Mclean Karr Finds WPT Success at Stacked Final Table

Level 31: 50,000-100,000, 10,000 ante

The six players at the Bay 101 Shooting Star ran the gamut when it came to skill and experience. Poker legend Phil Hellmuth was the last Shooting Star remaining in the field and the clear headliner at the final table, but Hasan Habib and Matt Keikoan have been a presence on the live tournament circuit for some time as well. On the other end of the spectrum, there were three young guns in the form of Andy “BKiCe” Seth, Dan O’Brien and McLean Karr. O’Brien had come close to WPT glory before, including an 11th place finish here in San Jose last season. Seth came up just sort of a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2009. Karr was arguably the least experienced live tournament player at the table. This was just his second WPT event and he satellited his way in for just $1,200.

If this year’s Bay 101 Shooting Star final table taught us anything, it is that though experience is always a good thing to have, it doesn’t count for everything. Phil Hellmuth’s dramatic elimination in 6th place is a perfect example. The 11-time WSOP bracelet winner was making his 4th WPT final table appearance and began the day second in chips. Hellmuth fans thought a title was inevitable, but after a rough start in which he lost a chunk of his stack, Hellmuth was in a vulnerable position when he called Seth’s all-in shove holding pocket queens to Seth’s A-J. The queens looked good on the flop and turn, but the river brought that dreaded bullet that ended Hellmuth’s chances of grabbing his first career WPT title. After the river fell, Hellmuth sat in stunned silence before shaking hands, then dropped to his knees, overwhelmed by the emotion of the situation. As he lay curled up on the floor, the players and audience watched unaware of how to proceed. Eventually, Hellmuth composed himself enough to make a graceful exit, even stopping to sign some autographs before heading home. News quickly spread around the poker universe about the brutal beat though and Team PartyPoker Pro Tony G was blogging on the PartyPoker Blog about the episode before the event was even over.

With Hellmuth gone, the table was a little quieter, but still friendly and lively. Matt Keikoan was the next player to fall, finally succumbing to a day-long battle on the short stack. He pushed with A-7 and Andy Seth called with pocket nines. The nines held to eliminate Keikoan, leaving Habib as the last old-schooler in the field. His stay would be a short-lived one too. Habib began the day as one of the shorter stacks, but found a way to chip up to over a million chips. His stack dwindled back down though, making him the one at risk when he got it all-in holding K10 to McLean’s 24 on a J22 flop. The trips held to eliminate Habib and give Karr the substantial chip lead headed into three-handed play.

Three handed play would go on a while as O’Brien and Seth both jockeyed to set themselves up for heads-up battle. O’Brien doubled through Seth to stay alive, then Seth doubled through Karr to keep his hopes at a title intact. Karr dashed O’Brien’s WPT title hopes when he picked off a bluff from O’Brien to knock him out in third place and take a substantial chip lead into heads-up play.
Seth would not go down without a fight though. He doubled up when his J9 managed to outflop Karr’s A4 and after a long and trying heads-up battle, he even managed to wrestle the chip lead from his opponent. As the match went on into the night, the two were neck and neck and it was anybody’s game. The decisive hand of the match came when Seth shoved all-in with pocket fours and Karr called with pocket eights having Seth covered. The snowmen held as the board ran out K103AA and the Bay 101 had its new champion.  Seth, meanwhile, finished in 2nd place, but can claim the honor of being the top bounty hunter, having eliminated four different Shooting Stars over the course of the event.

Karr proved to be what is arguably one the most gracious and grateful WPT winners we’ve had in recent memory. Karr was on the verge of elimination early in Day 3, having come into the play-down day with just 30,000 chips (ten big blinds). He was all smiles as he tripled and doubled his way up the chip counts and carried that positive attitude right on through to the final table and into the winner’s circle. As Karr posed for pictures and answered interview questions, he continued to shower praise on anyone and everyone around him whether it be his good friend Maria Ho, the tournament staff, Tournament Director Matt Savage, his rowdy crowd of railbirds and even the WPT crew. Even for a guy who just won $878,500, Karr was remarkably cheerful and appreciative and was already looking ahead to playing in the WPT Championship next month.

Here are the final table results from the Season VIII Bay 101 Shooting Star event:

1st:  McLean Karr  -  $878,500
2nd:  Andy "BKiCe" Seth  -  $521,200
3rd:  Dan O'Brien  -  $292,800
4th:  Hasan Habib  -  $234,300
5th:  Matt Keikoan  -  $175,700
6th:  Phil Hellmuth  -  $117,000