Joseph “Joe” Hachem

Joseph “Joe” Hachem (pronounced “Ha-shem”) (born 3 November 1966 in Lebanon) is a Lebanese-Australian poker player.

Before poker

Hachem and his family moved from Lebanon to Australia in 1972. In 2002, he gave up a career as a chiropractor due to a rare blood disorder and decided to concentrate on poker.

Hachem is married and has four children.

Poker tournaments

2005

Before his Main Event win, Hachem finished 10th in another World Series event, winning US$25,850.

Hachem won the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 no limit Texas hold ‘em Main Event, outlasting 5,618 other players, and winning $7,500,000. Hachem was short-stacked for much of the final table, and did not take a chip lead until there were just 3 players remaining. In the final hand, Hachem called a pre-flop raise from $300,000 to $700,000 with his 7-c 3-s. The flop came 6-h 5-d 4-d, giving Hachem a straight. When the turn brought the A-s, Steve Dannenmann made the top pair (with an open-ended straight draw) with his starting hand of A-d 3-c. Hachem bet, Dannenmann raised, Hachem moved all-in and was called. In the end, Dannenmann could only tie if the river brought a 7 (giving him the same straight), but the 4-c on the river ensured Hachem the win.

Unlike the previous two winners (Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker), Hachem was not an Internet qualifier, instead paying the full buy-in. However, like Raymer and Moneymaker, as of July 2007 Hachem represents PokerStars.

After Hachem won the 2005 Main Event, WSOP commentator Norman Chad declared, “Hachem turned 7-3 offsuit into $7.5 million. Pass the sugar!” Hachem himself first used what would become his catch phrase after flopping a flush with A6 of clubs against Andrew Black’s three queens, and winning a large pot. (Actually, Hachem had said “Pass the sugar!” prematurely: had the board paired, Black would have had at least a full house, which would have eliminated Hachem. Fortunately for Joe, the board didn’t pair.)

2006

At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Hachem finished second in the $2,500 short-handed no limit hold ‘em event when his As Qc was outdrawn by Russ “Dutch” Boyd‘s A-d 5-h on a board of A-h K-c 9-s J-c 5-d on the final hand.

Hachem later finished fourth in the $2,500 pot limit hold’em tournament; he was once again eliminated after taking a bad beat on the river, this time from eventual winner John Gale.

Hachem also finished in the money (238th place) of the 2006 WSOP Main Event, after his pocket Aces were outdrawn by Andrew Schreibman’s pocket Jacks. Hachem took home $42,882, and in defense of his title outlasted 97.2% of the largest field in poker history. He was also the last remaining Main Event champion left in the field, as Greg Raymer had been the year before.

In December, Hachem won $2,207,575 and his first World Poker Tour title at the Bellagio Casino’s Five Diamonds Poker Classic.

Other poker events

Hachem has also made the final table of a World Series of Poker circuit event.

Hachem also appeared in Poker Superstars III, but failed to advance to the Super 16 round by only one point.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $10,400,000. He is only the second poker player, after Jamie Gold, to have career earnings of over $10 million.

He, Doyle Brunson, Carlos Mortensen, Scotty Nguyen and Dan Harrington are the only five people to have won the World Series of Poker Main Event and a World Poker Tour title.

Hachem won “World Series of Poker Champions II” on NBC’s Poker After Dark on a table consisting of Main Event winners Doyle Brunson, Greg Raymer, Jamie Gold, Huck Seed and Johnny Chan whom he defeated heads up to win $120,000.

Hachem won the PokerStars APPT Tournament of Champions in December 2007. The single-table tournament was composed of winners from all previous APPT events as well as Team PokerStars members including Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Isabelle Mercier.

Books

• Hachem Exposed, 2007 e-book