Tournament: McLean Karr wins WPT Shooting Stars

Until recently, poker pro McLean Karr was more famous for his relationship with fellow pro and reality TV star Maria Ho than he was for his own accomplishments at the tables. With his win at the World Poker Tour Shooting Stars event at the Bay 101 casino in San Jose, California, he can stake his own claim to fame.

Karr can also lay claim to US$878,500 in first-prize money and a seat at the US$25,000 buy-in World Poker Tour Championship at Bellagio in Las Vegas later this spring. In this tournament's special format, which rewarded players who knocked out designated "stars" with a US$5,000 bounty, Karr added another US$15,000 with his knockouts of Erik Seidel, Greg Mueller and "Miami" John Cernuto.

The biggest surprise of the final table came when Phil Hellmuth started the day in second place. One of the feats that had eluded the eleven-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner throughout his career was a World Poker Tour title. He failed to meet his own lofty expectations when he went out in sixth place, earning $117,000. As usual with the "Poker Brat", what he lacked in finishing power, he more than made up for in theatrics.

With blinds at 10,000 and 20,000 and a 3,000 ante, online pro Andy Seth pushed in all of his chips with ace-jack of clubs. Hellmuth called with pocket queens, hoping to double his chip stack. Hellmuth was in the lead, until the river showed the ace of hearts. After he walked off the stage, Hellmuth collapsed in a backstage area, devastated by the bad beat.

Meanwhile, Seth collected his fourth bounty of the no-limit Texas Hold'em tournament, including former WSOP Main Event Champions Jerry Yang (2007), Scotty Nguyen (1998) and Hellmuth (1989). He added another US$20,000 to his second-place prize money of US$521,000.

On the final hand of the event, Seth could not produce another bad beat to save his tournament life. He pushed all-in with pocket fours and Karr called with pocket eights. The board came Ks 10s 3d Ac Ah, giving Karr his first WPT title and biggest cash of his young career.

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