Allen Cunningham (born March 28, 1977) is an American professional

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player who has won five

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

bracelets.

Career

Cunningham studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

before dropping out of school to play poker professionally. At the age of 18, he began playing at Indian casinos. Previously a Full Tilt sponsored pro, he became a full member of Team Full Tilt in October 2006. Cunningham earned the title 2005 ESPN/Toyota Player of the Year and came close to winning it again in 2006. He was also voted by fellow professional poker players the Best All Around Player under 35. Cunningham's single largest tournament payout occurred at the 2006 World Series of Poker when he finished in fourth place in the Main Event, earning $3,628,513. Frequently during the tournament, when other players tried to take on Cunningham,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Norman Chad Norman A. Chad (born 1958) is an American sportswriter, poker player and syndicated columnist who is seen on the sports channel ESPN. He also was an occasional guest host on the ESPN show ''Pardon the Interruption'' and has appeared as both ho ...

would respond with comments such as: "What are they thinking of? It's ''Allen Cunningham''!" Cunningham joined a short list of players who have won a World Series of Poker Bracelet in three consecutive years after winning his fifth bracelet in 2007. Others to accomplish this include

Johnny Moss Johnny Moss (May 14, 1907 – December 16, 1995) was a gambler and professional poker player. He was the first winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, at the time a cash game event in which he was awarded the title by the vote of ...

, Bill Boyd,

Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...

Gary Berland Gary "Bones" Berland (May 9, 1950 – February 6, 1988) was an American professional poker player who won five World Series of Poker bracelets. Early life Berland was born and raised in Gardena, California. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with h ...

and

Erik Seidel Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, who has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. In 2010, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Early lif ...

. Cunningham won the $300,000 'Mega Match' on

Poker After Dark ''Poker After Dark'' is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007.

that aired the week of October 8, 2007. On December 7, 2007, Cunningham won the $15,000 buy-in inaugural National Poker League Vegas Open Championship Main Event after defeating David Singer during heads-up play, winning over $325,000. On May 1, 2008, Cunningham won the 2008

World Series of Poker Circuit event The World Series of Poker Circuit is a series of poker tournaments held annually at a variety of casinos since 2005 as a build-up to the World Series of Poker (WSOP). All Championship events are competed in no limit Texas hold 'em; preliminary ev ...

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesars P ...

, Las Vegas, earning $499,162. In the 2008 World Series of Poker Cunningham made another deep run in the Main Event, finishing 117th place out of 6844 players, earning $41,816. As of 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $11,500,000, 17th on the all time winnings list. As of August 2014, his 55 cashes including his five bracelets have netted him $7,097,407 in WSOP earnings. He resides in Las Vegas with girlfriend Melissa Hayden and their dog.

Awards

ALL IN Magazine 2006 Poker Player of the Year 2006 Poker Player of the Year
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Notes

External links

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PokerListings.com interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Allen 1977 births Living people American poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners WSOP Player of the Year Award winners World Series of Poker Circuit event winners Poker After Dark tournament winners People from Riverside, California