Quick answer: Joe Hachem is the only Australian to ever win the WSOP Main Event, taking down a then-record field of 5,618 players in 2005 for a $7.5 million first-place prize. Two decades later, he remains an active player, competing alongside his sons and brother on the same felt he once dominated.
What a Poker Player Can Learn From Joe Hachem
Hachem’s Main Event win is remembered for one specific hand: heads-up against Steve Dannenmann, he called a pre-flop raise holding 7-3 of spades — one of the weakest hands to ever win a WSOP Main Event pot — and rivered a flush to seal the title. It’s a useful reminder that hand strength alone doesn’t determine outcomes; reading a spot correctly and calculating your pot odds matters just as much as the two cards you started with, especially heads-up where starting hand values shift dramatically compared to full-ring play.
His longer career is arguably the more instructive lesson, though: rather than fading after one legendary win, Hachem kept grinding tournaments for two decades, adjusting his game as poker’s strategic landscape shifted around him — the same kind of sustained adaptability that separates one-time winners from lasting professionals, whether the format is tournaments or ring games. As he’s put it himself, anyone who was playing poker seriously 20 years ago and is still competitive today has had to genuinely improve — standing still wasn’t an option.
From Chiropractor to World Champion
Hachem was born in Lebanon in 1966 and moved to Melbourne, Australia, with his family at age six. He worked as a chiropractor for 13 years before a rare blood disorder affecting his hands forced him to leave the profession. He’d been playing poker casually since the mid-1990s, mostly at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, and turned to the game more seriously as his chiropractic career wound down.
He first traveled to Las Vegas for the WSOP in 2005, finishing 10th in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event before entering the Main Event on a buy-in gifted by a friend who’d won an online satellite. He outlasted a then-record field of 5,618 players over a 13-hour, 54-minute final table, ultimately beating Steve Dannenmann heads-up to become the first, and still only, Australian WSOP Main Event champion.
Career Highlights
- 2005 WSOP Main Event champion — $7.5 million first-place prize, a record at the time.
- 2006 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic winner for $2.2 million, making him one of only six players to win both a WSOP Main Event and a WPT title.
- Over $13 million in career live tournament earnings across more than 120 cashes.
- Inaugural inductee into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame in 2009.
- Still active on the circuit as of 2026, including cashes at the WSOP Main Event and Aussie Millions, often alongside his sons James, Daniel, and Anthony, and his brother Tony.
The Godfather of Australian Poker
Hachem’s win is widely credited with igniting a poker boom in Australia — the 2007 Aussie Millions, held in his home city of Melbourne, drew the largest field for any poker tournament outside the United States at the time, a direct result of the attention his victory brought to the game locally. He spent six years as a member of Team PokerStars Pro before departing in 2011, and remains one of the most recognizable figures in Australian poker, often referred to as the “Godfather of Australian Poker,” in the same tradition as Doyle Brunson’s “Godfather of Poker” status in the US.
Joe Hachem FAQ
How much did Joe Hachem win at the 2005 WSOP Main Event?
$7.5 million, a record for the largest first-place prize in poker tournament history at the time, for outlasting a field of 5,618 players.
Is Joe Hachem still playing poker professionally?
Yes. He remains an active player as of 2026, including cashes at the WSOP Main Event and Aussie Millions, and has played alongside his sons and brother, who also compete professionally.
What is Joe Hachem’s most famous hand?
His heads-up river call with 7-3 of spades against Steve Dannenmann to win the 2005 WSOP Main Event — one of the weakest starting hands ever to win a Main Event pot.
