Over the past few years, Kara Scott has become one of the most popular TV poker personalities and players in the game. For starters, she has served as a presenter for the shows "Poker Night Live," "High Stakes Poker," the "World Series of Backgammon," and ESPN's coverage of the WSOP Main Event.

In addition to her television work, Scott also knows how to play since she's earned $571,179 in live poker tournament winnings. Her crowning achievement was finishing second in the 2009 Irish Open Main Event.

Based on all of her accomplishments in the poker world, most people don't really realize that Scott began her career as a school teacher. She recently sat down with the UK's Mirror to discuss her humble beginnings. When asked how she got into the TV world, Scott stated:

It's not something I consciously thought about. I was very shy when I was younger, so I became a teacher and moved to England. But after teaching for a while it felt too stressful, and I realized that I didn't want to do it anymore.

I was working in a really tough school and needed a break so I changed from being a full-time to supply teacher, and this sports show kind of came out from nowhere. I used to train as a Thai Boxer, and I returned to it for stress relief. My trainer said he knew a guy who was looking for hosts to present this Martial Arts show, someone who actually knew about it. 

From here, Scott discussed how the martial arts program didn't pay much, and she was struggling to cover bills and a mortgage. She got lucky though and landed a job with the World Series of Backgammon. After this, she went on to host Poker Night Live and began her ascent through the TV ranks.

It's interesting to see how somebody like Kara Scott - who's world-famous now - once struggled in a teaching career. But based on how things turned out, it's likely that she wouldn't change much from her career path.