Maria Ho

Maria Ho is a professional poker player who made her first live-event cash in 2005. In the first 6 years, she cashed 24 times, made 7 final tables, won a World Team Poker event, cashed in 11 WSOP events, and earned over $1.1 million.

Maria was born on March 16, 1983 in Taipei, Taiwan to a traditional Chinese family. When she was 4 years old, Maria\’s family moved to the United States, where they settled near Los Angeles, in Arcadia, California. Maria was introduced to the game of poker in 2002 by playing home games with friends while attending the University of California, at San Diego, where she was a Communications major, with a minor in Law.  She was instantly drawn by the psychology and competitive spirit of the game and started playing in limit cash games at local Indian casinos.

Maria made her first live event cash at the 2005 Hollywood Park Casino Poker Derby, where she finished 6th in the $300 NLHE event to earn $2,945. She also cashed that year at the California State Poker Championship in Los Angeles, and the WSOP where she cashed in the $1,500 NLHE event.

Throughout 2006 and 2007, Maria cashed in 6 events. In 2006, both of her cashes were in Los Angeles, where she cashed at the Holiday Bonus Tournament, and finished 3rd for $12,885 in the $485 NLHE at the Heavenly Hold \’em event. In 2007, she was at the WSOP where she cashed twice, finishing 38th in the Main Event for $237,865. While in Las Vegas, she also cashed at the Bellagio Cup, before returning to L.A. to cash at the Big Poker Oktober event.

In 2009, Maria’s first of 3 cashes was at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, where she took 43rd in the $9,900 NLHE Main Event to earn $32,740. At the WSOP, she cashed twice, with her best effort being an 11th place finish in the $10,000 LHE World Championship for $41,040.

To start 2010, Maria was a member of Team China in the $50,000 Inaugural World Team Poker Invitational in Las Vegas, and won $42,857 when her team took down the event. She went on to cash in 3 WSOP events, finish 10th for $40,783 in the $10,000 WPT Bellagio Cup Championship event, finish 6th for ZAR304,617 in the ZAR5,000 NLHE WSOP Circuit Main Event at the Emerald Casino in Vanderbijlpark, and cash at the Heartland Poker Tour Championship in Mount Pleasant.

As of mid-October, Maria had cashed in 5 events in 2011. At the Aussie Millions in January, she was runner-up to Andy Bloch, earning A$70,000 in the A$10,000 8-Game Mix. At the 2011 WSOP, she cashed 3 times, barely missing acquiring her first gold bracelet when she finished runner-up in the $5,000 NLHE. For her accomplishment, she took home $540,020. At the 2011 WSOP Europe in October, she finished 27th in the Main Event to earn €32,000.

Beyond the poker tables, Maria appeared on the Emmy-Award-winning international television show, The Amazing Race 15, and has served as an on-camera host for WSOP.com, as a commentator for the live WSOP final-table broadcasts on ESPN 360. She has also written for several poker publications, and contributed a chapter to the book Winning Women of Poker: Secret Strategies Revealed.

Maria still makes her home in Arcadia, and in her spare time, sings in a band in the Los Angeles area and works at her family\’s real-estate firm. She is also very involved in charitable causes, donating both her time and money to organizations such as Road 2 Recovery, Ronald McDonald House, and The National Kidney Foundation.