(Is) Dwyte Pilgrim: the Best Minor League Pro in Poker (?)
Dwyte Pilgrim just won his third WSOP-Circuit gold ring — an unprecedented impressive feat. I sensed he was doing something special back in May, when ESPN was conducting its fantasy WSOP draft. Thought I nabbed a real gem for the 71st pick.
WSOP Fantasy Draft – May 22, 2009
[audio:https://pokerati.com/wp-content/plugins/pilgrim-pick.mp3|titles=pilgrim-pick]
LOL, Go ESPN scouting team!
Here’s an interview after his most recent win in a $300+40 NLH at WSOP-Rincon (in San Diego).
He started out this year pretty friggin’ amazingly. Take a look at his Hendon Mob stats:
* a victory in a $300 event at the Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi
* a 2nd-place in a $1k event three days later
* a final table in the $5k main event at WSOP-Tunica
* a victory in a $1,500 event at Foxwoods
* a final table in a Venetian Deep Stacks event
* a semi-deep run in the NAPT-Venetian main event
* a final table at the Chicago Poker Classic main event.
All this building up to his win a few days ago in San Diego. He also won the main event at WSOP-Rincon last year. In fact, since his first final table some 15 months ago, Pilgrim’s had only one brief drought — June through August 2009 — during the WSOP. (Doh!)
He hasn’t even crossed the million-dollar mark yet in lifetime winnings. But with four 1st places and eight final tables so far in 2010, he’s currently 4th in CardPlayer’s Player of the Year race.
You can follow @DwytePilgrim here.
Jess says:
March 29th, 2010 at 2:01pm
Three rings is actually not that unprecedented. Both Men Nguyen and Mark Smith have four rings apiece and Chris Ferguson has three rings, all of which came in $5K+ buy-in events.
So, no offense to Dwyte, who is a very, very nice man, but I am not getting why we are flipping out about this. Yes, Mr. Pilgrim is certainly on a heater over the past 15 months, but there are other players like Smith (who has 2 wins and five FTs this WSOPC season) or Chris Klodnicki (who has final tabled the AC WSOPC Main Event 3 times in a row and won once) that are posting similarly impressive results over a comparable span of time.
I really don’t mean to sound like a Pilgrim hater, I just think it is fascinating that we’ve latched onto him as the “it” player of the WSOPC while other players get overlooked. While Dwyte often claims he is not marketed properly, I think he is actually marketing himself exceptionally well getting all this coverage when other people are not.
/rant = )
DanM says:
March 29th, 2010 at 2:12pm
Wow, (gulp), I gotta think about all that. I feel like an ESPN analyst with my questionable assessment based on imperfect information! Who do you think you are – Kevin Mathers?
I’ll differentiate Men the Master and Chris Ferguson — saying they are already clearly Major League pros. So while they show they can win in these events, it’s not part of a progressive climb, as Pilgrim has been on for the last year+.
It just seems like it has been a pretty exciting WSOP-Rincon … with two other dudes winning their second rings in consecutive events. Shaping up to be a main-event to watch … albeit not a biggie tournament in the scheme of things. John Land might have a little Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire thing going with Pilgrim. And Paul Wasicka’s sister with a 2nd-place finish …
In general, by the way, I think the rings look pretty stupid as a trophy … until you have more than one.
Pilgrim hater.
Kevin Mathers says:
March 29th, 2010 at 2:50pm
From the inevitable 2+2 thread that comes up:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=17788083&postcount=49
DanM says:
March 29th, 2010 at 3:07pm
ooh, interesting … allegations of chop-fixing make me even more interested in what’s shaking down in the minors!
Kevin Mathers says:
March 29th, 2010 at 6:58pm
The field for the 5k event was 70, down from 106 last year when Dwyte Pilgrim won.
Cheyne Capital says:
March 30th, 2010 at 7:02am
it may be only 70 but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be any easier…