John Juanda

John Juanda was born on July 8, 1971 in Medan, Indonesia. He is also known by his nicknames "Luckbox" and "JJ" and his hometown is Marina del Rey, California. He holds 4 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets which he won during the years 2002-2008.

Juanda was born and raised in Indonesia, but he is actually ethnically Chinese. He was very talented when it came to the track and when he was a high school student, he was a track runner and was a star when it came to 200 meter sprints and up to 5,000 meter races. It was in 1990 that he moved to the United States when he began his studies in Oklahoma State University. He has an MBA degree from Seattle University.

Long before poker, Juanda was even a door-to-door salesman, selling Bible books. These days, he lives in Los Angeles.

Juanda is one of the best poker players around and in 2001 and 2002 he won Card Player Magazine's tournament Player of the Year award. Aside from his 4 WSOP winnings, he has also won a World Poker Open Championship title and the inaugural Professional Poker Tour event in 2004.

In 2005, Juanda stormed Monte Carlo, Monaco as he was able to earn almost $500,000 after winning the Monte Carlo Millions consolation tournament, finishing sixth in the Monte Carlo millions Main Event, and finishing second at the FullTiltPoker Invitational Live from Monte Carlo.

Juanda continued his great momentum and poker play in 2006, as he defeated professional poker players Jeff Lisandro, Mike Sexton, Barry Greenstein, Tony G and Phil Ivey in the Crown Australian Poker Championship to win the $732,901 first prize. But Juanda's biggest achievement was probably his 2008 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) £10,000 No Limit Holdem Main Event win that earned him $1,539,250. It seems it wasn't enough for him as only a week later he finished second to Jason Mercier at the European Poker Tour to win $598,770.

During the years, Juanda has made it six times to the WPT final tables, but never won a WPT title and bracelet. In those final tables he finished in places 2-6, but never conquered the first place.

As of 2009, Juanda has won over $9,300,000 in live tournaments only.

He has also appeared on GSN's High Stakes Poker and he's a member of Team Full Tilt at Full Tilt Poker and can often be seen there playing at the tables and in tournaments.

WSOP Winnings

2002 - $1,500 Triple Draw Lowball Ace to Five - $49,620

2003 - $2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split - $130,200

2003 - $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha - $203,840

2008 - £10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event - $1,539,250