Dan Harrington
Name: Dan Harrington
Nickname:
Action Dan
Born: 6 December 1945
Residence: Santa
Monica, California
Tournament Winnings: ~$ 6,500,000
WSOP
Bracelets: 2
Dan Harrington was born on December 6, 1945
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He went to the University of Suffolk,
where he had his first experiences with roulette and poker. While at
college, he played poker against an unknown Bill Gates and Paul
Allen. After finishing his study of law in Boston, he worked as a
judge.
His first professional gaming experiences were with
chess. When he was 26, he won the Massachusetts chess championship.
In 1976, he began to play backgammon - and he mastered that too. He
was soon one of the best pro players in Boston and in 1981 he won the
World Cup of Backgammon in Washington D.C. - against a field of world
class players.
Harrington began to play poker professionally
in 1982. He played in the main event of the WSOP (no limit, $10,000
buy-in) for the first time in 1987 and placed 6th. In 1995
he won the tournament and $1,000,000. He has won 3.4 million dollars
in all at the WSOP so far. In 2003, he placed 3rd in the
main event an din 2004 he left the table as 4th. He won
the 4 Queens Poker Classic in 1996 and in August 2007 he won at the
WPT Legends of Poker for 1.6 million dollars. Harrington won heads-up
against David Pham with T5. There were no preflop raises, and the
flop was T54. Pham hit an ace on the turn and went all in, but the
three on the river did not help him.
Harrington has 2 WSOP
bracelets, both won in 1995: one for the main event and one for
another no-limit Hold'em event.
The nickname "Action Dan"
is an ironic jab at his conservative, but effective style of play. He
has a very tight choice of starting hands but when he plays, it is a
fearsome and aggressive game. He knows when to fold because he's
beaten.
He is one of the greatest and most respected no-limit
Hold'em players, feared also in limit Hold'em side games.
Today
he lives in Santa Monica, California, and is a stakeholder in the
real-estate business Anchor Loans. He also trades stocks and is the
author of the books, "Harrington on Hold'em".
Harrington
on poker: "You don't need to be a math whiz to play good poker.
Keeping your head at the table and thinking clearly is far more
important!"
Picture source: Wikipedia
Author:
Yvonne Wagner