Allen Cunningham
Allen Cunningham was one of the lesser-known great players in poker before, that's before he finished fourth at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Since starting out seven years ago, Cunningham has won tournaments around the world and competed on both the World Poker Tour and WSOP stages. He is a World Champion in 7 Card Stud and began playing poker at Indian casinos when he was 18. He was voted by his peers as the Best All Around Player Under 35.
It was in 1999 when Cunningham started his hot streak, winning six major tournaments and capturing the title of Best All-Around Player at the Legends of Poker.
But his greatest stage would be the WSOP where he racked up four bracelet wins, including one each in the past two years of the tournament. His performance at the 2005 WSOP (where he won one event, final tabled at three others and cashed in another event) earned him the 2005 World Series of Poker Player of the Year award. At this year’s event, Allen took another bracelet and also was able to outlast almost the entirety of the Main Event field of 8,773 before finishing fourth.
In total, Allen stands among the Top Ten Mansion deposit bonus in money earnings over his career with well over $8 million in winnings.
Like many of his peers , Allen dropped out of college to play poker professionally. He was earning his engineering degree from UCLA when he decided to leave the academic world in able to play poker full-time.
In October, Allen officially became the 13th member of Team Full Tilt Poker where he joined other poker greats including Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer.
