The stories of poker pros are almost always interesting. Take Johnson Juanda, who goes simply by John. Born July 8th, 1971 in Indonesia, this young man didn't arrive in American until 1990, and once made a living as a door to door salesman selling bibles, even earning awards for his skill as a salesman. As a graduate of Okalahoma State University and earning his MBA from the University of Seattle, John has listed medicine as a possible career field. He seemed all set to enter the field of medicine when instead he took a sharp turn and ended up playing poker.

John is 33 years old and already has a string of very impressive accomplishments in the poker world under his belt.  In 2002 he was the tournament Champion of the Year, due to winning three World Series of Poker titles and a World Poker Open championship. In 2004 he won the PPT event that kicked off the new series of tournaments that were created by the World Poker Tour for pros only.

His winning attitude started early, when he competed as a high school track star, running 200-meter sprints and up to 5000-meter races. Speed and endurance together seemed to have served him well as a poker star, where on the tournament circuit you have to be able to act quickly at the right moment, and certainly need endurance to keep your strength up during marathon sessions.

John has a friendly web site, one that he seems to put a lot of effort in himself, especially with the "please be patient while we grow" warning. Most will forgive the shortness of the bio and other information as long as he continues to update his Player Of The Year race journal entries, where fans get to view through a window into not only his personal poker experiences, but what life is like on the road as a poker pro. Keep up with John at http://www.johnjuanda.com/ and don't sweat the dearth of details on the site; you will certainly get to see plenty of "JJ" on tournament television.

John Juanda Trivia

1. In his youth, John went door-to-door selling bibles

John Juanda Wins

1. 2001 The Second Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open

2. 2001 Legends of Poker

3. 2002 33rd World Series of Poker

4. 2003 L.A. Poker Classic

5. 2003 34th World Series of Poker

6. 2004 World Poker Finals

7. 2006 Crown Australian Poker Championships