[pokerlan]

Was Joseph Hachem's 2005WSOP win just a fluke or do u think he'll be back this year? I aint heard anything about him since that night in Vegas!!

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All flukes are lucky and so was Hachem.
I have no doubt in my mind he was a fluke and so were Fossil man and Money maker.

Considering the magnitude of entrants in WSOP main event, you have to have tremendous luck and a little skill to win. I don't see any extra ordinary skills from the past 4 years winners.
I have been predicting for the past 4 years that no poker professional will win the main events and so also this year of 2006.
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Sure, you are going to need luck to win a poker tournament with 5,600 people. Does that make you a fluke when you win it, no. There's no way in the world that you could win a tournmaent that big and not be a good poker player.

Yes Hachem has done somehting since the WSOP, he made a final table of a WSOP circuit event. He also took a horrible beat to get knocked out of that event, his KK was cracked by JT. So he has done something since then.

Greg Raymer made a head table at this years WSOP and he finished like 21st in the main event. Like someone else said, it took a bad beat that pretty much finished Raymer off.

Chirs Moneymaker has a made a WPT final table and came in second.

What gets me is everybody will say Doyle Brunson, Amerillo Slim, Johnny Moss, are all legends. Pretty much basing this on what they've done in the WSOP. I think the biggest field any of them beat for their bracelets was 21 people.

[Takethepot25]

Hachem was most definetly a fluke but Raymer ... are u kidding me .. he wins the World Series of Poker Main Event one year with a huge field ... then another huge field of 6700 people and he makes it past %95 percent of them ... you cannot call him a fluke ... you go do that and then come talk about Raymer.

[spresso81]

I do not think that Hachem is as good as the Fossilman. Hachem did not dominate the WSOP this year as Greg did last year. Raymer led for nearly the entire final table while Hachem was up and down and on the ropes a few times. Also, I feel this years final table was far weaker than what Greg had to do.


Also, it will be hard for Hachem to do what Greg did this year. He should have made the final table 2 years in a row. However, only time will tell. I think Raymer has a better table presence and style which will do better over the long course.

[Yearbookpoker]

You mention how raymer dominated last year. He really dominated the tournament this year. He was leader the whole way until he lost all of his chips with in like 1 hour. He was also considered to be a fluke, but prooved the theory wrong. I think that because the field is so big and it requires so much more luck nobody can be considered great or a fluke because of that tourney. I would say though that in 2002 or 2003...the year when robert varconi won...not too many people were in the tourney at that time and he was a fluke. After that win he has done nothing. He doesn't play much, but his wife has made bigger headlines since his win. Thats funny.

Summary of it all is simple. Hachem being a fluke can't be determined for a while yet. Raymer prooved he wasn't in 1 year.

[BSgutshot]

Moneymaker was a fluke. He plays in all of these tournaments and never does well in any of them really. I haven't seen him play at all well since winning the WSOP. He also got really lucky in the WSOP.

Raymer is definately not lucky because he last really long in the main event last year to cash pretty nicely. I think that he's pretty solid.

Only time will tell if Haschem is a fluke or if he's good. Let's wait and see what he can do at the WSOP this year.

[ad1129]

Raymer is the furthest thing possible from a fluke. If it wasn't for and his amazing rivers Raymer would've made the FT last year. Now Moneymaker was definitely a fluke! Hachem i can't really tell you as stated before only time will tell.

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[hayden1009]

hachem also made a final table at a limited wsop event this year ..so he is no fluke....

[gn2056]

prior to today i would have sad that joe hachem was the one player out of the recent previously unknowns that was not a fluke,,having said that today i watched him in the new season of the poker all star series i forget the name of it, on foxsports he was the first one out after making an out of position all in raise with jack nine suited then got called and put all in by the magician who had aces. pitiful

[Acorn89]

I think I know what show you are talking about. (Its called pokersuperstarts 3) I dont think that that was an unreasonable play be He was getting pretty short stacked and decide to make a move because the blinds were getting pretty high, he just got unlucky and ran into Aces when he was making the move. Plus I dont think that you can judge some guy on just one play. I think if you keep watching him you will think hes better than you think.

[ad1129]

Yeah i have to agree with ACorn on this one. He made a good play especially when considering the structure of pokersuperstarts 3 if that was where it was being played. Any +cEV spot you can find in that tourney you have to push don't be so result oriented when judging someone's play.

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