SportAllStar Blog

Sammy Farha Wins WSOP Omaha High-Low Championship

2010-06-21T23:47:00.000-07:00

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

Chicago Poker Pro Collects First Gold Bracelet and Banks $441,692

2010-06-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Shootout concluded tonight with Joshua Tieman as the last survivor. He won first–place prize money totaling $441,692 and the game's most coveted prize, the WSOP gold bracelet. Tieman overcame a brutally tough field of 358 players who each posted the $5,000 entry fee en route to a career-first WSOP victory.

Tieman is a 27-year-old poker pro from Chicago, IL. This was his 10th time to cash in the WSOP – all since 2006. His best previous showing was a third-place finish in a No-Limit Hold'em event played that first year. Tieman also made the final table of the $1,500 buy-in Shootout last year, finishing ninth.

The Six-Handed Shootout format required that players defeat all players at their respective table(s), which means advancing the next round. Tieman, the tournament champion, ended up winning three consecutive matches en route to the victory. That might sound easy, but given the quality of competition, many tables ran long and lasted up to 12 hours.

Among those who cashed were former WSOP gold bracelet winners Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Max Pescatori, Blair Hinkle, and Dario Minieri. Attendance for this event increased by 28 percent over last year – 280 entries in 2009 versus 358 in 2010.

The final hand of the tournament came when Neil Channing moved all in pre-flop with A,7o. He was snap-called by Josh Tieman, who showed A,Jo. The final board ran out K,10,4,10,Q, which gave Tieman a straight and his first WSOP victory.

For official tournament results and additional details, please CLICK HERE.

Through the conclusion of Event #6, the ratio of professional poker players to semi-pros and amateurs who've won gold bracelets is as follows:

Professional Players (4): Michael Chow, Michael Mizrachi, Praz Bansi, Josh Tieman

Semi-pros (0): None

Amateurs (2): Duc Pham, Aadam Daya

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Poker math: Pot odds and hand equity

2010-05-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

Poker is a game based on both math and psychology. While high-level poker is more and more psychology based, it never hurts to know your mathematical odds to perfection. These odds will tell you what the mathematically correct decision is, and making mathematically correct decisions is a must when going for the EV+. How you use this mathematical data depends on the reads you have on your opponents and, at the end of the day, on what you think is right under the given circumstances, but it is there and it does point you to the right direction.

Your mathematical odds in any given situation hinge on two factors: the pot odds that you get and your hand equity.

The pot odds represent a relation between the amount of money that's already in the pot (the money you stand to win) and the amount of money you have to call (the cost of staying in the pot). Generally speaking, the more money there is in the pot, and the less it takes you to call, the better your pot odds are. If the amount of money in the pot is truly huge compared to the size of the call you have to make, you should make the call on just about any two cards, but I'm getting ahead of the matters here …

Suppose you have a $10 pot and your opponent makes a $2 bet. You now have $12 to win, and it'll cost you $2 to stay in contention. Your pot odds are 12-2, which means 6-1. To find out your pot odds under any circumstance, just divide the pot with the amount of money you have to call.

As I said above, in theory, you can get good-enough pot odds to commit on just about any two cards. In reality though, your pot odds will always be much worse than that. You'll need to add another variable to the equation to make heads and tails of it: your hand equity.

In order to determine your odds of hitting a hand that will most likely turn out to be a winner, you need to start with your outs. The outs are the cards that you need to make your hand. Finding out the number of your outs should be simple, but sometimes it can be tricky too. You start from the premise that there are 52 cards in the deck, out of which there are 4 groups of 13 suited cards and 13 groups of 4 similar value cards. From the total of 52, you always need to subtract your own two pocket cards and the cards that are already on the board. In the case of a flush draw on the flop, you have 9 outs. There are 13 cards in the deck of the same suit, and you have 2 in your hand and 2 on the board: that translates to 13-4=9 outs.

You need to be careful not to count outs twice (in case you have a flush and a straight draw) and not to count anti-outs. There are cards for instance which would fill up your straight draw, but which would also fill up your opponent's flush draw. By definition, an out is a card which gives you a winning hand. If it gives your opponent a stronger hand, then it's obviously not an out for you.

After you calculate your number of outs, you need to find out the actual odds so you can compare them to your pot odds. In the above described case, you have 9 cards out of the remaining 52-5=47 cards that help you, but 47-9=38 don't. the odds against your making your hand are 38-9, or 4.22-1. These odds are way smaller than your 6-1 pot odds, which means it makes sense to call.

Poker rakeback or poker propping deals alter your odds a little, because they give you money back on the dough you stuff into the pot, but their impact is not that significant (though at high stakes, it may well be). Just sign up for rakeback and go about your business as usual then pocket the extra dough at the end of the week/month and you're done.

Sport Allstar

Sport Allstar Bio: Tom Dwan

2010-04-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

Known online as durrrr, Tom Dwan is one of the hottest online poker players right now. Known for his ultra-aggressive style of play, Dwan has burst onto the nosebleed-stakes cash game scene in 2007, when he logged an over 300k profit over the course of the year. From that point on, his earnings have sky-rocketed right up to the point where he became one of the best known faces at Full Tilt Poker. Compelled to reward him somehow for the publicity he'd generated for the site, Full Tilt Poker accepted him as a member of their team of professional players in November 2009. As such, Dwan currently endorses the 27% full tilt rakeback the site offers its new players. Make sure you take full advantage of this rakeback deal by signing up through the right channels.

Dwan began playing poker at the age of 17, back in 2004. He got $50 from his father for his birthday and he decided to invest that money into online poker. He made a deposit at Paradise Poker and started playing SNGs. He'd dropped most of his bankroll initially, but with his last $15, he mounted a spectacular comeback and was soon able to move to the cash tables.

It didn't take long for the Edison, New Jersey native to work his way up the stakes. Before long, he was playing $10/$20 with Frederick Halling, then $25/$50 with Prahlad Friedman. Freiedman proved to be a difficult obstacle to overcome, but after several failed attempts, Dwan managed to march right through the professional player on his way to still higher stakes.

Despite the fact that he earned a massive $5.41 million in 2008, and set quite a few records as far as pot sizes and single-session profits were concerned, Dwan's online poker career had its fair share of downs too. In 2009, a mystery player known only as Isildur1 to this day, burst onto the nosebleed stakes scene. Dwan became one of his most notorious victims. Over just a few sessions, Dwan dropped more than $5 million to Isildur1, money that he hasn't been able to recover to this day. As a matter of fact, he ended up dropping even more money to the Swede in subsequent bouts.

He was forced to drop down the stakes in order to rebuild his bankroll, a mission which he completed successfully in December 2009. His bankroll restored, he now continues to roam the nosebleed stakes at Full Tilt making money off just about anybody and sometimes dropping a chunk or two to Isildur1.

He is involved in a heads-up series against Patrik Antonius, called the Durrrr Challenge or the $1 million challenge, which he had initiated back in 2008 in an effort to generate more high stakes heads-up PLO action. He is currently ahead in the challenge, seemingly increasing his lead with every new session.

His online antics earned him spots on live poker events as well. He had money finishes in two WSOP events, he scored some dough in an EPT event as well as in 2 WPT ones. He also made a WPT final table.

Dwan played in the Aussie Millions as well in the National Heads-up Poker Championship. He's also appeared on High Stakes Poker and on Poker After Dark.

Sport Allstar

Ethan van Klaveren Wins WSOP Circuit Event at Harrah's Rincon

2010-03-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

The most recent tournament played at Harrah's Rincon was filled with remarkable poker hands, amazing comebacks, and a surprise victory by a first-time winner. Ethan van Klaveren, a professional massage therapist from San Francisco, CA won the World Series of Poker Circuit event, along with his first championship gold ring. But it wasn't just the victory that was memorable. It was the thrilling poker hands along the way, plus a couple of astounding comebacks by the final two players that should put this tournament in the history books.

At one point when play was down to the final eight players, Van Klaveren looked down and saw pocket kings. He moved all-in with the premium cards on what would become the most talked about hand of the tournament. One player was already all-in holding pocket Q's. Incredibly, a third player called, and then a fourth player also called. One of the callers tabled pocket aces. In an astounding hand, pocket queens, versus pocket kings, versus pocket aces which were turned up and all-in. Then, the real drama started. Wham! A queen on the flop completely disrupted the Pavilion Arena, the locale of the final table played at Rincon. Things went from crazy to absolute bedlam moments later. Kaboom! A king fell on the turn, once again completely changing the outcome of the tournament and disrupting the expectations of the players. As if no one could take any more excitement, a harmless blank fell on the river, which meant van Klaveren's pocket kings ended up making trips and he quadrupled up on a monster hand.

Indeed, it was the kind of night for Ethan van Klaveren.

Although the part-time poker player from San Francisco, CA ended up winning the tournament about four hours later, the trial and tribulation experienced the second-place finisher was just as amazing. Ali Yousri, a.k.a. "Chicago Ali" started at the final table as chip leader. But he took several early beats. At one point, he was down to a single 1,000-denomination chip, when the blinds were at 4,000-8,000. The true tale of poker legend Jack Straus in the 1982 World Series of Poker Main Event has been told many times, and Ali nearly pulled off an equally astounding feat. Starting with just one chip, he went on to win five consecutive pots when he was basically all-in and managed to come all the back to the point where he regained the chip lead when play was three-handed. It was an unthinkable turn of events for Ali to go from chip leader, down to a single chip, and then back to the chip lead, but that's exactly what happened. The colorful poker personality, born in Egypt and now living in Chicago ended up finishing in second place.

The No-Limit Hold'em tournament, which is the fourth event of this year's World Series of Poker Circuit stop in Southern California, was played at the Harrah's Rincon Casino and Resort, near San Diego. The $340 buy in competition was played over two days during March 22-22, 2010. Van Klaveren ended up scooping the biggest prize of his young career, collecting a payout totaling $15,079. Van Klaveren was also presented with his first gold ring, the coveted award which is presented to all champions of WSOP Circuit tournaments held around the country. This was his first time to cash in a WSOP Circuit tournament.

Final Table play began on a Monday afternoon. There were no prior WSOP Circuit gold ring event winners amongst the final nine players, thus guaranteeing a first-time champion. "Chicago Ali" arrived at the Final Table as the chip leader. But Ali lost his advantage early to Troy "Cowboy" Benjamin and later to Stephen Peterson, who were viable forces during most of the seven hour finale. Ethan van Klaveren also jumped into contention after he won the huge pot with pocket kings and acquired some chips.

The last hand came when Ali was dealt Tc 3h. After the flop came Ts 5d 4s, Ali moved all-in. Van Klaveren called and showed Qs Td. He had the best kicker. Ali needed help. The last two cards came Th followed by the 8s giving both players three-of-a-kind, with 10's. But Van Klaveren won with the better kicker.

The final hand of the tournament can be seen here:

http://www.twitvid.com/3B6A7

Ethan van Klaveren was absolutely thrilled with his victory. He received $15,079 in prize money. But he said the victory was really amazing because he had always hoped to win a WSOP event. Van Klaveren says he hopes to play in more events and win another WSOP tournament in the future.

An interview with van Klaveren at tableside just moments after his win can be seen here: http://www.twitvid.com/64A71

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by Nolan Dalla

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2010-03-09T10:57:00.001-08:00

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Sport Allstar Bio: Phil Ivey

2010-02-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

Born in February 1976 in Riverside, California and known under a host of different nick-names, Phil Ivey is generally considered the most complete and the best overall poker player today.

From his place of birth, Ivey moved to Absecon, New Jersey as a child. He supposedly began playing poker against his colleagues at a telemarketing firm in New Jersey. With Atlantic City close by and with a fake ID in his pocket to prove that he was old enough indeed to play, there was no stopping No Home Jerome (his nickname back then) from becoming the scourge of the Atlantic City poker rooms.

He was quick to jump online as soon as online poker appeared in a reasonably playable format, but to this day, he is known for the live poker antics he's pulled over his career, culminating in 7 WSOP bracelets and a 7th place finish in the Big Dance in 2009.

He hit the live tournament lime-light in 2002, when he won no fewer than 3 WSOP bracelets. With that move, he equaled Phil Hellmuth, Puggy Pearson and Jeffrey Lisandro for the most bracelet wins during one edition of the series.

Though that was when he truly drew attention to himself, he'd begun his bracelet-winning ways earlier: he won a PLO bracelet in 2000. Ivey is still considered one of the top PLO players today, and he's repeatedly proven that point online at Full Tilt Poker where he was one of the few players who made money off Isildur1 back in his heyday, when he appeared unstoppable for a while.

Despite the fact that he's never managed to win the Big Dance, the WSOP Main Event has been one of Ivey's favorite roaming grounds. He's finished in the top 30 no fewer than 4 times and given the participant numbers and Main Event prize-pools, that is by no means an everyday achievement. His closest brush with Main Event glory came in 2009, when his final table run ended as his A,K fell to Darvin Moon's A,Q. Ivey did once muck the best hand during that event, thus effectively giving up a huge pot just because he failed to read the flush he'd made.

Ivey has made 22 WSOP final tables, and he finished in the money an astonishing 36 times. He also has a WPT title and 8 WPT final tables. He once made it to a EPT final table as well.

The fact that he is such an awesome tournament player doesn't mean he's not an equally good cash game player too. His Full Tilt Poker cash antics are well known by all the railbirds, and he is a regular participant in the Big Game at the Bellagio, where in 2006, he relieved Andy Beal of $16 million over about three days, while playing for the "Corporation".

He took part in Poker After Dark and in GSN's High Stakes Poker too.

He is currently an in-house professional for Full Tilt Poker, and besides representing the brand in various live events (like the 2010 Aussie Millions $100k event, where he finished 2nd) he makes tons of money at the nosebleed stakes cash tables. According to estimates, he's made $6.33 million at Full Tilt in 2009.

For a good rakeback deal, sign up to rakemeback.com. Get your Full tilt rakeback there or secure a generous poker prop deal.

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The Winner of the WSOP Tunica Poker Championship is Paul Wasicka

2010-02-14T00:25:00.000-08:00

At 28, Paul Wasicka admits that he was a bit affected by his huge success at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.

"It's weird experiencing that much success that young in your career," he said. "It toys with you a bit, you lose motivation and question why you're playing."

Wasicka looked to Sam, a mindset coach who consults with players and mixed martial artists. "I want to give Sam credit, he's done wonders for my game both on and off the felt."

Freshly signed on with newly-launched Victory Poker, a rejuvenated Wasicka hit the road and says he has been living out of his suitcase following various tournament circuits over the last few months.

Wasicka's path led him to the mid south for the Harrah's Tunica Circuit Main Event.

He started the second day of the $5,150 buy-in event seventh in chips with 35 remaining players and had the chip lead going into the final table.

Heads up play began four hours into the final table. With blinds and antes at 5,000/10,000/2,000,

Wasicka's and Gurney's comparable stacks set the stage for what could have been a long night, but after winning a 270,000 pot, the game started to go Wasicka's way.

He eventually built up more than a 5-1 chip lead. Shortly after the next level, both players saw a flop of 8s-9h-6c. Gurney moved all-in for his remaining 300,000 with pocket fours. For the tournament win, Wasicka called with 8d-9d.

It was still a bit suspenseful even after a benign 2d hit the turn but it was all over after a 5c on the river.

The 2006 Main Event runner-up had come to the mid-south and staked his claim as the new reigning WSOP Harrah's Tunica Circuit Event Champion.

"Other the heads-up championship, this was my first major tournament win," said Wasicka. "This is something that I've been searching for, for a very long time."

"This is just awesome, it was always about the money but now it was about just taking one down."

Wasicka admits that he was a bit affected by his huge success at the '06 Main Event.

"It's weird experiencing that much success that young in your career," he said. "It toys with you a bit, you lose motivation and question why you're playing."

Wasicka looked to Sam, a mindset coach who consults with players and mixed martial artists. "I want to give Sam credit, he's done wonders for my game both on and off the felt."

Freshly signed on with newly launched Victory Poker, A rejuvenated Wasicka said that he has been living out of a suitcase, following various tournaments and that he won't be off the grind anytime soon.

After his Circuit Event win, Wasicka said that he is heading back to the road.

"Its not going to stop for the next month, heading to LA now and then I'm going to hit the Circuits "

Event #19 concludes the Circuit stop at Harrah's Tunica. The next Circuit Event begins February 18th at Horseshoe Council Bluffs.
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by Alan Fowler - WSOP Assistant Media Director

In Death, Bengals' Chris Henry Saves Lives

2009-12-31T20:20:00.000-08:00

It's a tough day for the Cincinnati Bengals, who don't have a lot of time to reflect on their last-second loss to the Chargers over the weekend. Instead, they're in New Orleans to pay their final respects to receiver Chris Henry, who passed away last week and was remembered by many this weekend during the Week 15 games.

This is one of those "silver lining" kind of stories, because Henry's death is a great tragedy, but some good has come out of it. You see, Henry was an organ donor, and according to WLWT in Cincinnati, he's already helped save the lives of five people.

Another Bengal, Carson Palmer, will be part of a state-wide campaign to encourage organ donation in the near future. Palmer received a tissue donation after his knee injury against the Steelers in the 2006 playoffs.
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by Chris Littmann - SportingNews.com