Joe Hachem

Joe was born on November 3rd, 1966 in Lebanon. In 1972 Joe and his family moved to Australia. He now calls Melbourne home and is proud to be identified as an Australian. He has not always been a professional poker player and only decided to concentrate on poker in 2002. This was due to Joe’s unfortunate rare blood disorder which forced him to leave his job. Joe was a qualified chiropractor and practiced this, until poker became his new profession. He has four children and is happily married. In recent times, Joe’s brother has accompanied Joe in major poker events, such as the WSOP. The success that he has accomplished in such a short period of time looks to be wearing off on those around him.

Joe Hachem is Australia’s most famous poker player. He exploded onto the poker scene with his famous victory at the 2005 WSOP Main Event. He took home US$7.5 million. He beat 5618 other players at the $10,000 NLHE event. There is a great story behind Joe even getting to this event. He didn’t qualify through a satellite like many participants and other recent winners like Greg Raymer. One of his regular poker buddies qualified through a satellite and was going over to Las Vegas for the main event. Joe decided that this was a great reason to go over himself and cautiously asked his wife if he could go and buy in directly for US$10,000. She allowed him to go and so the fairytale began. Joe went on to win the event and has proved to be a well rounded player and not a one hit wonder.

Joe is a member of team PokerStars and can be seen playing on there. He does play at the lower limits sometimes so everyone can enjoy the experience of playing with a WSOP champion. I played against him in a $22 SNG and he is a very likable character. Read this Poker Stars review to learn more about playing at PokerStars.

Many people don’t know that Joe came 10th in an earlier event at the same WSOP in 2005 where he pocketed US$25,850. Other noticeable results include coming 2nd in a 2006 WSOP event. It was a $2,500 buy-in, NLHE short handed event in which he was outdrawn to lose heads up. Holding AQ he lost to Russ Boyd who held A5, a 5 on the river gave the bracelet to his opponent.

The 2006 WSOP proved to be a time where Joe excelled and came up with more than just the one result. He also finished 4th in the $2,500 PLHE event. He took another bad beat on the river to the eventual winner John Gale.

In the 2006 WSOP main event Joe finished in 238th place. Again, he was on the receiving end of some bad luck and his pocket aces were cracked by Andrew Schreibman’s pocket jacks. These results speak for themselves in highlighting the quality of poker that Joe plays. Outside the WSOP he has also had success in recent times and proved himself to be a formidable character at the poker table.

• Cashes: 28
• Total Winnings: $10,414,659
• First Place Finishes: 2
• WSOP Bracelets: 1
• Age: 41

Joe’s best results outside of the WSOP

Winning the 2006 WPT event at the Bellagio Casino’s Five Diamond Classic. He took home US$2,207,575 for his effort.

Hachem won the World Series of Poker Champions II on NBC’s “Poker After Dark”. He beat other WSOP main event winners including Greg Raymer, Huck Seed, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. He beat Johnny Chan heads up to take home US$120,000.

In December of 2007 he won the PokerStars AAPT tournament of Champions event. He beat former AAPT event winners and PokerStars pros to take down the title. Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer where amongst the competition that Hachem defeated.

Joe Hachem is an Australian icon that we can be proud of. He put Australian poker on the map when it was nowhere to be seen. Australians should take inspiration from his achievements and use them to drive you to become a better player and emulate what he has done. Poker Shark congratulates you Joe and we hope to share even more success with you in the future.