The 2010 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star, after four days of intense play, found itself with a final table more than worthy of its reputation.  Along with respected tournament pros like Matt Keikoan and Hasan Habib - each of whom already had tournament winnings in the millions before this final table even began - there was also Phil Hellmuth, perhaps the most lauded tournament poker pro of all time, sitting with the second largest stack and on the verge of winning his first WPT title of his legendary career.  Yet somehow, despite all the talent assembled in San Jose, it was arguably the least known player at the start of the day who would eventually end up with all the chips, as well as the WPT Bay 101 title and an amazing top prize worth nearly $900,000.

That player was Mclean Karr, a satellite qualifier with most of his significant wins thus far purely from the online world, who took down the event after a shocking final table that saw all of the big names crash early, and the lesser known pros rise up - perhaps to begin to create legends of their own. 

Unfortunately, in order for these newer pros to succeed it meant the established ones had to fail, and none failed as dramatically as Phil Hellmuth - though by no fault of his own.  He went out in a shocking sixth place, after a huge all-in hand, where his pocket Queens got crushed by Ace-Jack, thanks to an Ace that fell on the river.  After the hand, Hellmuth - possibly overwhelmed with emotion - literally walked away from the table and collapsed in a lump on the floor, where he laid for more than a few moments composing himself, before rising up and showing his true quality, thanking fans, conducting his interiews, and signing the final “Shooting Star” bounty T-shirt of the event.

That T-shirt went to the chip leader at the start of the day, Andy Seth, who with it claimed the record for the most bounties collected during the event, at four, worth approximately $20,000.  Along with that money, Seth, who before yesterday was known primarily as an online pro, also collected the second largest piece of a total prize pool worth more than $3.3 million, when he finally got eliminated in second place.

The final table finish positions for the 2010 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star were as follows:

1st.  Mclean Karr - $878,500

2nd.  Andy Seth - $521,500

3rd.  Dan O’Brien -  $292,800

4th.  Hasan Habib - $234,300

5th.  Matt Keikoan - $175,700

6th.  Phil Hellmuth - $117,000

For more information on the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament visit www.worldpokertour.com.

The final table of the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic concluded after 6 hours and less than 100 hands, with Hungarian player Andras Koroknai taking the title.

Koroknai, Hungary’s first WPT champion, outlasted a total field of 745 players to earn the tournament’s $1,788,040 top prize, surpassing numerous tournament and cash game legends along the way.  With the win, Andras also earned entry to the $25,000 WPT World Championship this April, where he'll now have the chance to battle many of those same pros again.

Second place went to Raymond Dolan, who only lasted one hand against Koroknai once heads-up play began, though to be fair to Raymond, Koroknai did have nearly ten-times more chips at that point in the match.  For his second place finish, Dolan earned over a million dollars as well. 

The final table finish positions for the 2010 World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic were as follows:

1st.  Andras Koroknai - $1,788,040

2nd.  Raymond Dolan - $1,002,710

3rd.  Tri Huynh - $665,140

4th.  Gevork Kasabyan - $450,580

5th.  Jean-Claude Moussa - $321,840

6th.  Michael Kamran - $246,740

For more information on the WPT LA Poker Classic visit www.worldpokertour.com.

The World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Stars main event- the only bounty tournament on the WPT calendar- has officially begun in San Jose, California, and once again the list of top players attending is substantial.

This interesting twist on a traditional poker tournament, usually features as many as 50 bountied pros, each worth $5,000 (and a t-shirt) to the player that knocks them out.  Some of the expected bounties for this year’s event include Daniel Negreanu, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow and PokerRoad Radio's own Gavin Smith.

The Bay 101 is a $10,000 buy-in, No-Limit Hold ‘em event, that starts players off with $20,000 in tournament chips and 60 minute levels- which increase to 90 and finally 120, as the tournament progresses.  Adding even more action to the proceedings, $10,000 is awarded to the Day 1 chip leader (from the multiple Day 1s), and all of Day 3 is played with only 6 competitors per table.

Past winners of the Bay 101 include Phil Gordon, Danny Nguyen, Nam Le, Ted Forrest and Brandon Cantu, and if one talks of past final tablists from the event, the list of top pros gets even longer including Gus Hansen, Chris Moneymaker, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Chad Brown, David Williams, J.J. Liu, Steve Sung and Jennifer Harman.

Last year’s winner was Steve Brecher, who outlasted a total field of 391 entrants- including the always tough Kathy Liebert who made it all the way into heads-up play- to score a top prize worth $1,025,500.

The final table finish positions for the 2009 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship were as follows:

1st.  Steve Brecher- $1,025,500

2nd.  Kathy Liebert- $550,000

3rd.  Chris Moore- $291,500

4th.  Tony Behari- $230,000

5th.  Thao Le- $180,000

6th.  Chau Vu- $135,000

Along with much of the rest of the poker media world, a full contingent of PokerRoadsters are already on the scene in San Jose, and are planning to deliver news, podcasts and videos right from the heart of the action all week.  To find out who will be the next WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star champion, stick with PokerRoad.com.

You know, it seems quite apropos that the World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational always takes place during the same tournament stop as Commerce Casino’s LA Poker Classic main event, because if there’s one thing “the Classic” does better than any other event on the WPT calendar, it’s create poker celebrities

For proof of the prestige associated with taking down this particular event - and the fame that often follows - one need only look at a list of past LAPC champions; a list that includes Phil Ivey, Eric Hershler, Alan Goehring, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Antonio Esfandiari and “The Great Dane” Gus Hansen.

But the LAPC isn’t all about the fame, there’s also usually quite a bit of money, for instance last year’s winner, Cornel Cimpan, earned $1,686,760, when he joined the impressive list of LAPC title holders, an amount he certainly earned after outlasting a total field of 696 entrants and defeating a tough final table that included both former World Series of Poker Main Event champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and former WPT champion Chris Karagulleyan.

The final table finish positions for the 2009 WPT L.A. Poker Classic were as follows:

1st.  Cornel Andrew Cimpan - $1,686,760

2nd.  Binh Nguyen - $935,424

3rd.  Mike Sowers - $654,797

4th.  Chris Karagulleyan - $430,963

5th.  Pat Walsh - $310,694

6th.  Chris “Jesus” Ferguson - $240,538

This year’s WPT L.A. Poker Classic Main Event once again features a $10,000 buy-in ($9,600 + $300 + $100), and will start players off with 20,000 in tournament chips.  The blinds will begin at 25/50, with 90-minute levels all the way to the final table.

The tournament will, for the second year in a row, be overseen by tournament director extraordinaire, Matt Savage; which pretty much guarantees good decisions and relatively happy pros as play progresses.

For all these reasons, the LA Poker Classic is always fun to keep an eye on, but this year things should be even more interesting, thanks to a certain highly publicized prop bet between PokerRoad’s own Joe Sebok, Jeff Madsen and Gavin Smith.  

For those uninitiated, a few months back, these three pros decided to make a last longer bet for the upcoming Classic but instead of betting cash as usual, they bet skin - or the possibility of inking skin to be more exact.  The player that lasts the longest of the three will have the honor of having their likeness permanently tattooed on the other two players that busted before him, with the player that busted first earning the right to two tattoos, one of each player’s face that still had chips when he didn’t.

No doubt about it, it’s a bold bet, and one that seems particularly dubious for PokerRoad President Sebok as both his rivals, Smith and Madsen, have been out in the trenches lately, not only cashing, but winning major events over the past two months, while Joe’s been in LA doing episodes of his popular cable show Poker2Nite.

This arguably insane tattoo bet is sure to be a recurring topic of conversation as PokerRoad descends upon the Commerce with its many podcasts, blogs, and videos, and it’s a conversation that will certainly be well worth tuning in to, for any true fan of tournament poker.

Preview by Mark Anderson