PokerStars announced recently that it was parting ways with 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem. The Melborne poker professional has been a PokerStars Team Pro for over six years, following his $11m Main Event win. The move follows the earlier departure of Greg Raymer, the 2004 WSOP Main Event champion. The 2003 winner Chris Moneymaker, however, maintains his position on the Stars roster.
But as some doors close, others open. Hachem recently appeared at his hometown casino to launch his new business venture: the new lounge bar Club 23 at Crown Casino Melbourne. In partnership with Aussie cricket star Shane Warne, Club 23 is positioning itself to be an exclusive, celebrity-studded lounge. According to PokerPortal Asia, the gaming lounge will have two poker tables alongside other games, and “special room for those games wishing for a more private setting.”
At the official opening, Hachem was hobnobbing with the likes of Tiger Woods and Elizabeth Hurley. So he may have broken up with PokerStars, but it looks like he is on the rebound with some Hollywood and Sports Stars.
