In the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star event’s final table, Mclean Karr bested a talented final table that included UB.com pro and 11-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.
Hellmuth’s stay at the televised feature table was short-lived. After entering as the second largest stack, “The Poker Brat” hit the rails in sixth place; Hellmuth still pocketed $117,000 for his efforts. With blinds of 10,000-20,000 and an ante of 3,000, Hellmuth called from the small blind pre-flop with pocket queens and chip leader Andy “BKiCe” Seth made it 80,000 from the big blind. Hellmuth raised to 280,000 before Seth shoved all-in. Hellmuth called for his tournament life and was in prime position to double up against Seth’s A-J.
The flop came K-6-5, keeping Hellmuth out in front, and the turn was a ten. Needing to catch an ace on the river to send the decorated industry veteran packing, Seth saw the ace of hearts hit the board, sending Hellmuth out in dramatic fashion. As you’d expect with Hellmuth, his exit was far from quiet. Coverage found on the WPT’s website explains, “Then, Hellmuth steps off the stage, kneels down, and drops down to the floor in a little ball. The other players expected a blowup, but not this. Someone asks if he needs a doctor and Seth asks, ‘Do you think he’ll sign my bounty shirt?’” Seth collected his fourth $5,000 bounty of the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament.
Matt Keikoan was bounced in fifth place from the $10,000 buy-in WPT event. Keikoan shoved pre-flop with A-7 and received a call from Seth, who held pocket nines. Both players made a flush by the river, but Seth’s nines were enough to scoop the pot and send Keikoan out in fifth place for $175,000. It was Keikoan’s first WPT final table appearance.
Hasan Habib, who has reached the final table of the WPT Championship twice, called all-in on a flop of J-2-2 with two clubs, turning over K-10 of clubs for a flush draw. Karr held 4-2 of spades for trip deuces and a jack of spades on the turn improved the tournament’s eventual winner to a full house. The river was the four of clubs, filling Habib’s flush, but he was still sent away $234,000 richer for his wear. Karr pulled away from the pack after scooping Habib’s stack.
Seventy-five hands later, Dan O’Brien committed his 19 big blind stack with just J-2 of diamonds. He was up against Karr’s wired pair of sevens and the flop came 5-5-3. A ten on the turn left O’Brien drawing to a jack on the river, but an eight of spades instead fell. O’Brien boosted his bankroll by $292,000 and Karr held a 5:2 chip lead over Seth entering heads-up play.
Heads-up action at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event lasted 56 hands. In the tournament’s final pot, Seth pushed before the flop with pocket fours, but ran into Karr’s pocket eights. The board ran out K-10-3-A-A and Karr took down his first WPT title. Seth, meanwhile, recorded his largest WPT cash to date. Here were the final payouts in the San Jose, California poker tournament, which will air as part of Season 8 of the WPT on Fox Sports Net:
1st Place: Mclean Karr – $878,500
2nd Place: Andy “BKiCe” Seth – $521,200
3rd Place: Dan O’Brien – $292,800
4th Place: Hasan Habib – $234,300
5th Place: Matt Keikoan – $175,700
6th Place: Phil Hellmuth – $117,000
Amazingly, Karr was the tournament’s short stack with 27 players remaining. On his comeback, Karr told WPT Live Updates Hostess Jacque following his win, “I was on life support. I got it in good, tripled up, won a few coin flips, and thanks to this great structure… once you get a few chips back, you have a shot again.”
Next up for the WPT is a trip to the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana for the Hollywood Poker Open. The $10,000 buy-in Ohio Valley tournament kicks off on March 20th and will crown a champion four days later.
