[PokrLikeItsProse]

Does anyone else think that Farha might be lying about saying that he thought he had the best hand, but folded because he thought he could outplay Moneymaker? I think he would lie just to save face and not admit that he misread the amateur. I think that Farha actually put Moneymaker on either a flush or a slowplayed overpair, with the possibility that he might be semibluffing with the ace of spades.

Supposedly (I think I've heard Howard Lederer, among others, say or write this), Moneymaker's strengths include the ability to sense weakness, something that was made mostly irrelevant in the all-in-or-fold of Poker Superstars on FSN. I think that Moneymaker did pick up on some flush phobia on the part of Farha and believed that he could force some better hands to fold.

I think that Moneymaker did good by breaking up his bluff into two bets. I believe that Farha calls if Moneymaker makes the big raise all-in on the turn with his huge combo draw like some people would. After it went check-check on the flop, Farha overbet the pot on the turn (300K in a 210K pot, if descriptions on the internet are correct) and Moneymaker raised enough to give Farha about 2.5:1 to call with top pair and a one-card queen-high flush draw. That should be a scary raise. If you've read NLHE:TAP, the book claims that a raise with chips left behind for big bets on future streets can be scarier than a big all-in, and I think that this hand was an illustration of that principle at work.