Juanda was born in 1971 in Medan, Indonesia. As a child, he spent a lot of time away from his parents who worked to set up a business in another city.
His father was a heavy drinker and gambler, and even though he tried to keep his son away from gambling, it didn’t work. Juanda gambled on marbles in school even as a child, though he never developed a serious addiction. He was the family’s first-born, and even though that fact offered him a set of privileges over his brothers and sisters, it also came with obligations: he had to actively help support the family.
That duty led him to the United States where he attended college. He learned to play Holdem on the plane when he first flew to the States.
He earned his undergraduate degrees at Oklahoma State, and then moved to Seattle where he would earn his master’s. In the meantime though, he had to support himself, so he took a variety of jobs which he became rather successful at. Event though a Buddhist, he sold Bibles and earned an award for his activity.
He began playing poker seriously in local casinos in Seattle, and in 1996, after the completion of his MBA, he tuned pro.
Also known for his friends as “Pros Pro”, “Luckbox”, or “JJ”, Juanda won three WSOP bracelets (one in 2002, and two in 2003), and finished in the money 38 times, even though his highest Big Dance finish was “only” a 31st place in 2005.
The WPT saw him reach 6 final tables, and finish in the money 14 times, as he didn’t manage to win a title yet.
In 2006 he defeated a field of select fellow professionals (Ivy, Tony G, Sexton, Greenstein etc) to take down a AUD 1 million first prize in the Crown Australian Poker Championship.
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