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Poker Player Profiles
Joe Hachem
Joe Hachem was born in Lebanon in 1966, and moved with his family
to Australia in 1972, settling in Melbourne. He
married his wife Jeanie in the early 1990's and is the devoted
father to four children. Hachem has spoken fondly of the
important part his family plays in his life. |
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After spending 13 years building a successful
chiropractic practice, a medical condition necessitated a
change of profession. Joe Hachem became a mortgage broker and
coincidentally started looking more closely at poker.
The game got under Hachem's skin as he soon found what was once a
hobby now became a compulsion. He slowly began to consider himself
a semi-professional poker player taking part in the live scene in
and around Melbourne, and online at PokerStars.
In 2005, Hachem finished 10th in a small event and pocketed $28,000.
He bought into the 2005 WSOP main event using that win and his growing self
assurance.
Hachem went on to win that 2005 World Series of Poker main event, outlasting
5,618 other players, taking $7,500,000 as the first prize. Hachem being creative
in the final hand, called a pre-flop raise from $300,000 to $700,000 with his 7c
3s. The flop came 6h 5d 4d, giving Hachem a straight. The turn and river did not
come to Steve Dannenmann’s rescue and Hachem had the win.
He had done what every poker player dreams of in defeating the biggest poker
field yet assembled and won the biggest first prize in poker history.
In the following year's event, Hachem made a strong bid to defend his crown,
finishing ahead of 97% of the rest of the field. Placing 238th, Hachem was the
last remaining WSOP main event winner to be eliminated from the 2006 tournament.
Mendacious facts
Hachem never eats fish; as a small child when on a family fishing trip, he was
bitten in the face by a barracuda. The event left its mark with a large scar below
his bottom lip that he hides with his small beard.
Listed amongst Joe Hachem's favourite movies are, The Wizard of Oz and Mad Max.
Hachem himself had a minor part (as a non-speaking extra) in the original 1979 Mad
Max movie, playing the frightened son of the store owner in an outback town.
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