Last Updated on July 11, 2026 by Bala Kumar
There’s a decent chance the “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chants make a comeback at this year’s WSOP Main Event. Just not for the Hachem most people expect.
Joe Hachem, the man who became the first Australian ever to win poker’s biggest tournament back in 2005, is watching this run from the rail rather than playing in it. His son Daniel is the one carrying the family name deep into Day 5, on a version of the same journey his dad completed 21 years ago. He’s not the only one chasing a family legacy this deep into the field, either, Todd Brunson, son of two-time champion Doyle Brunson and a Poker Hall of Famer in his own right, has also survived to this stage.
Close Before, But Never Quite There
This isn’t new territory for Daniel Hachem, even if this year feels different. He’s made a habit out of going deep in the Main Event without ever quite finishing the job. Back in 2019 he battled all the way to Day 6, eventually bowing out in 79th place in a field of 8,569 entrants, a genuinely elite result, even without a final table appearance attached to it. He added a min-cash in 2022, then a 179th-place finish in 2024. Three deep runs, three near-misses, and still no seat at poker’s most famous final table.
What’s notable about 2026 is where he stands right now. With roughly 300 players left on Day 5, Hachem is sitting on close to 2.7 million in chips, comfortably his strongest position in any Main Event he’s played, and a real signal that this could finally be the year the pattern breaks.
Could There Be a Second Hachem Champion?
Joe Hachem’s own tournament ended a couple of days earlier. He was one of three former champions to reach Day 3 of this year’s Main Event alongside a son also still in the field — a group that also included Phil Hellmuth and Michael Mizrachi’s families. Joe didn’t survive long enough to share a Day 5 table with Daniel, but he still walked away with a very respectable $22,500 for an 803rd-place finish.
Here’s the detail that makes this storyline worth following even outside Australia: in the full history of the WSOP Main Event, no father and son have ever both won the title. Multiple poker families have come close from different angles, the Brunsons, the Hellmuths, but the double has never actually happened. If Daniel Hachem keeps building his stack at anything like his current pace, that record is very much in play.
Speaking during a break in Day 5 action, Hachem pointed to a specific read on how these massive fields tend to play: in his experience, a large portion of the field is simply too cautious with their chips in the early stages, and that hesitation creates room for a more aggressive player to build a stack well ahead of what their actual hand strength might suggest. It’s a pattern he says has shown up across multiple Main Events for him now, not just this one, he consistently finds ways to accumulate chips early, specifically because so many opponents are playing scared of an elimination that isn’t statistically close to happening yet.
Asked what it would mean to finally complete the run his father started, Hachem didn’t hide how much the moment would matter to him personally. He’s been deep in this tournament more than once before without getting the job fully done, and being able to say that he and his father are the first father-son pair to both win the Main Event is something he described as an incredible feeling to even imagine.
And if the run continues? Expect the rail to get loud. Hachem has reportedly already told friends back home that he’ll fly them out if he makes it to the final 27 players, and with family already in Las Vegas supporting him, there’s the beginning of an Australian contingent forming around his table. Given how big a moment his father’s win was for poker back in Australia, a deep run, let alone a title, from Daniel would likely spark similar scenes.
Why This Run Matters Beyond the Family Story
It’s worth remembering just how much harder these fields have gotten to survive since 2005. Joe Hachem won his bracelet in a field of 5,619 players. Modern Main Events regularly draw 8,000 to 9,000-plus entrants, meaning a deep run today requires clearing a significantly larger gauntlet of opponents than it did two decades ago. Reaching Day 5 with 300 players left already puts a player inside roughly the top few percent of the entire field, and there’s still a long way to go before anyone’s guaranteed a seat at the final table.
Todd Brunson’s presence at this same stage adds another layer to the storyline, even though the Brunson family hasn’t completed a father-son title of their own. And with defending champion Michael Mizrachi eliminated earlier in the tournament, some of the summer’s other big narratives have cleared out of the way, leaving more attention for stories like Hachem’s heading into the tournament’s final stretch.
What to Watch For Next
Main Event chip counts and storylines can shift dramatically from one day to the next once the field gets this short, so anyone following Daniel Hachem’s progress should expect the picture to look different within a day or two of any given update. Whether this ends in another agonizing near-miss or an actual seat at the final table, or further still, a bracelet that would make poker history, this is shaping up to be the deepest and most meaningful Main Event run of Daniel Hachem’s career so far.
FAQs
How deep has Daniel Hachem gone in past WSOP Main Events?
His best prior result was 79th place in 2019, out of 8,569 entrants. He also min-cashed in 2022 and finished 179th in 2024, giving him four Main Event cashes without a final table appearance before 2026.
Has any father-son duo ever both won the WSOP Main Event?
No. It has never happened in the tournament’s history, despite multiple poker families — including the Brunsons and Hellmuths — having generations compete deep in the event.
Did Joe Hachem also play the 2026 WSOP Main Event?
Yes. Joe Hachem reached Day 3 before being eliminated on Day 4, finishing 803rd for $22,500 — several days before his son’s deep run continued.
Why has Daniel Hachem been able to build big stacks early in Main Events?
He’s credited with an aggressive approach that takes advantage of how cautiously most of the field tends to play in the early levels, when many players are overly protective of their chips relative to the actual risk of elimination.
How many players were left when Hachem reached Day 5 in 2026?
Around 300 players remained, with Hachem holding roughly 2.7 million in chips — his strongest position in any Main Event to date.
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