Seat 8: Danyel "David" Boyaciyan, 32, Amsterdam, Netherlands - 3,770,000
When Danyel "David" Boyaciyan won the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam last month for €382,200, it took the poker world by storm. Not only had a total unknown bested some of the best players in the world, but he wasn’t even a pro.
Boyaciyan is a banker by trade who won his seat to the MCOP in a live satellite. He said, “My advantage as an amateur is that I don’t know who anyone is, so I can’t get intimidated. But I have also been very lucky. I went into the Master Classics final thinking I’d come eighth or ninth. But I was never the short-stack, and that stimulated me to just play tight and see if I could creep up the places.”
Following his Amsterdam victory, Boyaciyan decided to play EPT Loutraki and Prague just to see how far his luck would run -- and finds himself back on another major final table within the month. But players who think Boyaciyan is only about luck might be chastened to discover that last summer he played two WPTs at the Bellagio and final tabled both.
He comes to the EPT Prague final armed with a lucky chip card protector bearing a photo of his 18-month-old daughter Elina. At the MCOP, he had a chip with a photo of his four-year-old son Joel. Both kids are at home being looked after by Boyaciyan’s wife Hilda.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars.