Moneymaker vs Farha, Hellmuth vs Chan Set for June 2nd

Published on April 7th, 2011 2:18 am EST

Earlier today, the World Series of Poker announced that they will be recreating some of the most dramatic moments in poker history with their new "World Series of Poker Heads-up Rematches".

Two of the three rematches have already been set. All three rematches will be taking place on Thursday, June 2nd.

In the first rematch, 2003 World Series of Poker main event champion Chris Moneymaker will be battling Sammy Farha in a best 2-out-of-3 match. In the first match, Moneymaker and Farha will start out with the same stacks that they had when they began heads up play in 2003 (5.49 million for Moneymaker, 2.9 million for Farha).

In the second match, the starting stacks will be reversed, with Farha starting with 5.49 million and Chris Moneymaker beginning with the short stack.

if a third match is needed, then the two players will begin play with even stacks.

Moneymaker's victory in the 2003 World Series of Poker main event kicked off the "online poker boom" that has permanently transformed the poker landscape. Millions of people decided to give online poker a try after Moneymaker, an amateur player who was working as an accountant at the time, defeated Sammy Farha, the walking stereotype of a professional gambler, to take down the $2.5 million first place prize.

in the second match, Phil Hellmuth will be taking on Johnny Chan in a rematch of their 1989 heads-up battle.

Phil Hellmuth won the main event bracelet in 1989 after defeating the legendary Johnny Chan during heads-up play. Chan had won the main event in both 1987 and 1988, and was looking for a third straight title in 1989. Chan's plans for a three-peat were eventually thwarted by a young upstart named Phil Hellmuth.

Hellmuth and Chan will just be playing one match, and they will be starting with even stacks.

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The World Series of Poker is giving fans the opportunity to vote on the third and final match.

In order to vote, people need to head over to the World Series of Poker Facebook page and become a WSOP Facebook fan. You will then be given the opportunity to vote on one of these four matches:

Johnny Chan vs Erik Seidel
Greg Raymer vs David Williams
Jamie Gold vs Paul Wasicka
Jonathan Duhamel vs John Racener

The players in the matchup that receives the highest number of votes from fans will be invited to participate. There will be one match and the two players will begin with even starting stacks.

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All three rematches, including footage from the original matchups and interviews with the participants, will air on ESPN on Tuesday, July 26th.

Source: WSOP.com - Introducing World Series of Poker Main Event Rematches

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Filed Under: Poker on Television

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