In the recent running of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament, McLean pureprofitfour Karr (pictured at right) came out on top, collecting an $878,000 first place prize. The Indiana poker player outlasted longtime community member Andy BKiCe Seth heads-up. Karr took down the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance in January for $63,000. On the live felts, he’s won and taken second in $1,000 tournaments at the Bellagio for a combined $50,000. PocketFives.com caught up with Karr to recap his WPT win.

PocketFives.com: This is far and away your largest poker score to date. Tell us what it does for your career.
McLean Karr: It does a lot for my live game. I was held away in a cabin in Colorado playing online for a few months and sorted out a lot of things online. Back in January, I had a two-week period where I won a lot of tournaments and made a lot of money. I planned to play in the NAPT, but didn’t want the $5,000 Main Event to be the first live tournament I played in after being cold. To warm up, I played in some of the deep stack events, went 0-for-6, but got used to playing live.

I got deep in the NAPT and made a crazy play to go out in 60th. Liv Boeree busted me. After that, I needed to focus on my late play. Early on, I was doing a good job of getting chips, but I needed to shore up some leaks.

PocketFives.com: After finishing 62nd in the NAPT Main Event, you final tabled a $545 No Limit Hold’em Shootout during the L.A. Poker Classic with players like Andy Bloch and Will “The Thrill” Failla also at the final table. Tell us about that event.

McLean Karr: I missed the LAPT Main Event, but snuck into the Shootout and made the final table. I didn’t like how I went out, which was on a wild cold 4bet with A-Q. With the players involved, maybe I could have found a better spot. That was disappointing. The following Sunday, I went deep in the Sunday 500, but made a crazy bluff when I didn’t need to. Then, I sat down and tried to be self-critical. I talked to Maria Ho to find out how to be a better finisher.

PocketFives.com: Tell us about playing in the Bay 101 Shooting Star event.

McLean Karr: I went to Bay 101 and the original plan wasn’t to play in the $10K because I’m not backed and I wanted to practice good bankroll management. I learned a little bit about bankroll management the hard way and gave myself two shots to get in. In the first satellite, I got ninth place and went out on a coin flip. I got in the very next one they were spreading and ended up winning.

I had a good mindset of everything I wanted to do and wanted to play good sound fundamental poker. In Level 3, I got to stack Erik Seidel. What a confidence booster that was! That took away a lot of the jitters.

PocketFives.com: The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star final table was stacked, with players like Seth, UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth (pictured at left), and WSOP bracelet winner Matt Keikoan. Was it as tough as it seemed?

McLean Karr: All six of us were pros. Each of us had some cool accomplishments and arguably I was the least accomplished one there. It was definitely intimidating. When you play online, you’re playing against pros all of the time. You know that pros will process information in certain ways and so it makes it easier to develop a coherent strategy. At the same rate, you know that they’re doing the same thing.

I sat with Dan O’Brien throughout much of the tournament and he gave me a lot of trouble. He played that tournament really well. At the final table, I was able to pick off a squeezed pot, but he made some great laydowns against me and got good value too.

Andy Seth (pictured at right) – I remember him being the chip leader at the NAPT and here we were a few weeks later and I wasn’t surprised that he was at the top owning souls and making Hellmuth’s life hell. Knowing that Andy was such an accomplished player and knowing he made the final table after playing so well against Hellmuth was intimidating.

PocketFives.com: What’s your poker schedule from here?

McLean Karr: I made $130,000 online back in January. That was almost what I made the entire 2009 calendar year. Last year, I spent a lot of time grinding $75 45-man tournaments to build my bankroll. Online, I’ll open things up. I can play all of the rebuys and play in the SCOOP. I still plan to play more online than live, but I’ll be seen on the live circuit more as well.

PocketFives.com: How did you get started in poker?

McLean Karr: I originally learned poker from my grandfather when I was seven. He was a stringent ex-military guy. If you ever did anything wrong, he’d excuse you from the table. I didn’t really start playing cash games until I was in my early teens with family friends. One of them taught me how important aggression was and keeping your wits about you.

He tutored me throughout my teen years and then I went to the Air Force Academy. In your free time, you’re stuck hanging out, so we played cards. I had a leg up on some of the other guys, so I made a lot of money. I was stationed In New Jersey after I graduated and was close to Atlantic City, so I played there.

I also found PartyPoker, started playing online, and my passion for it grew. After I got out of the Air Force, I played on PartyPoker almost exclusively. I had some decent success and my parents wanted me to get a real job. I did some management consulting for two years, but I was working myself to the bone and making the same amount I was when I played poker.

PocketFives.com: How excited are you to head to the 2010 WSOP?

McLean Karr: I am so pumped. I would have been pumped even without this win, though. It’ll be a lot of fun. Our house will be a little nicer now out there. I am stoked about playing online and about the NAPT Mohegan Sun too. Those structures are great.