Poker Player - John Juanda
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John Juanda was born on the 8th of July 1971 in Indonesia he was also raised there until he came to the United States in 1990, he now resides in Los Angeles but plays out of Marina Del Ray California. While at High School John was a keen Track Runner, running distances in events of 200 meters sprints all the way up to 5000 meter races. When John moved to the United States he enrolled at Oklahoma State University, after graduating he went on to gain an MBA from the University of Seattle. Before John took up Poker in 1996 he had a stint of work as a door to door salesman selling Bibles, he eventually won awards for his sales skills. Poker wasn't John's first career choice he has expressed a keen interest in a career in medicine which would have been the path he took if Poker hadn't have caught his eye.
John hasn't been playing long but he has already achieved an impressive number of accomplishments in the poker. John began to enter tournament poker in 1996 but didn't have his first significant win until 2001 when he came first in the World Poker Open Championship, in the same year he was also named runner-up in the Card player's Tournament Player of the year. In 2002 John won his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the Ace to Five Triple Draw Lowball Event again he was named runner-up in the Card player's Tournament Player of the year, however he was named the winner of Tournament Champion of the year and he has also won three Best All- Round Player Awards. In 2003 John won a further two World Series Of Poker events the first at the $2,500 Limit Seven Card Stud earning $130,000 and a gold bracelet he then went on to win the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha winning $203,840 and another gold bracelet in the same month.
In 2004 John made 15 final tables as well as winning the November PPT event at Foxwoods earning $225,000 which later introduced a new series of tournaments created by the World Poker Tour for professional players only. When John competed in the Card Player of the Year race he finished a respectable third behind Daniel Negreanu, John's success also continued into 2005 when he was placed 5th in both the National Heads-up Poker Championship and the Five Star World Poker Classic. In November 2005 John came in 6th place in the Monte Carlo Millions $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em winning $100,000, again in November John came 2nd in the Full Tilt Invitational Monte Carlo $120,000 No-Limit Hold'em when he won $280,000, in December he finished in 2nd place at the World Series Of Poker Circuit Event Atlantic City $9,700 No-Limit Hold'em Championship earning $182,240.
In 2006 John defeated a host of poker players to win the Crown Australian Poker Championship $100,000 AUD speed poker event winning $732,901 first prize, other tournament players included Phil Ivey, Mike Sexton, Tony G, Tony "The Lizard" Bloom, Barry Greenstein and Jeff "The Iceman" Lisandro. In 2006 John's total live tournament winnings exceed $6,100,000 he is also considered to be one of the best tournament players in the world he also does poker speaking at corporate events as well as personal appearances arranged by Poker Royalty.
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