How to win the WSOP

Joe Hachem

We find out how an Australian shot straight to the top of the WSOP money-list by winning the 2006 Main Event

By Matt Broughton

July 2006

This picture, taken just after Hachem had won the $7.5m, is his favourite. Stick it in a frame above the bed, we reckon...

In 2003 Chris Moneymaker changed the face of poker. By beating a field of thousands, with only a $30 online satellite buy-in, he made it clear that the game could be as profitable for total unknowns as it is for hardened pros. The next year, Greg Raymer continued the trend, and when Australian Joe Hachem won in 2005, raking in $7.5m, it seemed to complete a hat-trick. But to call Hachem an unknown would be doing him a disservice. He might not have been a big name outside Australia, but back at the Crown Casino in Melbourne he was well respected as a solid poker player. His big win didn’t come as a surprise to the locals, although he nearly didn’t make it to the WSOP in the first place…

‘One day,’ recounts the incredibly softly-spoken Joe Hachem, ‘I just said to my wife, “I really want to go to Vegas for the WSOP. I know I promised to take the whole family, but I’m not going to be able to do that. But I’d still really like to go – what do you think?”’ The look of resignation on Hachem’s face kind of gives away the end of this particular story. ‘She said, “I’m ...