High Stakes Jokers

Sammy Farha and Jamie Gold make TV poker history with the longest, and perhaps most entertaining, hand we’ve ever seen
BY ERIC RASKIN

IF YOU TUNED IN FOR GSN’s High Stakes Poker on November 19, say, 15 minutes late, you probably thought you’d missed five or six hands already. Incredibly, though, at 9:15 Eastern time, the first hand of the broadcast was still in progress. It finally ended at 9:16, after 12 televised minutes of action, one mid-hand commercial break, and some of the wildest “strategy” and table talk ever seen on TV.

And when the hand finally ended, the discussion—amongst everyone from pros to message-boarders—wasjust beginning.

The hand involved Sammy Farha, Jamie Gold, a pair of aces, and a pair of kings. For Farha, being part of a rockets-vs.-cowboys confrontation on HSP was nothing new; in the most memorable hand from the show’s first season, Farha and Barry Greenstein got it all in pre-flop with the two best starting hands in Hold ’Em, and Farha hit a lucky king to suck out. But that hand was played somewhat by the book. This hand, from the $500,000 buy-in table on HSP’s fourth season, was played in anything but a conventional manner.

Under the gun at an eight-handed table with three blinds of $300, $600, and $1,200, Gold limped in with pocket kings. The action folded around to Farha on the button, who looked down at aces and raised to $4,200. David Benyamine folded his blind, Patrik Antonius did likewise, and after thinking for a moment with 9-2 suited, Guy Laliberte pitched his cards into to the muck rather than call the extra $3,000. That’s when the fun began.

The only way to do this No-Limit insanity justice is with a nearly complete (some lines couldn’t be heard over the commentary) transcript of the table talk:

Jamie Gold: Should we get it over with now, or after?
Sammy Farha: Depends on your hand.
Gold: Should we get it all in now or later?
Farha: It’s too much for all in.
Antonio Esfandiari: Come on, boys, let’s see some gambling here, let’s see a big one.
Farha: It’s too much money for all in.
Esfandiari: Let’s see a dark bet and a dark raise, let’s see something like that.
Gold: I call, I call.
Gold calls the extra $3,000.
Farha: I’ll bet it in the dark if he checks.
Gold slaps the table twice, Farha throws $10,000 into an $11,300 pot in the dark.
Esfandiari: $10,000, I love you guys, do you know that?
Gold: Wait, wait, wait, maybe I’ll bet dark too. [To the dealer] Hold on! Hold on.
Barry Greenstein: No, you already checked in the dark.
Gold: But I can—
Farha: He’s not brave enough to do it, he’s not brave enough.
Gold: Wait, wait, but how would the action go then? Then we’d have to see the turn … If I just call, we see the turn.
Farha: We gotta see the flop before the turn.
Gold: No, we see the turn! If I just call, we see the turn.
Farha: Yeah.
Doyle Brunson: What has poker come to?
Esfandiari: God, I really like this country. I really do.
Gold: And if I raise now, then you get to see the flop, or maybe you’ll re-raise before the flop.
Farha: That’d be tough. I probably would do it! I probably would raise you.
Gold raises to $30,000.
Farha: And there’s no flop yet?
Gold: No flop, re-raise me! Re-raise me! Re-raise me!
Farha: Oh my God, this is something. Wait, I gotta go to the bathroom, I’ll be back. Hold the deck. Stop the camera. That is so sick!
Esfandiari: Is this game here every day? Why can’t it be here every single day, morning and night?
Gold: This is good TV.
Farha: It’s great TV, buddy.
Esfandiari: Sick vs. sicker.
Farha: What I don’t understand—
Gold: And you know what? I’m going to tip the dealer in advance.
Gold tosses a chip the dealer’s way.
Brunson: Or dumb and dumber.
Farha: I don’t understand, why didn’t you raise me before the flop?
Gold: You think, what do you think, I have the hand?
Farha: Now if I call, that means the flop is there, and burn and turn.
Gold: We just see the turn, yeah.
Brunson: Or else you can move all in right now.
Gold: [Repeating Doyle] Or you can move all in now.
Farha: [Pensive] You’re a sick man.
Gold: If Sammy Farha calls me a sick man …
Farha: I’m trying to … It’s not the read, it’s funny, there’s something wrong with this hand, you understand?
Gold cackles maniacally.
Farha: And the problem with this hand is I raised before the flop, he just called, and he’s doing this show right now, and I know he’s weak.
Gold: But how weak?
Esfandiari: But he might hit the flop.
Gold: I could have—
Farha: You got a problem with your hand, buddy. Because you didn’t raise me. But you made a statement. Let me think about what you said. Computer is working.
Farha points at his brain.
Guy Laliberte: It’s the slowest computer I’ve seen on TV.
Farha: The way he played the hand, I’m trying to …
David Benyamine: There is no computer in Texas.
Farha: Not in my house.
Gold: Sammy, you can fold, too.
Farha: Buddy, no, I don’t think you have a hand, I don’t think you have a hand.
Gold: I have, I have something. Sammy, I have something, I have something, I have something. I don’t have aces, but, you know, I’ve got something.
Farha: There’s no flop, you can’t have something.
Gold: You know what I mean, I’m saying I have a hand, I have potential.
Farha: [Fingering chips] I bet 10, you bet 20 more …
Gold: This is for TV.
Farha: Okay, I’m going to raise it.
Farha throws in the chips to call.
Gold: You’re raising?
Farha: Yeah!
Gold: You got the aces!
Farha: Yeah. What do you have?
Gold: Sammy!
Farha: Well, it’s not that—
Gold: Really?
Farha: It’s that you don’t have a hand. I’m betting against you.
Gold: Wait, wait, wait, you’re doing all this with aces to me?
Farha: Well, I have a hand. You told me you have a hand, I have a hand.
Gold: Sammy, do you have the aces?
Farha: I have a hand.
Gold: ’Cause I’m in deep, I’m in deep, I’m in deep, if you have aces, I’m in deep [bleep].
Farha: Sixty more.
Farha raises to $90,000.
Gold: I’m in so much trouble if you have aces.
Farha: Well, throw your hand away! I’m happy with it.
Gold: Sammy! Well, I can’t go away now. Now, what happens, we just see the turn, if I just call?
Farha: Well, we’re playing the flop, right? So he puts the flop—
Gold throws in the cash to call, bringing the pot to $191,300.
Gold: Sammy, you were playing me with the aces the whole time.
Farha: Let’s make a deal.
Gold: You want to make a deal?
Farha: No, we gotta see the flop and the turn right?
Gold: You were playing me with the aces the whole time.
The flop comes 10-9-6 rainbow.
Farha: [Unable to see over the bricks of cash] I can’t see the flop, that’s hard.
Dealer moves the cash out of the way.
Farha: Okay, go ahead. Now we’re going to see the turn, right?
Gold: Yeah, we have to!
The turn is the four of clubs, putting two clubs on board.
Gold: You’re doing all this to me with aces?
Farha: I’m not doing to you, you did it to yourself! I mean, I bet $10,000, you raised me $20,000, Jamie. I didn’t do nothing to you. You blaming me, and now you going to hate me.
Gold: [Sighs] I check.
Farha smiles, and then laughs.
Farha: You’re a sick man.
Gold: I may have a set, so don’t be upset.
Farha: I’m not upset. I’m upset at the whole hand. I should have went all in before the flop. But now I’m sick of it. Believe me, I am. [Counting his money] $220, $250 …
Gold: Do you want to just check it down?
Farha: Wait! I got a lot of money, I probably might have to do that. I didn’t know I had that much, I swear.
Gold: Do you want to just check it down?
Farha: Wait, let me count my money.
Brunson: If my daddy knew I was losing in this poker game, he’d come out of the grave and beat the heck out of me.
Greenstein: That’s what I was thinking.
GSN goes to commercial break, then the action resumes.
Farha: That is sick, Jamie, I can’t put you on a hand, you’re such a sick player.
Gold: I’m putting you on aces.
Farha: Okay, are they the best hand if I have them?
Gold: Maybe not.
Farha: I believe you, that’s the funny part. The funny part, I believe you.
Gold: I like you, you know I like you.
Farha: I like you too, but I’m losing so much.
Brunson: We’re playing poker, my God …
Farha: [To Doyle] Go on, go home, get Daniel [Negreanu] here instead.
Gold: If he’s taking anyone’s seat, he’s taking my seat.
Farha: Who wants to play with Doyle? [Laughs] He’s too good for us. Buddy, I’m losing! And the guy [points to Gold] is crazy!
Gold: Just check, Sammy … or bet $10,000.
Farha: No, that’s … I want to protect my hand. I want to bet 100.
Farha throws in $100,000.
Gold: [Stands up] I have to, I have to call you.
Farha: Why?
Gold: I told you, I have a monster hand, I’m sorry.
Farha: Jamie, I’m trying to win it, you don’t have to call, buddy.
Gold: Sammy, I do too, I’m sorry.
Gold puts in the call.
Gold: I can’t … I’m sorry … I called you already. I was telling you that I have a monster, I’m trying to …
Farha: Hold it, let’s see what we have here.
Gold: Do you want to check it down?
Farha: Let me think, I mean—
Gold: I’m not calling you with nothing. What do you think I’m calling you with? Do we want to hurt each other, or no?
Farha: Well, it’s not that. The river is not going to make any difference, it just, either you make your hand, or I’m going to win.
Gold: Okay, so do you want to check it? Sammy, do you want to get all the money in, or do you want to check it?
Farha: No, I don’t want to get it in now, maybe at the end I want to bluff you out.
Gold: [Aggravated] Fine, let’s go. Let’s go. Play.
Farha: Wait.
Gold: What are we waiting for? You can’t bet any more, I called!
Farha: Ahhhh.
Gold: You gotta flip the card, let’s go.
The river comes another ten.
Farha: You have a ten, you got me.
Gold: I got you anyway. I check.
Farha: I don’t think you got me.
Gold: I do, Sammy! I’m calling, whatever you do, I’m calling, I’m calling, go, call. I can’t, I’m not laying, you think I’m laying down my hand after putting in $200,000? You think I’m laying down my hand?
Farha: Jamie, I got you beat! I want you to know I have you beat.
Gold: So then check-check!
Farha: I have you beat, why would I check if I have you beat?
Gold: Then bet, I call. I call. Let’s go, I call. I call.
Farha: I know you’re not calling.
Gold: I call! Sammy, you don’t have enough to get me off the hand. I put in too much, I can’t fold.
Farha: I understand. I’m losing, muck your hand.
Gold: You bet, I call. I already said I call! I call, I call, I call, I call, I call, I call.
Farha: I understand! I want to count my money and put it in. Can I do that?
Gold: There’s no chance I’m folding. You think I’m folding after all this?
Farha: Of course not!
Gold: Right, so bet me, you want more money, take it.
Farha: It’s not that, it’s I have to bet my hand, I’m losing too much. I like you, muck your hand.
Gold: I like you too, I can’t muck my hand. It’s too late.
Farha: You have to muck your hand.
Gold: I have the best hand.
Farha: You don’t.
Gold: Okay … I gave you an opportunity, I’m sorry. Don’t forget I was nice the whole way, Sammy, I was trying to check it down with you—
Esfandiari: This might be the sickest moment in my career.
Gold: I tried.
Esfandiari: You guys are sick.
Farha: I don’t want you to hate me, what do you want me to do? I like you. If it was somebody else, I would bet him.
Gold: I like you too, I thought we should just check it, ’cause it’s enough already.
Farha: What do you want me to do, check?
Gold: I told you, we should check it from the turn! We shouldn’t put any more money in there.
Farha: I’ve got you beat, buddy. All right, I check, I’ve got you beat.
Gold turns over his cards.
Farha: Kings?
Gold: Kings.
Farha turns over his cards.
Farha: Here, buddy.
Gold: I know you have aces! Enough!
Farha: I saved you this, okay [points to his remaining money], because I like you. You understand, because I like you.
Gold: I know, but I can’t get off of it! What am I going to do?
Farha: I understand, but somebody else, I’ll bet it, look at this. And I know you’re calling.
Gold: Of course I’m calling!
Farha: Yeah, but I want you to call, you understand?
Gold: Of course! Queens, I’m folding. I can’t fold the kings.
Greenstein: [To Gold] You saved $185,000, you played well.
Farha: [To Gold] You owe me, just remember what you owe me.
Greenstein: Everybody else would have lost another $185,000 there … He only called before the flop!

This was not a textbook example of how to play a premium pair. It was not an example of having the discipline to get away from a hand you believe is beat, or of maximizing your profits by betting the best hand on the river. It was not an example of poker at its finest.
But it was an example of TV poker at its finest. From an entertainment perspective, it just doesn’t get much better than this.