Hachem Says Poker is Being Ruined by Players
July 15, 2009
Joe Hachem is a serious poker player. He is the 2005 World Series of
Poker champion, and he is a good player who knows his strategies and knows
how to play and how to win. But he says that the game this year is not any
fun because of the “idiots” that are playing in it.
He says that they are not taking the event for what it is – the World Series
of Poker. His argument is that they have one move which is to go all in no
matter what their hand, and that ruins the game for everyone else at the
table. He says that he has no respect for the way that they play and that if
they want to play like they are in their garage then they should go back
there.
He is of course referring to the way the WSOP is being played at many of the
tables this year. There are many players who come from playing online poker
which is fine, but it is also a different way of playing. The game had a
$10,000 buy in, and it was like playing with kids according to Hachem and
other poker players.
The poker games were being played so quickly that officials had to shorten
the two sessions of play – after 38 players were eliminated in less than two
hours, leaving only 147 players. Hachem was one of two former champions left
– and him and Phil Eastgate were feeling the pressure. They say that even if
you have a great hand, and these kids don’t – they are going all in leaving
you no choice but to do the same or to fold. The top prize is $8.55 million,
so there really is a lot at stake here.
Hachem says that the way they play poker is disrespectful to the game and
the other players. He said he watched as two time poker bracelet winner J.C.
Tran got eliminated because they did not play the same way that these kids
do.
