Ex-champion is eliminated from WSOP

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Joe Hachem was eliminated from the World Series of Poker main event on Monday, leaving last year’s winner Peter Eastgate as the only former champion left in the tournament.

The short-stacked champion from 2005 went all-in with a jack and nine of clubs and was called by an opponent holding a pocket pair of fours, and failed to improve with the community cards.

The flop left Hachem behind but with plenty of opportunities to make a better hand with a better pair or a flush, but none of his outs were dealt on the turn or river and Hachem was out.

Hachem won $40,288 for 103rd place. Top prize in the $10,000 buy-in tournament is $8.55 million, and 648 players from the starting field of 6,494 will win part of a $61 million prize pool.

Hachem, who earlier in the day expressed frustration with extremely aggressive players in the tournament, called their overall play “dumb.”

“They can all play their own game,” Hachem said.

“I hope they keep playing the same way for the rest of their lives because that means I’ll get a chance at winning this another four or five times.

“[Eastgate] did exactly what I did in ’06 and what Greg [Raymer] did in ’05 — the last remaining champion, which is great,” Hachem said. “I love the kid. Peter’s obviously still young but he’s got a good head on his shoulders and hopefully he’ll mature into a really great champion.”