Dan Harrington: 1995 WSOP Main Event Champion and Poker Hall of Famer
Dan Harrington built one of poker's most distinctive tournament careers by combining championship results with a disciplined approach that later influenced generations of players through his strategy books. The American player and author won the 1995 World Series of Poker Main Event, owns two WSOP bracelets and a World Poker Tour title, reached four WSOP Main Event final tables, and entered the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010.
Known as "Action Dan" despite a reputation for conservative and patient tournament play, Harrington succeeded across several eras of poker. His record stretches from the pre-poker-boom years through the massive tournament fields of the 2000s, while his Harrington on Hold'em books became an important part of tournament-poker education.
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Who Is Dan Harrington?
Dan Harrington is an American poker player, author and Poker Hall of Fame member best known for winning the 1995 WSOP Main Event.
PokerNews' Dan Harrington profile lists his birth date as December 6, 1945, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Hendon Mob currently lists his residence as Santa Monica, California.
His competitive background extended beyond poker. Harrington had experience in chess and backgammon before establishing himself at the poker table, and he became associated with New York's Mayfair Club, a well-known gathering place that also included accomplished players such as Erik Seidel.
Harrington's tournament record spans decades. PokerNews records his first WSOP cash in 1986, while The Hendon Mob lists live tournament results as recently as 2024.
No-limit hold'em tournaments became the discipline most closely associated with his career. Both of his WSOP bracelets, his Main Event championship and his World Poker Tour victory came in no-limit hold'em.
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Dan Harrington's Early Poker Career
Harrington's strategic background helped shape a poker career that developed before televised tournaments and online poker transformed the game.
He reached his first WSOP Main Event final table in 1987, finishing sixth. That appearance established him as a championship-level tournament player years before the victory that would define his résumé.
The result was also the beginning of an unusual Main Event record. Harrington eventually reached the final table of poker's most famous tournament four times, doing so in 1987, 1995, 2003 and 2004.
His career therefore connects very different periods of tournament poker. His first Main Event final table came when fields were comparatively small and the game had limited mainstream exposure. His later runs came during the period when online qualifiers, televised poker and rapidly expanding fields were changing the WSOP.
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Winning Two WSOP Bracelets in 1995
The 1995 World Series of Poker became the defining series of Harrington's career.
His first bracelet came in the 1995 WSOP $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event. Harrington defeated a 249-entry field and earned $249,000.
Only days later, he entered the $10,000 Main Event.
The official WSOP result for the 1995 Main Event records 273 entries and a $2.73 million prize pool. Harrington finished first for $1 million, defeating Howard Goldfarb heads-up to become poker's world champion.
The victory gave Harrington his second bracelet of the same series and established the championship achievement for which he remains best known.
As of August 20, 2026, the WSOP player database continues to list Harrington with two bracelets and zero WSOP Circuit rings.
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Four WSOP Main Event Final Tables
Harrington's 1995 championship is only part of his unusual WSOP Main Event record.
He reached four Main Event final tables:
1987: 6th place
1995: 1st place
2003: 3rd place
2004: 4th place
The final two appearances were especially significant because they came in consecutive years as the Main Event was undergoing explosive growth.
Harrington finished third in 2003, the year Chris Moneymaker won the championship and helped accelerate poker's mainstream boom. Harrington returned the following year and finished fourth in the 2004 Main Event.
That back-to-back achievement demonstrated that his 1995 title was not simply the product of success in an earlier, smaller tournament environment. He remained capable of navigating the Main Event as participation expanded dramatically and the player pool evolved.
The WSOP has highlighted those four final-table appearances as a defining part of Harrington's tournament legacy.
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Winning the 2007 WPT Legends of Poker
Harrington later added another major championship outside the World Series of Poker.
In 2007, he won the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker championship at The Bicycle Casino in California.
The World Poker Tour's current Dan Harrington record lists the victory at $1,635,365. That remains the largest recorded live tournament cash of his career.
The result gave Harrington one WPT Main Tour title. As of August 2026, the WPT lists him with:
One WPT Main Tour win
Two WPT final tables
Eight WPT cashes
$2,444,581 in WPT Main Tour earnings
The Legends of Poker title strengthened Harrington's championship résumé by showing that he could win a major televised tour event more than a decade after becoming WSOP Main Event champion.
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Dan Harrington's Major Poker Accomplishments
Harrington's career is defined by a relatively small number of highly significant achievements rather than by sheer tournament volume.
His major accomplishments include:
1995 WSOP Main Event champion
Two WSOP bracelets
Four WSOP Main Event final tables
One World Poker Tour Main Tour title
2007 WPT Legends of Poker champion
Zero WSOP Circuit rings as of August 20, 2026
Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2010
$6,653,820 in recorded live tournament earnings as of August 20, 2026
Career-best live cash of $1,635,365
The earnings figures come from The Hendon Mob's Dan Harrington tournament record. Live earnings and money-list rankings can change when additional results are recorded or databases are updated.
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Dan Harrington's Live Tournament Earnings
As of August 20, 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Harrington with $6,653,820 in live tournament earnings.
His largest recorded cash is the $1,635,365 he received for winning the 2007 WPT Legends of Poker.
Several of his other largest scores came from his extraordinary WSOP Main Event record, including $1.5 million for fourth place in 2004, $1 million for winning in 1995 and $650,000 for third place in 2003.
Harrington's career total should not be confused with earnings displayed by individual tours. The WSOP and WPT maintain statistics covering events within their own databases, while Hendon Mob is used here for his broader live tournament earnings total.
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Playing Style and the "Action Dan" Nickname
Harrington's "Action Dan" nickname is intentionally at odds with the style for which he became known.
The WSOP has described Harrington as a conservative player, and his reputation has long been associated with patience, discipline and selective aggression rather than constant action.
That approach was particularly suited to tournament poker, where changing blinds, stack sizes and poker position can alter the value of a decision as an event progresses.
It would be misleading, however, to reduce Harrington's career to simply being "tight." Reaching four Main Event final tables across very different tournament eras required adaptation as fields, structures and opponents changed.
His playing reputation is better understood as disciplined and strategically structured rather than passive.
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Harrington on Hold'em and His Influence on Poker Strategy
Harrington's influence on poker extends beyond the tournaments he won.
Working with Bill Robertie, he produced the Harrington on Hold'em series, which presented a structured approach to no-limit hold'em tournament strategy. The original volumes appeared during the poker boom, when a rapidly growing audience was looking for systematic ways to understand tournament decision-making.
The books addressed subjects such as hand selection, stack pressure, position, tournament stages and changing strategic conditions.
That timing mattered. Millions of new players were being introduced to no-limit hold'em through televised poker and online qualification, but modern training sites, solvers and large libraries of digital strategy material had not yet become standard study tools.
Harrington's books gave readers a detailed framework for thinking through tournament situations rather than simply memorizing starting hands or copying televised professionals.
His authorship became important enough to form part of the poker industry's assessment of his wider contribution to the game. When Harrington was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, the WSOP specifically noted the influence of his strategy books alongside his tournament accomplishments.
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Poker Hall of Fame Induction
Harrington entered the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010 alongside Erik Seidel.
The WSOP's official Poker Hall of Fame announcement identified Harrington and Seidel as the Class of 2010. They were officially inducted in November of that year.
For Harrington, the honor recognized a career that combined major championships, unusual Main Event consistency and a lasting contribution to poker education.
By the time of his induction, Harrington was already a WSOP Main Event champion, two-time bracelet winner and WPT champion. His books provided an additional form of influence that extended beyond his own tournament results.
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Dan Harrington's Current Poker Status
Harrington's recent tournament schedule has been far lighter than during the most visible years of his career, but available records do not support describing him as retired.
The Hendon Mob lists his most recent live tournament cash on June 24, 2024, when he finished 346th in the $1,000 WSOP Super Seniors event for $2,001.
Earlier at the 2024 WSOP, Harrington finished 37th in the $5,000 Champions Reunion and earned $11,017.
No later live tournament cash is currently listed on his Hendon Mob record as of August 20, 2026. The absence of a more recent recorded cash does not by itself establish that Harrington has retired, and no reliable source reviewed for this profile supports making that claim.
His current place in poker is therefore defined less by tournament volume than by an established legacy: a Main Event championship, two bracelets, four Main Event final tables, a WPT title, Poker Hall of Fame membership and a body of strategy writing that helped educate a generation of tournament players.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Dan Harrington
Who is Dan Harrington?
Dan Harrington is an American poker player, author and Poker Hall of Famer. He won the 1995 WSOP Main Event, owns two WSOP bracelets and one WPT title, and reached four WSOP Main Event final tables.
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Why is Dan Harrington called "Action Dan"?
"Action Dan" is an ironic nickname because Harrington became known for a conservative, disciplined tournament style rather than constant action. The WSOP has noted the contrast between the nickname and his playing reputation.
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How many WSOP bracelets does Dan Harrington have?
Dan Harrington has two WSOP bracelets as of August 20, 2026. He won both in 1995: the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event and the $10,000 WSOP Main Event.
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Did Dan Harrington win the WSOP Main Event?
Yes. Harrington won the 1995 WSOP Main Event. The tournament drew 273 entries, and he earned $1 million for the victory.
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How many WSOP Main Event final tables did Dan Harrington make?
Harrington reached four WSOP Main Event final tables. He finished sixth in 1987, won in 1995, finished third in 2003 and placed fourth in 2004.
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Does Dan Harrington have a WSOP Circuit ring?
No. The current WSOP player database lists Harrington with zero WSOP Circuit rings as of August 20, 2026.
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How many WPT titles has Dan Harrington won?
Harrington has one WPT Main Tour title. He won the 2007 Legends of Poker championship for $1,635,365.
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What is Dan Harrington's biggest poker cash?
Harrington's largest recorded live tournament cash is $1,635,365 for winning the 2007 WPT Legends of Poker championship.
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How much has Dan Harrington won in live poker tournaments?
The Hendon Mob lists Dan Harrington with $6,653,820 in live tournament earnings as of August 20, 2026. Career earnings are a changing statistic and should be reviewed as tournament databases are updated.
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Is Dan Harrington in the Poker Hall of Fame?
Yes. Dan Harrington was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2010 alongside Erik Seidel.
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What poker books did Dan Harrington write?
Harrington is best known for the Harrington on Hold'em series, written with Bill Robertie. The books focused on no-limit hold'em tournament strategy and became an influential educational resource during the poker boom. He also worked on later books covering cash games and modern tournament poker.
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Is Dan Harrington retired from poker?
No reliable source reviewed for this profile identifies Dan Harrington as retired. The Hendon Mob lists his most recent live tournament cash in June 2024 at the World Series of Poker, but the absence of a later recorded cash is not sufficient evidence to classify him as retired.
