John Juanda

Currently a resident of Marina Del Rey, California – John Juanda was in fact born on the Indonesian island of Medan in 1971, emigrating to the US in 1990 to attend college. It was while studying for an MBA in Seattle that Juanda first became interested in poker – finding play at local casinos to be a more profitable alternative than selling bibles door-to-door as he had done previously.

Tournament Success

Juanda’s tournament record is extremely long and impressive, with 3 World Series Of Poker bracelets and 38 money finishes – as well as many final tables on the World Poker Tour. Level headed and unassuming at the tables Juanda is a tournament specialist, each year seeing his already impressive record getting better.

His first experience of the World Series Of Poker came in 1999, when entering the $1,500 and $3,000 No-Limit Holdem events. His 9th and 7th place finishes in these events were to prove to be the start of an amazingly successful World Series career that continues to this day.

With a number of final table appearances in various events for the next few years, Juanda’s breakthrough came in 2002 with his first bracelet win in the $1,500 Ace to Five Triple Draw lowball event. This was followed the very next year by 2 more bracelets, in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha and $2,500 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split events. His highest place finish in the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Main Event was 31st in 2005.

WPT Career

Though Juanda has yet to win a World Poker Tour event he has an impressive record in this circuit. This includes 14 money finishes and no less than 6 final tables, including several 3rds and 2nds for big payouts.

This record has lead fellow professional poker players to comment on Juanda’s consistency – saying that he is ‘a good bet to reach the final table of any event’. This view was further consolidated in view of wins in the inaugural Professional Poker Tour event at Foxwoods and World Poker Championship title.

Other notable successes have been outside of the US, including Monaco and Australia. In 2005, 3 final tables in Monte Carlo, Monaco including 6th in the Monte Carlo Millions, 2nd in the Full Tilt invitational and a victory in the ‘Consolation Tournament’ netted Juanda a cool $500,000.

The next year victory in Australia’s ‘Crown Australian Poker Championship – Speed Poker’ lead to a win of over $700,000 and the accolade of defeating some of poker’s biggest names on the way to the win.

Playing Style

Juanda has been quoted as saying that his Buddhist teachings help his poker game by keeping his level headed at the tables. The sense of balance provided by these teachings is alleged to prevent Juanda getting upset if he should lose a hand. His reading of opponent’s body language is also said to be a very strong area.

Outside of the tournament circuit, John Juanda is a member of the Full Tilt Poker team of professionals and can be found playing online at this poker site. He has said that if he were ever to quit poker he would become a doctor to return some of his good fortune to the children of the 3rd world. 

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