Clonie Gowen

Clonie Gowen Profile
	Nickname: Full Tilt Username: Clonie Gowan Web: www.fulltiltpoker.com Birthdate: November 30th 1971 Birthplace: Kiowa, Oklahoma Lives: Dallas, Texas Tournaments Won: 1 WSOP Bracelets: 0 Total Winnings: $735,842

Clonie Gowen was holding J♦ 10♣ in a Las Vegas cash game and looking at a flop of J♣ 10♠ A♥. Vanessa Rousso, holding A♣ 4♠ had hit the top pair and made a bet of $1200 which Gowen called. The turn card of 5♦ produced more action with Gowen betting $2,500 followed by an inexplicable Rousso call, making her wager based on the assumption that Gowen, on the big blind, was making some sort of bluff. The river card was an innocuous seeming 4♣ and Gowen put in her remaining cash, another $9,300. Rousso dithered for a moment before matching the bet and taking a pot that owed much more to luck than good play. But Gowen, with no money left on her person, still had the desire to make up her bad beat deficit and borrowed more, showing her willing to not let a moment of misfortune get in the way of her game. Still, she had a face like thunder which was strangely apt given that she is named after a stormy weather system. For Clonie is actually short for Cycalona, the name her parents gave her when she was born in the midst of a cyclonic storm that shook the windows of the Oklahoma delivery room where she experienced her first moments.

The wind remained in Clonie’s sails as she was growing up and swept her to impressive heights as she excelled at basketball and high jump whilst at school. Her confidence was further boosted when she earned the title of Miss Teen McAlester Oklahoma. At this time, through a boyfriend’s father she was introduced to the game of poker and unwilling to regard it as a male domain, began to get quite good. After her first marriage failed, she started driving to Louisiana at weekends to build up a moderate bankroll in the casinos there but it was during a scuba diving holiday to Costa Rico in 2002 that she first showed her poker mettle. She came second in a World Poker Tour No Limit Hold’em event surviving not only her opponents’ poker play but a barrage of sexist comments also. This led to an invitation to a televised WPT ladies event in September of 2003 and the victory she attained proved to be one of the most watched poker events of the new millennium.

Since that moment poker has proved to be Clonie’s calling and she is present at most major events, often participating but increasingly working as a pundit offering expert analysis. Her poker views are in much demand and she is a regular contributor of articles for Bluff magazine and is on the directors’ board for the United States Poker Association. Gowen is also an active charity worker and teacher at her own poker school. Away from the casino, she enjoys spending time in the great outdoors, camping, hiking and scuba diving where she won’t be recognised. Being telegenic and a two time winner on the TV show ‘Poker After Dark’ has led some to suggest that her fame outweighs her achievements. However, after her first major tournament victory in July 2008 at a Bellagio WPT event, she is beginning to redress this imbalance and realise her full poker potential. She is a worthy member of the Full Tilt Poker Pro team and plays online regularly under her own name. However, as one of the most popular Full Tilt players the waiting list to join her table often stretches into the hundreds.

You can play online poker with Clonie Gowen at Full Tilt Poker.

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