 The National Poker League Vegas Open ended last night with Allen Cunningham on top of the poker heap at the Venetian in Las Vegas. December is generally a 'stay at home' month for poker professionals and since most of them live in Las Vegas, a $15,000 buy-in event like the NPL final tends to draw a small but very experienced group of players. Add to that the luxury of playing in the room at the Venetian and you have a unique tournament.
The NPL is a televised event with the NPL promoters cobbling together a network of television stations around the world for their tour. What was to be a three day event turned into a four day tournament when union rules caused the television crews to go off the clock early Thursday morning. Coming back for the final day were three players: David Singer with over a million in chips, Antonio Salorio at close to a half million and Cunningham short-stacked at 252,000.
The chip lead was up and down all day until the dinner break when David and Allen had been heads up for nearly two hours and took a much needed break, only to have the tournament end on the first hand post-supper. Allen caught an ace for a broadway straight and David held the short end of the straight to a 9. Allen takes home $325,000 for the win, with David winning $203,000 for the runner-up spot.
Next the players move across the Las Vegas Strip to continue play in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic at Bellagio.
 2006 WSOP final tableist and 2005 WSOP major-stud Allen Cunningham officially joins the Full Tilt team -- no longer just a "friend of FT". Not sure whether or not this means he has to move to Ireland, but it does mean he'll get to see his face on a lot of T-shirts with the likes of Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, et al.
ALT HED: The Thirteenth Apostle
Allen Cunningham's 4th place finish tonight will vault him to #5 on poker's all-time money list with $7,906,414 in lifetime tournament winnings, behind only Daniel Negreanu ($8,407,244), T.J. Cloutier ($8,089,048), Joe Hachem ($8,067,053), and Phil Hellmuth ($8,042,658). Prior to the Main Event, he was ranked 20th.
Of course that ranking will only stand for the next few hours, as whomever takes home the $12 million will unseat Daniel Negreanu from his perch as tournament poker's winningest player.
Michael Binger just doubled through Allen Cunningham yet again (I believe that makes three times). The severely short-stacked Binger pushed in with A-Q over the top of Cunningham's 750,000 preflop raise and Cunningham made the call with Q-J, having Binger covered. The 8c-6c-2c-5s-7s board didn't bring a jack for Cunningham, and Binger will live to play another hand. He's up to almost 8M.
Allen Cunningham called Jamie Gold's 800,000 raise from the big blind and they saw a flop of 8h-8d-3d. Cunningham checked, Gold bet 1M, and Cunningham called. The turn was the 2c and both players checked. The river was the Qs and Cunningham checked. Gold bet 2M and Cunningham went into the tank for over two minutes. He finally called and showed only A-9 high. What an amazing read!
Cunningham recognized that Gold likely fired out the 2M on the river with a hand that could only take the pot with a substantial bet-- a small pair, a busted flush draw or the like-- though he could have easily made the same bet having caught a pair with the queen on the river. Ultimately, Cunningham trusted his instincts and looked Gold up with what was, so far, one of the most exciting hands of the final table.
Reads like that are what separates a seasoned pro like Cunningham from his five remaining opponents.
Johnny Chan has been trying to help his super-stacked protege Jamie Gold win. And right now he's reportedly a little perturbed that Gold has been taking on Allen Cunningham in the wrong way. Steve Rosenbloom reports that Chan has supplied Gold with info on a big Allen Cunningham tell, one that he may or may not have failed to exploit.
(I think ... am a little confused, because the tell Rosenblum references would require Gold to go into the tank to pick up on.)
Anyhow, makes for an interesting issue regarding live and semi-live coverage, as I suspect word of this supposed tell will filter back to Cunningham by dinner break.
8 of the last 10 pots have been taken down by a standard preflop opening raise in the 600,000-700,000 range, three of them by Allen Cunningham. Of the 2 hands that actually progressed past the flop, the most significant was a hand between, you guessed it, Cunningham and Jamie Gold. Cunningham raised to 600,000 from the cutoff seat and Jamie Gold called the raise from the big blind. The flop came down Ad-6h-4s. Gold checked, Cunningham fired out 900,000 and Gold folded. Cunningham took the 2.4M pot.
From under the gun, Michael Binger raised to 700K and Allen Cunningham called from the big blind. Cunningham checked the Qh-Js-8c flop and Binger moved in for 2.25M. Cunningham made the call with Ad-Qd and Binger turned over As-10s. Binger got his miracle and sucked out on the turn when the Ks fell. The Ah on the river was irrelevant and Binger doubled up to around 6M in chips.
On the very next deal, Paul Wasicka moved in for 3.17M from the button with the Ad-Jc and Binger made a loose call (to say the least) with the Ah-9s from the big blind. The Ac-As-8s flop put the possiblity of a chop out there, but the 5c and Tc on the turn and river gave the pot to Wasicka. He now has 6.2M in chips, and Binger is back to around 3M.
Here's an updated chip count (5:50 PM)
Jamie Gold 37,000,000
Richard Lee 20,000,000
Allen Cunningham 11,200,000
Doug Kim 7,300,000
Paul Wasicka 6,600,000
Rhett Butler 4,200,000
Michael Binger 3,200,000
And for Dan Harrington fans, here are the players' current "M's" (M signifies the number of rounds a player can last before being blinded off)
Blinds are 100,000-200,000/30,000 (510,000 a round)
Jamie Gold 72.5
Richard Lee 39
Allen Cunningham 22
Doug Kim 14.3
Paul Wasicka 13
Rhett Butler 8
Michael Binger 6
With less than 10 rounds of chips left, Butler and Binger are very shortstacked and are nearing push-and-pray mode. Expect them to try to take down pots preflop, as well as target the medium-sized stacks like Kim and Wasicka with all-in reraises. Wasicka and Kim have a bit more room to maneuver, and though both have been aggressive so far today, they need to maintain that pressure on their opponents if they hope to move up in the standings. Cunningham, Lee, and of course Gold have very comfortable stacks in relation to the blinds and antes.
Allen Cunningham just took a substantial hit. Jamie Gold limped in from under the gun, Erik Friberg limped behind him, Cunningham limped on the button, and Doug Kim checked in the big blind. The flop came 9d-9h-8h. Kim checked, Gold bet 1M, Friberg called, and Cunningham called behind him. The turn was the 5s. Gold and Friberg checked to Cunningham, who bet 2M. Gold called and Friberg folded. Gold checked the As river and Cunningham fired out another 2M. Gold called, and showed 10-9. Cunningham also showed a 9, but had a worse kicker. Gold raked in the 11.8 million chip pot, increasing his lead to a stunning 34.5 million. Cunningham is down but certainly not out with 12 million.
Right before Jamie Gold knocked out Prahlad Friedman, Allen Cunningham, the best-known pro remaining in the field, doubled his chips in a quieter fashion. Kevin O'Donnell opened the pot with a 180,000 raise from first position and Cunningham re-raised 450,000 more from the big blind. O'Donnell made it 1 million more to go and Cunningham pushed in, having him covered. O'Donnell called and showed K-K to Cunningham's A-A. The Q-J-8-6-Q board didn't help O'Donnell and he was eliminated in 21st place.
Cunningham doubled to 11.5 million chips on that hand. He's currently second in chips behind Jamie Gold. Playing the best poker of his life, Cunningham now stands to make a serious run at the final table after flirting with a below average stack for the better part of the last two days.
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