Maria Ho
United States of America1
4
Early Life
Maria Ho was born in 1983 in Taipei, Taiwan, into a traditional Taiwanese family. Her family moved from Taiwan to the United States, and she grew up in Arcadia, California.
She started playing poker in college with her friends and enjoyed the psychology and competitiveness of the game. Soon after, she began to play cash games in local casinos.
After graduating from UCSD in 2005, she moved up from low-stakes to high-stakes and grew her bankroll to become a professional poker player.
World Series of Poker
Maria’s first major tournament score came in the 2007 WSOP, where she got 38th place in Main Event and earned herself $237,865. She was also the last woman remaining in the Main Event.
She continued to play regularly in WSOP events until 2011 when she got the biggest payout of her career. She ended up in 2nd place in the WSOP $5,000 No Limit Hold’em bracelet event and earned $540,020.
In 2011, she was the No. 2 ranked female player in the world, and she has stayed in the Top 20 Women’s Yearly Leaderboard since 2016.
She is still a regular at the WSOP events but without exceptional results. Two results that are worth mentioning are the 5th place in the $7,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super Turbo Bounty event, where she earned $131,655, and in 2023, she got 3rd place in the $1,000+150+500 No Limit Hold’em – Mystery Millions event that got her $200,000.
Maria was close to getting a WSOP bracelet a few times, but it has yet to happen.
World Poker Tour
Maria’s first WPT cash came in 2008, where she played $9,500 + 500 No Limit Hold’em – Championship Event and finished in 23rd place for $21,125.
After that, she played a few more WPT events with just a few significant results. In 2016, she came 6th in a $7,100 + 400 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship event and earned $179,930, and in 2019, she came 3rd in the $3,500 No Limit Hold’em – WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown for $344,960.
Also, one year earlier, she got 3rd place in the $25,000 No Limit Hold’em – High Roller for $188,875.
European Poker Tour
Maria’s first EPT cash came in 2012 in € 10,000 + 600 No Limit Hold’em – Main Event, where she finished in 79th place and earned $19,804.
She played in a few EPT events around Europe but without a big win. Her last EPT cash came in 2023 in EPT Barcelona € 5,000 + 300 No Limit Hold’em Main event, where she finished in 206th place for $12,631.
Poker Personality Career
As a widely recognized poker community member, Maria has regularly commented on worldwide poker events and festivals. This includes working for PokerGO during the High Roller Triple Crown, US Poker Open, Super High Roller Bowl, and World Series of Poker events.
In 2019, Ho won the Global Poker Award for Broadcaster of the Year.
Maria has also participated in various poker TV shows and Cash Game streams like the Game of Gold.
