It didn’t take long for “Jesus” to cash in.

The 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas has completed just two of its 55 tournaments and already, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, one of the top poker players in the world, has finished in the money.

Ferguson finished in third place in WSOP Event #2, a $1,500 buy-in, no-limit Texas hold ‘em tourney that had 3,930 entrants and a total prize pool of almost $6 million.

The event was won by Grant Hinkle, who earned $831,462 for the big win, as well as a coveted gold championship bracelet.

Finishing in second place was James Akenhead, who takes home $520,219.

For finishing in third, Ferguson picked up $388,287.

Theo Tran ended up in fourth spot and bagged $327,148.

Finishing fifth was Mike Ngo, who earned $268,154.=A0 =A0 Coming in sixth was Aaron Coulthard, earning $=A0211,841. =A0 Finishing in seventh spot was Melvin Jones, who takes home $158,211.

Ending up eighth was David Bach, now $117,987 richer.

The remaining player at the event’s nine-man final table, Joe Rutledge, finished in ninth place in the tournament and won $83,127.

As for Ferguson, his storied legacy continues to grow.

After he was knocked out of the tournament and collected his third-place money, the WSOP announced new milestones for the bearded, cowboy hat-wearing Christ lookalike who has a college degree in computer science.

According to WSOP statisticians, Ferguson now ranks fifth on the all-time list for WSOP tournament cashes, meaning that in the history of the WSOP, only four people have finished in the money in more WSOP events.

In addition, the just-completed tourney was Ferguson’s 27th career WSOP final table appearance, the WSOP said.

The appearance puts “Jesus” alone at fourth on the WSOP career final table list, breaking a tie that had existed between him and Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan for fourth spot.

Chan, the Chinese-born poker pro who has won the WSOP Main Event twice and who made a cameo appearance in the poker film “Rounders,” drops to fifth on the list.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)=A0