Dan Harrington Wins 2007 Legends of Poker

This is a little off topic for my blog, but wanted to report that Dan Harrington won the 2007 WPT Legends of Poker Tournament. Dan is my hero--seriously! I credit him for the foundation behind my pre-flop card selection formula. Also, his teaching on m-zone play, although not original to Dan, is critical to proper tournament strategy. If you are interested in his books, I have them listed in my bookstore. For now, here is a report on the final action of the 2007 WPT Legends of Poker Tournament from CardPlayer.com:

Round One: Point - Harrington
In the first major confrontation between these two Pham had the button, and he limped for $120,000. Harrington raised to $420,000, and Pham made the call. The flop came Q 7 3. Harrington bet $350,000 and Pham called. The turn card paired the board with the 7, Harrington checked, Pham bet $450,000, and Harrington thought for a minute before he called. The river card was the 4, Harrington checked, Pham bet $1.5 million, and Harrington quickly called. Pham said, "You've got it," and Harrington showed Q-10 for two pair. Pham mucked and Harrington won the massive pot worth $5.47 million.

Harrington took over the chip lead, but his paramount position was chipped away at by Pham over the next collection of hands. Pham grew his stack to over $6 million and controlled the match with aggressive play, but Harrington picked his spots, and chose them well. He managed to score the second major point of the match after

Round Two: Point – Harrington
Harrington limped for $200,000, Pham raised to $700,000 and Harrington called. The flop rolled out J 9 3, Pham checked, Harrington bet $700,000, Pham moved all in, and Harrington quickly called with [10h9s]. Pham showed [KsQs] for a gutshot straight draw with two overcards. Pham is looking for a king, a queen, or a ten. The turn card was the A, and Pham had nine outs to win the tournament right then and there. The river card was the 8, and Harrington won the pot with a pair of nines to double up in chips and take a commanding lead. It looked like things were about to end and Harrington would be crowned the champion…

That was, until the Dragon doubled up twice to not only jump back into the championship conversation, but almost even out the chip counts once again. The merry-go-round continued to mixed reactions in the crowd as the hour passed 1 a.m.

Action seemed like it might go until the morning until Pham limped for $300,000, and Harrington checked. The flop came 10 5 4, Harrington bet $400,000, and Pham called. The turn card was the A, Harrington bet $1 million, Pham moved all in, and Harrington quickly called with 10 5 for two pair, tens and fives. Pham showed 7 5 for a pair of fives, and he was drawing dead. The meaningless river card was the 3 and Dan Harrington was the 2007 Legends of Poker Champion! He took home $1,634,865 in prize money, a $25,000 WPT Championship seat, and a $10,000 seat in the 2008 Legends of Poker. Pham took home $800,185 for his second place and jumped into first place in the Card Player Player of the Year race with the solid finish.

Congratulations to Dan Harrington!