BY TOM SOMACH

Joe Hachem, winner of the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event, has received death threats since the win and was forced to move to secure his family’s safety, he says.

In an interview with an Australian newspaper, Hachem, 41, a native of Lebanon who now lives in Melbourne, Australia, said he has been threatened by mail and over the telephone.

“We’ve just bought a house recently–more for security reasons because my address was public knowledge,” Hachem said.

“You get a few phone calls, you get a letter in the mail and you think, you know what, I don’t need this.”

Hachem was delusional enough to believe that after achieving world fame as a WSOP champ, he could eventually return to obscurity.

Not in this age of TV poker mega-celebrities.

Of his enduring fame, Hachem told the newspaper: “The funny thing is, I didn’t expect it.

“I just thought I’d be world champion, get a nice endorsement and go back to my normal life. There’s nothing normal about my life these days.”

Hachem has legitimate reason to be concerned for his safety, threats or no threats.

WSOP main event champs have been targets in the past.

Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, winner of the 2004 WSOP main event, had to fight off armed muggers who tried to rob him outside his hotel room in Las Vegas.

More recently, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, who won the WSOP main event in 1972, had his Texas residence broken into and plundered.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)