Maria Ho - Poker Player

Biography

Maria Ho is a Taiwanese-American poker player, television host, and commentator. She is one of the top-ranked female poker players in the world and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. She has won over $5,000,000 in live tournaments.

Background

Maria Ho was born in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 6, 1983. She moved to the U.S. when she was four and grew up in Arcadia, California. Her older sister, Judy Ho, is a media personality and a psychologist; she hosted the CBS talk show Face The Truth.

She started playing poker in college. Intrigued by the game's psychology and competitive spirit, she started playing limited cash games at nearby Indian casinos. She graduated from UCSD in 2005 with a communications major and a law minor.

Maria Ho Poker Career

Maria Ho has gone from playing low-stakes games to high-stakes and increased her bankroll to the point that she decided to pursue it professionally.

World Series of Poker

In 2007, she was the last woman remaining in the main event. She finished 38th and won $237,865. In 2014, she finished 77th. In the 2011 WSOP Main Event Europe, she finished 27th and was the last woman standing. She is the only woman to hold the Last Woman Standing title four times.

In the 2011 WSOP, she was the best-finished woman during the entire series. She finished second in Event #4: $5000 No-Limit Hold'Em and won $540,020. In the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP), she was the most-cashed female of the series, with six individual cashes. In 2014, WSOP, she had eight cashes.

World Poker Tour

In 2019, she reached the final table of the Poker Classic $25,000 High Roller tournament and won her second-highest live tournament, $276,690. The following month, she made the final table of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event. She finished third and won $344,960.

Host and Commentator

In 2013, Maria Ho joined the Heartland Poker Tour season 9 broadcast team as a co-host and started her commentary journey. She was the first woman to be hired as the resident strategic commentator.

Since then, she has commented for CBS Sports The Final Table, ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP, and Amazon eSports Mobile Masters Invitational series. She has also been an in-house commentator for PokerGo since 2018.

In 2019, she won the Global Poker Award for Broadcaster of the Year and co-hosted the ceremonies for the following years. She has also contributed to print publications and wrote a chapter in the book titled 'Winning Women of Poker: Secret Strategies Revealed'.

Maria Ho Awards

In 2018, she was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. In 2019 and 2020, she was nominated for a Global Poker Award as Broadcaster of the Year and won in 2019. World Poker Tour named Maria in their WPT "Ones to Watch" during seasons 9 and 10. She was nominated for the Bluff Reader’s Choice Awards for Favorite Female Poker Player.

Maria Ho's Net Worth

Maria Ho has a total live earnings of $5,537,339.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many WSOP bracelets Maria Ho has won?

Maria Ho has not won any WSOP bracelets.