Sammy Farha
| Sam Farha | |
|---|---|
Farha at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship
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| Nickname(s) | Mister Cool, Sammy |
| Residence | Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Born | 1959 (age 57–58) Beirut, Lebanon |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | 3 |
| Final table(s) | 6 |
| Money finish(es) | 9 |
| Highest ITM Main Event finish |
2nd, 2003 |
| World Poker Tour | |
| Title(s) | None |
| Final table(s) | None |
| Money finish(es) | 3 |
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.
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.
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.
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