For some people, poker is a matter of life and death.

That certainly held true for Fred “Sarge” Ferris.

The son of Lebanese immigrants, Ferris spent his childhood in New England in poverty and took up gambling as a means of survival.

Fellow players remember him as a consummate professional, and his skill was evident when he won the Deuce to Seven Draw at the 1980 World Series of Poker. But Ferris will be remembered more for his brushes with the law.

Ferris was in the middle of a high-stakes poker game at the Horseshoe on April 22, 1983, when the Internal Revenue Service entered the room and seized $46,000 worth of chips.

Back taxes weren’t his only issue. In 1992, 10 people were indicted in the “San Diego Rincon” case, which dealt with organized crime trying to gain a foothold at the tribal casino.

Nine people were convicted in 1993. The case also involved the shakedown of five Las Vegas people who owed debts to the mob. Ferris was one of the five.

Ferris succumbed to a heart attack in March 1989, and was enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame later that year.