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A look at the top of the all-time poker tournament money list today finds an
unlikely name standing above all the world-class professionals you'd expect to
find there: Joseph Hachem. Anyone who hasn't been hiding out in a cave all
year knows by now that Hachem won the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event,
netting him a cool $7.5 million. The win vaulted him past names much more
familiar both to American and international poker players and fans, making him
the richest player in the history of tournament poker. That's quite a jump for
a man who just a few years ago considered himself a serious hobbyist when it
came to poker.
Hachem is well-known as an Australian - anyone who saw his performance this
year remembers well the chants of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi! Oi! Oi!" - but
he was born in Lebanon and lived there until he was 6 years old. Once his
family emigrated to Australia, things were as tough for them as one might
expect. His father took ill after they arrived, and at the age of ten the
young Hachem had to take up a part-time job to help his family. In his teenage
years he began playing poker, mostly a variant of hold'em known as Manila
played with a stripped deck of 32 cards. He continued to play this game
through the years, until in 2000 he decided he was ready to make a move up.
Like so many others in the newest generation of pro players, Hachem had seen
the movie Rounders and took up playing hold'em as a result. He enjoyed
the game and began playing it at Crown Casino in Melbourne, the largest casino
in the Southern Hemisphere.
It was around this time that Hachem began playing tournaments at the Crown. At
the Australasian Poker Championship in August 2000 he placed 4th in the A$360
Pot Limit Omaha event, taking home over A$5,000 for his efforts. In 2001 he
cashed at the A$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event at the same festival, and the
following year he made another final table there in the A$1,000 No-Limit
Hold'em event. Then something happened that had a major impact on his decision
to begin taking poker more seriously. Hachem was diagnosed with a rare blood
vessel disorder in his hands. He had been a chiropractor, owning his own
practice for 13 years, but his condition kept him from continuing with his
first love. To fill the gap, he poured himself into becoming a better poker
player, reading books and studying the game with a newfound intensity.
Hachem continued to cash in smaller buy-in events at the Crown and to build
his bankroll through cash games at the casino. He did well enough that he was
able to make the trip to Las Vegas for the 2005 World Series of Poker. Before
he entered the Main Event, the Aussie played in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
with Rebuys event and placed 10th, bubbling out before the final table and
outlasting 884 other players to win $25,850. Then he took his shot at the Big
One, putting up $10,000 of his own money for the chance to face off with over
5,600 others for a shot at the biggest prize in poker history.
Amazingly, Hachem had the best hand every time he was forced to put all his
money on the line through the first 6 days of the tournament. That allowed him
to build a big enough stack to advance to the final table, where he faced an
uphill battle as one of the shortest stacks of the nine remaining players. Any
time he attempted to make a play, Aaron Kanter made a move with his bigger
stack and forced Hachem out of the hand. Then came the defining moment of his
tournament: he moved all-in with the worst hand and found himself facing
elimination at the hands of Kanter. Despite being a big underdog to Kanter's
9-9, Hachem's Q-7 of diamonds hit top pair on the flop and held on to win the
hand. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since his big win this summer Hachem has only played in one big buy-in
tournament, the Borgata Poker Open, where he finished outside the money. He
plans to continue playing more international events and to bring his family
along with him. He should be in good shape to accomplish this goal as he
recently signed a deal to endorse the online poker room PokerStars, making him
the third consecutive WSOP Main Event champion (and fourth overall) to be
associated with the site. The future definitely looks bright for the newest
world champion.
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