Dan Harrington’s Big Break?

I’ll never forget what happened to Dan Harrington at the 1995 WSOP.  Up until that time, Dan hadn’t put much energy into playing tournaments, and was primarily known for playing really tight in the no-limit Hold’em poker game side games.  This all changed, though, in 1995.

            Dan was headed home to Los Angeles when at the last minute he entered and won a super satellite for WSOP, giving him the $10,000 buy-in seat for the “Big One.” It would be starting on Monday, and since Dan was already going to stay in Vegas to play the Big One, he decided that he might as well play in the $2,500 buy-in no-limit Hold’em tournament on Friday.

            With about poker seven tables left in Friday’s event, I happened to be at Dan’s table and witnessed the following hand.  I have often wondered what historical implications this hand held for Dan.  After all, not only did he end up winning this most interesting hand, he then proceeded to win Friday’s poker tournament (his first WSOP victory), and then went on to win the World Championship that year.  If Dan had lost this pot limit omaha, would he have then won the 1995 WSOP?  In any case, history would have taken a different path; and momentum can be a strong thing.  All of history can change with a single flip of a card.  Just ask T.J. Cloutier and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson!

            Now that you know Dan won this hand, let’s talk about what happened, and how the hand came up.  With the blinds at $100-$200 and a $25 ante, player A opened the pot for $900 with J-J in early position.  Player B called the raise with 8-8 in late position, and then  Dan called the $900 and raised about $2,000 more with Ad-Jd.  Player A knew how tight Dan played b(Dan had a reputation for playing supertight poker), and because of this he threw away his pocket jacks right then and there. Player b decided to call Dan’s $2,000 raise.

            The flop came 9-6-2, and then Dan moved all-in for about $6,500.  Player B made a great call with his 8-8, and showed his pocket eights faceup.  Dan nodded as if to say, “That’s good.”  The next card games off was a three, and then the river was the last jack in the deck, giving Dan a pair of jacks and the winning poker hand.

            As Ted Forrest would say, “What the heck is going on?” Think about the sequence of events that had to occur for Dan to come out on top! First of all, Dan had to reraise with a relatively weak Ad-Jd.  Second, player A had to fold his pocket jacks.  Third, player B had to call the raise with pocket eights.  Fourth, Dan had to move all-in with absolutely nothing on the flop.  Fifth, player B had to call Dan’s all-in bet spooky hand.  And finally, Dan had to catch the miracle card to win the pot-his outs were one jack and three aces (he was about a 5-to-1 underdog).  Add to all of the above the fact that Dan then went on to win his first major poker tournament that day, and then proceeded to win the Big One.

            From leaving town, to winning a super satellite, to winning this crazy pot, to winning the $2,500 buy-in no-limit Hold’em event on Friday, and finally, to winning the World Championship the following Thursday bluff.  Wow, what a parlay! I don’t exactly know what happened that hand or that week.  Was it fate?  Was it coincidence?  Who knows? I do believe this much: if Dan had lost that pot (which would have eliminated him from Friday’s tournament), I don’t believe he would have won the World Championship that year.  One pot, one card, and the rest, as they say, is history.  What a chain of events.  Maybe it’s just life-c’est la vie!