GGPOKER

Born in Shanghai, China, Ricky Mao started playing poker with classmates at MIT while he pursued his Master of Finance degree. After his education, he joined a global mega private equity house and built a career as an investment banker and investment professional.

In 2023, after grinding online cash games and MTTs part time for a few years, Ricky decided to commit poker and started playing full time. “I would regret not playing enough poker and establishing myself as one of the best players before this game gets completely taken over by AI technologies”.

Just two weeks after making the decision to focus on poker, Ricky won his first WSOP bracelet . The victory came in Event #26: $800 NLH Deep stack, outlasting a massive field 4,747 entrants at the 2023 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

The month his hot streak continued, earning an APT trophy by winning the Single Day High Roller 8-max in Da Nang. In 2024, Ricky competed in the Australian Poker Tour in Brisbane, claiming the title in The Lord Poker Tournament—a A$5,000 6-Max Championship.

Off the table, Ricky is known for being one of the friendliest players in Chinese poker community and is always happy to chat and share his insights.