Dan Harrington
Encyclopedia
Dan Harrington is a professional poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

 player, best known for winning the main event world championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...

. He has earned one World Poker Tour
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that...

 title, two WSOP bracelets, and over six million dollars in tournament cashes in his poker career. He is also a member of the Poker Hall of Fame
Poker Hall of Fame
The Poker Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional poker playing in the United States. Founded and located in Las Vegas, Nevada, it was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino, to preserve the names and legacies of the world's greatest poker players and to serve...

.

Harrington chose his own nickname "Action Dan" even though he is known for being a tight conservative player. He is a distant cousin to both professional golfer Pádraig Harrington
Padraig Harrington
Pádraig P. Harrington is an Irish professional golfer who plays on The European Tour and The PGA Tour. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008.-Background:...

 and former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington
Joey Harrington
John Joseph "Joey" Harrington, Jr. is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions third overall in the 2002 NFL Draft, where he played for most of his professional career. He ranks third all-time in Detroit history in pass completions, with 986...

.

Early life and business career

Harrington was born in Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. Currently residing in Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Harrington is a former champion backgammon
Backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...

 player and U.S. chess master
Chess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....

 (he won the 1971 Massachusetts State Chess Championship). Before becoming a poker professional and businessman, Harrington worked for many years as a bankruptcy lawyer. He also played poker against Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...

 while Gates was at Harvard. Some of his earlier poker experience came from the Mayfair Club
Mayfair Club
The Mayfair Club was a cardroom in New York. Originally starting as a bridge and backgammon club, it eventually became "the most touted card club in New York" until its abrupt closing by authorities in 2000." Unlike the other gamehalls in the city, The Mayfair Club kept a low profile in a basement...

 in the mid-1980s, where he played with Howard Lederer
Howard Lederer
Howard Henry Lederer is an American professional poker player and brother of poker professional Annie Duke, and author and poet Katy Lederer. On September 20, 2011, the U.S...

, Steve Zolotow
Steve Zolotow
Steve Zolotow is an American businessman and professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada. He has won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He was one of the regulars at the famed Mayfair Club while he lived in New York City.-New York Years:...

, and Erik Seidel
Erik Seidel
Erik Seidel is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada who has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title.In 2010, he was inducted as a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.-Early life:...

.

In addition to being a successful professional poker player, Harrington also works in real estate and the stock market. Currently, Harrington also owns and operates his own company, Anchor Loans, which makes various types of loans and has suffered no loss since its creation, according to an interview given by Harrington. He has also stated during interviews about his poker career, that he is there for the money, not the fame or glory. Also unlike many professional poker players, Dan considers himself only a part-time player, since he spends a large amount of his time on his business interests. He usually only plays a few events at the World Series of Poker each year and plays in occasional World Poker Tour events and a few other tournaments.

Poker career

Harrington first cashed in the World Series of Poker in 1986. The next year, in only his second WSOP cash, Harrington made the final table of the Main Event. He finished in 6th place in the event which was won by Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan (poker player)
Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....

. Harrington's friend and fellow Mayfair Club member, Howard Lederer was also at this final table, finishing in fifth place.

Sporting his iconic green Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

 cap, Dan Harrington is known as a crafty, tight-aggressive
Aggression (poker)
In the game of poker, opens and raises are considered aggressive plays, while calls and checks are considered passive . It is said that "aggression has its own value", meaning that often aggressive plays can make money with weak hands because of bluff value...

 player, employing starting hand standards that are stricter than most professionals. When he reached the final table at the 1995 main event, he set the runner-up, Howard Goldfarb
Howard Goldfarb
Howard Goldfarb is a Canadian poker player, chiefly noted as the runner-up of the 1995 World Series of Poker .At the time he was a 33-year-old land developer and businessman from Toronto. He made his first foray into poker in 1993, when he joined some friends for a game in one of Toronto's private...

, to bluff for all his chips in the final hand. At the time of his victory in the main event, Harrington lived in Downey, California
Downey, California
Downey is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city is best known as the birthplace of the Apollo space program, and is the city where folk singer Karen Carpenter lived and died...

.

The same year as his main event win, he also won a bracelet in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event
1995 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.-External Links:*...

 for $249,000 and the Seven-card stud
Seven-card stud
Seven-card stud is a variant of stud poker. Until the recent increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em, seven-card stud was the most popular poker variant in home games across the United States, and in casinos in the eastern part of the country. Two to eight players is common, though eight may...

 event at European Poker Open in London. He made his first final table at the World Poker Tour
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that...

 (WPT) in 2005, winning $620,730 for his second place finish to Minh Ly
Minh Ly
Minh Hoang Ly is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player based in Temple City, California. He is a regular in "The Big Game" and is married to Lu Binh....

 in the Doyle Brunson North American Championship
World Poker Tour season 4 results
- Mirage Poker Showdown:* Casino: The Mirage, Las Vegas * Buy-in: $10,000* 4-Day Event: May 23, 2005 to May 26, 2005* Number of Entries: 317* Total Prize Pool: $3,074,900* Number of Payouts: 27* Winning Hand: Q-Q...

. In 2007, he won the Legends of Poker
World Poker Tour season 6 results
Below are the results of season six of the World Poker Tour .Towards the end of season 6 the World Poker Tour announced that they would award a Tiffany designed titanium and diamond championship bracelet for all previous 96 players....

 for a prize of $1,634,865.

In 2008, Harrington made his first appearance on the NBC show Poker After Dark
Poker After Dark
Poker After Dark was an hour-long poker television program on NBC. The show made its debut on January 1, 2007, and was cancelled as another victim of the "Black Friday" criminal case due to the show's sponsorship by Full Tilt Poker, one of that case's defendants. on September 23, 2011 For its first...

 in the episode titled "Mayfair Club." This tournament brought together poker players who had played at the legendary Mayfair Club
Mayfair Club
The Mayfair Club was a cardroom in New York. Originally starting as a bridge and backgammon club, it eventually became "the most touted card club in New York" until its abrupt closing by authorities in 2000." Unlike the other gamehalls in the city, The Mayfair Club kept a low profile in a basement...

 in New York City. The other players in the tournament with Harrington included professional poker players Howard Lederer
Howard Lederer
Howard Henry Lederer is an American professional poker player and brother of poker professional Annie Duke, and author and poet Katy Lederer. On September 20, 2011, the U.S...

, Mickey Appleman
Mickey Appleman
Mickey L. Appleman is an American professional poker player, sports bettor, and sports handicapper now living in Fort Lee, New Jersey...

, Steve Zolotow
Steve Zolotow
Steve Zolotow is an American businessman and professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada. He has won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He was one of the regulars at the famed Mayfair Club while he lived in New York City.-New York Years:...

, Jay Heimowitz
Jay Heimowitz
Jay B. Heimowitz is an American poker player from Bethel, New York. Heimowitz was one of the original players to help establish the Mayfair Club as a premier poker house....

, and Mike Shictman, the owner of the Mayfair Club for many years. Harrington busted out first, finishing in 6th place. The tournament was won by Jay Heimowitz who defeated Howard Lederer in heads-up play.

His solid play allows him to make it to many final tables at large events. He won the World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...

 (WSOP) main event in 1995
1995 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.-External Links:*...

 for $1,000,000. He has made three other main event final tables: placing 6th
1987 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 152 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament.-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry....

 in 1987 for $43,750, 3rd
2003 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 839 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a brick and mortar casino at the time...

 (out of 839 players) in 2003 for $650,000, and 4th
2004 World Series of Poker
The 2004 World Series of Poker was held at Binion's Horseshoe after Harrah's Entertainment purchased the casino and the rights to the tournament in January...

 (out of 2,576 players) in 2004 for $1,500,000. Because of the increased number of participants, his run of back-to-back main event final tables in 2003-04 has been called the greatest accomplishment in World Series history, particularly by ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 poker announcer Norman Chad
Norman Chad
Norman Chad is an American sportswriter and syndicated columnist who is seen on the sports channel ESPN. He also was an occasional guest host on the ESPN show Pardon the Interruption and has appeared as both host and movie critic on the ESPN Classic series Reel Classics.He writes a weekly...

. As defending champion in 1996, Harrington made another deep run in the main event, finishing in 17th place and earning $23,400. He also cashed in the 2009 main event, finishing in 252nd place for a $32,963 payout.

Harrington, Doyle Brunson
Doyle Brunson
Doyle F. Brunson is an American professional poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker.Brunson is the first player to...

, Carlos Mortensen
Carlos Mortensen
Juan Carlos Mortensen is an Ecuadorian professional poker player of Danish descent and the only Hispanic Main Event winner of the World Series of Poker. Mortensen is known for his loose play, bluffing tactics, and interesting chip-stacking style.Mortensen moved from Spain to the United States in...

, Scotty Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who is a five time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship...

 and Joe Hachem
Joe Hachem
Joseph Hachem is a Lebanese-Australian professional poker player known for winning the main event of the 2005 World Series of Poker. He was the first Australian to win the main event, which earned him $7.5 million, then a record for all-time biggest tournament prize.The next year, Hachem won his...

 are the only five people to have won the World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...

 Main Event and a World Poker Tour title.

As of 2011, his live tournament winnings exceed $6,600,000. More than half of his live tournament winnings ($3,524,476) have come at the WSOP.

Books

He has written (co-authored with Bill Robertie
Bill Robertie
Bill Robertie is a backgammon, chess, and poker player and author. He is one of three backgammon players to have won the Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship twice . Robertie also won the Pro-Am in the Bahamas in the year 1993 and the Istanbul World Cup in 1994. In chess, Robertie won the 1970...

) three popular books on tournament poker, two books on cash no-limit games and one book on online cash no-limit games, all published by Two Plus Two Publishing
Two Plus Two Publishing
Two Plus Two Publishing is a private company established and owned by statistician and poker player Mason Malmuth. The company publishes books on poker and gambling written by professionals in the field such as David Sklansky, Dan Harrington, Bill Robertie, Collin Moshman, Ed Miller, Ray Zee, Sunny...

:
  • Harrington on Hold'em: Volume I: Strategic Play ISBN 1-880685-33-7 (2004)
  • Harrington on Hold'em: Volume II: The Endgame ISBN 1-880685-35-3 (2005)
  • Harrington on Hold'em: Volume III: The Workbook ISBN 1-880685-36-1 (2006)
  • Harrington on Cash Games, Volume I: How to Play No-Limit Hold 'em Cash Games ISBN 1-880685-42-6 (2008)
  • Harrington on Cash Games, Volume II: How to Play No-Limit Hold 'em Cash Games ISBN 1-880685-43-4 (2008)
  • Harrington on Online Cash Games; 6-Max No-Limit Hold 'em ISBN 1-880685-49-3 (2010)

World Series of Poker bracelets

Year Tournament Prize (US$)
1995
1995 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Final table:-Other High Finishes:NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.-External Links:*...

$2,500 No Limit Hold'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...

$249,000
1995 $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship $1,000,000

External links

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