Let's face a simple fact of life here, folks: in the world of high stakes poker, a nickname goes a long way towards defining a player. It may not be fair, as some of us have learned from our own lives. Why, when I was just in the fourth grade, I was branded with a nickname which was totally inaccurate in representing my personality and my accomplishments. And yet, it stuck and I had to answer to that odious name until I was old enough to move to another state. (No, I am not going to tell you what it was.)

Anyway, it is pretty safe to speculate that if you're a professional poker player and your nickname is "Action," you have generated some serious respect from your colleagues. Such is the case with Dan Harrington.

Perhaps it is the sheer versatility of competition which Harrington commands that is one of the key factors behind his studly handle. Aside from being a universally recognized poker champion, Harrington is a champion backgammon player and a U.S. chess master. It's true that his background is not entirely free of scandal or controversy. During his wayward youth Dan was a member of an MIT team that cheated at roulette. But with time comes wisdom and thus Dan has developed into one of the most utterly dominating poker players on the scene.

It was in the fine year of 1995 that Harrington won the main event at the World Series of Poker, taking home a tidy sum of $1,000,000. Since then, he has sat at the final table all of three additional times, in 1997, 2003 and 2004. In all of those times, he has finished within the top ten, never are placing lower than sixth. In 2004, he also won a bracelet in the $2,500 no-limit Texas Hold'em event.

If you should find yourself at a major poker tournament and want to identify Dan Harrington, all you need to look for is his trusty green Boston Red Sox cap, which some experts speculate is epoxied onto his skull. Another thing to watch out for, though less obvious than the cap, is a very tight/aggressive style of play. Many champions of recent years have a looser approach to the game, but Dan has shown that a conservative style, when matched with technical brilliance and the heart of the winner, can be virtually impossible to beat.