The prize for winning the world's richest "sporting" event, the World Series of Poker Championship in Las Vegas: $10 million.

A home-cooked lunch made by your mother-in-law shared with the extended family at Preston: priceless.

That's how an exhausted but ecstatic Joe "Hash" Hachem valued the joy of returning to his Melbourne home yesterday after becoming an overnight multi-millionaire and instant celebrity as the winner of the world's most lucrative poker tournament.

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"My mother-in-law had all this food ready for us today for lunch and it was the first time in a month that I was happy and content with my food," the 39-year-old said yesterday.

After an appearance last week on the US Tonight Show hosted by Jay Leno and a stay at the ritzy Regent Beverly Wiltshire on Rodeo Drive, the mild-mannered multi-millionaire was whisked from the airport yesterday in a stretch limo provided by Crown Casino, which hopes to make him an ambassador.

But despite his "surreal" month, the Lebanese-born father of four plans to resume working as a mortgage broker while considering all the offers flooding in with the same calm and cautious approach that won him the tournament. "The offers are rolling in almost on an hourly basis and everybody wants a piece of you. I'm just trying to consider what's best for me and my family," he said.

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AdvertisementWith the US taxman already taking 30 per cent of his prize, Mr Hachem said he would be "very disappointed" if the Australian Tax Office sought a cut.

Source: The AGe