Poker Celeb Maria Ho Wins WPTDeepStacks Johannesburg
Ho scoops WPTDeepStacks Johannesburg R13,500 Main Event title for R1 million in prize money and all the accolades she deserves for her great run
It was a mad run for popular poker pro and personality Maria Ho at Emperors Palace Hotel Casino in Johannesburg, but one which she concluded by emerging victorious in the WPTDeepStacks Johannesburg R13,500 Main Event; talk about girl power!
Ho outsmarted and outlasted a field of 387 entrants to collect the lion’s share of the prize pool and the tournament trophy. She claimed R1 million (approx. $68,885) in prize money for her latest poker triumph.
The WPTDeepStacks Johannesburg Main Event took place on October 12-14 at the host casino. As mentioned earlier, the tournament generated a 387-strong field and a prize pool of R4,649,800. The top 39 performers left with a payout from the event.
Ho had quite the run at the host venue and she never really lost her spot among the top chip stacks. The player entered the final day of action as the chip leader. She was headlining the 29 players to have made it thus far into the tournament.
Action developed quite quickly on the final day and it was not long before the 29 hopefuls from the start of Day 3 were reduced to the final table of nine. Ho was still the chip leader at that point. She had a pile of 2.438 million in chips before her at the table. The player took the best possible advantage of her chip lead and eventually made it to the heads-up match.
Two-Handed Duel
Ho ended up playing against Riyad Khan in the closing stage of the tournament. Khan was holding the chip lead at the beginning of heads-up, but Ho quickly took it after winning the first few hands dealt within the match. Khan regained his advantage shortly after and what followed next was 90 minutes of chips swinging back and forth and the chip lead exchanging hands a few more times.
Eventually, the two clashed in what turned out to be the most important hand of the match to see Ho win over 10 million in chips and leave Khan with just 1.4 million. Things only got worse for Khan from that point onwards.
The final hand of the tournament was dealt not long after. It saw Ho shove pre-flop and Khan call for his last 1.3 million. Ho tabled [Kd][5h] to her opponent’s [Jc][8s]. The board ran out [9d][Qh][7h][Qd][5c], securing Ho with two pair and the victory. Khan collected R712,000 for his runner-up finish.
Including her latest cash from a live tournament, Ho now has more than $2.9 million in overall earnings. The player collected her largest-ever live cash during the 2011 WSOP when she finished runner-up to Allen Bari in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em for a cash prize of $540,020.
It is also interesting to note that among other accomplishments, Ho is the only female poker pro to hold the Last Woman Standing title four times at both the WSOP Main Event and the WSOP Europe Main Event.
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