Free Poker Software

Dan Harrington: A Successful Poker Pro

One of the most well-respected professional poker players is Dan Harrington. The poker public is very much aware of his stellar contributions to the professional poker world. We believe that the poker public should also be aware of what his life was like prior to becoming a poker professional. And so, allow us to relate to you some information concerning the life of Dan Harrington before he professionally ventured into playing poker.

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 6, 1945, Dan Harrington obtained his bachelor's degree as well as his law degree from Suffolk University. Aside from being a college student, this was also the time when he began to gamble for fun. During this time, he became a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology team that was known for cheating at roulette games. From Suffolk University, he would go to Harvard University to participate in poker games conducted there. Some notable people who also used to participate in poker games held at the Harvard University were Bill Gates and Paul Allen. It was also during this time when Dan Harrington started to participate in backgammon and chess tournaments.

The career of Dan Harrington in professional poker started in the 1980s when he had the opportunity to join the Mayfair Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the perks of being a part of such club was that he was able to meet and be acquainted with poker giants Steve Zolotow, Erik Seidel, and Howard Lederer.

For a time, Dan Harrington pursued a career as a bankruptcy lawyer. However, being engaged in such profession did not allow him to have that much time to play poker. And so, he made a major decision of leaving his law career in order to concentrate on the professional poker industry. Furthermore, Dan Harrington started to have time for his other interests such as the stock market and real estate. He does not regret having obtained a law degree and he also does not regret abandoning his law career to focus on other fields because without going through such experience, he would not realize his passion for other things. And now, Dan Harrington is enjoying the success he has been experiencing in poker, in the stock market, and in real estate.

Dan Harrington's success as a poker professional includes earning two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets in a single year. In 1995, he won bracelets for such events as the US$10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship game and the US$2,500 No Limit Hold'em game, wherein he won US$1,000,000 and US$249,000, respectively. He is considered as one of the few poker giants who have earned WSOP bracelets from participating in the main event and have won a World Poker Tour title at the same time. Among the poker giants of this rank are Joe Hachem, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen, and Doyle Brunson.

Dan Harrington can also be considered a poker author because he has co-authored a couple of books with poker professional Bill Robertie. These books are the two volumes of "Harrington on Hold'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments."