Danny Iachan had only cashed three times at the World Series of Poker when he sat down for the 2025 Main Event, sporting a career-best WSOP finish of 234th place in the 2018 Milly Maker for $5,800. Now, just a week after surviving the massive Day 1D, Iachan has locked up his first six-figure prize and a chance at one of nine seats around Tuesday's Main Event final table.
The 31-year-old Baltimore native looked right at home in a comfortable green hoodie throughout Day 7 as he bagged up a top-ten chip stack of 56 big blinds for Sunday. All told, Iachan will add at least $360,000 to his career earnings of $87,539, and as much as $10,000,000 if he can outlast 23 other players over the next few days.
And thanks to an early flight, his mom will be on his side for the rest of the way.
'I know I can hang with them'
"I'm glad I'm still here," Iachan told us after he bagged. "I'm a little bit surprised, but also not. I'm surrounded by some really talented players, but I know I can hang with them."
It's not a lack of modesty. Iachan has been putting in the work.
"I’ve had a lot of reps in tournament poker and I’ve put in a pretty good amount of work. I'm sure some of these guys here probably work a little harder. I do have a day job, so it's not like I'm studying day in, day out."
Iachan is a data scientist by day and he's been playing poker since college. "I had some friends in my major who got me into a game. We had a little home game and went from there."
But the poker bug was planted long before school. Iachan grew up playing a lot of competitive chess and his family loved cards.
"I've always liked games. I played a lot of card games growing up, particularly hearts. We were kind of a big hearts family."
The love was shown on Saturday when Iachan's mother, Sue Royer, took an early plane from the East Coast to be by her son's side. We checked in with her early on Day 7 to find out what advice she had to give.
"I'm just telling him to have fun, relax, and be himself. He's very serious about it."
But he's having fun, she said. "He's studying hands when he has free time. He's checking in with his poker buddies to see if they have any feedback for him. It's fun."
Baltimore to Vegas
PokerGO cameras later caught up with Mom, who told the story of her sudden trip to Las Vegas.
"I was watching and as he got into Day 3 and Day 4 and then Day 5, I started thinking about when I could fly out. I’ve been going to bed on the East Coast before he finishes playing for the day. So I made my flight arrangements and I had to check in the morning if he was still in before I got on the plane."
Iachan's first visit to Las Vegas was to play in the WSOP when he was 21. His mom tagged along. "I went with him to support him and help him have a good experience, so I wanted to be here."
"(The support) means a lot," Iachan says. "My girlfriend was here earlier in the trip, but she had to leave before Day 2 due to her job. (My mom) is the first railbird deep in the Main."
The rail support also comes with the privileges of a son. "It's nice to have someone to bring me food, just talk to on break, do little things like that."
Iachan returns on Sunday with 56 big blinds for a dead sprint to one of the final nine seats. Cards go in the air at 1pm local time with a PokerGO livestream to follow on security delay. Be sure to check in again for PokerOrg coverage of Day 8 of the WSOP Main Event.
