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Sammy Farha Wins WSOP Omaha High-Low Championship

There is no one in the poker world quite like Sammy Farha. Dashing and debonair, Farha is part James Bond, part Humphrey Bogart, part Hugh Hefner, all wrapped up into a five-foot-nine dynamo of a man with an unrelenting passion for fast living and high-stakes gambling.

Farha initially burst upon the poker scene a decade ago when he won a gold bracelet in the Pot-Limit Omaha championship at the 1996 World Series of Poker. But it wasn't until his alluring television appearance on ESPN in the 2003 Main Event championship that Sammy Farha became a household name. Indeed, if the World Series was all about style, then Farha would have been its grand champion a long time ago. Farha blitzed through 837 players that fateful year. All that stood in the way of Farha and a $2.5 million cash prize was a previously-unknown accountant from Tennessee named Chris Moneymaker.

What happened at that final table seven long years ago is no mystery. Moneymaker won. But in many ways, Farha won also. Love him or hate him, Sammy Farha became a bona fide poker celebrity.

Farha has played in many poker tournaments and high-limit cash games since, with mixed results. Six-figure money swings are not only common, but a daily occurrence whenever Farha chooses to take a seat in any game. The Lebanese-born self-made multi-millionaire is an instant attraction to any table, which is why he is perhaps television's favorite poker face.

In one of the tougher fields in poker history, 212 players, the vast majority of them top-notch tournament players and high-limit cash-game specialists, entered the $10,000 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker. After two long days, 203 players had been eliminated and the final table was set.

Farha's competition was formidable. The biggest menace was British bad boy James Dempsey, who won his first WSOP gold bracelet just two weeks ago. Two other former gold bracelet winners graced the felt, Michael Chow and Abe Mosseri. Indeed, Farha later said, there were no weak players in this tournament.

Farha ultimately triumphed in a brutally-tough finale that was just as much a test of mental stamina as it was poker skill. The win proved to be one of his most satisfying victories. The final table lasted nearly 13 seemingly endless see-saw hours, including five nerve-racking hours between Farha and James Dempsey, who ultimately went down in a gallant, yet emotionally-shattering defeat.

Farha may be Lebanese by birth, but he is unquestionably an American success story. Farha left his birthplace of Beirut and arrived in the United States in 1978 to attend college. He graduated from the University of Kansas. Farha was a successful pool player before becoming a full-time poker pro. In fact, he has played just about every kind of game for big money, including video games, pinball, and backgammon. But poker has proven to be Farha’s game, and he is now indelibly linked to those who have mastered it best.

Given Farha's enigmatic character, it is impossible to measure the true impact or meaning of a third WSOP victory. On one hand, Farha was overjoyed to win his first gold bracelet in four years. On the other hand, the prize money he received, the mere pittance of $488,241, is roughly equal to the typical buy-in at Farha's regular poker game.

That makes this World Series of Poker victory but a pit stop in the fast-lane that is Sammy Farha's life.
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by Nolan Dalla

Posted at 11:47 PM

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