Dwyte Pilgrim Wins Borgata Poker OpenPilgrim Takes Over First Place In POY Race |
|
Early Friday morning budding poker star Dwyte Pilgrim vaulted into first place in the Card Player Player of the Year Race (POY) with 5,576 points by winning the 2010 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open.
Pilgrim surpassed Tom Marchese for the top spot on the POY leader board, by outlasting a WPT record field of 1,042. Pilgrim took home $733,802 for his performance, nearly doubling his career tournament earnings.
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.
Here is a look at the final results:
1. Dwyte Pilgrim — $733,802
2. Kia Mohajeri — $440,945
3. Ofir Mor — $266,835
4. Brandon Novena — $223,475
5. Daniel Makowsky — $183,449
6. Ben Klier — $148,427
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
