Kara Scott is taking the co-host reins at one of the most popular poker shows on television, the Game Show Network’s “High Stakes Poker”. Kara has long been a favorite among poker pros, poker players, and poker fans alike, and she will be serving as the “eyes and ears” of the viewers on the floor of HSP. Unlike many shows that cast the hostess position based on how well a woman can fill out evening wear, GSN went with a woman who not only is uniquely attractive, but also has credibility in the sport, and the respect of the players she will be interviewing. Ms. Scott took the opportunity to speak with us about the new season of High Stakes Poker and the game itself.
br> Launchpoker: First of all, when High Stakes Poker fired A.J. Benza, a lot of people expressed interest in taking his place. How did you become the new hostess of High Stakes Poker? Kara Scott: Well, GSN spoke to me about it. I think that they’ve seen some of the work that I’ve been doing in Europe. I’ve been working in poker TV for quite a while over there. They were looking for someone to create a new role on High Stakes. To kind of be the viewer’s eyes and ears inside the room and ask the questions of the players that were a little bit more strategy oriented. So they were looking for someone with a bit more poker understanding who could be there in the room. Thankfully, they chose me.
Launchpoker: You mentioned that they were looking to create a new role. How do you see your role as different then from the previous co-host?Kara Scott: They really are completely different. I know there was a lot of talk that I was replacing him, but I couldn’t for one, and I definitely am not. I’m there, sort of on the floor, with the players. And while they’re playing, obviously in cash games, they go on for hours and hour and hours and hours, so the players take breaks. While they’re taking their breaks, they come and speak to me about very specific hands. So, it might be questions like “Why did you make the size of the bet you did there?” “Would you have done that against one of the other players or was that player specific?” “What if he had raised you a different amount on that street?” You know, something very specific. So I’m kind of there more to get the players to open up a little bit about their game and their strategy, which obviously pro players aren’t always entirely happy to do, but they were great about it.
Launchpoker: How big was the temptation to jump in and play yourself?Kara Scott: ~Laughs~ I would have to be insane! Oh my God. The lineup is insane. These players are amazing. As much as I’d love to play at that level, no chance. I’m pretty happy just watching the money fly all over the tables.
Launchpoker: You are not the first person I have heard that from. Kara Scott: I’m not surprised, it’s pretty intimidating. Even just talking to the guys about the hands, not even being involved in them or having to make the decisions myself, but trying to get to the point where I can understand the level they’re thinking at enough to ask a question that’s relevant, even that’s pretty intimidating. These guys, they’re sharks, they’re amazing to watch.
Launchpoker: Now, you’re a really great tournament player, and I am sure you are extremely skilled at cash games yourself. What do you think is the difference between a good tournament player and a good cash game player?Kara Scott: Oh, that’s a tough one. People do tend to favor one over the other. I’m personally more of a tournament player. I think they are very different. I think, and I’m trying to be really politically correct here, a lot of times people give credit to cash game players that they don’t give to tournament players. Variance is huge, and you win a tournament, and you could be a fantastic tournament player, or you could have gotten really lucky at key spots. And obviously that has to happen in tournament play. In the long run, cash game players are going to show those results in a firm way. I am trying to be really politically correct here ~laughs~. We had a few tournament players, or people who are more of tournament players at High Stakes Poker and you could see a little bit of a difference between them. Even just in terms of bet sizing and the way they are thinking through hands does look to be slightly different. I think their used to, obviously, the different structures. The tournament players might not be quite as comfortable in a cash game format.
Launchpoker: Is there anyone in particular who, when you watch them lose a big hand, it brings a smile to your face?Kara Scott: ~laughs~ That’s so mean! I’ll tell you who is hard to watch lose. I have been a fan of High Stakes Poker right from the beginning. It’s kind of the first poker TV show that I ever watched actually. So watching Daniel Negreanu lose and it becoming sort of like “The Curse of High Stakes” for him, that’s always really tough. So I was curious to see how he’d walk into the room for this season and if it does affect someone of his experience. Obviously, it shouldn’t, it’s such short term results, they’re playing live, there’s not that many hands involved, everyday. Does it affect someone like that? It was interesting to watch. He is quite the professional.
Launchpoker: You are known for being a poker pundit, but when you started your broadcast career it was not in poker. You started on "Now is the Time: Night of Combat". I think it is safe to say that you can kick they rear of most people reading this.Kara Scott: Ten years ago, maybe. I’m pretty lazy now. I used to train as a Thai boxer. I was involved at a gym in Canada, where I started learning about it. I even got into the ring a few times. I managed to do six bouts, and that was great fun, but I was a lot younger then, and I haven’t done that in a long time.
Launchpoker: How did you make the leap from that to poker?Kara Scott: Well, I was getting involved in more TV production. I was hosting a martial arts show which I wound up producing as well, and I was really enjoying all of that, and kind of out of the blue I got asked to do a show about backgammon. It was the “World Series of Backgammon” of all things in Monte Carlo. This is, gosh, going back quite a few years now, I think maybe five years. So I did that. It was picked up by a poker channel in England called “Poker Zone”. They really liked it, and they liked me, and they asked me to come in, and said “are you willing to learn about poker, cause we’d love to have you come on the show, join the other couple of girls who are hostesses on these shows, and you would be asking the questions from the point of view of a novice”, which is easy when you are a novice. So it just kind of went from there. I started doing that and I loved poker. I became really good friends with one of the pros on that show. He taught me how to play poker, and to this day he is my poker mentor and my best friend. His name is Nick Wealthall. I was just really lucky to be able to move into it. I think the aggression and the risk factor from the Thai boxing; it does cross over to poker. It’s something that I enjoyed. I was a bit of a risk junkie, I guess, at that point. Poker really does feed that buzz. You’re shoving all-in with practically nothing, or just nothing, and when I first started playing, that’s kind of how I played. I was a little bit Kamikaze.
Launchpoker: In 2008, you finised 104th overall in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Some people play their entire lives and don’t get a payday like that or that close to WSOP’s top prize. How did you go from being a novice to contending at that level so quickly?Kara Scott: Well partly it’s going to be variance. To be flat out honest about it, cause I hadn’t played almost any big events at the point. I think I played a couple in my life. So variance had a lot to do with it. I had a hand on day one, against a pro, where it could have gone either way. I had a set, he had a flush draw. It was I either go out or I get a nice big stack. I got a nice big stack. I went on to go really deep, which was awesome. A lot of that is variance. On the other hand, my job means that I spend most of my days talking to great poker players and watching poker. I was working for another show over in England, a couple of different shows for poker, and I’d spend every day, all day, watching people play. Sometimes I’d get to see hole cards if I was watching in the truck, but most of the time I wasn’t. I was watching it trying to figure out what people had based how they were acting. Then I would be talking to them about their hand afterwards, for mostly the show and for myself, “what were you putting that guy on? What sort of range did you think he had there? Why did you do what you did?” And that accelerated my game immensely.
Launchpoker: You have had the chance to watch some of the best high stakes players in history. How much of it is luck, and how much of it is these players are just that good?Kara Scott: Oh, they are just that good. They really are. It takes an awful lot of hands to be able to say this person has a win rate that shows. They are a winner in this game. These guys have that. They play each other all the time. They play high stakes all the time, whether it’s live or online. And you can just tell watching them, even if they get unlucky in a hand, this is just the way poker is. The numbers can work for you and against you. In the long run they don’t matter so much as long as you got the edge, and you can see these guys have the edge.
This season of High Stakes Poker promises to some of the most exciting poker on television. Be sure to either tune in or set your Tivo to record it. Season 6 starts on February 14th, 2010, at 8PM (EST), on the Game Show Network. We thank Kara Scott for her time and look forward to seeing what this season has to offer.
