Dan Harrington
Poker Star

Written by Vincent Davi

Dan Harrington was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 6, 1945. During his college days at Suffolk University he was a member of the MIT card counting Blackjack team and also the roulette team. Dan Harrington is a former Backgammon and Chess champion (Life member of the USCF 10018820 – USCF rating 2355). He also is a lawyer that specializes in Bankruptcy Law.

During Dan Harrington’s early days playing poker, he played against Bill Gates and two other poker players who later became professional players. At the Mayfair Club, he played against Howard Lederer and Erik Seidel Dan is noted for his tight, but aggressive poker play which is amply shown in his starting hand selection which is far tighter than most professional players.

Professional poker has been very kind to Dan as his lifetime tournament poker earnings as of 2007 exceeded $6,500,000. Dan’s ability to play well against very large fields of players is remarkable. He has finished in the money nine times in WSOP tournaments. Two of the finishes were bracelet-winning plays.

Dan Harrington has a similar record in WPT events with 8 in the money finishes, two final tables and one outright win. He is one of only five players to have won both a WPT event and WSOP event. Dan’s tight play allows him to consistently finish in the money no matter how many players are in the tournament His play is so strong that he strikes fear in some players who find themselves in a big pot with him.

One story worth repeating about Dan Harrington has to do with his WSOP main event win. He offered a split of the prize money between all of the players at the final table. This was refused each time he brought it up and in the end of the event he got all of the first prize money of one million dollars.

Source: Sports Odd

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