Maria Ho’s Life: Net Worth, Biggest Profits, Losses and Private Life

Maria Ho is a Taiwanese-American professional poker player, television host, and commentator born on March 6, 1983 in Taipei, Taiwan, who moved to the United States at age four. She has $4.074 million in live tournament earnings, 53 WSOP cashes totalling $1.695 million, and a prominent media career spanning the Heartland Poker Tour, ESPN’s WSOP coverage, and NBC Sports’ Super High Roller Bowl commentary. Her estimated net worth is between $2 million and $5 million.

You can view her full poker profile on Somuchpoker here .

She is best known in the poker world for being “the last woman standing” in three different WSOP Main Events - in 2007, 2011, and 2014 - with her deepest finish being 38th in 2007 for $237,865. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in psychology before pursuing poker professionally, initially unbeknownst to her traditional Chinese conservative parents.

Maria Ho | Key Facts (2026)

Who Is Maria Ho?

Ho was introduced to poker by her college dorm mates at UCSD during a private game. She won, her enthusiasm was sparked, and she began frequenting nearby California casinos playing Limit Hold’em cash games. She started winning consistently enough to count poker as income and decided to pursue it professionally after graduating in 2005 - without telling her parents, who she knew would disapprove.

She travelled to Las Vegas for the WSOP the same year she graduated and cashed in one event. Her 2007 WSOP Main Event run to 38th place - as the last female player in the field out of a record 6,358 entrants - brought her widespread attention and her first significant sponsorship opportunities. She has been one of the most consistently visible female players on the global circuit ever since, combining a genuine tournament record with a growing media presence that has expanded significantly since 2013.

What Does Maria Ho Do for a Living?

Ho earns across live tournaments, media and commentary work, and sponsorship - with the media career now representing a significant and growing portion of her professional life.

• Live Tournaments: A fourteen-year record producing $4.074 million across 122 cashes. She has competed regularly at the WSOP , World Poker Tour , and various high-roller events, with her strongest results clustering in the $5,000–$25,000 buy-in range.
• Television Commentary and Hosting: Since 2013, she has been a co-host and strategic commentator for the Heartland Poker Tour. She has also commentated on the WSOP Main Event for ESPN, the Super High Roller Bowl for NBC Sports, and hosted The Final Table poker TV show, the inaugural Poker Masters in 2017, and the PCA Poker Championship in 2018.
• Live Cash Games: While her career focus has shifted to tournaments, she has appeared on Poker Night in America across 13 episodes, as well as on Poker Night Live and PokerGO’s revived Poker After Dark.
• Reality Television: Appeared on the 15th season of CBS’s The Amazing Race in 2009, competing with fellow poker player and close friend Tiffany Michelle in a travel challenge format against other celebrity duos.

Maria Ho Net Worth 2026 - What the Numbers Actually Show

The $2 million to $5 million estimate draws from her $4.074 million in live tournament earnings and several years of media and commentary income. As with all tournament records, the gross figure overstates the net - buy-ins, taxes, and the general cost of competing on the professional circuit across 14 years reduce the actual take significantly.

The media career adds meaningfully to the picture in a way that the tournament database does not capture. Hosting and commentary roles for the Heartland Poker Tour, ESPN, NBC Sports, and PokerGO - sustained over more than a decade - represent a consistent professional income stream that sits alongside, and increasingly above, her tournament earnings.
She has no online poker record, which removes one source of additional income but also removes the associated losses. Her career has been entirely live-focused.

One notable setback: after her 2007 Main Event breakthrough, she staked an unnamed boyfriend who proceeded to lose her entire bankroll. She rebuilt from scratch - a story she has told publicly and that adds context to the financial picture behind the tournament record.

Maria Ho’s Tournament Record – Top Career Scores

The WSOP 2011 Runner-Up: Ho finished second in the $5,000 NLHE event at the 2011 WSOP for $540,000 - the biggest single cash of her career. She also made history that year as the last woman standing in the Main Event for the second time. The bracelet that would have completed the 2011 story still has not arrived, though she has made multiple final tables that have come close.

The “Last Woman Standing” Record

The WSOP tracks the last female player to bust from the Main Event field each year. Ho has claimed that distinction three times:

• 2007 - 38th place, $237,865, from a field of 6,358
• 2011 - again the final female player in the field
• 2014 - for the third time

The 2007 performance in particular is what launched her public profile. As she has said in interviews, it led directly to her first sponsorship deals and established her as one of the most recognisable female players in the game.

The Birthday Win and the Kempe Connection

On her 36th birthday in March 2019, Ho won the $25,000 High Roller at the WPT LA Classic for $276,690 - defeating fellow female pro Kristen Bicknell heads-up. She is currently in a relationship with German poker pro Rainer Kempe.

The Controversial Fold

In November 2017 at the WSOP Europe Main Event, Ho folded a set of tens to an all-in overbet on the flop - the best hand - against an opponent who held only the nut flush draw. The fold generated widespread criticism online. She went on to reach the final table and finish 6th for €174,365.

The Unanswered Questions

The public record only goes so far. Here is what we genuinely do not know:

• What her media and commentary income totals annually: More than a decade of hosting and commentary across Heartland Poker Tour, ESPN, NBC Sports, and PokerGO. The commercial terms of those arrangements have never been publicly disclosed.
• Whether a WSOP bracelet arrives: 53 cashes, a runner-up finish, and multiple deep runs. The result has not come yet. With her ongoing schedule, it remains a realistic near-term milestone.
• What her cash game results look like in private settings: She started her career in cash games and has appeared on multiple televised productions. Private cash game activity, if any, is not publicly tracked.
• What the full cost of staking her ex-boyfriend was: She has described losing her entire bankroll to the arrangement and rebuilding from scratch. The scale of that setback and its lasting impact on her financial trajectory is not quantified publicly.

Maria Ho Career Timeline

What Is Maria Ho’s Outlook in 2026?

At 43 in 2026, Ho is in the phase of her career where the tournament record and the media career run in parallel rather than one feeding the other. She has established herself as one of the most prominent poker commentators and hosts in the English-language game, while continuing to compete at a level that has produced $4 million in live earnings across 122 cashes.

The WSOP bracelet remains the natural next milestone on the playing side. 53 cashes and a runner-up finish suggest the game is clearly there. Whether the schedule and variance align in the next few years is genuinely uncertain.

On the media side, she has already built a career that most professional poker players never approach - hosting at Poker Masters, ESPN, NBC Sports, and PokerGO simultaneously while maintaining an active tournament presence. That combination of playing ability and media credibility is rare, and shows no sign of diminishing.

Social Media & Online Presence

• The Hendon Mob Profile

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