Poker News

‘Action’ Dan Harrington

As the Bicycle Casino concludes its month-long Legends of Poker tournament, the final event, a fiveday, $10,000 buy-in event, wound its way down to the final table with a stellar field of top-notch players.

Leading the way at the final table was former Hold’em Radio talk show host Tom Schneider, who is coming off a sensational World Series of Poker. He came to the final table with $3,495,000, more than a $1 million chip lead over former World Series of Poker winner “Action” Dan Harrington, who was in second place with $2,230,000.

Thu Nguyen was in third place with $1,475,000, closely followed by Shi Jia “Jack” Liu, with $1,305,000. Mike McClain was in fifth place with $725,000 and the short stack was the ever dangerous David “The Dragon” Pham with $470,000.

Jack Liu was the first player eliminated when he tangled with Dan Harrington’s Q-Q. Liu had A-J, picked up a jack on the flop but did not improve and was eliminated, earning $137,135 for his sixth place finish.

Mike McClain was next to go. When Nguyen raised from the cutoff to $200,000, McClain reraised from the small blind to 600,000. Thu Nguyen moved all in and McClain called all in for $1,045,000 with Ac-Qc.

Nguyen held pocket jacks. He flopped a set, made a full house on the turn, and eliminated McClain in fifth place, who earned $182,900. Tom Schneider started the day as chipleader, but lost several big hands and found himself the short stack.

Tom moved all-in from the button with A-9, but David “The Dragon” Pham quickly called with pocket kings. Pham’s kings held up and Tom Schneider finished in fourth place to earn $228,625.

When David Pham raised on the button to $400,000, Thu Nguyen moved all-in with Ah-5h. The Dragon called with Ad-Qs and his hand held up, sending Thu Nguyen home with $388,660 for his third place finish That left “Action” Dan Harrington and David “The Dragon” Pham heads-up, and they played one-on-one for three hours. Harrington, who was holding T-5, bet $400,000 into a flop of T-5-4 and Pham called. When an ace came on the turn, Harrington wagered $1 million. Pham called, turning over the 7-5 for a pair. He was drawing dead to Action Dan’s top two pair. The river card was superfluous and Dan Harrington won $1.6 million plus a $25,000 entry into the WPT championship.

David Pham earned $800,185 for his second place finish. Legends of Poker is the first major event following the World Series of Poker, and serves as the kick-off for the fall poker season.

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