The veteran vendor concerned in an altercation with poker participant Sammy Farha at a Houston cardroom final week launched an announcement in regards to the scenario.
Surveillance footage confirmed Farha exchanging phrases with vendor Doug Caillier whereas he was within the field at Houston Social Cardroom. After Caillier stood up for a vendor change, Farha appeared to push him within the chest. He then reignited the altercation after somebody separated the 2.
Farha was taking part in a pot-limit Omaha money sport on the time, with two gamers who had been all in. Farha allegedly believed that Caillier had eliminated a dropping participant’s hand from the muck and uncovered the playing cards. The 67-year-old participant didn’t take part within the hand himself.
Dealer Says Farha Tried To Provoke Him
Caillier posted on Facebook that the membership didn’t present further video which might have defined what led as much as the incident. The former Aria and Resorts World vendor stated he remained calm all through the incident. He stated he tried to stroll away, but Farha continued to pursue him.
“From my perspective, he seemed intent on provoking me into escalating the situation,” stated Caillier, who additionally dealt on the World Series of Poker within the Nineteen Nineties.
“He appeared to be trying to get me to hit him. I’m bigger and younger than he is, and I was simply there doing my job. I had no interest in turning the situation into anything more than it needed to be.”
A History Of Dealer Abuse
Farha is finest remembered by poker followers for his runner-up end to Chris Moneymaker within the 2003 WSOP important occasion for $1.3 million. But the three-time bracelet winner additionally has a popularity for abusing sellers. In reality, one vendor in 2021 punched him within the face, and poker neighborhood responded with a fundraiser to pay for his authorized charges.
He additionally fought with one other participant at Legends Poker Room in Houston in 2022.
Caillier stated hospital employees evaluated him, and he filed a police report. The incident led to the vendor being suspended from his job, and in accordance with Caillier, he doesn’t count on to be requested again. Farha, nevertheless, has reportedly returned to the property regardless of preliminary stories that administration had completely banned him.
“Let me be clear. This isn’t a pay day for me,” Caillier posted. “And for those who think I’m enjoying any of this, think again. I’d much rather be doing what every working person wants to do: go to work, do my job, earn my money, and come home without dealing with confrontations involving disgruntled individuals.”
“I never wanted any of this. I simply wanted to do my job.”
Views Differ On Altercation
Some felt the problem was overblown and was removed from the assault that preliminary stories made it out to be.
Security was capable of keep between the 2 males and a few stated the altercation was merely a heated argument. One person on Twitter posted: “Sammy didn’t punch anyone. This is so mild compared to how it was reported.”
Others felt Farha was within the fallacious for confronting the vendor.
“Players attacking dealers for doing their job will sadly never go away,” one participant posted. “To be honest, the amount of shit you have to take as a dealer will surprise you.”
Neither Farha nor the poker site has publicly commented on the scenario.
Other Poker Room Fights
Long hours on the desk can fray nerves and have led to related brouhahas via the years.
In 2020, a combat broke out on the Aria that noticed a vendor chasing a participant round a desk. The vendor was fired and supporters arrange a GoFundMe web page for him. Poker participant Farah Galfond stated the vendor had been berated and attacked, with the participant throwing beer on him.
In the late Nineteen Nineties, poker professional Sam Grizzle and Phil Hellmuth engaged in some fisticuffs. The two had an extended historical past of needling one another and that apparently morphed right into a fistfight within the parking zone of Binion’s Horseshoe. Grizzle apparently landed a punch on the much-taller Hellmuth and the scuffle ended shortly, in accordance with stories.
In 2023, Italian participant Michele Nizzardelli was disqualified from an occasion on the European Poker Tour Prague cease after preventing a participant he had simply eradicated. Nizzardelli headbutted Ghattas Kortas after Kortas grabbed his hat after his elimination.
Two gamers additionally resorted to their fists slightly than chips at California’s Hustler Casino in 2022. An insult to at least one participant’s mom led to a different participant in the end getting tased by a safety guard.
A Massachusetts man acquired two to a few years in jail in 2015 after “sucker punching” a fellow participant at a poker occasion at a Veterans of Foreign Wars corridor. The pugilist thought the opposite man had insulted his girlfriend.
- Photo – PokerGO/Miguel Cortes
