Seat 1: David Boyaciyan, 33, Amsterdam, Netherlands – 4,635,000
It’s here we go again for Dutch banker David Boyaciyan, who was runner-up here at EPT Prague last season. Boyaciyan, a banker by trade, first took the poker world by storm when he won the Amsterdam Master Classics in November 2011 for €382,200.
Not only had a total unknown bested some of the best players in the world, but he wasn’t even a pro. A month later and he was at it again, finishing second to EPT8 Prague champion Martin Finger. That €535,000 prize is still Boyaciyan’s biggest cash to date but he has also made two WPT Bellagio finals, the Partouche final and finished 11th in the PCA €2k NL Turbo in January.
Boyaciyan, who took a 12-month sabbatical from work this year to focus on poker, won his seat in a €550 live satellite in Prague. He has played all three EPTs this season as well as the WSOP in the summer.
He is married with two children – Joel, 5, and Elina, 2.