Allen Cunningham

[Shaman]

From what I understand, Allen Cunningham left poker from around 1999 to 2004 in order to concentrate on his education, after having taken the poker world by storm in the late 1990s. Imagine how many titles he would own by now had he never left.

Anyway, it seems like the storm will continue now that he has won the big 1500 buy-in NL and is now third in chips in the 5k buy-in pot limit.

I've only played him a short time and only witnessed him play straightforward during that time. But I'm sure his overall game is higher than Ivey's and Negreanu's.

[transmitt]

Oh, did you just start a sh*tstorm with your last sentence, stay tuned.

[J.R.]

your premise is a fallacy (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=61)

[dogmeat]

What limits and what games did you play against him? I'm wondering when this was, and what qualifications you used to declare him better than Ivey and Negreanu. Should I assume you are of this caliber also, since you are able to play against him and also rate these three players?

Dogmeat /images/graemlins/spade.gif

[drewjustdrew]

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your premise is a fallacy (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=61)

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Maybe he thinks that Cunningham would have EVEN BETTER results during his REGULAR play during that entire stretch? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[OrangeKing]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
your premise is a fallacy (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=61)

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe he thinks that Cunningham would have EVEN BETTER results during his REGULAR play during that entire stretch? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

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Well, it did seem like he was playing at least some WSOP events in all those years - he had a ton of cashes, that's for sure.

[TomHimself]

Not even close to Ivey

[sam h]

He definitely did not quit playing poker for five years. By all accounts, he is a very talented player. If he didn't win a prominent event for a while (not even sure if this is true), that just goes to show that even some of the best tournament players can easily go years and years without a major win.

[Shaman]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe he thinks that Cunningham would have EVEN BETTER results during his REGULAR play during that entire stretch? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

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This is accurate.

[Shaman]

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What limits and what games did you play against him?


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Tournaments, strictly.

[yoadrians]

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I'm sure his overall game is higher than Ivey's and Negreanu's.

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Only time will tell. Not a statement you can utter with complete certainty at this time.

He's having a nice run in the WSOP this year, no question. How he stacks up against the best, well, like I said, time will answer that for us.

[Rootabager]

Paul Phillips awhile back said he was the best player in his game. I think it's the 600-1200 mixed game.

[David Sklansky]

He has contributed to this forum occasionally, always in totally non-fallacious posts. (Few can say that). I recently wrote that he is the tournament player most likely to graduate successfully to big side games. Phil Ivey is at best a hair better than him.

[Shaman]

I remember in a thread not too long ago, David Sklansky saying that Cunningham was one of a very few people who could figure out a certain poker math problem (along with Ferguson, Lederer, and a few others). I have forgotten what the thread and the specific math problem was.

This shows that he is a very high caliber gambling mathematician. You add great people instincts and 99.9999999 percentile ability to handle bad beats and losses (plus a very clean lifestyle) and you're talking about a top three all around high stakes tournament and live game player.

[Masquerade]

I heard someone say that Cunningham was spotted playing $5K/hand blackjack after winning his bracelet. No idea if that's true but a little worrying if it is.

[Sponger15SB]

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I heard someone say that Cunningham was spotted playing $5K/hand blackjack after winning his bracelet. No idea if that's true but a little worrying if it is.

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Maybe he was card counting?

[Spook]

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I heard someone say that Cunningham was spotted playing $5K/hand blackjack after winning his bracelet. No idea if that's true but a little worrying if it is.

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I heard that the authors of 2+2 wrote books about playing blackjack and gambling for a living.
I have no idea if it is true.

[d10]

I've played with Allen quite a few times at his 5/10 limit table on Full Tilt. I've done pretty well there, but that's all thanks to the 7 other guys at the table. I wouldn't want to play him heads up.

[Yeknom58]

I love the way he has a Tourettes like thing going on when he's making a decision. I imagine it makes him pretty hard to read.

[Moovyz]

I saw Allen playing in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals 3 years ago. I said then that he was one of the best I've ever seen. He was playing a NL event with Scotty, "Devilfish" and other big names. He was the only one not showing off for the croud. He always seems to have his mind totally on business. I think he may have been building a sizeable bankroll for the past 3 years.

I personally would put his game slightly ahead of Ivey and Negrano. The results don't show that yet but come back in 3 years time and look again. I think he will be called one of, if not the best over the next few years. He is coming into his time and the tougher field this year only adds creedence to that.

[David Sklansky]

"I heard someone say that Cunningham was spotted playing $5K/hand blackjack after winning his bracelet. No idea if that's true but a little worrying if it is."

You heard wrong. Totally wrong.