Allen Cunningham(credit: Wikipedia)
Allen Cunningham is arguably the best poker player in the world today. The
Full Tilt sponsored pro has five WSOP bracelets and was the 2005 ESPN/Toyota Player of the Year. At only 30 years old, Cunningham has decades to play the game he loves (and knows) so well.
This past week, Cunningham added another title to his already-impressive poker resume. The boyfriend of fellow pro, Melissa Hayden, took down the NPL Vegas Open held at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The 57-player field wasn’t large by today’s tournament standards. However, it was chock-full of talent. John Juanda, Kathy Liebert, Joe Sebok, Gavin Smith, Eli Elezra and Chris Ferguson were among the entrants.
Six players made the final table with only five making any money. Cunningham entered that two-day final table with the chip lead. The first player, Mikael Thuritz, didn’t bust ‘til after the dinner break on the first day of the televised final table. After that, David Singer knocked out Nikolay Evdakov in fifth. Singer made a full house. Singer, also sponsored by Full Tilt, then took some chips from Cunningham, taking over the chip lead.
Only one more player would bust – Toto Leonidas – before the tournament organizers ended the action for the night. The next day, Cunningham was the short stack. However, he outlasted relative-unknown Antonio Salorio to battle it out with David Singer, winner of the 2007 Caesar’s Palace Classic, heads-up.
The tenacious Cunningham chipped away at Singer’s lead, never losing sight of his goal. After the dinner break, he terminated the former chip leader on the very first hand, earning the title and over $325,000.
Here are the final results:
1) Allen Cunningham - $325,105
2) David Singer - $203,181
3) Antonio Salorio - $130,042
4) Toto Leonidas - $89,404
5) Nikolay Evdakov - $65,021
6) Mikael Thuritz - $0