John Juanda
Name – Johnson Juanda
Birthday – July 8, 1971
Location – Marina Del Rey, CA
Online Screen Names – John Juanda (Full Tilt), luckbox (Poker Stars)
Endorses – Full Tilt
Website – johnjuanda.com
John Juanda, was born in Indonesia in 1971 and was raised there, even though he is and American citizen today. Juanda actually moved to the United States when he was aged 19 in 1990 on a student visa. He enrolled at Oklahoma State University initially and then continued to Seattle University, where he actually obtained an MBA. He was a stand out athlete and an excellent student.
Juanda actually spent some time selling bibles door to door after graduating before finding poker! Juanda’s breakthrough year was 2002, despite the fact that he started playing tournaments in 1996. His first title came in 2001 when Juanda actually won the World Poker Open Championship. However, in 2002, he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet before winning two more the following year. He first came in the $1,000 Ace to Five Triple Lowball event, whilst the 2003 bracelets came in the $2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Split and the $2,500 Limit Omaha.
As a result of his first WSOP bracelet, Juanda was given the honour of Tournament Champion of the Year in 2002. His first World Poker open Championship title also went some way to that. However, Juanda continued to go from strength to strength and won the Foxwoods inaugural Professional Poker Tour in 2004. He made a total of fifteen final tables that year.
Juanda’s big payday came in November 2005. He won $500,000 in the Monte Carlo Millions Consolation Tournament by beating the rest of the field and followed that by coming 2nd in the Full Tilt Poker invitational Live tournament. His great end to the year continued into 2006 when he won the Crown Australian Poker Championship and took home the AUD1,000,000 first prize. It was actually a speed poker event.
Although Juanda has had success in the WSOP, the World Poker Tour has largely eluded him. He has sat at six final tables but has yet to win an event The closest he came was at the Bellagio in season one. He finished second. However, there is still plenty of time for Juanda yet!