$10M hasn't changed Poker Star

For the 2005 WSOP Main Event Winner, Joe Hachem, who walked away with over $7M, life hasn't changed much.

The old line about modest lottery winners says, if winning won't change your life then don't enter.

It's not advice that Australia's poker king Joe Hachem adheres to.

He insists the $US10 million won at last year's World Series of Poker (WSOP) has not changed his life.

Hachem is currently on a European tour ahead of defending his WSOP title in Las Vegas in July.

He appreciates the chance to travel, but has so far resisted moving from Melbourne to the United States.

"It's been a pretty tough decision because from a professional point of view, I should be in the United States but from a family point of view I need to be at home," Hachem said.

"My kids are 15, 13, 11 and 10 and it's an important time for their dad to be around - my family is my priority.

"The money hasn't changed my life at all.

"The fame and the social status has changed, but my life before I won the World Series was good anyway - I had a nice house, a nice life.

"The money didn't go to my head, I didn't suddenly go and buy a Ferrari or all that other stuff."

Hachem was a relative nobody when he attended the WSOP last year, but will be a walking target for big game hunters over the Vegas felt this July.

"I'm not just another player any more," Hachem said.

"When I go back, I'll be studied and scrutinised and watched, and others will have higher expectations.

"Now I'm a walking target.

"When I come to the table people want to take me down, bust me out of the tournament just so they can have a story to tell.

"To them, its worth their $US10,000 ($A13,043.76) entry fee to say I played against Joe Hachem today."

So why not quit while ahead then, why take the risk?

"To me, its a business," Hachem said.

"Over the long run, poker is close to 70-30 in terms of skill to luck.

"So, I'm not going back to see if I can get lucky."

Since his win, there had been a trebling of poker participation in Australian casinos and a global explosion in online play.

News Added: 10 May, 2006

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