Focus on Joseph Hachem

In 2005 World Series of Poker main event was captured by none other than Joseph Hachem. The 39-year-old Lebanon-born Hachem knocked out over 5,618 players making him the greatest poker player on earth, at least until this year's World Series of Poker. Joseph Hachem, a spokesperson for the PokerStars website paid his $10,000 entry fee and became just the fourth non-American player to win the event. Hachem's winning starting hand was a 7-clubs and 3-spades, one of the weakest hands in Texas Hold'em. However, after calling a pre-flop raise from $300,000 to $750,000, the flop came 6-hearts, 5-diamonds and 4-diamonds, giving Hachem a straight. When the turn brought the A-spades, his opponent Steve Dannemann made a top pair with his starting hand of A-diamonds and 3-clubs. Hachem bet, Dannenmann, believeing he had the better hand, raised and Hachem moved all-in. Dannemann called but in the end he could only tie if the river gave him a seven for the same straight. The river was a four-clubs, ensuring the win for Hachem. In the event the top nine players won cash prizes of over one million dollars and Hachem's prize for being the best at the event was a cool $7.5 million. How's that for pocket change? Hachem's $7.5 million win earns him another title too - the largest prize winner ever for this event. Hachem, a father of four children will be traveling for the World Series of Poker in 2006 as previous winners have done in the past and is the new spokesperson for the event. This is one man who is perfectly capable of handling the job. While Hachem hasn't been a complete stranger to the game or to those that follow the World Series of Poker and many of the events which lead up to it, he hasn't been someone we normally watch with much anticipation for a win of this stature.