStars Ambassador] Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003. I used to watch all the poker shows on TV and remember Lex from his time on High Stakes Poker and the Big Game.

A couple of years ago, I discovered the Twitch poker channel and when I saw Lex was streaming, I was like “Hey, I remember that guy” and I started watching him.

Have a beer (or two) with Ferris2000 at Lex Live 3 in London

Now you’re a prominent member of his community. What did you like about the stream and his chat?

Poker is not the main reason I watch Lex. Sure, it’s super exciting when Lex runs deep in a tourney but I’m just as happy to hang out on his stream when he’s playing games or just chatting with his community.

My favourite time of the stream is actually that 15 minutes before he starts his countdown. It’s usually just me, ‘RuthAnnK’ and Lex just chatting.

As for my fellow viewers, Lex’s community is amazing. When I go to other Twitch streams and see how toxic some of the chat is, I’m always proud of how great Lex’s community is. It’s a testament to both Lex and his mods. There are so many regulars in the chat each stream and you actually feel a genuine love between everyone. I’ve never met any of them and I feel like I know so many of them.


LEX LIVE 3:   ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW  |  WHAT’S NEW AT LL3?  |  FULL SCHEDULE  |  

YOUR GUIDE TO LONDON  |  ONLINE SATELLITES   |   MEET THE COMMUNITY


As you haven’t met any of them yet, did you enjoy reading the coverage from Lex Live 1 and 2?

Each time I read the coverage of Lex Live, I was like “Damn, I gotta get to the next one”. After the event, people would be chatting on the stream about all the adventures they had and I honestly felt like I was missing a family reunion each time.

You mentioned you’ll be playing a lot of poker at LL3. What’s your poker background?

I mostly play mixed game tournaments on Pokerstars. I’ve recently fallen in love with courchevel, but I also love 2-7 triple draw, razz and stud8.

As for live poker, I used to play regularly at my local casino but haven’t played there in a couple of years. I’m actually kind of excited to play live again at Lex Live just so I can see if I’ve learned anything from watching Lex play so many hours. I see the game in such a new light now compared with how I did a couple of years ago. Let’s just say the words “range” and “float” were not in my vocabulary two years ago.

Ferris2000: “You actually feel a genuine love between everyone.”

What do you get up to away from poker and Twitch?

I work as a waiter in a steakhouse. I work nights which works out perfectly because I get home around 11pm and Lex’s stream usually starts up just before midnight my time.

Outside of work I have a passion for travelling. I’m fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to take off for a couple of months no questions asked. Over the past six years, I’ve backpacked through 43 countries and I’m always looking forward to planning the next trip.

Any goals for the future?

That’s an interesting question because it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. The dream is to just travel the world, going on adventures and meeting amazing people. Even though I feel like I’ve seen a lot, there’s just so much out there to see. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to do it. In the meantime, though, I’ll be hanging out in Lex’s stream emoting beer walls every once in a while.

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Article originally posted on PokerStars Blog
by Jack Stanton