Player of the Year: Pilgrim’s Progress

This year’s Borgata Poker Open eclipsed the record for the largest field in World Poker Tour history and catapulted Dwyte Pilgrim to the top of the Card Player Player of the Year (POY) table (see current standings in this issue).
The two day-one flights combined to have 1,042 players putting up the $3,500 buy-in and creating a prize pool of $3,438,600. The previous WPT attendance record was set at last year’s Borgata Poker Open, at 1,018 entrants.
Pilgrim surpassed Tom Marchese for the top spot on the POY leader board, by outlasting the field. He also took home $733,802 for his performance, nearly doubling his career tournament earnings.
As the tournament dénouement neared, WPT commentator Mike Sexton was threatening to force fellow commentator Vince Van Patten into a solo gig as he made his way to the final table, but his short stack finally gave out as he was eliminated in 20th place.
All eyes then turned to John D’Agostino, who was gunning for his third televised final table at Borgata. He too fell short, busting in 14th place.
Before the final table was formed, Pilgrim had to sweat the play of fellow POY contender Jeffrey Papola. Fortunately for Pilgrim, Papola bowed out on the final table bubble, putting him in third place in the POY race with 3,870 points, but also giving Pilgrim a chance to use his first WPT final table to change the POY race for himself.
When the final table was formed Pilgrim ran to his rail and yelled, “We’re gonna shock the world!” The mindset continued through his march to victory.
Here’s a look at the chip counts at the start of the final table.
Seat 1 Kia Mohajeri 4,225,000
Seat 2 Benjamin Klier 6,125,000
Seat 3 Ofir Mor 7,300,000
Seat 4 Brandon Novena 5,125,000
Seat 5 Dwyte Pilgrim 4,800,000
Seat 6 Daniel Makowsky 3,300,000

Klier was the first elimination at the final table. Klier was all in with pocket jacks versus the A-Q of Mohajeri, but the pocket pair failed to hold, resulting in Klier hitting the rail in sixth place. With the added chips Mohajeri was becoming a force at the table.
The next casualty was Makowsky. Makowsky entered the final table as the short stack with 3,300,000, and he was never able to find any traction.
Novena also couldn’t keep any momentum, as he eventually hit the rail when his pocket sixes lost a race to the K♣ Q♣ of Pilgrim.
After Pilgrim added to his stack, Mohajeri recorded another knockout with the elimination of Mor in third place.
Mohajeri raised to 2,000,000 from the small blind, and Mor moved all in for not much more. Mohajeri called with the 8♣ 7♣ and was live versus the A♣ 4♠ of Mor.
The board ran out K♦ 7♥ 3♦ 8♦ 5♦, giving Mohajeri the knockout and starting heads-up play.
The chip counts were nearly even when action began, but would sway back and forth over the course of a lengthy heads-up battle. However, the tournament finally came to a close when Pilgrim was on the right side of a cooler situation.
The hand began when Mohajeri raised to 1,200,000. Pilgrim made the call, and the flop came K♥ 10♠ 9♠. Pilgrim checked, Mohajeri bet 2,000,000, and Pilgrim called. The 7♦ fell on the turn, and Pilgrim bet 2,000,000. Mohajeri decided to move all in, and Pilgrim called instantly.
Pilgrim tabled the Q♥ J♠ for the nuts, while Mohajeri exposed the inferior K♠ 9♣ for two pair. The New York native needed to avoid Mohajeri improving to a full house. When the 5 landed on the felt, making it official, the newest WPT champion became emotional after his monumental accomplishment and started sobbing with happiness.
Earlier this year Pilgrim told Card Player, “I have worked the past two years to get my game to where it is right now. I’m doing what I do without the support behind me that a lot of players have and I’m competing with them.”
The final table results were:
First Dwyte Pilgrim $733,802
Second Kia M.ohajeri $440,945
Third Ofir Mor $266,835
Fourth Brandon Novena $223,475
Fifth Daniel Makowsky $183,449
Sixth Ben Klier $148,427