Nickname(s) Mister Cool, Sammy Money finish(es) 9 Final table(s) 6 Role Professional Poker Player | Bracelet(s) 3 Name Sam Farha Residence Houston, Texas, U.S. | |
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Books Farha on Omaha: Expert Strategy for Beating Cash Games and Tournaments Similar People Chris Moneymaker, Curtis Hanson, Henry Orenstein | ||
Highest ITMMain Event finish 2nd, 2003 | ||
Strategy: Sam Farha
Ihsan "Sam" Farha (born 1959 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a professional poker player. He is best known for finishing as runner up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 2003. He has won three bracelets at the WSOP in his career.
Contents
- Strategy Sam Farha
- Early years
- World Series of Poker
- World Series of Poker bracelets
- Other poker activities
- References
Early years
Farha moved to the United States after the Lebanese Civil War broke out when he was a teenager. After settling in Wichita, Kansas in 1977, he attended the University of Kansas. He graduated with a degree in business administration and moved to Houston, Texas to work with his brother. Farha first played a game of poker a year after moving to Houston, and won several thousand dollars. He quit his job in 1990 to focus on playing poker full-time.
World Series of Poker
Farha's biggest tournament finish was in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, where he finished second to Chris Moneymaker for $1,300,000. On the second day of play, Farha lost a major pot to Barry Greenstein leaving him with only 10% of the average stack. He was considering leaving at this point and was talked into staying in the tournament by Greenstein. He lost the final hand to Moneymaker when he went all-in with a pair of jacks on the flop, only to be called by Moneymaker who had flopped bottom two pair, which held after the final river card was dealt.
In a rematch between Farha and Moneymaker a few months later, organized by PokerStars, Farha won. They played against each other again in a special "grudge match" during 2011 World Series of Poker, which was won by Moneymaker in best-of-three format.
Farha also finished in the money in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, as well as the 2010 WSOP main event.
Farha, after winning the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better) event in 2006, skipped playing the event the next three years. He played it again in 2010, after it was increased to a $10,000 buy-in event. He went on to win his third career bracelet in the tournament, so while not winning the event consecutively, Farha did win the bracelet both times he played in the event.
In 2012, Farha finished 11th in the 2012 World Series of Poker $10,000 Omaha event, for $43,076.
World Series of Poker bracelets
All of Farha's WSOP bracelets have come in Omaha events.