John Juanda

With earnings of almost 12 million dollars, 30 career titles, 214 cashes, five gold bracelets and three Best All-Around Player awards, John Juanda is one of the most successful and respected professional poker players in the world.

Born the first of four children on July 8, 1971 in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Johnson ‘John’ Juanda was warned from an early age about the perils of gambling by his father, who was a gambler and a drinker who always lost. In high school, he channeled his competitive tendencies to sports and became a track star in 200 meter sprints to 5000 meter races.

After high school he headed to the USA and enrolled at Oklahoma State University where he played dorm room poker games. After graduation in 1994, he returned to Indonesia where he lost $15,000 gambling in the illegal Indonesian casinos. John then came back to the US and attended Seattle University where he earned his MBA. In 1996 he started playing poker with $100 at Harrah’s casino outside of Seattle and has never looked back or gone broke. He continued to win and build his bankroll from that first buy-in which convinced him to make poker his career.

Success on the tournament trail started in 1997. Just a year after he jumped into the tournament arena, Juanda placed sixth in the $100 Limit Hold ‘Em event at the Heavenly Hold ‘Em tournament in Los Angeles for $1,320. He would cash a total of 14 times that year – all of them by making the final table.

Before making his first appearance on a WSOP winners list in 1999, John set the tournament trail on fire by cashing in 19 tournaments. In 1998 he moved to Los Angeles where one of his two first place finishes was in the $500 LH event at the L.A. Poker Classic for $31,800.  His first score at a WSOP tournament came a year later when he made the final table and came in ninth to win $14,615 in the $1,500 LH event. A week later, he was at another WSOP final table, this time in the $3,000 LH event where he finished seventh to win $12,675. This was the beginning of what would be John’s glory filled record of cashing at the WSOP every year through 2011.

In 2000, John cashed 15 times and made 13 final tables including taking first in the $300 H.O.R.S.E California State Poker Championship for $33,240 and winning the $300 NLH at the Global Pot Limit/No Limit Open in Los Angeles for $14,760.

John would cash 31 times in 2001, making 27 final table appearances and racking up five first place finishes. Another 30 cashes in 2002 included 23 final tables, six first place wins and four WSOP cashes which earned him the Tournament Champion of the Year award. One of his first place finishes was in the $1,500 Limit Ace to Five Triple Draw event at the WSOP where John would collect $49,620 and his first gold bracelet. The same month he won second in the $10,000 NLH Final Five Diamond World Poker Classic and added $278,240 to his ever growing bankroll.

From 2003 through 2005 John continued his amazing tournament performances with 53 cashes, eight first place wins and 34 final table appearances. At the 2003 WSOP he cashed in six events, making the final table four times and collecting his second gold bracelet in the $2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split event for $130,200. He won his third bracelet plus $203,840 eleven days later in the $2,500 in the Pot Limit Omaha event. In 2004, he cashed in seven WPT events, six WSOP events and had three first place finishes which included winning the PPT NLH Final Day World Poker Finals in Mashantucket for $225,000.

In 2005, John made eight final tables and cashed six times at the WSOP before heading to Monte Carlo to win the Consolation Tournament Monte Carlo Millions Gold in November. He started 2006 by winning the A$100,000 Speed Poker Million Dollar Challenge Crown Australian Poker Championships in Melbourne to bring back A$1,000,000 ($732,901). He would round out the year by placing in six WPT tournaments and cashing in five WSOP events, adding up to a total of 15 cashes and six final tables. He was back in 2007 at four final tables and cashing 10 times including once at a WPT event, five times at the WSOP and once at the WSOPE.

In 2008 John cashed 10 times and made his first cash in an APPT event in Macau, Taipa. He also placed in one WPT event and cashed five times at the WSOP. The most memorable of his five final table appearances that year was winning the £10,000 World Championship NLH event at the WSOPE in London for £868,800 ($1,580,096) and his fourth gold bracelet.

From 2009 through 2010 Juanda had 19 cashes and made 14 final tables. In 2009, he cashed in five WSOP events, one EPT event, one WPT event and won the $20,000 Week 6 International III Poker After Dark V in Las Vegas for $120,000. The next year he finished in the money in five WSOP events making the final table in four of them, placed in another WPT tournament and came in second in the 2010 EPT London.

By July 2011, John had placed in five tournaments and cashed twice at the WSOP making the final table both times. It was there that Juanda pocketed $367,170 and stuck gold for the fifth time in the $10,000 No Limit Deuce To Seven Draw World Championship. In a classic heads-up match with Phil Hellmuth, he proved why he is a force to be reckoned, with Hellmuth admitting he feared John as an opponent.

Although he continues to excel at poker, John is an excellent manager of his finances and invests his money in enterprises like the Indonesian-themed restaurant called Java Spice he opened in Rowland Heights, a suburb of Los Angeles. He is also generous with his winnings and has put his little sister and his girlfriend through college at UCLA.