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First world poker champion — next an Oscar winner? Joe Hachem talks flicks, famous faces, and final tables.
When you read this column, I’ll be back in Vegas for the 2007 World Series of Poker. After coming so close to a second bracelet last year, my goal for this year’s WSOP is one bracelet, two final tables, and the final table of the Main Event.
I’m playing half as many tournaments as last year, so I’m under the gun; but I feel I’m in good form and I’m still confident with my game despite bowing out of the WPT Championship on Day 2.
I love playing the Bellagio tournaments — the whole feel of the Bellagio is great. I really enjoyed the WPT Championship, but I just couldn’t make hands. I played some of my best poker just to stay alive on the first day and I doubled up in the first hour of Day 2, which gave me room to play, but it went downhill from there; I think I lost every pot I played. But the tournament itself was great.
My next tournament was a few days later as part of the Poker After Dark series. It was played at South Point — not the most glamorous venue in Las Vegas, but filled to the brim with the world’s best players. In Poker After Dark, the entire tournament is filmed. It’s six-handed, and you start with 20,000 in chips with the blinds at 100/200; so you get plenty of time to play, with 35-minute levels before changing to 20-minute levels later in the tournament. It was very competitive because with time to play it was no all-in fest. And the prize pool of $120,000 was winner-take-all.
The lineup in my event featured six past WSOP Main Event winners — Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Huck Seed, Greg Raymer, and Jamie Gold. It was also pitched as the “old champs” versus the “new champs” — and at one stage it was the three old champs (Huck Seed — even though he’s younger than I am — Doyle, and Johnny) against me.
Johnny Chan busted everyone out and got heads up with me. He started with a 2:1 chip lead and after only a few hands, he had a 5:1 chip lead. Then I came back and beat him, which was so sweet. He was on such mad tilt. We went out for dinner after, with Phil Hellmuth and Greg Raymer. Johnny was meant to come along as well, but he just jumped straight into his car and went home.
It was great to win, another feather in the cap. For the first three-quarters of the game, I didn’t make a hand, but slowly started to accumulate chips, picking the right spots to push.
Shortly after arriving back in Australia, I received a call from PokerStars to tell me about a promotion they were doing with Ocean’s 13 (the sequel to Ocean’s 11 and Ocean’s 12), and they asked me to fly out to the Cannes Film Festival for two days. It’s a long way to go for two days, but I convinced my wife and she ended up coming with me so it was like a mini-holiday. It was such a whirlwind — the south of France in May is great, especially with the film festival as the focus of everyone’s attention.
We did a photo shoot with the Ocean’s 13 guys. It was amazing; that level of celebrity is so different. After the shoot, we went to a party on a $150 million yacht — we’re all dressed up but had to take our shoes off so everyone’s walking around barefoot or wearing fluffy white slippers. Then we went back to the hotel where two of the Ocean’s 13 stars, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle, plus a few others, sat down to play a $100 sitn-go — just for fun. What an experience!
Speaking of movies, you may have heard that I’ve got a small part in an upcoming movie called Prey, which we’ll be shooting after the World Series of Poker. I’m a hotel clerk who’s playing poker online (at PokerStars.com, of course). The main characters interrupt my game and I get a set of threes cracked. Then I go off at them, using an acting skill I won’t have to practice at all!
It’s just a bit of fun. I met the writer Robert Galinsky in LA; he’s an American guy who lives here, and he just really liked me and wanted to do something with me. It’s not like I went out looking for a movie role!
I’ve also been asked to serve on the board of directors for the World Poker Association (WPA). I’ll be the organization’s face during a major membership drive to be held during the 2007 WSOP. The WPA is a vital organization, which we need to support. The right people are part of the WPA, which will help poker to become professional and accepted in the mainstream. We’re growing so fast, and poker needs to have some sort of guidelines. Once we’ve established the right guidelines, it would make sense to transplant those guidelines internationally.
People also need to know that the WPA isn’t about making money: It’s a non-profit organization. It’s all about looking after the players and making sure they’re not getting ripped off. Any money that comes in should be distributed back to the players. We want to be able to play tournaments, be freerolled in, and take out any entry fees so no one can compare poker to gambling. Tournament poker can’t be classified as gambling. It’s a competition: You pay an entry fee and once you’re eliminated, you’re out. That’s what I’m trying to promote.
I’m also part of the WSOP international players’ committee, representing this part of the world. If I can help poker grow in a positive way so that it becomes more commonly accepted, then that’s great. And while I’m in Vegas, I’m also hoping to bring home another piece of jewelry to add to the collection.
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