Maria Ho

While many players dazzle with their talent for the game, very few do so while also taking the breath away with their beauty. Maria Ho is one of those few. Born in 1983 in Taipei, Taiwan, her family moved to the United States when she was four. They settled down in California and this is where she grew up. She first came in contact with poker during her college years, more precisely in 2002. Her game evolved from the small home games into a very successful professional career. Apart from her love for poker, she also enjoys playing Mahjong, and actually travels to play the tournaments from time to time. She started brushing her skills in the game playing Limit Hold’em which still remains her game of choice. She graduated from UCSD in 2005, with the degrees in Communications and Law, and by this time she has already played in some of the highest stakes cash games and had a big enough bankroll to start her journey as a professional poker player. Her career on the live tournament circuit has been quite successful. With overall winnings in excess of $1.5 million, she made some noticeable results during her time on the felt. One that made her very well known in the poker circles was her 38th place finish during the 2007 WSOP Main Event, where she was the Last Woman Standing. This was also the second biggest score of her career, worth nearly $240,000. Her best result came in 2011, when she finished runner-up in the $5k No Limit Hold’em event for $540,000. She was also the Last Woman Standing in the WSOP Europe in Cannes from 2011. Maria Ho is well known for her other public appearances as well. In 2009 she appeared in the TV show “The Amazing Race” together with Tiffany Michelle, them being the only all-female team of the season. She has also appeared on the “American Idol”, and in 2013 she joined the Heartland Poker Tour as a TV final table strategic commentator. One of the players she respects the most is Daniel Negreanu because of his demeanor, together with Berry Greenstein because of his charitable efforts outside of poker. Her nemesis hand is QQ, and her favorite felt color would be purple, if they introduced it. Maria Ho finds Paul Wasicka to be the hottest male pro player on the circuit. She tries to live a separate life outside of poker and spends a lot of her free time helping her parents with their real estate business and in general with her family and friends who, in her own words, “do not know what the bad beat is, and couldn’t care less.” There are some videos here on Pokertube featuring always pleasant and friendly Maria.