Talk:Dan Harrington

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Is he genuinely related to Padraig Harrington? I thought that was the football quarterback Joey Harrington who is Padraig's cousin.

You should sign your comments using ~~~~ next time. Yes, he is related to him. He has, in print and on TV, recounted the tale of his WSOP win saying that Padraig's victory in a tournament that year was considered more important by some members of his family, despite the fact that Dan's winnings were something like 10x the amount of Padraig's. CryptoDerk 23:09, Dec 16, 2004 (UTC)

How do you cheat at Roulette? I know there were some MIT teams cheating at Blackjack... Evercat 11:20, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I've heard about an MIT team that cheated at roulette by using laser scanners to find the ball's speed and quickly calculating which quadrant or so the ball will come to rest in, giving good enough odds to show a profit. Now, I am a) not certain I believe this, and b) have not heard that Dan Harrington was involved, but at the very least it seems possible. --Zarvok | Talk 13:31, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

Another way of "cheating" (which in my opinion isn't cheating, merely using information to your advantage) is to watch the wheel and keep statistics over which numbers come up more often than others. Due to the old handmade roulette wheels not being 100% circular some numbers are likely to win more often than others. Knowing which numbers win more often will give you a statistical advantage. I know this trick has been done both in Europe and in North America. But I also know laser technology (which is in fact cheating) has been used. I don't know which the MIT team used. JesperLærke 11:31, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone have a reference for the part about cheating at roulette? Couldn't find anything with google. Dze27 08:45, July 22, 2005 (UTC)

I don't know that Harrington was involved, but I have a book that describes the roulette cheating thing. It's called The Eudaemonic Pie. You can find it on amazon. The book isn't as exciting as one would think. Most of it describes the preparation, training, etc. I don't recall them using lasers, just computers in their toes and some infrared communication from one person to another. They set parameters relating to the wheel speed, tilt, etc. and after their parameters were set, they'd do quadrant betting. When they finally get around to talking about actually USING the thing in actual casinos it's almost the end of the book. Anyway, I don't have the book on me right now, but I can't recall it making any mention of Harrington. CryptoDerk 14:30, July 22, 2005 (UTC)

Found this page which corroborates the roulette story: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/02/poker.html. In part:

He joined forces with a small "Mission Impossible" team that relied on MIT-derived mathematical formulas to generate 
precise calculations for winning at roulette. They enjoyed a 40% edge on each spin -- until the Sands Hotel Casino in 
Atlantic City caught them.

And, on the general subject of cheating at roulette, there was this crew who took a UK casino for over a million pounds last year: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4069629.stm Dze27 23:08, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

I was observing all of Harringtons WSOP final tables and got the impression from the interviews that he might have some form of high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome... just something I got from comparing those I know in my personal life with those conditions to how Harrington acted. Is that something someone could look into? -AKMask 18:48, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

I've no idea how anyone could prove it unless something has been said in interviews. Essexmutant 20:55, 6 March 2006 (UTC)