Indonesia is the fourth country in the world with the most number of citizens. Over two hundred and fifty million composes its vast population. People consider this number a sizeable potential poker market. Indonesia is popular with tourists, although it is a very conservative country. The citizens and the government are not very open when it comes to online casino games, such as IDN Poker. Even though most of Asia legalized betting, Indonesia has no plan of joining in on this trend. The government increased its efforts to stop casino games in their country. That is not surprising since Indonesia is an Islamic country, and most of them are Muslims. People know that Muslims do not tolerate betting.
The popularity of online casino games kept on increasing in this country. One of the reasons is that it is easier to play online than to go to an underground establishment. It is very inconvenient for the players, and they will also risk getting arrested. Online Poker offers privacy, along with convenience. A lot of Indonesian Online Poker players have won more than a hundred thousand dollars. The winnings of one player even amount to more than twenty-five million dollars. Let us have a better look at the most popular Indonesian Online Poker players.
John Juanda
Johnson Juanda has won five World Series of Poker bracelets. He is an Indonesian-born American professional poker player born in 1971. John Juanda, JJ, or Luckbox are his more familiar names. In 2001 and 2002, he won four World Series of Poker titles and a World Poker Open Championship title. That led him to become Card Player Magazine’s tournament Player of the Year for those two years. In 2004, he won the inaugural Professional Poker Tour event in Connecticut. He earned about five hundred thousand dollars in 2005 after winning several tournaments. He was the winner of the Monte Carlo Millions Consolation tournament. He finished sixth in the Monte Carlo Millions Main Event. He also finished second at The FullTiltPoker.Net Invitational Live from Monte Carlo. In 2006, he won the first prize of one million Australian dollars. He defeated several players in the Crown Australian Poker Championship. In 2008, he also won the World Series of Poker Europe. He then finished as a runner-up at the European Poker Tour’s London £1 Million Showdown. He has made six World Poker Tour final tables but never captured a championship title. He finished second in the first Season of Bellagio. He was a third-placer in the Second Season of WPT Invitational and fourth in the Third Season of Mirage. Then, he finished fifth on the Third Season of Aruba and also on the fifth Season of Niagara Falls. On the third Season of Bellagio, Juanda was able to finish sixth. He finished seventh in the second Season of PartyPoker Cruise. He landed on the eighth spot in the Fifth Season of Legends. Those two opportunities at another final table were unfortunate to get lost. In 2014, his total live tournament winnings were more than sixteen million dollars. He became part of the Poker Hall of Fame in 2015.
Darus Suharto
Born in Indonesia in 1968, Darus Suharto is a poker player residing in Canada. He earned more than two million dollars when he finished sixth in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event. He netted more than two million dollars when he cashed in thrice at the World Series of Poker. Those account for the majority of his lifetime tournament winnings. His total live earnings reached more than two and a half million dollars. Suharto’s best live cash was almost two and a half million dollars, too.
Michael Sampoerna
People know him as an Indonesian live poker tournament event player since 2008. He has more than three hundred thousand dollars worth of total live earnings. That was when he won third place at the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. Michael Sampoerna landed on the second spot at the Indonesian All Time Money List.
Indonesian citizens are becoming more open to online betting. They are starting to welcome the advantages and benefits that come with it. There are a lot of people looking forward to the future of Indonesian Poker.