Maria Ho, a poker pro and contestant on The Amazing Race 15, is part of a brand new reality show she hopes will finally bring the jet-setting poker lifestyle to a wider TV audience.
Poker players have tried, with varying degrees of success, to bring the poker world to a more mainstream audience but Ho learned a thing or two from her television experience.
“People watch reality television because they care about the characters,” Ho told PokerListings.com.
“But they also want to live vicariously through them and experience a lifestyle that's exciting and compelling.”
And according to Ho, the poker world encompasses all those elements.
“The show's really about the characters and their relationships but it's set in this exciting world where we might be in Monte Carlo one week and the Bahamas the next week,” she said.
“It's about us trying to find a balance between the lifestyle and everything else that's going on in our lives.
“Not everyone can relate to the poker lifestyle stuff, which I think they'll find interesting, but they can definitely relate to the stuff that we're all going through.”
