Daniel Harrington

Dan Harrington was born on December 6, 1945 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Irish-born parents. He excelled in chess, winning the 1971 Massachusetts State Chess Championship, and also became a champion backgammon player. Harrington earned a degree in government and history from Suffolk University, where he learned poker. He frequented Harvard, playing against Bill Gates and Paul Allen. After graduating, he worked as a bankruptcy lawyer for a decade before turning to poker professionally.

Harrington was a regular at the Mayfair Club in New York alongside Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, and Steve Zolotow. He first cashed at the World Series of Poker in 1986, and the next year made his first WSOP Main Event final table, finishing sixth behind champion Johnny Chan. He continued to accumulate WSOP cashes through the late 1980s.

In 1995, Harrington won his first WSOP bracelet in a $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event for $249,000. He then captured the WSOP Main Event, defeating Howard Goldfarb in the final hand and earning $1,000,000. That same year, he also won a Seven-Card Stud event at the European Poker Open. Harrington made four WSOP Main Event final tables in total (1987, 1995, 2003, 2004) and finished runner-up in the WPT Doyle Brunson North American Championship in 2005 for $620,730.

Harrington won his first WPT title in 2007 at the WPT Championship Event at the Bicycle Casino, taking home $1,635,365. He also made another WPT final table and accumulated eight WPT money finishes, with total live tournament earnings over $6.6 million.

Harrington co-founded Anchor Loans in 1998, a real estate lending company, and served as its first CEO. He retired in 2010 but remains a shareholder. He is best known for his acclaimed strategy series Harrington on Hold'em, which teaches tight-aggressive tournament play. The books introduced concepts like M-ratio and are considered essential reading for poker players.

Despite his nickname "Action Dan," Harrington plays a tight, cautious, and mathematical game. He emphasized starting hand selection and position, and famously induced a bluff from Howard Goldfarb to win the 1995 Main Event. His approach is based on probability and opponent range analysis.

Harrington was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010. He is a distant cousin of golfer Pádraig Harrington and former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington. His contributions to poker strategy and his successful business ventures have cemented his status as one of the game's most respected figures.