Clonie Gowen is never overlooked at the poker table. You can’t help but notice her as soon as she walks into the poker room. The tall blonde is a deadly combination of devastating good looks and excellent poker skills. With any famous poker player, there’s a great story behind her name. She was supposedly born during a cyclone and her mother decided to name her Cyclona.
Clonie Gowen - Source: Las Vegas & Poker
Cyclona “Clonie” Gowen was born in Oklahoma in 1971. She grew up in Kiowa, Oklahoma and participated in a lot of team sports. That’s where she first discovered her competitive edge. She was a star athlete in high school and played basketball and ran track. She once finished in seventh place in the high jump for the state championships. Clonie also won Miss Teen Oklahoma when she was 15 years old.
Clonie Gowen eventually married, had two kids and settled down in Dallas, TX. She even owned a travel agency for a little while. She also undertook duties as a full time mother, and began to play poker on the weekends. She would drive to the nearest casino in Shreveport, Louisiana. That’s were she first caught the poker bug and developed her skills as a poker player. She was primarily a cash game player and it only took a short amount of time before she was cleaning up in the Shreveport games.
Clonie Gowen started playing in tournaments and that’s how she drew the attention of the poker media. She finished in 10th place in a World Poker Tour event in Costa Rica in 2002. In 2003, she participated in WPT Ladies Night. That episode which featured Kathy Liebert, Evelyn Ng, Jen Harman, Maureen Feduniak, and Annie Duke, ended up being the highest rated WPT broadcast of all time. Oh, and she managed to win it all. After her win, everyone knew the name “Clonie Gowen.”
Although she had a disappointing 2005 World Series of Poker, she cashed in the $10,000 main event and finished 459th out of over 5600 players. She also made the money in a recent WPT event at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. She finished in 31st place out of 515. Clonie also took seventh place in a Ultimate Poker Challenge event. She also came in 3rd place in FullTiltPoker.Net Championship at Wynn Casino a few months ago. That was the first ever live broadcast poker tournament in the state of Nevada. Clonie is a regular on the tournament circuit and plays in events all over the world.
I had the opportunity to ask Clonie Gowen about what types of music she listens to while she plays poker. She said she liked a lot of oldies. She showed me her iPod and I spotted a variety of different musicians like The Drifters, Guns and Roses, The Eagles, The Supremes, ABBA, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Brooks & Dunn, Toby Keith, Van Morrison, and The Rolling Stones.
Clonie Gowen currently lives in Dallas, TX with her two children. Clonie has also done some poker broadcasting. She served as a guest commentator for the European World Poker Championship in Dublin and the Ultimate Poker Challenge. She also writes a column for All In Magazine. In addition, Clonie is on the Board of Directors for the United States Poker Association. She owns a stake in a poker school that teaches women the basics of tournament play and how to be successful in a competitive cash games. Clonie can often be found playing poker online at Full Tilt Poker, since she’s a featured member of that site.
