Cycalona Gowen, better known as Clonie, is the new face of poker. Clonie’s beauty-queen good looks, genteel manner and savvy tournament play has made her a favorite among poker fans.
Clonie solidified her poker credentials in 2003, when she won the WPT Ladies’ Night tournament, beating out top players Jennifer Harman, Annie Duke and Evelyn Ng.
OnlinePokerCenter.com (OPC) interviewed Clonie at the 2005 World Series of Poker, and she revealed why dating poker players is a bad idea, her experience as woman on the tour, and how her family handles her celebrity.
OPC: The WPT Ladies Night was the highest rated WPT show ever. Did winning that tournament change your life?
Clonie Gowen: It definitely upped my career. Anytime you’re on television you become more recognizable. My life changed quite a bit after that.
OPC: You were on your high school’s state championship basketball team. Does playing sports contribute to your competitive streak?
Clonie: Oh yeah. Most players are very competitive and many have played some kind of sport. What drives a person to play poker, I think, is their competitiveness.
Poker players know that in this game, they will have an advantage if they are able to discipline their brain to get them where they need to be. So when you’re older, you can’t really make that shot or you can’t run that mile, but you can still be competitive with your brain.
OPC: What position did you play on your basketball team?
Clonie: I was both a guard and a forward.
OPC: Can you tell us a bit about your two kids?
Clonie: I have a 12-year-old daughter (Morgan) and a 3-year-old son (Seth).
OPC: Have you taught Morgan how to play poker?
Clonie: She’s actually been around poker since she was three. But it is not really her thing and I don’t really push her. We focus on the math part. Other than that, if you ask her about poker, she will say, “That’s my mom’s deal!”
But she likes poker because its hot right now, and her friends like it. But if we’re at home and I’m on TV, and there’s nobody else around, she doesn’t want to watch me on TV. Like any kid, she wants to go do her own stuff.
OPC: So she is pretty aware of mom’s celebrity?
Clonie: Oh yeah. Her math teacher this year asked, “Can I get your mom’s autograph?” So she’s extremely aware of it; and her friends at school are as well. At school functions parents will come up to me and tell me how much they love poker.
She’s not quite as impressed as other people would be about it. She’s lived with it. She’s just like, “This is my mom, there’s nothing cool about her, mom’s not cool.”
OPC: Do you take her along for the tournaments?
Clonie: I do. She was out here [in Las Vegas] for the World Series. She left last week, but she was here for a while.
OPC: Your trademark is that you always look extremely relaxed. What is your secret? How do you stay so calm?
Clonie: I’m just a very calm person altogether. I get emotional like any other person. But with poker, there are certain things you can control and things you can’t control.
When someone out draws you on a hand, your reaction to that is something you can control. If you lose that control you will lose the game eventually, because you’re going to go on tilt.
So that’s just something I focus on. If I make a bad read or a bad play, I will get extremely upset about that, but I may not show it at the table.
But later on when I’m analyzing that hand, I’ll think, dang, why didn’t I pick up or figure out the information I needed? So that’s when I really get upset or out of control. But I usually never lose control at the table; it is usually on the drive home, then I’ll be hitting my head on the steering wheel.
But when I play at home, playing online poker, I would scream, “Oh shoot what have you done!” At home, there’s no one around, so you can kind of do that.
OPC: Do you take your online game as seriously as your live game? Are you playing to win?
Clonie: When I play online, I’m usually on the .50/$1 tables. Those limits don’t really mean much to me, so I like to get in there and raise a lot of pots.
I still want to win; I never lay down to anybody. I play for charity, so anything I win there goes to my charity, so I don’t want to lose for sure. But I do create a lot of action. For the most part, if you play at my table, and you know I’m an action player, you know I’m good to play with. I’m going to raise, every time I’m coming in I’m going to raise, and I’ll play my hands aggressively. You can pick up some chips with me, playing against me online.
[Editor's note: Clonie is a spokesperson for Full Tilt poker. She plays on Full Tilt exclusively.]
OPC: A lot of our readers play online, so that’s good to know.
Clonie: Some of the best players play at Full Tilt’s tables, especially those .50/$1 tables.
Now when you see Phil Ivey play $100/$200, he’s not playing for charity. But when you see me or some of the other top players play at the lower limit, .50/$1 tables, we’re usually playing for charity or for fun.
On the lower limit tables, there are 80 people trying to chat with me at the same time, there’s no way I can have full focus on that game. I have no idea what everybody is doing. I’m raising a lot, and I’m probably playing four other games at the same time.
I have a short attention span online, so I have to play multiple games and I also try to keep up with all the chat.
(Laughs) It is probably not good poker. If you want to play poker you probably have to sit down at one table and focus on the game.
OPC: Do you set aside a specific time to play online poker? If I’m a fan who wants to find you on Full Tilt, when is the best time to catch you?
Clonie: When I’m at home, I’ll play for at least an hour a day. But during tournaments it is hard to find the time sometimes. You’ll see me when I’m catching a flight; usually I like to play an hour or two before a flight. But during huge tournaments like the World Series, I’m not online that much.
OPC: Do you think online poker is a good way for women to start playing poker? Is it less intimidating?
Clonie: It is definitely a good way to learn the game. I wish I had online poker when I started learning the game because live games can be intimidating.
To be able to sit down and play, to know things like position and what cards to play, that kind of thing; I wish I had known that the first few times I’ve played.
It would’ve been nice to learn that basic knowledge online before playing in real cardrooms. Then at least you can be confident with your basic playing ability. So I think online poker is great for women in that aspect.
Clonie Gowan discusses life and poker
Clonie: Men and women may approach the game differently, but it really depends on the individual player. Some players I am able to pick up more things from, but sometimes the gender makes no difference.
OPC: While on the tour, did you ever feel excluded because you are a woman?
Clonie: In the beginning there were no stars. There were great players and stuff, but it is not like it is now.
To be a successful player, you need a lot of confidence. You must have the “it is really all about me” mentality, and that’s how most poker players are.
(Clonie draws a little circle in the air with her index finger and smiles.) I live in this little circle here, so I never really felt excluded.
Well, wait, I guess I did feel excluded in a small way. Back when I didn’t have a bankroll, traveling to the tournaments. The guys can all share rooms and cut their expenses. But as a woman you don’t have any other woman to share with, so you bear all the costs. I wished there were more female players at that time, so we can travel together, and share expenses.
Of course, there would’ve been many guys who would’ve been willing…. But that’s a whole other ball game and you never want to go there. Because you never respect the other player after you go out with them.
OPC: So there isn’t a lot of dating among poker pros?
Clonie: Oh no, you see a lot of it. It’s just that for me, personally, I never have.
OPC: You never dated a poker player? Is that because of a personal experience or was it a firm rule for you from the start?
Clonie: Hmmmm no. It was a firm rule from the start. I know poker players are selfish. They want to play poker all the time. Well, I’m just like that, so I don’t want anybody like me. I’m pretty hard to put up with and I’m pretty sure they would be hard to put up with as well, and us together would never mix. That’s why I never dated a poker player.
But I have very good friends. Chris Ferguson, Robert Williamson, the whole Full Tilt team. They’re great guys, but would I want to date them? No. They are poker players and I know their mindset.
OPC: A lot of magazines are promoting the “poker lifestyle.” We see ads with poker players traveling on private jets, smoking Cuban cigars, drinking single-malt scotch, is that the image?
Clonie: That is the image. For your high-stakes players that is absolutely the image. Let me tell you a story.
I went to the Super Bowl with Robert Williamson last year. We went to the hottest club in Houston; there was a line of 300 people. He walks up, gives the door guy $5,000 and got us all in. That’s the lifestyle. Anything you want, anytime you want.
OPC: Are there any downsides to the poker lifestyle?
Clonie: It is a lot of traveling. It is lonely. I have a house here in Vegas. So during tournaments I stay at my house as opposed to just staying here at the Rio. I don’t want to be part of this atmosphere everyday during the World Series.
OPC: What do you think is the secret of your success?
Clonie: I love poker and I’m very competitive. Anytime you’re doing something you enjoy, you will do your best. But I’m still learning everyday, still improving.
OPC: What is your favorite book?
Clonie: I love Barry Greenstein’s new book, I found it very interesting. In the introduction he dedicates the book to his children, and the children of other poker players. And that introduction right there will tell you what type of person he is. It brought tears to my eyes, it was absolutely incredible.
OPC: What is your favorite movie?
Clonie: Molly Brown.
OPC: Do you identify with her? A strong, independent woman from a small town?
Clonie: Yeah, a strong independent woman with great values. Do you know her story very well?
OPC: Just what I saw on that movie Titanic, I’m afraid.
Clonie: That movie made her famous, but there is more to her story. She was very backwoods woman, but she was determined to get out of that life. So she moved several hundred miles away, which at the time, for a woman to travel so far by herself, was unusual.
The only job she could find was as a pianist at a bar, but she doesn’t know how to play the piano. So she faked it. She faked it till she made it. She eventually married a very wealthy man. And she had some problems fitting into the high society in America, because she was so different, so loud and boisterous. American society didn’t accept her, even though she had so much money.
When she went to Europe, the kings, queens and diplomats found her refreshing, because she was very honest and open. So she actually brought some European society people back to Philadelphia, where they snubbed the people who snubbed Molly.
OPC: Can you tell us a little bit about your favorite charity?
Clonie: I work with the National Ovarian Cancer Coaliation. It is a silent killer, you usually don’t know you have it until you’re going to die. My mom is a survivor of ovarian cancer; she’s still battling cancer. So it’s a very important charity to me. I do all I can.
OPC: If you are not a poker player, what would be your alternative career?
Clonie: (Laughs) Is there anything other than poker?
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