John Juanda
- by Oliver Gaywood
Parents are often keen for their children to follow their footsteps in life but in a few instances they are dead against it. The latter is the case for John Juanda’s father; he was a gambler who would often warn his son about the dangers related to it. Although full of respect for his father, “JJ” would often play marbles for money at school. This was easy to hide from his parents who were living in another city trying to start up a business whilst Juanda and his three younger siblings were left under the care of his grandparents.
It was not until Juanda had left his family home in Medan, Indonesia, to attend Oklahoma State University in 1990, aged 19, that poker became a part of his life. He moved to Seattle to earn his MBA after graduating with degrees in management and marketing.
Juanda worked through college as a door-to-door bibles salesman and traded stocks whilst building up his bankroll in the local casinos and card rooms. By 1996 he had enough confidence to make poker his life.
Though many players follow the loud and often aggressive style of play exhibited by the likes of Mike Matusow, Juanda prefers a calmer, quieter approach and lets his cards do the talking.
After reaching two final World Series of Poker finals in 1999, he won his first major tournament – the World Poker Open Championship - in 2001 before winning his first of three World Series of Poker Bracelets in the following year at the Limit Triple Draw Lowball Ace to Five table. His poker playing ability was being noticed as he was named Tournament Champion of the Year for 2002 and he was second placed in Card Player’s Player of the Year list for both 2001 and 2002.
His game went from strength to strength with his other two bracelets arriving in 2003 with wins in Limit 7 Card Stud and Pot Limit Omaha. 2004 saw him in 15 final tables, three of which ended in victory for Juanda, including the $225,000 first prize in the first ever Professional Poker Tour No Limit Hold ‘em event.
At the beginning of 2006 he claimed his biggest win with a coup of over $750,000 in the Aussie Millions, beating the likes of Phil Ivey and Mike Sexton to the top prize. By the end of the year his winnings had just sneaked over the $6,000,000 mark.
Juanda states a preference for Hold ‘em and Omaha Hi/Lo and he can often be found playing online at Full Tilt Poker. He currently resides in Marina del Rey, California.
Although he has no immediate plans to leave the poker arena, he one day hopes to become a doctor.
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