Sam Farha - World Series of Poker

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 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 bottom two pair.

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 match during 2011 World Series of Poker, which was won by Moneymaker in best-of-three format.

In an ironic twist, the key hand came in the rubber match after Farha and Moneymaker both flopped two pair on a J/10/2 board. Farha held J/10 to Moneymaker's J/2. A river deuce crippled Farha, and Moneymaker later won the match. The hand that crippled Farha was the same hand that he held in 2003 when he lost the title to Moneymaker heads-up.

Farha also finished in the money in the 2005 WSOP main event, as well as the 2010 WSOP main event.

In an odd twist, Farha, after winning the $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo (8 or better) event in 2006, skipped playing the event the next three years. He then played it again in 2010, after it was increased to a $10,000 buy-in event. He went on to win it, so while not winning the event consecutively, Farha did win the bracelet both times he played in the event.