New Interview with EPT Barcelona Champ John Juanda Online

John Juanda was interviewed while on his way to winning last week's huge EPT Barcelona Main Event

Last week poker legend John Juanda took some time out from his (eventual winning) run at the recent EPT Barcelona to take part in an interview for Pokerlistings.com.

It's been well documented that Juanda has been away from the poker scene for a little while, and was notable by his absence at this year's WSOP, a festival of poker which he has had considerable success in years gone by, having won 5 bracelets.

It turns out that the reason for Juanda's absence had a lot to do with some crazy prop-bets he made with a friend including being able to run 100 yards quicker than has friend could hop 50 yards. He also bet that he could do 20 marine-style pull ups with 6 months training, and another physical bet was a 5km race. As well as the physical challenges there was also a bet on who could do better in a Japanese proficiency test (Juanda has been a Tokyo resident for the past 4 years now, but until his bet couldn't speak the language).

As a result, getting around the tournament circuit hasn't been too easy for Juanda of late as, in his own words, "I basically spent eight-and-a-half hours everyday this year training and studying."

Juanda also reveals that its not just tournament poker which has taken a back-seat for him in the past 12 months. A former regular in the big Macau cash games, Juanda says that he hasn't played in those for a while and that the stakes are 8-10 times higher now than they were when he played, and that if he were to play in them he'd need to sell action, something he hasn't really had to do in the past.

However, the hiatus from poker doesn't seem to have depleted his tournament prowess as the former Team Full Tilt member chalked up a major victory at the EPT Barcelona, winning over $1.1m for winning the largest EPT Main Event in history, topping the 1,694 player field.

For anyone who is interested Juanda was able to win the 100 yard run vs 50 yard hop race!

See the interview in full here