Clonie Gowen
One of the most famous and successful women in poker is Cycalona Gowen, better known as Clonie. Named for the wild storm raging at her birth, this Oklahoma-born, Dallas-based poker star is a cyclone on the felt indeed.
Already destined for great accomplishments, Clonie Gowen was a beauty queen (Miss Teen McAlester, Oklahoma), varsity basketball player on a state championship team, and 7th ranked track and field high jumper in the stae before her boyfriend’s father introduced her to the game of poker while she was still in high school. While living in Dallas, she commuted back and forth to Shreveport, Louisiana to sharpen her Texas Hold’ Em chops.
She became a permanent name in the Texas Hold’ Em history books when she won the 2003 World Poker Tour Ladies’ Night, hosted at the Bicycle Casino – beating out already famous femmes Kathy Liebert, Annie Duke, and Jennifer Harman – just one night after finishing in the top 10 of the WPT Costa Rica Classic. This was the highest rated World Poker Tour broadcast to date. Until that point, Clonie Gowen had been owner-operator of a travel agency with two locations, but this impressive double play afforded her the confidence to cash in so she could devote herself full-time to the pursuit of professional high stakes poker.
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Besides playing poker, Clonie Gowen is also an outspoken voice of the game, penning a column for All In and Bluff Magazines and providing guest commentator services for The Gaming Club World Poker Championship, the 888.com Women’s Poker UK Open, and the Ultimate Poker Challenge. She also travels the seminar circuit and conduct speaking engagements all over the country for clients like the National Ovarian Foundaiton, Saks Fifth Avenue, and the Bank of America.
Clonie Gowen has been featured in Esquire Magazine, the Texas Monthly, the Dallas Observer, the New York Times, and most recently in Maxim Magazine. She has also appeared on Good Morning America. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization, the United States Poker Association. She is also a partner in a budding poker school and she often hosts private poker tournaments.
Other big tournament finishes for Clonie Gowen include coming in 31st and winning nearly $15,000 in season 4 of the World Poker Tour Borgata Open, coming in 7th in the $2,000 No Limit Hold ‘Em event at the 2005 Ultimate Poker Challenge, placing 3rd in the FullTiltPoker.Net Championship at Wynn, Las Vegas, and 3rd again in the 2006 FullTiltPoker.Net Pro Showdown at the Red Rock Casino. Speaking of Full Tilt Poker, Clonie is also currently an official member of Team Full Tilt at FullTiltPoker.com where players can pit their skills against hers and learn a thing or two in the process.
Coming up soon, Clonie Gowen has challenged the inimitable celebrity superstar Paris Hilton to play heads-up against her in a widely publicized charity event, hosted by Full Tilt Poker, where the $100,000 winnings will go to the charity of the winner’s choice.
A proud and devoted mother of two still in her early thirties, Clonie Gowen’s career tournament winnings to date (as of 2007) is already upwards of $400,000.
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