Johnson "John" Juanda (born July 8, 1971) is an Indonesian professional poker player of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

descent based in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. He has won five

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker p ...

bracelets.

Personal life

Juanda was born into a Hoklo family in

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four mai ...

North Sumatera North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java and ...

, Indonesia on July 8, 1971. He was a high school track star for the 200 meter sprints to

5000 meters The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

races. Juanda arrived in the United States in 1990 to enroll at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. He earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from Seattle University. Juanda is fluent in both Mandarin Chinese and English. He currently resides in

, Japan.

Poker career

In both 2001 and 2002, he was '' Card Player Magazine's'' tournament Player of the Year, winning four

titles, and a World Poker Open Championship title. In November 2004, he won the inaugural

Professional Poker Tour The Professional Poker Tour (PPT) was a series of televised poker tournaments, spinning off from the World Poker Tour (WPT) television series. It billed itself as the first professional poker league, and was limited to players who have establishe ...

event at the

Foxwoods Casino Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casinos have more th ...

in Connecticut. In November 2005, he earned nearly $500,000 in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

after winning the Monte Carlo Millions Consolation tournament, finishing sixth in the Monte Carlo Millions Main Event, and finishing second at "The FullTiltPoker.Net Invitational Live from Monte Carlo." In January 2006, Juanda defeated a field including

Jeff Lisandro Jeffrey Lisandro (born in Perth) is an Italo-Australian professional poker player, now residing in Salerno, Italy. Lisandro is known as a cash game specialist, but he also plays often in the poker tournament circuit and is regarded as one of ...

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Barry Greenstein Barry Greenstein (born December 30, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American professional poker player. He has won a number of major events, including three at the World Series of Poker and two on the World Poker Tour. Greenstein donates his ...

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, and

Phil Ivey Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr. (born February 1, 1977) is an American professional poker player who has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title, and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables. Ivey is regarded by numero ...

to win the A$1,000,000 ($732,901) first prize in the

Crown Australian Poker Championship The Australian Poker Championship, commonly known as Aussie Millions, is a series of poker tournaments held at the Crown Casino, in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Event of the series is the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament with a ...

A$100,000 speed poker event. Juanda won the 2008

World Series of Poker Europe The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series ...

£10,000 No Limit Holdem Main Event, earning £868,800 ($1,580,096). A little over a week later, he finished runner-up to

Jason Mercier Jason Mercier (born November 12, 1986) is an American professional poker player from Hollywood, Florida. He has won five World Series of Poker bracelets and one European Poker Tour title. Mercier is a member of Team PokerStars Pro and was named ...

at the

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

's London £1 Million Showdown, a non-title no limit holdem event also known as the £20,000 High Roller event, earning £327,000 ($598,770). Although Juanda has made six

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the f ...

final tables, he has never captured a WPT title. He has finished 2nd (Bellagio Season 1), 3rd (WPT Invitational Season 2), 4th (Mirage Season 3), 5th (twice; Aruba Season 3 and Niagara Falls Season 5), and 6th (Bellagio Season 3) at the six final tables he has appeared at. He has also finished 7th (PartyPoker Cruise Season 2) and 8th (Legends Season 5), just missing two more opportunities at another final table. As of 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $16,000,000. Juanda's 54 cashes at the WSOP account for $4,702,392 of his live tournament winnings and place him tied for 8th for all time WSOP cashes.World Series of Poker Earnings
www.worldseriesofpoker.com In 2015, he was selected to be part of the

Poker Hall of Fame The Poker Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional poker in the United States. Founded in Las Vegas, it was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino, to preserve the names and legacies of the world's greatest p ...

along with

Jennifer Harman Jennifer C. Harman (born November 29, 1964) is an American professional poker player. She has won two World Series of Poker bracelets in open events, one of only four women to have done so. Career Harman won her first World Series of Poker bra ...

.Jen Harman and John Juanda Selected as Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2015

World Series of Poker bracelets

An "E" following a year denotes bracelet(s) won at the World Series of Poker Europe

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juanda, John 1971 births Living people Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian emigrants to Japan Chinese emigrants to Japan Indonesian poker players People from Medan Oklahoma State University alumni Poker After Dark tournament winners Seattle University alumni World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Europe Main Event winners European Poker Tour winners Poker Hall of Fame inductees