Maria Ho

Maria Ho (born March 6, 1983 in Taipei, Taiwan)[3] is a Taiwanese-American poker player and television host/commentator. One of the top ranked female poker players in the world, and a Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductee,[4] she has over $5,000,000 in live tournament winnings.

Maria Ho
Maria Ho Accepts Global Poker Award
Nickname(s)None
ResidenceArcadia, California, U.S.
BornMarch 6, 1983 (1983-03-06) (age 40)
Taipei, Taiwan
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)None
Final table(s)8
Money finish(es)80[1]
Highest ITM
Main Event finish		22nd, 2020
World Poker Tour
Title(s)1
Final table(s)4
Money finish(es)14[2]

In 2011 she became the number 2 ranked female player in the world[5] and has actively held her place in the Top 20 Women's Yearly Leaderboard since 2016.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Ho's live tournament poker record includes 80 WSOP cashes,[1] 8 World Series of Poker final tables (including WSOPC and WSOPE final tables), 14 World Poker Tour cashes, 4 WPT final tables and 1 WPT title),[2] and numerous additional final tables on the professional poker circuit.[13]

She is a Global Poker Award winner for Broadcaster of the Year[14] and the only player to be the World Series of Poker Main Event (US and Europe) "Last Woman Standing” a record four times, with her highest finish being 38th out of 6,458 players in 2011.

Outside of poker, she has been seen on many primetime television shows; making it to "Hollywood Week" on season 3 of American Idol, competing on the fifteenth season of The Amazing Race[15] and appearing as a celebrity guest on Deal or No Deal in January 2019.[16]

Early life

Fluent in Mandarin and born into a traditional Taiwanese family, Maria grew up just outside Los Angeles in Arcadia, California, after her family moved from Taiwan to the United States when she was four-years-old. Maria's older sister is a media personality and psychologist Judy Ho, who is known for hosting the CBS syndicated talk show Face The Truth.[17]

Ho started playing poker in college.[18] She was drawn to the psychology and competitive spirit of the game and soon went from playing games with college friends to playing limit cash games at nearby Indian casinos.[19] When Maria graduated from UCSD in 2005, with a major in communications and a minor in law, she had gone from playing low limits to high-stakes cash games and had grown her poker bankroll to the point that she felt confident to embark on a career as a professional poker player.[3]

Career

World Series of Poker

Ho's first major tournament success came at the 2007 World Series of Poker where she was the last woman remaining in the Main Event field, placing 38th out of 6,358 players and earning a $237,865 payday. She repeated this accomplishment in 2014, when she finish 77 out of 6,683 players. Her 27th place "Last Woman Standing" finish at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event[20] along with a 6th place final-table finish at the 2017 WSOP Europe Main Event[21] make Maria the only player to ever hold the WSOP Main Event Last Woman Standing title four times over (between the US and Europe Main Event).

At the 2011 World Series of Poker Maria achieved the best finish by a female during entire 57-event series[22] with her 2nd place in Event #4: $5000 No-Limit Hold'Em, for a payday of $540,020. It was the closest Ho has ever come to winning a World Series of Poker gold bracelet.

At the 2012 World Series of Poker, Ho was the Most-Cashing Female of the series, with six individual tournament cashes.[23] She repeated this feat at the 2014 WSOP with a total of eight cashes.[24]

As of 2023, Maria is ranked 3rd on the WSOP Women’s All-Time Money List.[25]

World Poker Tour

In March 2019, for a second year in a row, she final tabled the LA Poker Classic $25,000 High Roller tournament[26] and earning her second highest live tournament score of $276,690 with the first place finish. The following month she made the 6-handed TV final table of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event[27] taking 3rd place for $344,960.[28]

Host and Commentator

Ho's commentary career began in 2013 when she joined the Heartland Poker Tour season 9 broadcast team as a co-host and strategic commentator.[29] She was the first female in history to be hired to a poker television broadcast as the resident strategic commentator,[30]

Since then Ho has compiled an impressive body of work as a television presenter and commentator, lending her strategic expertise to CBS Sports The Final Table,[31] ESPN's official coverage of the World Series of Poker, Amazon eSports Mobile Masters Invitational series,[32] and since the inception of PokerGO in 2018, she has been an in-house commentator, regularly contributing to live broadcasts including the US Poker Open, Super High Roller Bowl, and Poker Masters.

In 2019, Ho won the Global Poker Award for Broadcaster of the Year,[33] then co-hosted the ceremonies the following year.[34]

She has also contributed her expertise to several print publications, and authored a chapter in the book Winning Women of Poker: Secret Strategies Revealed.[35]

Awards and accolades

In 2018, Ho was inducted into the Women In Poker Hall of Fame, the very first year she became eligible for nomination.[36]

In 2019 and 2020, she received nominations for a Global Poker Award as Broadcaster of the Year, taking home the award in 2019.[37]

Early in her career the World Poker Tour named Maria in their WPT "Ones to Watch", during seasons 9 and 10,[38] and from 2012-2014 she received three consecutive nominations from the Bluff Reader's Choice Awards, for "Favorite Female Poker Player".


Invitationals

Ho has received invitations to play in various types of games all over the world. In 2008, she traveled to Hong Kong to play in the World Mahjong Tour, going head to head with various Chinese and Taiwanese celebrities and professional Mahjong players.[39]

For two consecutive years, she participated in the Inaugural World Team Poker Invitational, as a member of Team China, helping her team secure a 1st Place victory in 2010.[40]

In 2016, Ho was named one of 12 Team Managers (for Team LA Sunsets) in the inaugural season of the Global Poker League,[41][42] notably drafting Emmy winning actor Aaron Paul as one of her Wild Card picks,[43] as well as coaching her team to the championship match.

She has secured four first place wins in PokerGO No-Limit Hold Em Sit-N-Go Invitationals:

2022 - $10,000 "No Gamble, No Future" SNG ($50,000 win)[44] 2019 - $5,000 Poker After Dark "RGPS Showbound" Event 1 ($25,000 win)[45] 2018 - $10,000 Poker After Dark "888poker Week" Event 1 ($50,000 win)[46]

2017 - $10,000 Poker After Dark "Holidays with Hellmuth" Event 1 ($77,000 win) [47]


YouTube

On February 22, a video featuring Maria Ho was published on the YouTube Channel "The Try Guys", quickly getting recognition with over 5 million views.

References
  1. https://www.wsop.com/players/profile/?playerID=4368
  2. World Poker Tour profile
  3. "Maria Ho Bio". MariaHo.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  4. "Lupe Soto, Maria Ho Selected for Women in Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2018". pokernews.com. May 1, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  5. "Women 2011 Money List". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  6. "Women 2016 Money List". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  7. "Women 2017 Money List". thehendonmob.com//. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  8. "Women 2018 Money List". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  9. "Women 2019 Money List". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  10. "Women 2020 Money List". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  11. "Women 2021 Money List". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  12. "Women 2022 Money List". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  13. "Maria Ho". thehendenmob.com. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  14. "Notable Winners from the 2019 Global Poker Awards". pokernews.com. April 13, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  15. "Amazing Race Cast, season 15". CBS.com. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  16. "Maria Ho Makes A Return to Reality TV Wednesday Night On CNBC". Cardplayer Magazine. January 9, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  17. "CTD Gets Ready to 'Face the Truth'". Broadcasting Cable. August 9, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  18. "Alumna Maria Ho Goes All In". Triton Mag. May 10, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  19. "The PokerNews Interview: Maria Ho". PokerNews. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  20. "2011 WSOP Europe Main Event". wickedchopspoker.com. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  21. "Maria Ho Bags Chip Lead Again with Six Remaining in WSOPE Main Event". pokernews.com. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  22. "And The Bracelet Goes To". wsop.com. October 20, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  23. "Main Event Snapshot with Maria Ho". bluffmagazine.com. July 8, 2012. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  24. "WSOP 2014 Number of Cashes". thehendeonmob.com. July 13, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  25. "WSOP Women All Time Money List". wsop.com. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  26. "Maria Ho Scores Birthday LAPC High Roller Win After Defeating Kristen Bicknell Heads-Up". CardPlayer.com. March 6, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  27. "James Carroll and Maria Ho Lead The 2019 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Final Table". CardPlayer.com. April 17, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  28. "James Carroll Wins Second WPT Title in Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown". PokerNews.com. May 31, 2019. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  29. "Maria Ho Joins HPT's Talk Team". bluffeurope.com. December 11, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  30. "Mario Ho Joins Heartland Tour Broadcasts". pokernewsreport.com. December 11, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  31. "Poker Night In America Crew To Launch New Show The Final Table". pokerlistings.com. February 23, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  32. "Maria Ho Partners with Amazon to Host Mobile Masters Invitational". PokerNews. June 23, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  33. "Global Poker Awards Results". PokerNews. April 6, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  34. "Maria Ho and Drea Renee to host Global Poker Awards". globalpokerindex.com. February 27, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  35. "Seaside Publishing – Winning Women in Poker". seasidepublishing.com. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  36. "Maria Ho on Her Induction to the Women In Poker Hall of Fame". Poker News Daily. May 2, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  37. "Inaugural Global Poker Awards Honor Poker Finest From 2018". Poker News Daily. April 5, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  38. "World Poker Tour Introduces WPT Season X Ones to Watch". World Poker Tour. February 7, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  39. "World Mahjong Tour Announces its Celebrity Invitational Televised Tournament". worldmahjongtour.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  40. "China Wins World Team Poker". bluffeurope.com. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  41. "Global Poker League reveals 12 franchises and managers". ESPN. January 13, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  42. "Maria Ho: A GPL Team that is the Epitome of Strength". Poker Update. April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  43. "Aaron Paul joins professional poker team Los Angeles Sunset of the Global Poker League". Global Poker League. April 11, 2016. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  44. "No Gamble, No Future Season 1 Sit And Go". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  45. "Poker After Dark Season X". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  46. "Poker After Dark Season XI". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  47. "Poker After Dark Season VIII". thehendonmob.com/. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
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