Belmont-bred poker ace becomes familiar TV face

From beneath the brim of his signature green Red Sox hat, Dan Harrington stared down his last three competitors in the 2004 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Two players had folded, and Harrington put his chips into play. After the first three cards -- the flop -- fell, Harrington moved his chips all in, a tactic that would either send him home or double his chip count if David Williams, the only other player in that hand, called his bet. Harrington, a professional player trying to push the amateur around, caught a bad break. In a rare bluff, Harrington lost the hand to a full house and walked away with $1.5 million, far from the first-place prize of $5 million, an all-time high.

Still, Harrington finished fourth at the tournament, held in May; last year he finished third, and back in 1995 he was the World Series champion. Harrington, who grew up in Belmont, is one of the most successful players in the 35-year history of the event. And now, with televised poker tournaments all the rage, Dan Harrington has become a household name.

"What Harrington did is one of the two or three top accomplishments in the history of the World Series of Poker," said Norman Chad, the color commentator for ESPN's coverage of the event, commenting on Harrington's performance in the past two years. Chad says Harrington's feats are even more noteworthy since the field of players at the tournament grew from 839 in 2003 to 2,576 this year.

Harrington is one of the poker players who have turned back-room card games and weekends at casinos into national fame. These superstars, such as 2003 World Series champ Chris Moneymaker and legend Howard Lederer, have ridden the wave of poker popularity that began in March 2003, when networks started airing tournaments.

"Ever sit in a restaurant and think people are talking about you?" Harrington said of his newfound fame. "They are talking about you now."

In a world where poker players are often characterized as sore losers, hotheads, and eccentrics, Harrington has carved out a niche as a pleasant exception. "There are a lot of young punks who are just filing into card rooms," Chad said. "They don't know how to win or lose with grace. Dan is a class act all around on the short list of the class acts."

The more than $3.5 million he has won playing poker are not the only millions Harrington has to his name. Unlike many of his competitors, poker is not Harrington's main source of income. He is one of the principal partners at Anchor Loans, an investing and mortgage company he started in Santa Monica, Calif., in 1994.

Harrington has applied his business mind-set to his poker playing. He is known as "Action Dan," an ironic nickname for a guy known as one of the most conservative players in the game. "I'm more like an investment banker," he said. "I am very conservative. I take limited chances."

In 1980 Harrington left Boston for Philadelphia to be closer to better poker games and to Atlantic City. By 1989 he had moved to California, where card rooms are legal and Las Vegas is reasonably close.

Growing up a diehard Red Sox fan, Harrington attended Christopher Columbus High, a private Catholic school in the North End. He stayed in Boston for college, attending Suffolk University, where he received his undergraduate and law degrees. It was at the Suffolk lunch tables that Harrington was introduced to competitive chess, backgammon, and poker. He was fascinated with games that involved mental stamina and probability.

In college, Harrington befriended Bill Robertie, a student at Harvard College, while climbing the ranks of the chess and backgammon players around Boston. Both earned the title of master chess players, and Harrington went on to win state championships in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The two stayed in touch while Harrington crossed the country. After Harrington hit success at the World Series of Poker, the two began to collaborate on a three-volume book series. The first volume, "Harrington on Hold 'Em: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments" (Two Plus Two Publishing), was released this year. The other volumes will be out next year.

Harrington said he loves Boston and might come back when he retires.

"I cherish it," he said. "But if you are a poker player Boston is not a good place to be. I have to be in retirement if I go back to Boston."

Michael S. Schmidt can be reached at MSchmidt@boston.com.