As a former Miss Teen Oklahoma, Cycalona “Clonie” Gowen might appear to be out of place at a poker table. Her stunning physique doesn’t fit quite fit with the stereotypical male, out of shape card player.
Clonie Gowen opened a travel agency which quickly spread to two locations, and later sold it and moved to being a full-time poker pro. In 2005 Las Vegas found Gowen at third place in the $20,000 No Limit Hold'em FullTiltPoker.Net Championship where she took home $99,000. Name: Clonie Gowen Born: November 30, 1971 Resides: Dallas, Texas Affiliation: Full Tilt Poker WSOP Bracelets: 0 WPT Championships: 1 Clonie Gowen Cycalona. As a former Miss Teen Oklahoma, Cycalona “Clonie” Gowen might appear to be out of place at a poker table. Her stunning physique doesn’t fit quite fit with the stereotypical male, out of shape card. Clonie Gowen poker player profile. Get latest information, winnings and gallery.
But part of what makes Clonie Gowen so unique is that she’s always just been one of the guys. Growing up in Kiowa, Oklahoma, Gowen was a regular high school jock. She was a member of a state championship basketball team and starred on her track and field team as a high jumper, where she was ranked seventh in the state of Oklahoma.
Budding in a competitive environment helped turn Gowen into the cutthroat poker player she is today. She learned the game as a teen from her boyfriend’s father in Dallas, TX, and was fully supported by her mother when she made the decision to take her game to a higher level.
Clonie Gowen began playing cash games in Shreveport, Louisiana on a regular basis before catching her first huge break. Following a 10th place finish in a $500 World Poker Tour event in Costa Rica, she was invited to play in the WPT Ladies Night at the Bicycle Casino. Gowen earned $25,000 by defeating some of the top female players in the world, including Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert and Evelyn Ng. More important, though, was the instant fame that resulted from winning a nationally-televised tournament.
Gowen used her newfound celebrity status by making appearances on Poker Royale: Battle of the Sexes, as well as the Full Tilt Poker Pro Showdown and NBC’s Poker After Dark, where she and Phil Hellmuth are the only players to have won the six-handed tournament three times (as of October 2008).
Some of Clonie Gowen’s other achievements on the felt include a third place finish at the Full Tilt Poker Championship in Las Vegas and fourth place in a $2,000 event at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December of 2005. But despite being one of the most recognizable names in the game, Gowen received some criticism for never winning a major tournament.
That all changed in July of 2008 when Gowen took down a $5,000 No Limit Hold ’em event at the Bellagio Cup IV for $437,775. It was the biggest cash of her life and helped her eclipse the $1 million mark for career earnings. The critics have since been hushed.
Gowen juggles her job as a poker pro by spending quality time with her two children in Dallas. She has also branched out by appearing as a guest commentator on the Ultimate Poker Challenge and is a teacher at the WPT Boot Camp. She is most notably sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, joining the likes of Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and many more of the world’s top players. She plays frequently on the site and enjoys chatting with players and observers, making her a key piece of Team Full Tilt.
Poker Pro Clonie Gowen is certainly not happy with online poker room giant Full Tilt Poker and she proved that the other day by filing a lawsuit against Tiltware, LLC. and Full Tilt Poker. Here is the biggest breathe taker though, Clonie Gowen is asking for a large, very large sum of money totalling $40 million. Yes that is correct $40 million, if you need to take a second to take a nice big breathe then you can, I will wait. Well the reason for the filing is because Clonie Gowen is accusing Tiltware and Full Tilt Poker of breach of contracts, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Breach of the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, Unjust Enrichment and Fraud.
The reason for the filing to the lawsuit because during alleged meetings between Tiltware Executives and Clonie Gowen came upon oral agreements that would allow Clonie to endorse the website. The only thing is Clonie Gowen is stating that there was no written contracts signed and most of the promises were made while talking on the telephone with the Tiltware Executives. Another piece of information to note that in the filing of the lawsuit some of the Full Tilt Poker pros were also listed. Poker pros such as Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Mike Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius.
A statement that was released by Tiltware, LLC. Executives is posted below.
Poker Clonie Gowen
“Tiltware, LLC, has been made aware of the recent filing of a merit less lawsuit by a former Full Tilt Poker endorser — Ms. Cycalona Gowen. All claims have no merit and there are many inaccuracies improperly and unlawfully asserted by Ms. Gowen within her frivolous complaint. Tiltware LLC expects that this lawsuit will be dealt with accordingly by a competent court in due course.”
Also Clonie Gowen is no longer associated with Full Tilt Poker and no longer has her red highlighted name and personal avatar on the online poker giant Full Tilt Poker.