Sam Farha

infobox poker player
firstname=Sam
lastname=Farha
nickname="Mister Cool", Sammy


caption=Sam Farha at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship
hometown=Houston, Texas
wsop bracelet count=2
wsop money finishes=7
wsop main event best finish rank=2nd
wsop main event best finish year=2003
multi-year wsop winner
wpt titles="None"
wpt final tables="None"
wpt money finishes=3

Ihsan (Sam) Farha (born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1959) is a professional poker player. He currently lives in Houston, Texas.

Early years

Farha moved to the USA after the Lebanese Civil War broke out when he was in his teens. 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 play 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 starting stack. He was considering leaving at this point and was talked into staying by Greenstein. He lost the final hand to Moneymaker after going all in with a pair of jacks on the flop, only to be called by Moneymaker who had flopped two pair.

In a rematch between Farha and Moneymaker a few months later, organized by PokerStars, Farha won. [ [http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/2003/wsop-rematch/ Pokerstars.com: Chris Moneymaker vs. Sam Farha, Round 2] ] Farha also finished in the money in the 2005 WSOP main event.

World Series of Poker bracelets

Both of Farha's bracelets have come in Omaha events.

Other activities

Farha is working on a book, tentatively titled "Luck is Not Enough", a reality TV poker series, and a video game. He is a spokesman for Harrah's casino in Las Vegas.

He has appeared on the GSN series High Stakes Poker. Commentators AJ Benza and Gabe Kaplan have commented on his habit of wasting time while acting as if he is going to call and then abruptly folding.

As of 2008, his total winnings exceed $2,100,000 in live tournament poker [ [http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=12524 Hendon Mob tournament results] ] , although he tends to primarily play in high stakes Omaha cash games.

Farha also made a cameo apperance in the 2007 film, Lucky You

Mentoring

He is the mentor of George Abdallah, who finished 2nd in the event at the 2006 WSOP.commentary of 2006 World Series of Poker (episode 1) by Norman Chad and Lon McEachern]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.samfarha.com Official site]
* [http://www.launchpoker.com/players/poker_players/-sam-farha-/ LaunchPoker.com profile]
* [http://www.poker-player-profiles.com/sam-farha/ PokerPlayerProfiles.com profile]
* [http://www.blindbetpoker.com/profiles/sam-farha.html BlindBetPoker.com profile]