WSOPE Crowns a Winner

Online poker fans will be eager to know that Juan Juanda is this years' champion, hailing from Medan, North Sumatra in Indonesia. In his career, he’s won 3 WSOP Gold Bracelets, 2002 Tournament Champion of the Year and the 2001 World Poker Open Champion. In 2003, he carried off two more bracelets from the Pot-Limit Omaha and Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split events, and had three other final table appearances.
In 2004, he has made 15 other table appearances. In 2004, he earned the following titles:
• 2004 World Poker Finals $2,000 Seven Card Stud
• 2004 World Poker Finals PPT No-Limit Hold'em Final Day
• 2005 Monte Carlo Millions Gold - Consolation Tournament
• 2005 Full Tilt Poker Invitational $120,000 No-Limit Hold'em runner-up
• 2006 Crown Australian Poker Championships - Speed Poker Million Dollar Challenge
John Juanda's total tournament earnings to date exceed $6,355,000.
In fact, Juanda has won so many tournaments and bracelets that he told the press he couldn’t remember when he won his first, it was so long ago.
Juanda prefers Omaha Hi-Lo Split over any other game, and he started playing poker when he graduated school in 1997. His favorite players are Erik Seidel, Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey.
When asked how he started playing, Juanda replied, “I went to a casino to play blackjack and saw some people playing poker and decided to learn about the game and give it a try. I’m very glad I did.”
Juanda played with a number of pros this year, but it eventually came to the final nine at the table. Online poker players most likely recognized Daniel Negreanu, Scott Fischman, Chris Elliot, Toni Hiltunen, and Stanislav Alekhin.
“Today there are so many young excellent tournament players from all over the world. Like the two young Russians and Scandis. Much more than it used to be,” commented Juanda.