About Sam Farha

Sam Farha
Name Sam Farha
Current Residence Houston Texas
Birth Place Beirut, LB

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.

Trivia


  • Co-author of Farha on Omaha: Expert Strategy for Beating Cash Games and Tournaments
  • Spokesman for Harrah's Casino
  • Former pinball champion

Sam Farha recent tournament placings

Place Winnings Tournament
3 $125,000 Special 2009, NBC National Heads-Up Championship
30 $21,657 2008 WSOP, Event 25, World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em
6 $85,728 2008 WSOP, Event 8, World Championship Mixed Event
83 $46,410 Season 5, WPT World Championship
1 $398,560 2006 WSOP, Event 12, Omaha Hi-low Split
316 $21,070 2005 World Series of Poker, WSOP 2005 $10,000 World Championship Event
3 $48,140 WSOP - 2002, Event 8, Pot-Limit Omaha
1 $145,000 WSOP - 1996, Event 18, Pot-Limit Omaha
2 $1,300,000 2003 WSOP , World Series of Poker Main Event - 2003

Player analysis

6.5/10

Aggressiveness
7
Looseness
8
Limit
4
No-Limit
7
Side Games
6
Steam Control
5
Against Strong Players
7
Against Weak Players
7
Tournaments
6
Short-Handed
8

Player analysis

Sammy may be the most feared short-handed Pot-Limit Omaha player in the world. He is so good that we only play Omaha with him in mixed-games with one or two other games added. Even though his fame came from his second place finish to Moneymaker in the 2003 WSOP finale, Hold’em is not his forte. His fearlessness carried him through that event.

Amusing Anecdote

Eight hands before the end of Day 2 in 2003, I drew out on Sammy and he got up from the table. He thought he was busted, but he had $5,000 more than I had. ($80,000 was average at that point.)

He said, “I’m leaving. I can’t do anything with $5,000.” I said, “Sammy, sit down and take a shot.” Sammy went all-in in the dark on the next two hands and doubled up each time. Of the last eight hands played at our table that night, Sammy was all-in before the flop on seven of them. He ended the second day with $58,000.

Of course, Sammy went on to become famous as he cashed out $1.3 million for his second-place finish in the event.

Analysis brought to you by Barry Greenstein

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