Game of Gold: and the winner is...

SPOILER WARNING - do not open this news article unless you want to know who won the first ever Game of Gold finale and $456,000!

A huge well done to everyone involved in Game of Gold for managing to keep the finale's winner a secret. And a huge congrats to Maria Ho for taking it down for $456,000!

She defeated Daniel 'Jungleman' Cates heads-up to take down the winner-takes-all prize in the show that has taken the poker world by storm. 

Also at the final table were Fedor Holz, Yoh Viral, Josh Arieh, and Kyna England. 

Maria came into the final table as the chip leader after performing very well in all the preliminary rounds. Of all the players, she was perhaps the one who had the best all-around balance of getting the poker right as well as the metagame around the 'Squid Game' elements of the show. 

Maria Ho has been a crusher for years in poker and a media darling. The one thing that has perhaps been missing from her resume is a major title and this is a very fitting one to end that drought. 

The big question on everyone's lips is, when will Game of Gold return? Who will be on the show, and will the format change? This show has been one of the biggest successes of the poker year, making a fan of almost everyone in the poker world. Can it live up to the considerable enthusiasm it received in its first season? 

What would you like to see in Season 2? Let us know in the comments: