Pilgrim Takes Down Borgata Poker Open Title

Dwyte Pilgrim finished strong to win the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Poker Open, besting a record field of 1,042 players to win the $733,802 first prize.

According to Card Player Magazine, Pilgrim now leads their Player of the Year standings, as this win comes on the heels of a year of strong play by Pilgrim. However, nothing the Brooklyn poker pro had accomplished before this week came close to winning a World Poker Tour title.

Heading into the final table, Pilgrim was 4^th in chips. However, the table was rather well balanced; with the leader (Ofir Mor) holding just 7.3 million chips, and the short stack on 3.3 million, it was truly anyone’s game.

Mor was eventually eliminated in 3^rd place, leaving Pilgrim to go heads up against Kia Mohajeri. Going into heads up play, the two players were approximately equal in chips. This gave rise to a lengthy heads-up contest, with the chip lead changing hands several times before Pilgrim was able to put away the tournament.

On the final hand, Mohajeri raised to 1.2 million before the flop, which Pilgrim called. On a KT9 flop, Pilgrim checked. Mohajeri bet 2 million, which Pilgrim once again called. The turn was a 7, which Pilgrim bet 2 million at. Mohajeri raised all-in, and Pilgrim called instantly.

As it happened, the hand was a massive cooler for Mohajeri. Pilgram flipped over QJ for the nut straight, while Mohajeri help K9 for two pair. Mohajeri had a chance to catch up by improving to a full house on the river, but when a 5 fell as the final card, Pilgrim was officially named the 2010 Borgata Poker Open champion. Mohajeri made $440,945 for second place.

For Pilgrim, the victory added a signature win to what had already been a stellar performance in 2010. While he had not won any major events, Pilgrim had many high cashes and wins in smaller events, including three cashes at the World Series of Poker, and one final table during the series. His previous biggest win was a 1^st place finish at the 2009 WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s Rincon in San Diego. This win brings his total lifetime winnings to over $1.5 million.