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Joe Hachem

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The Poker Star is an Australian reality game show broadcast on One from September 26, 2009. It is created and hosted by former World Series of Poker Champion Joe Hachem, who will also act as judge and mentor to the contestants. New Zealand poker champion Lee Nelson will also appear as a judge. The series is sponsored by PokerStars.

The show pits eleven amateur poker players against each other in a series of challenges that tests the principles of "Joe's Code", rules that Hachem believes are beneficial for success in life and for being a successful poker player. Players compete for $100,000 in cash and entry to four of the world's biggest poker tournaments, with Hachem continuing to join them as their personal mentor.

Over 18,000 people applied for the first series.

The 1st season saw 33 year old speech pathologist and mother of two Amanda become 'The Poker Star', beating out the other two members of the final three, Josh and Chris. Amanda stated during the final episode that the $100,000 prize money would go a long way to helping with the mortgage on the home she had recently purchased for herself and her two daughters. (Credit: Wikipedia)

Joseph (Joe) Hachem (pronounced "Ha-shem") (born 3 November 1966 in Lebanon) is a Lebanese-Australian poker player.

Hachem and his family moved from Lebanon to Australia in 1972. In 2002, he gave up a career as a chiropractor due to a rare blood disorder in his hands, and decided to concentrate on poker.

Hachem won the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 no limit Texas hold 'em Main Event, outlasting 5,618 other players, and winning $7,500,000. Hachem was short-stacked for much of the final table, and did not take a chip lead until there were just 3 players remaining. In the final hand, Hachem called a pre-flop raise from $300,000 to $700,000 with his 7? 3?. The flop came 6? 5? 4?, giving Hachem a straight. When the turn brought the A?, Steve Dannenmann made the top pair (with an up-and-down straight draw) with his starting hand of A? 3?. Hachem bet, Dannenmann raised, Hachem moved all-in and was called. In the end, Dannenmann could only tie if the river brought a 7 (giving him the same straight), but the 4? on the river ensured Hachem the win.

Unlike the previous two winners (Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker), Hachem was not an Internet qualifier, instead paying the full buy-in. However, like Raymer and Moneymaker, Hachem is now a representative of PokerStars.

After Hachem won the 2005 Main Event, WSOP commentator Norman Chad declared, "Hachem turned 7-3 offsuit into $7.5 million. Pass the sugar!" Hachem himself first used what would become his catch phrase after flopping a flush against Andrew Black's three queens, and winning a large pot.

At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Hachem finished second in the $2,500 short-handed no limit hold 'em event when his A? Q? was outdrawn by Russ "Dutch" Boyd's A? 5? on a board of A? K? 9? J? 5? on the final hand.

Hachem later finished fourth in the $2,500 pot limit hold'em tournament; he was once again eliminated after taking a bad beat on the river, this time from eventual winner John Gale.

Hachem also finished in the money (238th place) of the 2006 WSOP Main Event, after his pocket Aces were outdrawn by Andrew Schreibman's pocket Jacks. (Schreibman eliminated another player along with Hachem) Hachem took home $42,882, and in defense of his title outlasted 97.2% of the largest field in poker history.

Websites

Joe Hachem official website

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World Series of Poker

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