Name: Allen Cunningham
Nickname: Clever Piggy
Full Tilt Id: Allen Cunningham
Birth Date: March 28th 1977
Birth Place: Riverside, California
Current Residence: Ventura, California
Total WSOP Bracelets: 5
Total WPT Wins: 0
Best Game: No Limit Hold’em
First Big Win: May 9th 2001 WSOP $5,000 Seven Card Stud for $201,760
First WSOP Bracelet: $5,000 Seven Card Stud 32nd World Series of Poker
Biggest WSOP Cash: July 28th 2006 WSOP $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold’em World Championship Event for $3,628,513
Biggest Cash: $10,000 No Limit Texas Hold’em World Championship Event for $3,628,513
All time money list: 5th
Hobbies: Playing on Full Tilt and other style card games on down time
Allen Cunningham was born in California in the late 1970s and began playing poker at an early age. Allen’s family would play poker at the kitchen table and early on Allen learned the skills to play the game.
At eighteen Allen enrolled at UCLA to study civil engineering at the same time, he was playing poker at local Indian casinos. Allen would build his bankroll by playing well in low limit cash games and free roll tournaments. During his second year in college, Allen began to win consistently during poker tournaments and moved to higher limit games.
Allen decided to quit college and pursue the professional poker life. There was one disadvantage that would hinder Allen in his pursuits—his age. Allen was not yet twenty one so he could only play poker at Indian casinos, not the larger, well known casinos with larger tournaments.
By 1999, Allen would begin to see success in the poker playing profession. Participating in the Bicycle Casino Legends of Poker tournament, Allen would reach five final tables with two wins, one in the $300 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo tournament and one in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Tournament. Allen also won the Best All Around Player of the series.
It would be another two years before Allen would win the first of five World Series of Poker bracelets. Allen would be victorious in the $5,000 7 Card Stud tournament taking home the top prize and bracelet. In 2002 Allen won another WSOP bracelet in the $5,000 Deuce to Seven No Limit tournament.
In 2005 Allen earned his third bracelet and made it to four final tables during the WSOP. Allen won the ESPN/Toyota WSOP Player of the Year and a new pick-up truck for his playing ability. The next few years would prove to be even more successful for Allen as he won more WSOP bracelets and played well in different poker series.
In 2006 Allen won the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament in the WSOP earning his fourth bracelet and finished fourth in the Main Event earning almost $4 million for his efforts. Allen earned his fifth WSOP bracelet in 2007, which would be his third bracelet in three years running. This achievement placed Allen on a short list of players who have won bracelets in three consecutive years. This list includes Johnny Moss, Bill Boyd, Doyle Brunson, Gary Berland and Erik Seidel.
The fifth bracelet win also put Allen on the all time bracelet list, tied with Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson for five bracelets. Allen is one of sixteen who have earned five or more bracelets in the World Series of Poker.
In 2008, Allen won the Ultimate Poker Challenge $3,000 No limit Hold’em tournament and the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic. During the 2008 WSOP, Allen placed 117th and won $41,816.
Allen Cunningham’s total earnings in his professional tournament career are over $10 million, which places him in fifth on the all time money list of poker winnings. Allen is dating Melissa Hayden, also a poker player, and lives with her in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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