2010 WSOP: Sammy Farha Wins Omaha High-Low Split Championship

The buy-in for the Omaha High-Low Split Championship in the 2010 World Series of Poker was $10,000 and 212 players made the buy-in to come up with a total prize pool of $1,992,800. 27 top finishers would cash in with the first place prize going up to as much as $488,241 plus a much coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

The winner was eventually, high-stakes poker pro Sammy Farha, who burst into the poker scene when he won his first gold bracelet at the 1996 World Series of Poker, and has since then been a staple in the poker scene. Sammy Farha eventually became a household name when he was the runner-up in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, losing out to champion Chris Moneymaker.

For the 2010 WSOP Omaha High-Low Split Championship, the 212 players may have been the toughest field ever assembled despite its seemingly low attendance. The final table that came out after two days of play was some of the best in the competition, including WSOP gold bracelet winners James Dempsey, Michael Chow and Abe Mosseri. The final table started at 6PM and ended past 6AM the next day with the heads-up play between Sammy Farha and James Dempsey going for a good 5 hours of play.

Runner-up James Dempsey from Brighton, United Kingdom, almost came close to his second career WSOP bracelet in this year's World Series of Poker after winning the Pot Limit Hold'em tournament a few days earlier, but fell to Sammy Farha after 5 hours of gruelling heads-up battle to finish second and earn $301,789.

The third-place finisher was Yueqi “Rich” Zhu from Rowland Heights, California, who was the only.non-pro at the final table. But despite that, Yueqi "Rich" Zhu  has had WSOP experience since 1999, making nearly two dozen in-the-money finishes at the WSOP, and making his fourth final table appearance at this event, claiming $225,325 for the third-place prize.

The fourth-place finisher was Sergey Altbregin from St. Petersburg, Russia, who cashed $169,368 - his third cash at this year’s WSOP. 

The fifth-place finisher was Tony Merksick from Council Bluffs, Iowa, earning $128,097.

The sixth-place finisher was WSOP gold bracelet winner Michael Chow from Honolulu, Hawaii, who  won his first gold bracelet in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split tournament wo weeks ago. Michael Chow has now cashed three times at this year’s WSOP with this win earning him $97,507.

The seventh-place finisher was poker pro Eugene Katchalov from New York, New York, who marked his 15th time to cash at the WSOP with a prize of $74,670.

The eighth-place finisher was WSOP gold bracelet winner Abe Mosseri from Longboat Key, Florida,who cashed $57,552 - his fifth WSOP ITM finish. Last year, Abe Mosseri won a WSOP gold bracelet at the $2,500 buy-in Deuce-to-Seven Triple-Draw Lowball event.

The ninth-place finisher was poker pro Steve Wong from Haarlem, Netherlands, who collected $44,618. This was the third WSOP final table appearance of Steve Wong.