Poker Player Profile: Allen Cunningham

Allen Cunningham is a 33 year old American poker player. Born and raised in Riverside, California, Cunningham initially started playing poker as an 18 year old at Indian Casino’s. Having chosen the University of California-Los Angeles to study civil engineering, Cunningham later elected to quit his studies and concentrate on being a professional poker player. When playing poker online, Cunningham spends his time at Full Tilt Poker. He has been a sponsored professional at the website since 2006. The largest winning that Cunningham has garnered to this point in his professional career as at the 2006 World Series of Poker. There, he finished in fourth place in the Main Event, earning himself over $3.5 million. In 2007, Cunningham joined five other players to win a WSOP bracelet in three straight years. He joined the likes of Johnny Moss, Bill Boyd, Doyle Brunson, Gary Berland and Erik Seidel. In 2008, Allen entered the final table at the WSOP – C Caesars Las Vegas Main Event. He came from behind to win the event and come up with nearly $500,000. Cunningham has earned the nickname of Clever Piggy. The origin of the nickname is unclear. As of late 2009, Cunningham had won over $10 million from live poker tournaments. This amount was seventh on the all time winnings list. He trailed Jamie Gold, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Helmuth, Joe Hachem, Scotty Nguyen and Phil Ivey. Cunningham now lives in Las Vegas, where he can always find live events, with his girlfriend and their dog. While playing poker, Cunningham credits his engineering background to his analytical approach. Cunningham is typically seen as a calm, controlled and focused player, no matter the situation. Texas Hold’em is not the only type of game Allen enjoys. He also finds games of Pot-Limit Omaha and various other mixed games like HORSE.