KEY TAKEAWAYS
Australian player Hun Wei Lee, also known as Andy Lee, won the A$2,500 Main Event of the 2026 Victorian Poker Championship at Crown Melbourne on October 27, 2026, according to PokerNews. Lee defeated fellow Australian Joe Hachem in a heads-up match that ran past the two-hour mark and collected A$350,000. The tournament attracted 715 entries and created a prize pool of A$1,573,000, a total that placed first and second prizes at roughly 22 percent and 13 percent of the money. Hachem, the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, settled for A$210,000 as runner-up.
How the Final Day Played Out
Nine players returned for the final table, and Lee began the day with a firm chip lead, as PokerNews reported. All nine players survived the first three levels, which made for a slow start.
Hachem collected an early double-up when his pocket kings held against Lee’s pocket nines, a hand Lee called off. The double-up trimmed Lee’s stack at a point when the table was still full.
Lee then sat back through the first three eliminations. His turning point arrived against Nektarios Dimitrakis, who finished sixth: the knockout was Lee’s first of the day and moved him back to the front. He went on to take two of the next three eliminations as the field thinned toward heads-up play.
The final duel was long and uneven. The chip lead changed hands several times over a stretch that lasted more than two hours, with Hachem surviving at least one frightening moment. According to PokerNews, he had only two cards left that could save him, and a six arrived on the turn. He then doubled twice more. The outlet’s highlights page also records him calling off 5,150,000 chips with queen-ten of diamonds against Lee’s queen-three of spades, another double for the Melbourne veteran.
The finish came when Lee rivered a set to end the match. He told PokerNews, “it’s a dream come true, really,” after the win.
Final Table Payouts and Prize Pool Math
PokerNews published the complete top-nine payout ladder, shown below with each player’s country as the outlet listed it. All amounts are in Australian dollars.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (A$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hun Wei Lee | Australia | 350,000 |
| 2 | Joe Hachem | Australia | 210,000 |
| 3 | Zac Miravet | Australia | 135,000 |
| 4 | Ben Richardson | Australia | 90,000 |
| 5 | Bobby Zhang | Australia | 72,500 |
| 6 | Nektarios Dimitrakis | Australia | 58,000 |
| 7 | Higor Seibel | Brazil | 47,500 |
| 8 | Jyrki Hilakari | Australia | 38,000 |
| 9 | Michael Tomeny | United States | 30,500 |
The arithmetic behind those numbers is simple to check. Multiplying 715 entries by A$2,200 produces A$1,573,000, because Crown’s published terms split each A$2,500 buy-in into A$2,200 for the pool and A$300 for commission. The commission portion therefore comes to A$214,500 across the whole field, and the pool equals 88 percent of all buy-ins.
Lee’s A$350,000 equals 22.25 percent of the pool, and Hachem’s A$210,000 equals about 13.35 percent. The nine payouts above add up to A$1,031,500, or roughly 65.6 percent of the money, so a little over a third of the pool was spread among the remaining paid places. PokerNews’ account did not give a firm count of those places, so this article does not state one.
The winner’s cheque was about 1.67 times the runner-up’s. The heads-up result was worth A$140,000 to the winner over the runner-up, while Hachem’s second-place payout exceeded the A$135,000 for third place by A$75,000.
Lee’s Year and Career Record
The Victorian title is the second big live win of 2026 for Lee. In May, he won the A$25,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions, which drew 98 entries and a prize pool of A$2,352,000, with 13 places paid. PokerNews reported that he beat Josh Hutchins heads-up and took A$652,670, the largest score of his career at that point.
Adding the two wins gives a combined total of A$1,002,670 from the pair of victories, a figure calculated here from the published first prizes. Crossing the A$1 million line within a single calendar year from two titles is a notable return, though none of the sources frames it as a record and none is claimed here.
PokerNews describes Lee as a Malaysia-born Australian tournament specialist whose live earnings exceeded $2.7 million as of late October 2026. His earlier results include an online win in the 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker $1,050 pot-limit Omaha bounty event, worth $161,886, and a runner-up finish in the 2020 Aussie Millions A$25,000 pot-limit Omaha event for A$297,360. The Omaha results stand out in a record that PokerNews lists across many events.
Lee’s comments after the win focused on the venue and his opponent. He told PokerNews, “I really love coming to Crown,” and added, “Joe is the reason why I started playing poker to start with.” The second remark explains why the heads-up opponent carried extra meaning for the winner.
Why Hachem’s Run Drew Attention
Hachem’s name carries weight in Australian poker. He won the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event, the $10,000 Event #42, which drew 5,619 entries and a prize pool of $52,818,610, according to WSOP.com. His first prize was $7,500,000, while runner-up Steven Dannenmann received $4,250,000.
WSOP.com’s report on that tournament identifies him as Joseph Hachem from Melbourne, Australia, and notes it was his first WSOP event. In a separate feature, the organizer describes the reception he received from a crowd of countrymen chanting “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!” and calls him a national hero in his home country. A Melbourne final table with Hachem at it therefore carried a story beyond the prize money.
The Victorian series also lent his name to a side event: the A$2,000 Joe Hachem Monster Stack, a tournament that ran October 25 and 26. Crown’s schedule carried his name on a side event during the Main Event’s middle days, which tied the player and the series together.
His A$210,000 finish is a substantial result on its own. Runner-up money of that size represents more than 13 percent of an A$1.57 million pool, and it came after surviving a deficit at the very edge of elimination.
What the Result Does and Doesn’t Mean
The facts above come from PokerNews’ reporting and Crown Melbourne’s published event details, so they should be read as the results as published. A first-place finish is a title, not a ranking: the victory adds to Lee’s record, and the sources reviewed describe no title or ranking beyond the Main Event trophy and prize.
A heads-up loss also does not diminish what Hachem achieved. Second place paid A$210,000, and the way the match swung shows how narrow the margin was, with the lead changing hands multiple times and Hachem facing two outs at one stage.
Readers should also avoid reading too much into the pool figure. A prize pool is not the total amount paid in by players: with A$300 of each A$2,500 buy-in going to commission under Crown’s terms, the pool of A$1,573,000 is smaller than the A$1,787,500 in total buy-ins that 715 entries would imply.
The entry count also covers re-entries. The format allowed one re-entry, so 715 entries does not mean 715 different players, and the sources reviewed do not state how many individuals took part.
The Series Around the Main Event
The 2026 Victorian Poker Championship ran from October 12 to 27 at Crown Melbourne. The program held 21 events with buy-ins ranging from A$500 up to A$10,600, according to PokerNews’ schedule article.
The Main Event used four starting flights, with Day 1 sessions on October 21 through 24. Players began with 60,000 chips and could re-enter once. Day 2 followed on October 25, Day 3 on October 26, and the final table played out on October 27.
Other tournaments gave the series depth. Van Marcus won a Special Feature pot-limit Omaha event with an A$1,250 buy-in that ran October 16 and 17, and PokerNews credits him with two titles during the series, including the Hachem Monster Stack. The Closing Event drew 139 entries, built an A$83,400 prize pool, paid 17 places and gave its winner A$21,600. An A$5,000 high roller pot-limit Omaha event paid A$100,000 to its champion.
Taken together, the schedule shows a series with a wide price range, from entry-level fields to high-stakes Omaha.
What to Watch Next
PokerNews’ coverage of the series concluded with the Main Event report, and the sources reviewed for this article did not include dates for a 2027 edition. Crown Melbourne’s own event pages are the place where a future schedule would be posted if one is announced.
No upcoming appearances for Lee or Hachem were listed in the sources used here, so nothing is reported about either player’s plans.
Readers tracking recent tournament results can also compare this finish with the WPT Prime Cyprus result covered earlier, and those following the regulated side of the game can read about a regulated online poker launch in Alberta. Both pieces add context on how live and online poker are developing in different markets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
- PokerNews — Dream Come True as Hun Wei Lee Doubles Down at Crown (October 27, 2026)
- PokerNews — Victorian Poker Championship 2026 schedule (September 2026)
- PokerNews — Daily Tournament Highlights, 2026 Victorian Poker Championship (October 28, 2026)
- PokerNews — $25,000 Challenge, 2026 Aussie Millions Poker Championship (May 5, 2026)
- PokerNews — Hun Wei Lee player profile
- Crown Melbourne — Victorian Poker Championship Terms and Conditions
- WSOP.com — 2005 World Series of Poker Event #42 result
