Sam Farha immigrated to the United States as a teenager after civil war broke out in his native Lebanon. In 1977, he began to study at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, and later graduated with a degree in business administration.

He spent his first year after graduation in Houston, Texas, working with his brother. One year after moving to Houston, Sam played his first game of poker and won several thousand dollars; by 1990, he had become a full-time professional poker player.

In the 2003 World Series of Poker, Sam went head-to-head with Chris Moneymaker at the final table and took home second place, a WSOP gold bracelet, and $1.3 million. In a PokerStars rematch between Sam and Chris a few months later, Sam emerged victorious. Sam has earned a total of $1.5 million in tournament play, despite the fact that his specialty is Omaha cash games.

Sam is not a smoker and yet he usually keeps an unlit "lucky" cigarette in his mouth when playing. Often, upon taking a bad beat, he will change cigarettes. On one occasion, Sam won a series of pots and then exclaimed, "I'm so hot, my cigarette's going to light!"

Sam has had success in other forms of gambling as well; he won a pinball tournament in Kansas and won a large bet by winning a Pac-Man competition.

Sam's poker-related activities are not limited to his playing. His book Farha on Omaha: Expert Strategy for Beating Cash Games and Tournaments, co-authored with Storms Reback, is due out in fall 2007. He is also involved with the creation of a video game and the production of a reality-TV poker series. Sam Farha is a spokesman for Harrah's Casino in Las Vegas.