Dan Harrington is a very talented poker player who owns two World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. Despite the fact that the man takes a rather conservative approach to the game, he still managed to achieve great success over the years. Throughout his career, Dan has managed to win a total of $6.6 million in live cash tournaments alone.
Biography
Dan Harrington was born December 6, 1945 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both of his parents were from Ireland. Mother was from Waterford and father from Cork. Very little is known about Dan's childhood other than the fact that he spent a lot of time honing his chess and backgammon skills. His efforts paid off when he was able to take first place in the Massachusetts State Chess Championship in 1971. He participated and won many backgammon games.
While studying at Suffolk University, he mastered the game of poker. Although he did not immediately participate in real tournaments, Dan traveled to other universities and played there against the same students. He often had to travel to Harvard, where he once got the opportunity to play against Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who today are better known as the co-founders of Microsoft.
After Dan got a little more experience, he started going to New York for the weekend to play at the Mayfair Club. The main group of players who were often there, besides Dan, were Jay Heimovitz, Al Crooks, Eric Seidel and Steve Zolotov. Most of these people have decided to dedicate their lives to a career in poker.
Dan Harrington graduated from Suffolk University with a degree in Government and History; then continued his education and received a doctorate in jurisprudence. He spent the next ten years of his life working as a bankruptcy attorney in Boston, Massachusetts. At first, he was excited about the work, but he quickly got tired of all the paperwork that he had to fill out and felt completely exhausted. He realized that he needed something more, so he started doing what he always liked - playing poker.
Player Career
Dan Harrington first entered the World Series of Poker in 1986. Although it was his first appearance at such a significant event, he still managed to place twenty-fourth in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em (a form of poker) tournament. The following year, he again entered the WSOP, but this time the player managed to take sixth place in the no-limit hold'em championship. During this tournament, he had the opportunity to play against such outstandingplayers like Johnny Chan and Howard Lederer.
During the next decade, Dan Harrington will continue to compete in these competitions and earn money. It wasn't until 1995 that he won his first gold bracelet in a $2,500 no-limit hold'em tournament. Dan used the $250,000 cash prize he won to compete in the same year's championship. He knew the competition would be tough, so he didn't expect to be able to go too far.
However, once Dan made it to the final table, things began to look promising. He was not the chip leader (the player with the most chips), but he had a good understanding of his competitors' playing style. He offered the opponents to divide the winnings into nine parts, but they refused. Thus, the competition continued, and slowly but surely other players began to leave the table.
Finally, it was just him and Howard Goldfarb, who had twice as many chips as Dan. He was able to win the championship thanks to careful play and strategic planning. Ironically, he was given the nickname Action Dan (Acting Dan), although he is actually a very tough player.
Winning the WSOP Main Event gave him the confidence he needed to take on other events he hadn't had the guts to do before. A few months after the victory, he traveled to London to take part in the Poker Festival. After a successful performance, he took home a first place prize of over $100,000. In the end, he will continue to participate in othertournaments, including the World Poker Tour and Carnivale of Poker.
New victories
Dan Harrington decided to take a few years off from playing poker to delve into the world of business. When he returned to the table, it looked as if he had never left. In 2003, Harrington made it to the finals of the World Series of Poker tournament, finishing third out of 839 entrants and earning $650,000 in prize money. The following year, he again made it to the final table, but this time finished in fourth place out of 2,576 entrants, earning himself $1.5 million.
Dan has not only excelled in the World Series of Poker since his return, but he's actually also taken some cashes on the World Poker Tour. In 2007, he did what only a handful of people have done before him - winning the $1.6 million WPT No Limit Hold'em event, making him the proud owner of a World Poker Tour title and a World Series of Poker bracelet.
In 2010, Dan Harrington was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame along with eight-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Eric Seidel. At the time of its introduction, there were only forty members, and only a few outstanding players were selected each year. This is a very exclusive group of poker fans, and being part of this group means that this member is rightfully considered one of the best. After the entrance ceremony, Dan received a branded trophy, which he cherishes very much.
He regularly finds time to play in some of the big tournaments. Particularly in Irelandplayed in Irish Open PaddyPower. Dan hasn't achieved any significant wins in the tournament, but he just enjoys visiting the area where his parents grew up. Between poker sessions, he likes to walk around Dublin.
Business
Dan didn't want to just put all his winnings back into poker, but wanted to start making money instead. He started his own business called "Anchor Loans", acting as an intermediary for both borrowers and lenders. On average, this company has over 1,000 active loans totaling over $500 million.
Dan would use the profits from this business to invest in the stock market and buy real estate. He officially left the company in 2010, transferring his ownership rights to Jeffrey Lipton and Steve Pollack. He is still the majority shareholder.
Books
Dan Harrington has written many poker tutorials with the help of Bill Roberti. These writings are filled with valuable advice from two men who are extremely knowledgeable on the subject. They are known to have set the standard for poker strategy books in the future. All were published by Two Plus Two, most notably Dan Harrington on Hold'em: Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments (Volume I: The Strategy Game and Volume II: The Final). In addition, books have been published on how to win in no-limit hold'em games for money, about online games for money, about modern tournament play.poker.
