Written by :
Published on :
Poker pro Maria Ho will cut down on her drinking from 7 days a week to 6. She announced Saturday as a "sobriety day" (one would think Monday is better for that).
CLAIM YOUR SIGNUP BONUS UP TO $1000 - MILLION DOLLAR GUARANTEED ONLINE TOURNAMENTS
"After years of torture I think my liver is finally getting through to me so tonight I will opt to stay in and give my liver a rest," Ho said.
It is a problem that has plagued Gambling911.com's own red hot Asian reporter, Jenny Woo, also a lush.
"I'm a donor and my body parts are either completely destroyed from all this smoking and drinking, or they are functioning better than ever having become immune to all this s*** I put in my body," Woo said.
And like Jenny, Ho tends to roll out of bed around noon.
"Not fun: Waking up at 7:30AM on Saturday to take someone to the airport," Ho says. "Fun: Crawling back into bed after with no intention of waking b4 noon"
Woo was once so drunk she tripped over the curb and fell over some guy receiving a sobriety test in front of her apartment building.
"I've cut down tremendously over the past year," Woo said with a celebratory chirp. "Really, the maximum I drink per week is two nights."
Asian women in the United States are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from countries such as China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Their drinking practices are likely to have been influenced by the drinking norms of their ethnic communities in the United States, or by the norms of their countries of origin if they are recent immigrants. Examinations of the drinking behavior of Asian American women typically take these norms into consideration. However, Asian American women's alcohol consumption is also influenced by a biological factor that affects their ability to metabolize alcohol. This condition typically is manifested as facial flushing, which occurs mostly among Asians.
Twenty-five to 50 percent of Asians possess a gene, inactive aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2-2) (Cook and Gurling 2001; Lieber 2001), which causes them to metabolize alcohol differently from people who do not have this gene. ALDH2-2 is one of several variants of the gene that produces aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), one of two enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism. When a person with this gene drinks alcohol, ALDH2-2 leads to the slower than normal oxidation of acetaldehyde, which results in elevated levels of acetaldehyde in the blood. After drinking, people with the ALDH2-2 gene experience a constellation of physical reactions: perspiration, headache, palpitations, nausea, tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), and facial flushing, which is caused by dilation of blood vessels in the face. These aversive effects are sometimes referred to collectively as "the facial flushing response."
For now, Ho has no intention of downsizing to Woo's drinking program.
Friday night was another boozer for the poker champ.
"Excellent night with a Lakers victory as expected, some beer, BBQ, and brownie bites and the cutest little three year old British boy!" Ho declared.
Ho is ranked 46th in the Top 100 Women's All Time Money List. To date, her career winnings exceed $320,000.
Ace King, Gambling911.com
