High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Sam Farha Joins Game, Time to 'Raisy-Daisy'
The popular show High Stakes Poker debuted in early 2006, with the first season lasting 13 episodes. Throughout the show's run, episodes were culled from multi-day sessions, so often the same players would be sitting around the table from week to week, although new players were frequently rotated in to change the makeup of the game.
Years later the shows remain highly entertaining, and can even be educational. For new poker players they introduce the game while illustrating many strategic concepts, while those with experience can watch and recognize how certain strategies have evolved over the years since the shows aired.
The previous episode ended with Barry Greenstein losing a nearly $200K pot to Doyle Brunson, and this one begins with the pair getting involved in another big one right off the top. Then four new players join the game — Todd Brunson, Sean Sheikhan, Eli Elezra, and Sam Farha — with Farha immediately showing a lot of aggression with frequent raises and bluffs.
"There's a lot going on under the surface," Gabe Kaplan notes in the opening. "If you want to really enjoy the show, see if you can figure out what some of the players are doing and why they're doing it."
High Stakes Poker: Season 1, Episode 3
| Originally aired: | January 30, 2006 |
| Location: | Golden Nugget, Las Vegas |
| Players: | Daniel Alaei, Doyle Brunson, Jerry Buss, Ted Forrest, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Amir Nasseri, Daniel Negreanu, Todd Brunson, Sean Sheikhan, Eli Elezra, Sam Farha |
| Commentators: | A.J. Benza, Gabe Kaplan |
| Game: | no-limit hold'em cash game, minimum $100,000 buy-in |
| Stakes: | blinds $300/$600, ante $100 |
Strategic Concepts
- effective stack — Daniel Negreanu appears to bet $1 million into a $21K pot, but his lone opponent Greenstein only has about $86K behind, which is the "effective stack" in the situation — 9:00 mark
- suited-gappers — Negreanu stretches the definition by raising with 7♠3♠, a hand with flush and (barely) straight potential — 25:00 mark
- value bet — Jennifer Harman flops a set versus Farha's top pair, top kicker, and after Elezra bets and Farha raises, Harman reraise-shoves in an attempt to get value (but is the bet too big?) — 28:00 mark
Big Hand Alert
- Negreanu and Greenstein get all the latter's chips in the middle on the flop as they battle for a $203,800 pot — 9:00 mark
In this Series
- 1 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Negreanu Comes Out Firing on Series Debut
- 2 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Ted Forrest Runs It Back Up
- 3 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Sam Farha Joins Game, Time to 'Raisy-Daisy'
- 4 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Sam Farha and Daniel Negreanu Clash
- 5 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Big Hands for Jerry Buss
- 6 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: 'Fast' Freddy Deeb Clashes with Negreanu
- 7 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Johnny Chan Keeps Getting Aces
- 8 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Mimi Tran Hits the Ground Running
- 9 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: When We Learned About 'Going South'
- 10 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Enter Esfandiari and Hellmuth
- 11 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Kid Poker vs. the Poker Brat
- 12 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Esfandiari Makes Big Call Against Negreanu
- 13 High Stakes Poker Reviewed: Negreanu, Hellmuth Climb Back in First Season Finale
