He may have just qualified as a doctor of optometry, but Alex Ho of Houston, Texas has an undeniable eye for poker.
His tournament record shows just $68K in earnings, almost all of it picked up at Encore Boston Harbor — his local casino while he was studying at New England College of Optometry — but a deeper dive reveals signs he may be built for bigger things.
Of the 23 cashes on his resume, no fewer than 10 are wins.
And now, after almost two days of play, he’s made the final table of Event #25: $500 Freezeout NLH. At his first-ever WSOP.
4,100 entries are down to 9, and there’s $196K up top. Ho’s in with a shot at a bracelet in his debut at the World Series.
To get there he’ll need to out-maneuver the likes of Chris Hunichen (1x WSOP bracelet and $18M+ lifetime earnings), as well as seven other players with big stacks of chips and big hopes to go with them.
“I just graduated school less than a month ago,” Ho tells me, on a short break minutes after the final table began. “I received my doctor of optometry degree, but right now I'm just kind of feeling out poker for a couple years. That degree is always nice to have in the back pocket.”
A two-year test
Ho’s plan — to give himself a two-year trial as a poker professional — is off to a great start with a final table run at his first WSOP.
“It’s a really nice start,” says Ho. “It's like ‘Holy s***, it's possible!’ And I'm pretty locked in. I’ve noticed a lot of pros are on Twitter or browsing on their phones a lot, but I'm putting it all out there, you know; if I'm going to try to make a living out of this, I need to try my best. So I'm giving it my all right now.”
This freezeout has been moving at a decent lick, thanks to 30-minute levels, cutting down the 4,100-strong field to 9 in well under two days.
“I ran good and won all those 60/40 spots,” recalls Ho of hs journey to the final 9. “I still think I made some blunders; I'm a very self-critical person, which I think is a good thing in poker so I can fix my mistakes. But I overall I think I played pretty well.”
He’s already cashed once here in Las Vegas this summer — $3,350 in the $550 Mini Mystery Millions (“I punted in my bust out hand. I don't want to talk about that”) — and is looking to add another win to a tournament resume already heaving with them.
Whatever happens, he’s guaranteed a new career-best tournament score; $8,400 is his previous best payday, while everyone at the final table is guaranteed $18,801.
And like the pro he (now) is, Ho’s not letting the dazzle of the bracelet blind him to the financial implications of every move he’s making.
“In those smaller tournaments I kind of just played for the win. Obviously, this is higher stakes and now there's so much ICM to think about. You know, a bracelet would be nice, but there's still a lot of money on the line.”
If this series is a litmus test for a career playing poker, it’s looking positive so far.
“I’m 27 now and I’ve been playing poker since I was 19, so about 8 years now. I know that it’s possible for me to make money from poker, so I wanted to give it a try after graduating school. And that’s what I’m doing now.”
Brayden takes the title
In the end it was not to be for the WSOP debutant, with Ho going out in 8th place for a payday of $24K.
Chris 'Big Huni' Hunichen fared only slightly better, out in 7th for $31K which he immediately put to work in the $50K High Roller, taking place on the other side of the Paris ballroom.
The win, the $196K and the bracelet went to Lou Brayden, who defeated Jason Hoffman heads-up to seal the deal.
But the WSOP has not seen the last of Alexander Ho.
"I'm playing on staying for about another 3 more weeks. I kind of take it day-by-day," he says. But even if doesn't make another final table this trip, the scientist in Ho means he won't assign too much meaning to such a small set of results.
"I’m going to make sure to give it a couple years just because, you know, poker variance is a huge thing. I feel like a good sample size would be a couple years, just to see if I have it in me or if I don't."
This is one doctor of optometry worth keeping an eye on.
Event #25: $500 Freezeout NLH — final table results
- Lou Brayden - $196,066
- Jason Hoffman - $130,441
- Tianyi Ma - $96,368
- Aaron Hendi - $71,806
- Sam Ruha - $53,969
- James Wong - $40,916
- Chris Hunichen - $31,294
- Alexander Ho - $24,148
- Edgar Antezana - $18,801
Images courtesy of the WSOP.
