John Juanda Professional Profile

John Juanda is one of the lesser-known poker tournament stars but his record is one of the best in the world. He prefers to stay out of the spotlight even though he consistently places well in tournaments. To date, he already has 4 WSOP bracelets and over $9,000,000 in total live tournament earnings to his name.

He was born in Indonesia in 1971 to a young married couple who owned a small business. That business, John would later say, gave him the opportunity to be as successful as he is today. Shortly after he was born, the business took off, earning his family more money than they'd ever seen.

Thanks to the business, his parents were able to send John to the United States to attend college. He eventually settled in the Midwest where he attended Oklahoma State University. After earning his marketing and management degree there, John went on to earn his master's at Seattle University. It was in graduate school where John got his first taste of poker.

He started tournament play in 1996 with mediocre results but he worked hard to improve his skills. His first major cash came in the 1998 La Poker Classic where he won 1st place in the Limit Holdem event and took home $32,000. It was a big win at the time but it was nothing compared to the success John would see in the coming years.

Over the next couple of years, John played in a multitude of tournaments, winning decent money but nothing too crazy yet. He took first place at another event in 1998 and won another $33,000 for his efforts. Again, this was good money for the young poker professional but it wasn't life changing by any means.

His first major score came in 2000 at the US Poker Championship Main Event. He took 2nd place there and won nearly $160,000. This really got him going and the very next year he won $283,000 at the World Poker Open Main Event. 2001 ended up being a great year for Juanda, with him earning over $600,000 in live tournaments.

John followed up in 2002 with another strong year, earning over $600,000 once again. That year was highlighted by his 2nd place finish in the Five Diamond World Poker Classic where he earned $278,000. He also earned his first WSOP bracelet that year in the $1,500 Triple Draw Lowball event.

Showing his consistency, John once again earned over $600,000 in 2003. He earned two more WSOP bracelets that year as well, one of them in the Pot Limit Omaha event and the other one in the 7 Card Stud event.

Tournament poker can be a tough beast sometimes and although John Juanda continued to play well and earn consistent money, he would not make a seven figure cash until the end of 2008. In October of 2008, he finally took home a seven figure win at the World Series of Poker Europe where he won the No Limit Holdem Championship for $1.7 million.

It goes to show how dedicated John is because even though he's only had one seven figure win in his tournament career, he's still managed to win over $9 million since 1996. His consistency is truly remarkable. Other poker professionals credit John's money management skills as a key factor to his success. Tournament poker is a swingy game and it's tough to stay above water during the bad runs.

Today you can find John Juanda online at Full Tilt Poker, where he plays exclusively. His screen name, surprisingly, is John Juanda. There you can find him playing in tournaments, high stakes cash games and even the occasional low stakes game for fun.

John Facts

Over $9,300,000 in live tournament earnings
Born in Medan, Indonesia but is actually of Chinese descent
Was a track star in high school
Spent time working as a door to door bible salesman
Has won 4 WSOP bracelets