High Stakes Poker has announced that Kara Scott will be taking the chair that used to be occupied by the ever unfortunate A.J. Benza. Now that the WSOP is over, the firing of Benza and the search for his replacement was some of the more intriguing poker news that was worth following. Of the famous poker stars available for the post, Kara Scott was a pretty spiffy pick. Kara has the background and accomplishments as a poker pro that should keep her from getting yelled at by Gabe Kaplan. She also has the type of sex appeal that can inspire the sort of thoughts among their male audience that would put a good sexual harassment lawyer in a brand new tax bracket. This is a contrast to Mr. Benza, who just made people think that he could only be useful in a reality that included Soylent Green. Personally I have no problem with the choice of Kara Scott; she is great. I respectively question the wisdom of the timing of this particular piece of poker news.
It was only natural that a woman would occupy the seat next to Gabe Kaplan. Poker After Dark and other such shows have done well with a hostess being part of the mix. That is just the reality of catering to a male dominated audience. I think maybe High Stakes Poker made the announcement of Kara Scott too soon though. The rumor mill was generating a lot of buzz around the upcoming season of High Stakes Poker, and every time the names of famous poker stars popped up as a possible hostess for the show, it made news. This was a lot of free publicity. There may have been some value in stringing this out, and having a few timely “leaks” from “unnamed sources close to High Stakes Poker” about who the new hostess would be. Had someone thrown out the name Shana Hiatt into the mix, there certainly would have been an even bigger buzz around the whole topic. Maybe they missed an opportunity here. We have been granted an interview with the show producers in a week or so, and next Januarly we will be talking to Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Scott. So maybe we should ask them about it.
In the end, they hired a really good poker pro to take the co-host seat, and Poker After Dark’s, Leeann Tweeden, now has a little competition for the title of hottest woman on poker television.
