John Juanda in top form

WSOP Europe / Matthew Pitt / 29 September 2008 / Leave a Comment

When a poker professional is playing well and hitting cards it can be a deadly combination. One player who is doing both at the £1,500 No-limit Hold'em Event at the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe is John Juanda.

Juanda was born and raised in Indonesia but now resides in sunny California when he is not battling it out in major tournaments and high-stakes cash games around the world.

His record at the World Series of Poker is very good, having won three bracelets and cashed an impressive 44 times so far in his career. He also has cashes 16 times, made six final tables at the World Poker Tour and to date has over $7,100,000 in tournament winnings.

As an aggressive player, Juanda has a reputation for being able to make moves with any two cards but also for having the ability to read his opponents hand with frightening accuracy.

A large stack is needed to play an aggressive game properly and he managed to acquire one when his pair of ten held up against GUKPT winner, Tony 'Ginger' Phillips' pair of fours to send the young Englishman to the rail.

With a pile of chips in front of him, Juanda kept up his aggressive stance but had to slow down and use his hand reading abilities near the end of the day's play.

Juanda raised the action to 2,400 holding 7h 6d and only the big blind made the call. After a flop of 6s Kd 5c was dealt, the big blind led out for 3,600, which Juanda quickly called. The turn was the three of spades, and once again, the big blind led out, this time for $5,000.

After a much deliberation, Juanda again flat called this bet. The river was the jack of diamonds and this time the big blind paused before checking his option. Juanda announced that he knew his opponent had a "busted draw" but was not sure if was ahead with his lowly pair of sixes and checked behind.

The big blind tapped the table, acknowledging Juanda's was indeed good and showed 9h 7d for a missed gut-shot draw. Juanda read his hand perfectly and raked in another decent sized pot.

At the close of play, Juanda was sat with 27,000, putting him above the average stack and sat nicely under the radar in 34th place with 90 player remaining, a perfect position to sneak up and claim the 45th World Series of Poker cash of his career.

See how John Juanda fared in the WSOPE 2008 Main Event