Cycalona Gowen, better known as Clonie, grew up in Kiowa, Oklahoma. A high school jock, she was on a state championship basketball team and was ranked seventh in the high jump in track and field. At the age of fifteen, Gowen was crowned Miss Teen McAlester, Oklahoma.
She started playing poker while living in Dallas and driving to Shreveport, Louisiana, on weekends and making a few hundred dollars each week. She burst onto the poker scene by following up her Top 10 finish at the WPT Costa Rica Classic with a win at the World Poker Tour Ladies' Night event in 2003. Her victory against world-class players Annie Duke and Jennifer Harman was watched by millions of viewers and was the highest rated WPT show ever broadcast.
Clonie is a team member of Full Tilt Poker (www.fulltiltpoker.com), an On-line poker site with the opportunity to play against some of the top professional poker players Other Full Tilt pros include Celebrity Poker Showdown host and author of Poker: The Real Deal, Phil Gordon, as well as fan favorites Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, and Chris Ferguson, all widely regarded as some of the best poker players in the world. When she sits at her table online, players line up for the opportunity to play with her and observers crowd her table to chat with her.
 
Clonie has also appeared in a segment on Good Morning America and has been featured in the New York Times, Dallas Observer, Texas Monthly, and Esquire. She has also served as a guest commentator for the Ultimate Poker Challenge in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the European World Poker Championship in Dublin, Ireland. She is active on the speaking and seminar circuit and her corporate clients include Bank of America, Saks Fifth Avenue, and the National Ovarian Foundation.
Clonie is a regular columnist for Bluff magazine, the official magazine of the World Series of Poker, which has increased its circulation to 120,000 copies in just its third issue. She also sits on the board of directors for the United States Poker Association, a non-profit association with a strong influence in the world of poker.
Now a thirty-two-year-old mother of two, Clonie lives in Dallas, Texas, but can be found at just about every major poker tournament held throughout the country-either as a player or as the host of tournaments and charity events. From Dallas to Atlanta, from New York to Seattle, Clonie receives regular requests for her presence at poker events. Teaching amateurs how to play poker is nothing new to her either. She is currently a partner in a poker school, teaching women (and men) the basics of tournament play and how to be successful in a competitive game where your own money is at stake. |
