No Opie

Making his way to another 2005 WSOP final table (Event #20, $5,000 Pot Limit Hold'em), often-overlooked Allen Cunningham will soon find himself as recognizable as any of poker's heavyweights.

Final table play begins within the hour for Event #20, and with the 5th largest stack (131,500 in chips...Cyndy Violette is the leader with 206,000), Cunningham is in fine position for another bracelet. 

So who is this guy?

The basics: Cunningham was born in 1977 and now resides in Marina del Rey (where you can find many a pro these days).  He studied Civil Engineering at UCLA.  But most importantly, he began playing poker in 1998 at California Indian casinos at the age of 18.

With his victory in the 2005 WSOP Event #2 (the record-setting 2,200+ players, $1,500 NLH tournament), Cunningham cemented his status as a star of the game.  But it's not like he didn't have plenty of notches in his card marker before that. 

His WSOP victory this year was his third total (he won the $5,000 7 Stud event in 2001 and $5,000 Deuce to Seven game in 2002).  Last year, he raked in the 2nd Annual Five-Star World Poker Classic (NLH) title.  He's placed in a number of other major events, and depending on what Poker Rankings system you look at, he's somewhere in the top 20 in all of them. 

A member of the Full Tilt poker crew, Cunningham is making this year's WSOP his very own ATM machine, churning out cashes and big time finishes one after another.  If Cunningham keeps it up, the only thing he'll be over-looking is a 2005 POY trophy.