Dan Harrington Wins 2007 WPT Legends of Poker

It had been a long time since he had a big score in a poker tournament, but Dan Harrington made up for it in a big way last week by winning the 2007 WPT Legends of Poker.  His last major cash was almost two years ago when he was runner-up at the 2^nd Annual Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship, where he won over $600,000.  His last major tournament title was way back when he won the 1995 World Series of Poker championship.  For this victory, Harrington won $1,669,865, a free $10,000 seat in next year’s Legends of Poker, and a $25,000 seat at the WPT World Championship. 

Harrington began the final table of six players second in chips with 2.23 million, more than a million behind 2007 WSOP Player of Year, Tom Schneider.  The other major notable remaining was David “The Dragon” Pham, who was sitting on the short stack of less than half a million chips. 

Jack Liu, who started with 1.3 million chips, was the first to go, just 11 hands into play.  He ran into trouble on hands 3 and 4, doubling up Michael McClain and then Pham, falling to under 300,000.  He got it all-in before the flop on the fateful hand with A-J, but unfortunately ran into Harrington’s Q-Q.  While he did pair his Jack, Liu needed one more card to win and when it didn’t come, he was out in 6^th place. 

Just nine hands later, McClain committed all of his chips with A-Q and it was off to the races against Thu Nguyen’s J-J.  Nguyen flopped a set and other than the off-chance of hitting a gut-shot straight draw, it was all over for McClain.  He left the proceedings in 5^th place. 

At that point, Schneider still had the chip lead with 3.2 million, but Harrington had closed the gap and was sitting at 2.9 million.  Nguyen was up to 2.6 million, and Pham was still the short stack, but healthier than before, with 900,000 chips. 

Averaging an elimination every ten hands, it looked like the night would go quickly, but it was not to be.  It took from hand 20 to hand 80 to find the next elimination.  Plenty of chips were moved around, but all that did was mix up the standings, sending Schneider to the bottom of the pile.  And it was Schneider that was eliminated in 4^th.  He pushed pre-flop for his final million chips with A-9, but went up against the K-K of David Pham.  The flop of J-10-9 gave Schneider some life, but he was unable to draw out. 

That hand gave Pham the chip lead with 4.1 million, a far cry from the 470,000 with which he started.  Harrington was second with 3.3 million, and Nguyen was third with 2.2 million. 

Thirteen hands later, Nguyen, having seen his stack dwindle to just over a million chips, moved all-in with A-5.  Pham called with A-Q, and as had been the case with the other eliminations, the best hand held up.  Nguyen went home in 3^rd place. 

That set the stage for the heads-up battle between the two biggest names at the table.  Pham, having roared all the way back from his seat behind the short stack, had the edge to begin, 5.8 million to 3.9 million. 

On just the sixth hand of heads-up, Harrington took down a massive 5.5 million chip pot.  While Pham didn’t show his cards, it seemed to be a failed bluff attempt, as Harrington kept check-calling after raising pre-flop with Q-10.  He flopped the Queen, but that was all he needed to take down the pot.  That hand essentially flip-flopped the chip stacks. 

But over the next 16 hands, Pham used aggression to snatch his chips back and then some, turning the tables again as he built his stack to 6 million.  

The stacks stayed fairly steady over the next 30 hands, but on the 146^th hand of the final table, Harrington struck again.  Pham raised the 200,000 chip big blind to 700,000 pre-flop and Harrington called.  Pham checked the J-9-3 flop, but went all-in over the top of Harrington’s 700,000 chip bet.  Harrington snap called with 10-9, leading Pham’s K-Q (although he had a lot of outs).  The turn Ace and river 8 kept Harrington safe and he doubled-up to take a commanding 8.7 million to 1 million lead. 

Pham didn’t give up, however, as he doubled-up twice in the next three hands to pull almost even.  But it was over just four hands later.  Both players limped to see a flop of 10-5-4.  Harrington bet 400,000 and Pham called.  When an Ace hit the turn, Harrington bet 1 million, Pham pushed, and Harrington called.  With 10-5 for two pair, Harrington had Pham drawing dead with his 7-5.  Nothing could help Pham on the river and Harrington was crowned the 2007 WPT Legends of Poker champ.