Joseph Hachem from Melbourne, Australia is your new WSOP champion for 2005!  In his first World Series of Poker ever (Hachem waited 'til his children grew up to participate), Hachem took home a record $7.5 Million as he bested a field of 5618 others who risked $10,000 or qualified via satellite to compete for a total prize pool of over $52 million dollars.  It took over 90 hours of poker to win the top prize.

In what was a week long event, with a grueling 14-hour final table--a tourney record, Hachem, a former chiropractor turned poker pro, walked away with the diamond-studded white gold bracelet. He was the first Australian to win the prize.  At the end, he shouted, "Thank you, America!"  Hachem plays regularly online and has been playing poker professionally now for 10 years.  Surprisingly, last year's WSOP winner Greg Raymer led through most of the tourney, eventually finishing 25th in the money.

The WSOP has quickly become the richest sporting event in the world with over $103 million given away this year.
 

Here are the final table results from the 2005 World Series of Poker:

 Place        Winner                    Prize Money

 1st     Joseph Hachem            $7.5 million
 2nd    Steve Dannenmann      $4.25 million
 3rd     John Derick Barch        $2.5 million
 4th     Aaron Kanter               $2.0 million
 5th     Andrew Black               $1.75 million
 6th     Scott Lazar                  $1.5 million
 7th     Daniel Bergsdorf          $1.3 million
 8th     Brad Kondracki            $1.15 million
 9th     Mike Matusow             $1.0 million

WSOP 2006 - Looking Forward

The 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) should be bigger and better than ever.  Will an online player come out the victor?  Will one of poker's bad boys (e.g., Phil Hellmuth, John D'Agostino) take home the grand prize?  Or, will one of the relatively unknown up-and-comers be victorious?  Only time will tell.  If the pattern continues, each new year will be more publicized and far more spectacular than the last! 

Everyone knows Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer by now.  Each one of these champions qualified online playing satellite tournaments.  It is really not that difficult to qualify, but of course it takes effort, and some regular play. 

The WSOP is not the only big event out there either.  The WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) is coming up soon.  And, there are several WPT (World Poker Tour) tournies available for online players to qualify for at various poker sites.

But the question is...Will online tournaments someday overtake the prestige and possible purse sizes that live poker play provides?  It is certainly possible.  An example is the Paradise Poker Million Dollar Freeroll taking place this fall.  $1,000,000 is going to be awarded to an online poker player who will qualify on Paradise Poker.  Imagine taking home a cool mill for playing an online FREE tourney?  There is also the Titan Poker $100,000,000 Freeroll.  In this event, players have the chance to win one hundred million dollars by winning a single hand of poker with a royal flush.  Online poker is certainly rivaling the real thing!

As much as we all it look forward to the 2006 WSOP (it will definitely be huge), in the mean time, try your hand at online poker.  Maybe you will be the next World Champion of Poker...or maybe you will just be able to retire early!

WSOP RECORD BOOK

2005 - Joseph Hachem - $7,500,000

2004 - Greg Raymer - $5,000,000

2003 - Chris Moneymaker - $2,500,000

2002 - Robert Varkonyi - $2,000,000
2001 - Carlos Mortensen - $1,500,000
2000 - Chris Ferguson - $1,500,000
1999 - J. J. 'Noel' Furlong - $1,000,000
1998 - Scotty Nguyen - $1,000,000
1997 - Stu Ungar - $1,000,000
1996 - Huck Seed - $1,000,000
1995 - Dan Harrington - $1,000,000
1994 - Russ Hamilton - $1,000,000
1993 - Jim Bechtel - $1,000,000
1992 - Hamid Dastmalchi - $1,000,000
1991 - Brad Daugherty - $1,000,000
1990 - Mansour Matloubi - $895,000
1989 - Phil Hellmuth - $755,000
1988 - Johnny Chan - $700,000
1987 - Johnny Chan - $625,000
1986 - Berry Johnston - $570,000
1985 - Bill Smith - $700,000
1984 - Jack Keller - $660,000
1983 - Tom McEvoy - $580,000
1982 - Jack Strauss - $520,000
1981 - Stu Ungar - $375,000
1980 - Stu Ungar - $385,000
1979 - Hal Fowler - $270,000
1978 - Bobby Baldwin - $210,000
1977 - Doyle Brunson - $340,000
1976 - Doyle Brunson - $220,000
1975 - Sailor Roberts - $210,000
1974 - Johnny Moss - $160,000
1973 - Puggy Pearson - $130,000
1972 - Amarillo Slim Preston - $80,000
1971 - Johnny Moss - $30,000
1970 - Johnny Moss - $0 (Voted Champ)

Stay tuned for upcoming promotions and information regarding the 2006 World Series of Poker.

The 2006 WSOP Circuit schedule is as follows:

Grand Casino Tunica Aug. 11th - 25th
Harrah’s Las Vegas Sept. 6th - 16th
Casino Biloxi (Miss.) Sept. 29th - Oct. 12th
Caesars Indiana Oct. 19th - Nov. 2nd
Paris/Bally's Las Vegas Nov. 9th – 22nd
Showboat Atlantic City Nov. 28th - Dec. 9th
Grand Casino Tunica Jan. 5th – 26th
Harrah's Atlantic City Feb. 7th – 17th
Caesars Atlantic City March 21st – 31st
Caesars Palace Las Vegas April 3rd – 14th
Harrah's New Orleans May 18th – 28th
Harrah's Lake Tahoe June 6th – 16th
2006 TOC at the Rio June 28th – 29th
2006 WSOP at the Rio Summer 2006