POY: Dwyte Pilgrim Takes Player of the Year Lead at WPT Borgata Poker Open

A large tournament field creates a huge prize pool, and it also puts up for grabs a huge number of Card Player 2010 Player of the Year (POY) points. That was certainly the case at the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open, which set the record for the largest tournament field in WPT history with 1,042 participants.

The prize pool for the event was $3,438,600, and the top prize was $733,802. All of this came from a modest buy-in of $3,500. The winner of that top prize was Brooklyn-based professional Dwyte Pilgrim. He has been a POY contender all year, and now sits firmly in first place, thanks to the 1,800 points he was awarded for his victory in Atlantic City. He has 5,576 points and a lead of 810 points over his closest competitor, Thomas Marchese.

The number of final tables that Pilgrim has made this year is astounding. He has dominated the medium buy-in tournament scene, which consists of preliminary events at major tour stops, and has continued to be a staple at World Series of Poker Circuit events. It was only a matter of time before he captured a marquee tournament title.

Pilgrim has now played at 13 final tables (winning five of them) and earned $1,074,997 in prize money in POY-qualifying events. He has won an additional $67,138 and made two more final tables in non-qualifying tournaments. He now has $1,527,540 in career tournament earnings, and his 18 cashes this year are similar to what Men Nguyen did en route to winning a record four POY titles.

Pilgrim will be tough to catch coming down the stretch, because he will be playing in a lot of tournaments during the last couple of months of the year. The final major tournament of 2010, the $10,000 WSOP Circuit Regional Championship, will be held in Atlantic City at Harrah’s Casino, Dec. 19-22. Pilgrim certainly will play in that event, and if he can repeat his recent success on the Jersey Shore, he will be impossible to catch.

Here is the breakdown of prize money and POY points awarded at the WPT Borgata Poker Open final table:

Place Player Winnings Points
1 Dwyte Pilgrim $733,802 1,800
2 Kia Mohajeri $440,945 1,500
3 Ofir Mor $266,835 1,200
4 Brandon Novena $223,475 900
5 Daniel Makowsky $183,449 750
6 Ben Klier $148,427 600