Maria Ho: Poker Player Extraordinaire

Ever since its origins, professional poker has been a scene dominated by men. If you’re into high stakes poker, names such as Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Dan Bilzerian might come to mind. Among those high stake legends, there’s Taiwanese born Maria Ho. Sitting as an inductee for the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, Ho has over $4,000,000 in live tournament earnings– making her one of the top ranked female poker players in the world. 

As an immigrant born in Taipei, Taiwan on March 6, 1983, Mario Ho is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese. Her interest in poker stemmed from her college experiences at UCSD where she played in limit cash tournaments at nearby casinos. In 2005, Ho graduated with a degree in Communications and a minor in Law. Instead of pursuing a more traditional game plan out of college, Maria chose instead to embark on a career as a professional poker player. 

Maria skyrocketed to fame in the 2007 World Series of Poker where she placed 38th out of 6358 players, making her the highest ranked female player in the tournament. In 2019, Maria made the final table in the LA Classic High Roller Tournament and took home the grand prize. 

Maria has been a recognizable face on tv for over a decade now. Despite also competing on The Amazing Race and The Voice, she is consistently underrated and under recognized in the Asian community. Her story of reaching the top as an Asian female in a predominantly male industry should be a motivator for any minority trying to succeed outside of their home country. Her confidence and badass character should inspire young Asian Americans to take the risk and go after whatever they’re trying to achieve.