Daniel Daniyar emerged victorious in the Season XVI WPT Amsterdam €3,300 Main Event to win a first-place prize of €152,600 and a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions. Daniyar topped a field of 224 entries thanks to his fiercely well-timed aggression and became the WPT’s first-ever champion from the country of Kazakhstan.
Daniyar defeated Louis Salter in heads-up play to take the title, and he is very much looking forward to his trip to the US at the end of the season for the WPT Tournament of Champions.
“I’ve never played in America before,” Daniyar said. “I’m looking forward to going there for the WPT Tournament of Champions. And maybe it’s a good tradition or a good omen that a former WPT Amsterdam winner (Farid Yachou) has gone on to win the WPT Tournament of Champions.”
WPT Amsterdam Final Table Results
1st: Daniel Daniyar – €152,600 ($166,344)
2nd: Louis Salter – €106,710 ($116,314)
3rd: Jan Jansma – €65,570 ($71,471)
4th: Shyngis Satubayev – €39,885 ($43,475)
5th: Jorn Walthaus – €30,800 ($33,572)
6th: Jonathan Rozema – €25,525 ($27,822)
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“It was a very tough game, and a tough opponent [in Louis Salter] heads-up,” Daniyar said.
On his second time playing in Amsterdam, the Kazakh reached heads-up play with the chip lead after an aggressive performance through the first four eliminations. During heads-up play against Salter, the chip lead went back and forth several times, but that’s something Daniyar said he enjoys.
“It’s very hard to go up and down in chips like how we did in heads-up, but that’s gambling!” the new WPT Champions Club member said. “I love when you feel the adrenaline like that!”
Daniyar eliminated four of his five opponents at the final table, with Salter taking care of the other bust out. Daniyar busted Jonathan Rozema, Jorn Walthaus, and Jan Jansma en route to heads-up play, and then added the elimination of Salter to his pile of bounties when he won. It was the elimination of Jansma that proved the most exciting moment of the final table.
Jansma had raised from the small blind during three-handed play, and Daniyar reraised all in from the big blind. Jansma quickly called with pocket kings and had caught Daniyar with his hand in the cookie jar holding the 
. Primed for a big double up, Jansma fell behind when Daniyar flopped two pair. But then, Jansma vaulted back in front when the turn paired the board to give him a better two pair. Daniyar smacked one of his four outs on the river, though, and made a full house to bust Jansma in third place.
Jansma, the former bridge world champion and start-of-day chip leader, took home €65,570 for his finish, the largest score of his live tournament career.
Daniyar entered heads-up play with a 6-1 chip lead, but Salter hung around, doubling up through Daniyar a couple of times to get the chip stacks back to even. Salter would even go on to hold a sizable chip lead himself, but then Daniyar cracked another pair of pocket kings to all but end it.
This time around, it was a two-heart, jack-high flop that came about before the money went in. Daniyar had the ace-high flush draw with two hearts in his hand, and Salter had pocket kings. A heart on the river gave Daniyar a flush, and Salter was left with just seven big blinds.
Salter was eliminated shortly thereafter, earning a career-best score of €106,710.
“I want to thank the WPT staff, the organizers, and the dealers here at Holland Casino,” Daniyar added.
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Andreas Klatt Wins MonteDam Swing Leaderboard
With the conclusion of WPT Amsterdam came the end of the first-ever PokerStars Championship WPT MonteDam Swing, and it was German player Andreas Klatt stealing the show.
Klatt ran away with the leaderboard title, winning the 1,252-entry €1,100 National Championship in Monte Carlo, placing second in the 727-entry PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo €5,300 Main Event, and then taking 10th in the WPT Amsterdam Main Event. Those three performances scored him well over 200 points and secured him the top prize of a PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event package valued at €7,500.
Next up for the World Poker Tour is a trip to Los Angeles and The Gardens Casino for WPT500 Los Angeles May 21-31. That event features an affordable $565 buy-in, but it has a big $1 million guaranteed prize pool. After that, it’s a trip to Cannes, France, for the PMU.fr WPTDeepStacks Cannes festival May 30-June 4, featuring a €1,200 Main Event June 1-4.
For more information on those and other upcoming events, check out the event page on WPT.com.
Looking to win your way to a World Poker Tour event for your shot at becoming a WPT champion? Play for your chance on ClubWPT.com, where eligible VIP Members can play for over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month, including seats to WPT events, no purchase necessary.