About Joe

Joseph Hachem is a Lebanese-Australian professional poker player known for winning the main event of the 2005 World Series of Poker. He was the first Australian to win the main event, which earned him $7.5 million, then a record for the all-time biggest tournament prize.

The next year, Hachem won his first World Poker Tour title at the Bellagio Five Diamonds Poker Classic, earning him $2.2 million. He is one of only five poker players to win both a World Series of Poker main event and a World Poker Tour championship. Including a WSOP main event victory, Hachem has finished in the money in 11 World Series events.

As of October 2009, Hachem's tournament winnings exceed $10,850,000, making him the fifth highest ranked player in live tournament career earnings.

Early Life

Joe Hachem was born in Lebanon on 11 March 1966. In 1972, at age six, Hachem and his family moved to Melbourne, Australia. He worked as a chiropractor for 13 years before giving up the career after developing a rare blood disorder that affected the blood vessels in his hands. Around 1995, while taking time off to consider his future, Hachem started to play poker with greater frequency, mostly in casinos, as well as on the Internet. He also ran a small brokerage business in Pascoe Vale, Victoria. Hachem said he was too temperamental when he first started playing poker and had to learn to control his temper.Around 2000, after years of casual playing, Hachem started playing regularly in tournaments at the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex in Melbourne, where he often ended in the money.Hachem spent another five years playing regularly on the Melbourne tournament circuit before setting his sights on the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada.