John Juanda Biography

Although he his actually Chinese, John “JJ” Juanda was born in Medan, Indonesia on July 8th, 1971. He came to the states at the age of 19 and did not know how to read or write. For a while, he attending Oklahoma State University but later earned his MBA from Seattle University. Prior to playing poker, John had sold bibles door-to-door. He later picked up the game in 1996.

Juanda has done very well for himself since he has started playing poker. Most of this is can be attributed to his study of his game, where he plugs up his leaks to make himself a better all around player. He is very calm when sitting at the table, carefully watching his opponents. John is very competitive, which stemmed from his track days in high school. He used to run the 200-meter sprints and 5000-meter races. It was because of his competitive nature and studying of his game that helped him earn 4 bracelets in the WSOP.

All of John’s bracelets have come from different games which show is versatility. In 2002, John won the $1,500 Triple Draw event, the Seven Card Stud event in 2003, a Pot Limit Omaha event in 2003, and in 2008, JJ won the World Series of Poker Main Event in Europe. He has had over 160 cashes, with over 40 of those coming from the WSOP. Aside from the World Series of Poker, Juanda has not won a WPT event, but has made 6 final tables and cashing over 15 times. As of recent, it has been reported that John has earned $9.3 million in earnings thus far. While John focuses more on tournament play, you will see him on Poker After Dark and GSN’s High Stakes Poker. Some of his other accolades include winning 3 Best All Around awards and 2 CardPlayer Magazine’s Player of the Year awards.

While John is very aggressive at the poker table, it is said that he is a very nice guy. You do not see him talking poorly of anyone or going out of his way to trash talk. This kind nature will one day lead John back to his homeland of Indonesia where he one day plans on becoming a doctor and helping those in need. It can be easy speculated that with the way John is continuously progressing in his game, always trying to get better, that you can be sure that he will meet those goals and be very good at being a doctor. If you would like the opportunity to play with John, you can find him at one of his tables at Full Tilt Poker.