Poker Player Profile – Allen Cunningham Poker Player

Poker player Allen Cunningham is one foremost live poker tournament players. He plays online poker at Full Tilt Poker. He has won five WSOP bracelets.

Entry To Poker

Allen Cunningham was born in 1977 in California. He played poker at home with his family and realized he was good at card games. After completing his school education Cunningham went to UCLA to study civil engineering. The required age to play poker at regular casinos was 21. Therefore Cunningham had to play low-limit cash games and freeroll tournaments at a local Indian casino. It was there that he honed his poker skills.

In 1998 as soon as Cunningham was 21 he started playing live tournament poker. The first year was not so good but 1999 was terrific. After that Cunningham dropped out from college and began to play poker professionally.

Live Poker Tournaments

Cunningham’s live poker tournament took off in 1999 at the Bicycle Casino’s Legends of Poker event. That year, he made five final tables and won two of them and was therefore named “Best All Around Player”. However he had to wait till 2001 for his first WSOP bracelet, which he won in the Seven-Card Stud Event. In 2002 he won a bracelet in the Deuce-to-Seven Lowball Event. 2005 was a bonanza year for Cunningham at the WSOP. He made four final tables and won his third bracelet, this time in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event. For his stellar performance he was awarded the title of ESPN/Toyota WSOP Player of the Year along with a brand new pick-up truck. In 2006 Cunningham won his fourth WSOP bracelet in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Event and finished fourth in the Main Event. In 2007 he won his third successive bracelet and his fifth overall bracelet in the $5,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Event. There are only four other poker professionals who have won a WSOP bracelet in each of three consecutive years. Cunningham has won other live poker tournaments as well. These include the $15,000 buy-in inaugural National Poker League Vegas Open Championship Main Event and the 2008 WSOP Circuit Event at Caesar’s Palace. Cunningham’s total live tournament earnings are about $10.2 million. He has had 16 first place finishes and 122 cashes.

Cunningham has also featured on television poker. He won the $300,000 ‘Mega Match’ on Poker After Dark in 2007. Cunningham plays cash games when not playing poker tournaments. His favorites are Pot Limit Omaha and mixed games like H.O.R.S.E.

Online Poker

Cunningham has been playing online poker exclusively at Full Tilt Poker. Earlier he was just a Full Tilt sponsored professional poker player, but since 2006 he has become a full member of Team Full Tilt. At the online poker room Cunningham offers tips to other players

Other Poker Achievements

Cunningham has a unique style of playing poker at the tables. Unlike many other poker professionals he always maintains a calm and controlled demeanor. He is also said to have a very good analytical approach to the game. The respect that his poker peers have for him can be gauged from that they voted him the best all-around player under 35.

Cunningham now lives in Las Vegas with his girlfriend Melissa Hayden, who is also a poker professional, and his dog named Muffin.