John Juanda may very well be the most underrated tournament player around today. He deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Allen Cunningham – three men who along with Juanda started out their illustrious poker careers as close friends in the mid 1990s.

But today, while Negreanu, Ivey and Cunningham continue to take the plaudits under the spotlight of the media, the fourth piece of that jigsaw remains something of a mystery to most.

However, avoiding the spotlight hasn’t caused Juanda any harm – when he first arrived in America from Indonesia in 1990, his lack of English resulted in a back seat being taken in social situations.