Allen Cunningham

Born on March 28, 1977, Allen Cunningham, who plays under the nickname of Clever Piggy, is a US-based professional poker player who has attracted a large number of poker fans. He has to his credit 5 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and 42 WSOP cashes; besides, he has appeared at the World Poker Tour (WPT) final tables twice and has 12 WPT cashes to his credit.

Poker Career

Cunningham started life by enrolling for a civil engineering course at UCLA; however, his love for poker made him drop out of college to become a professional poker player. He started playing at poker rooms in Indian casinos when he was just 18. He was part of Team Full Tilt till the US federal government cracked down on Full Tilt Poker on April 15, 2011.

In 2005, Cunningham won the ESPN Toyota Player of the Year title and almost won it again the following year. His fellow players have voted him as the Best All Round Player below the age of 35.

In 2006, Cunningham finished fourth in WSOP 2006 Main Event, collecting a whopping cash prize of $3,628,513. He got his fifth WSOP bracelet during WSOP 2007; besides, he also won $300k playing Poker After Dark’s Mega Match that same year. At the end of the year, he defeated David Singer at the National Poker League Open Championship in a heads up tournament and got a prize of over $325k.

In 2008, Cunningham won $499,162 in the WSOP 2008 Circuit, which was held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In WSOP 2008, he finished 117th and won $41,816.

By 2011, Cunningham had won more than $11,200,000 playing live poker tournaments alone.

Cunningham’s Early Life

Son of Joanne and Dean Cunningham, Allen Cunningham was lucky enough to be part of a poker-loving family, which used to play poker at the kitchen table. Cunningham realized quite early in life that he had a flair for playing poker although the only people he could beat were his family members. Later, Cunningham recalled the way his parents lovingly taught him poker rules and strategies and encouraged him to play the game.

After high school, Cunningham enrolled for a civil engineering course at UCLA, but spent most of his time delivering pizza and honing his poker skills at Indian casinos, playing cash games and freerolls and building a nice bankroll.

Cunningham’s Poker Style

Allen Cunningham is simple and unassuming at the poker table, but greatly feared and respected for his discipline and his cool, unemotional, and analytical approach to the game. He is convinced that he is getting better at playing poker with each passing year. Cunningham is hardly noticeable when he is actually playing the game; however, people cannot help but sit up and take notice when he starts grabbing his opponents’ chip stack.

Allen Cunningham is currently in a relationship with Melissa Hayden, another professional poker player, who also participates in poker tournaments with him. The two have a house at Las Vegas, where they live with Muffin, their dog.