Kara got her start in show business when she moved from her native Canada to the U.K. in her early twenties in 1999. Far from the world of poker though, her first gig was as a presenter on a martial arts program in Britain, using her background as a martial artist to get her foot into the door of the world of television.
She eventually worked her way up to become a producer on the show, and continued on in television as the years went by, which ended up leading to her hosting the first televised backgammon series in 2005 called High Stakes Backgammon. Shortly after that, her interests started to turn to poker, which coincided with the explosion in popularity that poker was going through in those days.
Starting with becoming a host of the TV show “Poker Night Live” she also started doing some writing on the subject around that time, and she was successful at that as well, getting articles published in major poker magazines such as Card Player Magazine. She also continued her presence as a television poker host, including becoming a lead player in Sky Poker, a dedicated poker channel in the U.K., as well as becoming the host of the European Poker Tour programming, until she decided to leave the scene in 2007 to become a professional poker player.
Her success as a poker player though has been more muted, in spite of some modest successes at the table such as finishing second in the Irish Open, and a 6th place finish in the World Women’s Open, as well as being only the second woman to cash at the WSOP main event in back to back years.
Kara has accumulated about a half a million dollars in career winnings, which is certainly nothing to scoff at, and showing that she at least can play the game at a fairly high level and obviously knows what she’s doing at the poker table. Still though, as one of the most famous people in the poker media over the last few years, much of the fame and success that she has enjoyed has been a product of her media presence and less so from her poker playing success.
Kara’s career as a poker host continues to flourish though, and in 2009 after moving to California, where she currently lives, she was selected to join the prestigious Party Poker team, a role she still holds today. In 2010, she became co host of High Stakes Poker, which brought her face even more into the limelight, and also is a regular reporter now in ESPN’s World Series of Poker coverage.
Kara is very well established in the poker scene and is one of the most recognizable faces in poker today due to her extensive presence over the last few years. We will likely see a lot more of her as time goes by.
