The Success of Clonie Gowen as a Female Poker Pro

Poker was not the first love of female professional poker player Clonie Gowen. However, she was introduced by her boyfriend to poker when they were in high school. Actually, it was the father of her boyfriend at that time who introduced her to the game of poker. She became interested in playing poker and so, by the time she was of legal gambling age, she was already well-equipped to participate in poker games conducted in casinos.

Born in Florida on November 30, 1971, Clonie Gowen's real name is Cycalona Gowen. According to her parents, she was born at a time when there was a powerful storm which was why she was named Cycalona. Her achievements during her teenage years did not include poker. At the age of fifteen years old, Clonie Gowen was named Miss Teen McAlester, Oklahoma. She also had accomplishments as a varsity basketball player and as a state high jump player in Texas.

As soon as she reached the legal age to gamble, Clonie Gowen started to play at casinos. The first poker game that she participated in was a seven-card stud game. Unfortunately, she lost her money the first time she played it but it did not discourage her from playing poker. She was already hooked at that time that she did not even think of quitting.

However, despite her passion for such casino game, Clonie Gowen was not thinking of playing poker professionally. As a matter of fact, she even established a travel agency which ate up most of her time. Her time to play poker had been reduced to once a week.

Clonie Gowen was an amateur poker player when she joined a Costa Rica Classic event conducted by the World Poker Tour. Her opponents were not taking her seriously because of the fact that she was a female, an amateur, and a blonde. But she surprised her opponents with her playing style. What made her opponents even more surprised was the fact that she placed tenth in the said event.

In 2003, Clonie Gowen was a full-fledged female professional poker player. She participated in the Ladies' Night event of the World Poker Tour in that year wherein she won first place. Aside from winning first place, this female professional poker player also considered being able to defeat such poker giants as Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Harman, and Annie Duke as a major victory.

So, what happened to her travel agency? Clonie Gowen decided to sell it in order to concentrate on being a female professional poker player. She currently resides in Dallas, Texas with her family and plays professional poker for a living.

Clonie Gowen is capable of playing not only against women but also against male professional poker players. In fact, poker giant T. J. Cloutier believes in her poker skills so much that a lot of male professional poker players are somehow intimidated with her talent.