Dan Harrington Wins the 2007 Legends of Poker

The final six players at the World Poker Tour Legends of Poker took their seats at 5 p.m. and action got under way to determine which among them would join the ranks of the legends before them. All were hungry for the win and no time was wasted in the early going. Here is a glance at how things looked when they grabbed their seats:

Seat No. 1 - Shi Jia "Jack" Liu - $1,305,000
Seat No. 2 - Dan Harrington - $2,230,000
Seat No. 3 - Tom Schneider - $3,495,000
Seat No. 4 - Thu Nguyen - $1,475,000
Seat No. 5 - David "The Dragon" Pham - $470,000
Seat No. 6 - Michael McClain - $725,000

Over the course of the first four hands, Liu dropped below $300,000 after a crushing sequence of events. Both McClain and Pham doubled up through Liu and he was short $1 million. Things were looking dire for the young player. Liu moved all in in the next two hands, but received no callers. He continued to hang on, but the end was near. On the 11th hand at the final table, Liu had the button. Pham raised from middle position to $120,000, and Liu moved all in for $360,000. Dan Harrington reraised from the small blind to $750,000 and Pham mucked. Liu showed A J, but Harrington flipped up pocket queens. The flop came J 5 5, and Liu picked up some additional outs when he paired his jack. The turn card was the 6, and the river card was the 4. Harrington won the pot with two pair and Liu was eliminated in sixth place, taking home $137,175.

A short time later, Thu Nguyen raised from the cutoff to $200,000, McClain reraised from the small blind to $600,000, and Nguyen moved all in. McClain called all in for $1,045,000 with A Q. Nguyen showed pocket jacks, and the race began. The flop ran out K J 2, and Nguyen jumped into a larger lead with a set. McClain picked up a gutshot straight draw, and was looking for a come-from-behind victory down the back stretch. The turn card paired the board with the 2, and Nguyen made a full house to take a victory circle. The meaningless river card was the 4, and Nguyen won the pot with jacks full of deuces. McClain was eliminated in fifth place, earning $182,900.

It would be a full 60 more hands before the next elimination hand was dealt, but that didn't mean there was a lack of action:

Pham scored a large pot off of Schneider and the two tangled again a few hands later when Pham raised to $180,000 from the button, and Schneider called from the big blind. The flop came 6 4 3, and both players checked. The turn card paired the board with the 3, and they both checked again. The river card was the A, Schneider checked, Pham bet $200,000, and Schneider raised to $500,000. Pham went into the tank for about two minutes before he made the call. Schneider showed down 10 9 for ten-high, and Pham showed down A 10 for a pair of aces. Pham won the pot and made the call of the tournament by picking off Schneider's bluff.

Schneider was wounded but still kicking when he once again jumped into action five hands later. Schneider doubled up with a full house, sevens full of aces, against Harrington to save his tournament life. The action then slowed down for the next 30 hands or so, and the audience began to grow impatient. Chants of "Let's go Dragon," and "Har-ring-ton!" were heard throughout the crowd. Schneider silenced such chants when he moved all in under the gun for $1.7 million. Pham called from the small blind with pocket kings. Schneider showed A 9. The flop brought J 10 9. The turn card was the 10, and the river card was the 6. The Dragon took down the pot with two pair, kings and tens, and Schneider was eliminated in fourth place, earning $228,625.

Nguyen was the next to take his leave a few hands later. A had become the custom preflop, Pham raised to $400,000. Nguyen moved all in from the big blind for a little over $1 million, and Pham thought for a bit before he called with A Q. Nguyen showed A 5. The flop brought J 7 3, and Pham kept out in front with his queen kicker. The turn and river brought the K 3. Pham won the pot with his queen kicker and Nguyen was eliminated in third place, earning $388,660.

The action was now heads up, and the match-up everyone had come to see was a reality. Here is how the chip stacks looked before the initial battle of this heads-up war:

David Pham: $5,805,000
Dan Harrington: $3,895,000

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.

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 10 9. Pham showed K Q for a gutshot straight draw with two overcards. Pham is looking for a king, a queen, or a 10. 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 Pham doubled up twice to not only jump back into the championship conversation, but also to 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 event seat, and a $10,000 seat in the 2008 Legends of Poker. Pham took home $800,185 for his second-place finish and jumped into first place in the Card Player Player of the Year standings with the solid finish.

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