1. Allen Cunningham Ventura, CA $625,830 2. David “Chino” Rheem Los Angeles, CA $327,981 3. “Captain” Tom Franklin Gulfport, MS $185,431 4. Steve Wong Hoofddorp, Netherlands $162,252 5. John Q. Hoang Fountain Valley, CA $139,073 6. Thien “Tim” Phan Arcadia, CA $115,894 7. Everett Carlton St Paul, MN $92,715 8. Andy Bloch Las Vegas, NV $69,537 9. Alex Jacob Parkland, FL $46,358 10. Illya Trincher $25,497 11. Chris Loveland Hollis, NH $25,497 12. Joseph Davis El Paso, TX $25,497 13. Adam J. Naglich Las Vegas, NV $20,861 14. David Wells Chicago, IL $20,861 15. "Miami" John Cernuto Las Vegas, NV $20,861 16. Elmer Lynn Alexanderia, VA $16,225 17. Kenna James Las Vegas, NV $16,225 18. Sammy Arzoin Flushing, NY $16,225 19. Joe Leibman unknown $11,589 20. Sean Picquelle Costa Mesa, CA $11,589 21. Chip Jett Las Vegas, NV $11,589 22. Tong Agouga unknown $11,589 23. Josh Tieman Bloomingdale, IL $11,589 24. Amir Vahedi Sherman Oaks, CA $11,589 25. John Juanda Las Vegas, NV $11,589 26. Nam Le Huntington Beach, CA $11,589 27. Maciek Gracz Raleigh, NC $11,589 28. Conor Tate Manchester, UK $8,113 29. Roger Barlow Center Point, AL $8,113 30. Paul Snead Kings Park, NY $8,113 31. Joseph D. Reitman Los Angeles, CA $8,113 32. Kyle Wilson Surrey, Canada $8,113 33. Daniel Schmaech Houston, TX $8,113 34. Kathy Liebert unknown $8,113 35. James Mordue Los Angeles, CA $8,113 36. Blair Rodman Las Vegas, NV $8,113 37. Amy Tsao Houston, TX $6,722 38. Ron Long Fort Wayne, IN $6,722 39. Sigurd Andreas Eskeland Oslo, Norway $6,722 40. Eddie Zakaria Windsor, Ontario, Canada $6,722 41. Jesse Martin Shrewsbury, MA $6,722 42. Huck Seed Las Vegas, NV $6,722 43. Ben Armstrong Tulsa, OK $6,722 44. Steve Zolotow Las Vegas, NV $6,772 45. Sudo Le San Jose, CA $6,722 46. Robert A. Cash Gladstone, MO $5,447 47. Steven Rosen Armonk, PA $5,447 48. Allen Kessler Huntington Valley, PA $5,447 49. Mark Scott Las Vegas, NV $5,447 50. Michael Wiggins Brandon, FL $5,447 51. Steve Duncker New York, NY $5,447 52. Paolo Grossi Reggio Emilia $5,447 53. Barry Greenstein unknown $5,447 54. Gioi Luong Westminster, CA $5,447 55. Frank Sinopoli Hollywood, FL $4,636 56. Philip S. Gordon Las Vegas, NV $4,636 57. Tad Jurgens Chandler, AZ $4,636 58. Humberto Brenes (José) Coral Gables, FL $4,636 59. Behzad Teravle Los Angeles, CA $4,636 60. Champie Douglas Las Vegas, NV $4,636 61. Stuart Patterson Boca Raton, FL $4,636 62. Annand Ramdin Bronx, NY $4,636 63. Anders Berg Oslo, Norway $4,636 64. Jay Mecklinger Toronto, Ontario, Canada $4,056 65. Brandon Schaefer Seattle, WA $4,056 66. Mimi Tran uknown $4,056 67. Nicholas Niergarth Elilhorn, WI $4,056 68. Gary Haglund Colorado Spr, CO $4,056 69. William Brooks South Lake, TX $4,056 70. Henry Law El Monte, CA $4,056 71. Anahit Galajian Glendale, CA $2,028 72. Jim Bechtel Gilbert, AZ $2,028 73. Scott Lazar Studio City, Ca $2,028 74. Scott Manzi Miami Beach, FL $2,028

Number Four….and Counting

Allen Cunningham Wins Fourth Gold Bracelet, Second in Two Years

Tranquil 29-year-old poker pro outplays
tough final table and wins $625,830

Las Vegas, NV – The loudest poker personalities may get the fame, but the most skilled players get the money. Allen Cunningham is neither loud, nor famous. In fact, he is usually the quietest poker player in the room. But he is most certainly a skilled consummate poker professional, and he sure gets the money. Lots of money.

Cunningham topped a highly-competitive field of 752 players in the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em world championship at the 2006 World Series of Poker. He won a whopping $625,830 in prize money. The victory marked the fourth time the 29-year-old poker professional from southern California has won a WSOP title.

This was the first tournament of this year’s World Series with re-buys. All other tournaments played thus far have been single-elimination freeze outs. The 1,670 re-buys in this event helped to generate a total prize pool of $2,317,887. After two lengthy days of play, the nine finalists took the illuminated stage at the Rio Casino in front of a packed gallery and ESPN television cameras on hand to film the exciting finale.

The final table started off with “Captain” Tom Franklin and Tim Phan sharing a considerable substantial chip lead over the rest of the field. Of the final nine, only Franklin and Cunningham were former gold bracelet winners. Franklin won his WSOP title back in 1999 (Limit Omaha). Cunningham’s WSOP victories came in 2001 (Seven-Card Stud), 2002 (Deuce to Seven Lowball), and 2005 (No-Limit Hold’em).

Name - Chip Count - Seat #

Alex Jacob $106,000 1
Allen Cunningham $234,000 2
Tim Phan $551,000 3
Everett Carlton $86,000 4
John Hoang $274,000 5
Captain Tom Franklin $590,000 6
Steve Wong $295,000 7
David Rheem $145,000 8
Andy Bloch $157,000 9

Alex Jacob’s stay at the final table was short, and not so sweet. On the seventh hand of play, Jacob was down to his last 30,000 in chips after losing a big pot and called an all-in bet with ten-nine. Andy Bloch had ace-king. The flop came with two aces and Jacob was drawing dead. It was an ugly ten minutes. Alex Jacob, a Yale graduate, pocketed $46,358 as the first player out.

There has been some discussion in recent weeks about the best poker players never to have won a WSOP gold bracelet. Such a short list would certainly include Andy Bloch, both an MIT and Harvard Law School graduate who has used his considerable mental talents to earn money playing poker in recent years. Bloch, who won an event on last year’s WSOP Circuit (which awards gold and diamond rings, by the way – not gold bracelets), was never able to establish any momentum and ended up going out in eighth place. Bloch lost his remaining chips with pocket nines against Allen Cunningham’s ace-queen. An ace flopped, and Bloch failed to improve. Bloch knocked off $67,537.

Allen Cunningham took out another player when his ace-ten whipped out Everett Carlton’s king-jack. Cunningham made two pair, smoking Carlton’s chances of victory. This was Carlton’s second time to cash at the WSOP. Interestingly, Carlton first took up poker seriously when he was recovering from surgery in the hospital and saw it being played on TV. Little did he know back then, that he’d appear at an ESPN final table and make $92,715 in prize money.

Tim Phan went out next when his ace-queen suited was covered by Chino Rheem’s ace-king. Neither player made a pair, so the ace-king played and Vietnamese-born Phan was out. The Westminster, CA-based poker player collected $115,894.

With Allen Cunningham holding the chip lead, John Q. Hoang made a bold move with an all-in raise (his last 240,000) holding seven-six in the small blind. The fearless steal attempt failed when Tom Franklin called instantly and showed ace-queen. Hoang missed completely and was bounced off of the final table. Hoang, who was the runner up in last week’s Seven-Card Stud championship, took fifth place this time, good for $139.073.

Dutch player Steve Wong was eliminated in fourth place when he tried to bluff at a 500,000 pot holding an ace-high and a backdoor flush draw. Chino Rheem wasn’t going anywhere with his flopped set of sixes. He made the easy call and scooped Wong’s last chip. Wong collected $162,252.

“Captain” Tom Franklin set his sights on winning gold bracelet Number Two. He looked to be the early favorite, but lost the chip lead to Allen Cunningham and never fully recovered. Franklin, who holds two college degrees, served with the US armed forces in Vietnam, and also plays the drums was pounded on his final hand of the night when he flopped top pair, but lost when Chino Rheems completed a flush. “Captain” Tom Franklin was honorably discharged in third place, which paid $185,431.

The Cunningham-Rheems heads-up match lasted for nearly three hours. The most decisive hand of play took place early in the bout when Cunningham seized the chip lead. On the key hand, Cunningham raised 50,000 pre-flop, Rheem re-raised to 250,000 and Cunningham moved all-in. Rheem called. When Cunningham flipped over pocket queens against Rheems’ ace-queen, the crowd sensed an immediate momentum shift. An ace would have ended the tournament and crowned Rheems the champion. But alas, the ace did not come and Cunningham won the big pot.

It took another 50 hands or so before Cunningham finally polished off his persistent rival. Rheem was getting low on chips and tried to make a sneaky pre-flop move holding jack-nine. Cunningham called the all-in raise with ace-queen and caught a gratuitous ace on the river to make a pair. David “Chino” Rheem, a 26-year-old poker pro from Miami, Florida received $327,981 in his first WSOP final table appearance.

True to his character, Allen Cunningham’s life story is unpretentious. He was a straight A-student at UCLA when he discovered his hidden talent for poker playing. While pursuing a degree in civil engineering, he started playing the game more seriously and began making money. In 1999, Cunningham enjoyed a breakthrough year in tournament poker – coincidently the same year that emerging rivals Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and Daniel Negreanu invaded the poker scene and began winning millions. In historical retrospect, Cunningham was part of a revolutionary movement in the game of poker, away from older, more traditional players towards younger, inventive new champions.

With this victory, Cunningham moved into elite poker territory. He joins nine players who have also won four WSOP gold bracelets – a list which currently includes Mickey Appleman, Bobby Baldwin, David Chiu, Artie Cobb, Tom McEvoy, Scotty Nguyen, Puggy Pearson, Amarillo Slim Preston, and Huck Seed.

At age 29, Cunningham is one of only four other players to win at least four gold bracelets before turning thirty. The others were Stu Ungar, Phil Hellmuth, Jr., Layne Flack, and Phil Ivey.

By Nolan Dalla

Overall Tournament Statistics (through end of Event #13):

Total Entries to Date: 14,596

Total Prize Money Distributed: $23,366,125

2006 World Series of Poker