issue-18

JOE HACHEM
The Lebanese-Australian shot to
fame after becoming the 2005 World
Series of Poker Main Event champion,
winning US$7.5 million in the process.
In 2006 he silenced critics by taking
down the Bellagio Five Diamond
World Poker Classic for another US$2
million. Australia found a poker hero and Hachem has gone on to
earn an impressive US$12 million in career tournament earnings,
announcing to the rest of the world he is up there with poker’s elite.
The most impressive thing about Joe is that he has never let
his excellent results in those two huge tournaments dampen his
enthusiasm for winning. It’s this hunger and professionalism that
make him a true champion.
The one title Joe wants more than anything is that of Aussie
Millions Main Event champion. While Hachem finished 3rd in the
2012 $100,000 Challenge after playing some incredible poker, so
far Crown has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for the
Australian Poker Hall of Famer. However, we’re sure it is just a matter
of when, not if.
ANDREW HINRICHSEN
Another local Melbournian,
Andrew Hinrichson has been posting
consistent results since 2009. By the
end of 2010 he had accumulated a
tidy bankroll with 2nd place in the
high rollers event at the Macau Poker
Cup Championship, but that was only
a taste of what was to come.
While Hinrichson’s 2011 got off to a slow start with a 6th
place finish in the 2011 Aussie Millions 6-handed event, he upped
the tempo at the WSOP going deep in the Main Event, eventually
finishing 23rd for a payday of over $300,000.
Hinrichson’s 2011 already looked like a year most players can
only dream about, but he raised the bar still further in October to
claim his first title with a win in the €1,000 no limit WSOPE event in
Cannes, France, where he won close to $200,000. So far he has had
a fairly quiet 2012 but we expect a big run at the Aussie Millions.
JONATHAN KARAMALIKIS
Don’t be fooled by Jonathan Karamalikis’ youth. This
online tournament specialist is one of Australia’s internet
poker young guns and has had no problem making
the transition to major live tournaments, something he
accomplished with ease in 2007. A likeable character from
South Australia, his poker travels have seen him cashing
in tournaments in Australia, New Zealand and Macau, as
well as picking up two cashes at last year’s WSOP.
The figures speak for themselves. In just five years of live tournament poker
Karamalikis has amassed US$1,290,579 in prize money, from 33 cashes including
seven first places.
Melbourne, and particularly the Aussie Millions, has been a happy hunting
ground for Karamalikis. Seven of his 33 cashes, totaling $314,807, have been at the
Aussie Millions, including a victory in the AU$1,650 no limit hold’em bounty event in
2010 for a US$113,247 collect. He also won the 2010 Victorian Poker Championship
at Crown for a US$89,746 payday.
Karamalikis’ biggest score to date was winning the 2010 Asia Pacific Poker Tour
Grand Final in Sydney, which saw him become US$454,304 richer.
GUS HANSEN
Another former Aussie Millions Champion the
“Great Dane” is from Copenhagen, Denmark, but like
many successful European poker players now resides
in Monaco. Originally a backgammon player, he moved
to New York to play professionally then discovered he
was far more successful at poker. Since swapping the
dice for cards he hasn’t looked back.
The only player ever to win four WPT titles –
although one of these came in the invitation-only Bad Boys of Poker event – Hansen
has also won a WSOP bracelet taking down the £10,000 2010 WSOPE high roller
heads-up event, winning £288,409 (US$444,925) in the process.
With over US$10.2 million in career tournament earnings Hansen is a formidable
player. His book Every Hand Revealed, which chronicled his 2007 Aussie Millions win,
showed a keen mathematical mind lurks behind his extremely loose-aggressive image.
No stranger to success in Australia, in addition to his 2007 Aussie Millions Main
Event win Hansen finished 23rd in 2010 for over US$46,000 and came 3rd in the
2012 AU$250,000 Super High Roller for over US$800,000. With over 20 percent of his
career tournament earnings coming from the Aussie Millions, Hansen is definitely
one to watch in January.
#18 WSOP 2012 SPECIAL ISSUE
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