By Sean Callander

You’d think Joe Hachem would be use to TV tables and big-time final tables, but the 2005 WSOP champion still had some jitters before taking his seat for today’s PokerStars.net APPT Macau: Asian Poker Open final table.

The Aussie favourite paced the hall in deep thought just outside the TV studio here in the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino before taking his seat.

But the Team PokerStars Pro was positively calm compared to Jeannie Hachem. Joe’s wife was ringside when he captured the 2006 WPT Five-Diamond Classic, and is hoping that she can bring some luck and make Joe the first player to win a WPT, WSOP main event and APPT title.

Online qualifier Sangkyoun Kim, the 41-year-old from Seoul, South Korea, is positively beaming at the thought of chasing the $US222,460 first prize, but young Brisbane qualifier William Tam looks quite tense sitting between Liz Lieu and ElkY.

Simon Randall, the other PokerStars online qualifier at the final table, is already cracking the one-liners: hardly surprising given the 45-year-old owns a pair of comedy clubs in London.

Some promos are currently being shot by new APPT hostess Erin McNaught (the 2006 Miss Australia), and we should be underway in the next 30 minutes. Keep an eye on our PokerStars Blog for regular updates of the PokerStars.net APPT Macau: Asian Poker Open and the chase for the honour of being the first winner of a No-Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament in the People’s Republic of China

Chip count (end of day 2)

• Seat 1: Simon ‘vuka’ Randall (UK) 125,000


• Seat 2: Liz Lieu (United States) 384,000


• Seat 3: William ‘walrus_poker’ Tam (Australia) 201,000


• Seat 4: Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (France) 467,000


• Seat 5: Joe Hachem (Australia) 325,000


• Seat 6: Dinh Le (England) 657,000


• Seat 7: Guillaume ‘TheGrrr…’ Patry (Canada) 552,000


• Seat 8: Sangkyoun Kim (South Korea) 261,000


• Seat 9: Ivan Tan (Singapore) 553,000

PokerStars Video Blog

Ali interviews Joe Hachem after his final table win



Watch Pokerstars pros teach Hong Kong media a thing or two about the game of Poker.