Poker Pro Cycalona “Clonie” Gowen

Name: Clonie Gowen
Age: 38
Current Residence: Dallas, Texas
Relationship Status: Married

Cycalona “Clonie” Gowen (whose name was inspired by a powerful storm during her birth) was expected to make something of her considerable athletic talents, given her varsity high school basketball career and ranking seventh in state track and field’s high jump. But Clonie found her luck behind a poker table when she won the World Poker Tour Ladies’ Night event in 2003, and has made a career of it ever since. When not playing poker –which is all she does right now, the mother of two spends her time scuba diving around the world. Talk about a hot mom!

Clonie’s Top Placings: 2008 Bellagio Cup IV Event 6, $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (1st), 2008 39th Annual World Series of Poker, $910 No-Limit Hold’em with Rebuys (15th), 2007 Five-Star World Poker Classic (WPT Championship) Event 5, $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (11th), 2006 World Poker Finals (WPT) Event 15, $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Championship (25th), 2006 37th Annual World Series of Poker, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em (19th)

Poker Pro Jerry Yang

Jerry Yang called himself a ‘true rookie’ before winning the 2007 World Series of Poker main event.

A virtual unknown before the event, he equalled Jamie Gold’s record of eliminating 7 of the 8 other players at the final table in a very agressive performance, calling virtually every all in against him.

After entering the final table as the 2nd shortest stack, Yang took the chip lead a few hours into play and never looked back. His final hand was one of the most exciting in recent memory, with Yang needing a 8 or a 6 on the river to win. A 6 hit, giving him the straight on a gutshot draw, defeating Tuan Lam’s pair of queens.

Yang first travelled America from Laos, as a refugee of the Vietnam war. Before even winning the main event he pledged 10% of his winnings to charity.

The father of six turned a $225 satellite entry into $US 8.25 million, and went into the history books as a WSOP champion.

Jerry played the 2007 WSOP as a member of Full Tilt Poker’s team of pros.

You can quailfy for live poker events and learn, chat and play with Jerry and other pros at Full Tilt Poker.

Jerry Yang’s Poker Career Highlights
2007 WSOP main event winner- $8.25 million
Originally from Laos and has 6 children

Jerry Yang Quotes:
“As a father of six, you don’t have a lot of money to play poker, So I played whenever I have a little chance here and there, and so far I have been successful.”

“The communists invaded my country back in the ’70s. My family immigrated to Thailand. In fact, we escaped. We got caught by the communists once. It was either be killed or try to escape again. We managed to escape to Thailand and I spent the next four years in a refugee camp.”

“I lived in the mountains, very, very poor,” he said. “I didn’t own a ball or marbles. Whenever my parents killed a pig, we would use the bladders and blow it up and use it as a ball to play. That’s how poor I was.”

“Coming into this country was a great opportunity. I love this country,”

Poker Pro David Williams

David Williams started his card game domination as a youngster playing ‘Magic The Gathering’, a strategy card game that also involves tournament play.

After being accepted to both Harvard and Princeton, Williams studied economics and math before giving online poker a try.

David Williams began playing poker online in the Bodog Poker Room, where he managed to qualify for WSOP in 2004. There, he rocketed to fame by placing second at the 2004 Main Event, walking away with a shocking $3.5 million.

After finishing 2nd at the Borgata Open WPT event for $573,800, Williams confirmed his poker star status by winning his first bracelet in the 2006 World Series of Poker 7-Card Stud event.

This Bodog team member’s poker earnings to date are reported to be in excess of $5,300,000, and he recetly showed off his new Las Vegas penthouse, overlooking the Rio Hotel where he plans to dominate the 2007 WSOP.

David Williams’s Poker Career Highlights
One WSOP bracelet – 2006 7 Card Stud
2nd in 2004 WSOP main event to Greg Raymer
David’s mother outlasted him in the 2006 WSOP main event
Won $43,757 playing ‘Magic The Gathering’ card game circuit
Over $5 million in poker tournament cashes

David Williams Quotes:
“How does it feel to be the youngest player on the WSOP “Top Ten” money list? Damn! It feels good!”

“Even though I don’t hide it, and a lot of people already know, I am a big nerd. I really like math and science, and play a lot of games. I guess you could say I have this “cool” guy image, but I deep inside, I’m a geek.”

Poker Pro Robert Varkonyi

Robert was born in 1961 in New York. Both of his parents are Hungarian immigrants who fled their homeland in 1956 after a communist regime was instilled. After a daring escape, they met in New York and wed. Robert graduated from MIT with one degree in computer science and another in management. He spent 15 years on Wall Street developing systems for trading sales and money management before turning to poker.

In the mid 90’s, Robert began his regular visits to Las Vegas. As his interest in Poker grew, he became more and more successful, and after a few years he had become a winning Poker player. Finally in 2000, Varkonyi decided to take a step back from his career; after 15 years of hard work and careful savings, he decided it was the right time to focus on other interests. He began to play more frequently, and began entering Satellite tournaments. In 2001, he entered the $3000 No Limit Hold’em event. He enjoyed the game, but didn’t fare too well. Luckily for Robert, he didn’t give up after this first experience, and came back to play in the main event in 2002. When he did return in 2002, Varkonyi showed the Poker world what he was all about, by winning the main event and becoming the World Champion.

Robert also won the satisfaction of forcing Phil Hellmuth to shave his head. After being knocked out by Varkonyi, Hellmuth on one of his characteristic complaining spiels, said that if “Robert Varkonyi wins the World Series, I’ll shave my head!” Sure enough, Varkonyi went on to win the event. Ironically, the same hand Robert knocked Hellmuth out with would be the hand that he won the event with- the almighty Queen-Ten.

Robert’s wife Olga made a nice showing at the 2005 WSOP main event, finishing in the money at 238th.

With Julian Gardner holding J8, the board finished up Q44TT giving Gardner a club flush, beaten by Robert’s Queens full of tens.

In his own words:
“I was totally focused, played nearly perfect poker, and caught a few lucky breaks. I played very gutsy and with no fear. But today it’s different; when I won it we were only 631 entrants. Now you need even more luck and also more endurance.”

Poker Pro Stu Ungar

Stu was born in New York City and raised on the city’s Lower East Side, an incredible gin rummy player. At age 10 in ‘63, he won his first gin rummy tournament. At age 14, he was regularly playing and beating the best players in New York. At 15 he dropped out of school when a well known bookie staked Stu to the $500 buy-in in a big gin rummy tournament. Stu won the $10,000 first prize without even losing a hand, a record still held in the card rooms of New York City. A week later, after giving his parents $1,000, he lost the rest on horses at the Aqueduct racetrack. It was a sign of things to come.

Stu moved to Miami where he did well but his weakness for sports and track betting drained him of any success. In 1976 he reached Las Vegas, broke and just about beaten. Somehow he found the money to enter a $50,000 tournament. On the last two hands he forecast the losing player’s cards – correctly. This bravado was another bad career move as it meant other players feared his skills. As a result, he could no longer find any games outside the tournaments.

It wasn’t long before he decided to try his luck at blackjack. He’d cleaned up on poker tables from Nevada to New Jersey and the time was right to move on. One night at Caesars Palace he won $83,000 but the manager stopped the play. Stu retaliated by correctly forecasting the last 18 cards left in the single-deck shoe. That was the beginning of the end for single deck blackjack tables. They were removed from Caesars and later from other casinos, and Stu’s picture was posted up in the security rooms of dozens of casinos.

In 1980 with virtually no experience at No Limit Hold’em, Stu entered the $10,000 buy-in World Championship event at Binion’s Horseshoe for the first time. He won it. He returned the following year and repeated his success. In 1990 Stu was once again in the fore at the WSOP Championsip. At the start of day 3 of the event he was a very solid chip leader but when play began he was nowhere to be seen. A search was made and his hotel room forcefully entered. He was found laying on the floor, unconscious. He did not return to play, but his stack was big enough for him to still make the final table before being blinded out in 9th place. Most agree he would have been a good bet to win the tournament if he had of been fit to play.

Stu made his final appearance in 1997, 16 years after his first win, after winning and losing millions of dollars Stu was broke and needed the help of a friend to pay his entry to the main event. Fittingly just as he won in is first try he also won in his last, taking home the $1 million first prize. Two months later, after paying off some of his mounting gambling debts and after suffering heavy losses on horse and sports wagers, Stu was broke again.

In late 1998 he signed a deal with long time supporter and friend Bob Stupak, who paid off Stu’s gambling debts, giving him a fresh start. Stu, in turn, was to gamble with Stupak’s money in hopes of reaping a profit on that investment with tournament victories and big scores in high-stakes side games.

With $2000 of Stupak’s money in his pocket (spending money) he checked into a cheap downtown hotel. Two days later, Nov 22nd, 1998, he was dead. The Clark County Coroner’s office ruled Stu’s death accidental based on the results of toxicology tests that came back from the lab Friday. A mixture of narcotics and pain killers triggered a heart condition that killed him. The drugs found in Stu’s system were cocaine, methadone and the pain-killer Percodan, Clark County Coroner Ron Flud said. “No one drug by itself was enough to cause Stu’s death. The cause is accidental death by coronary atherosclerosis. The heart condition developed over a period of time. The attack was brought on by his life-style.”

Doyle Brunson’s A7 became 2 pair when the flop fell A72, the turn was a turn for the worst for Doyle when a 3 fell completing Stu’s 5 high straight. When a harmless 2 came on the river Brunson pushed all in, Stu called and won his first World Championship.

Perry Green held T9 and with the flop showing 874 he was chasing a straight, a second four came on the turn putting a pair on the board. Perry then pushed all in and Stu called, the river delivered Stu a queen and his second World Championship.

With John Strzemp holding A8 the flop of A53 delivered both players the same pair. The turn helped no one with a second three. Feeling John didn’t have the strongest kicker since he didn’t raise at pre-flop Stu moved all in. Sitting in the best position at this point John called and also went all in but was eliminated when a 2 on the river made Stu a 5 high straight and made him the only person to win his way to 3 world championships.

In his own words:
“If every hand from start to finish was filmed — every bet, every raise, even every fold — players would witness a classic performance. It was a no-limit hold’em clinic” (His 1997 win)

“I never want to be called a good loser;
if you’re a good loser, you’re still a loser.”

“I just know things. I don’t know how, I just do.”

Poker Pro Dewey Tomko

Dewey grew up in Glassport, PA, a hamlet 15 miles outside Pittsburgh. As a child he played pinochle with his parents, but not poker. Later he learned that one of his grandfathers had been a professional gambler. Around age 8, he began playing blackjack for bottles against other neighborhood kids, and as a teen he became a caddy at a golf course, where the card games continued and the stakes grew, often losing all the money he just made caddying. By his teens, Dewey was playing poker at pool halls and winning more than he lost, and the earnings staked him through four years at salem College in West Virginia. several of his fraternity buddies found jobs in Florida after their graduation, and Dewey was visiting them in 1969 when he was offered a job as a kindergarten teacher in Haines City.

For the next six years, Dewey taught school by day and played poker by night. He honed his game at Winter Haven’s Moose Lodge, and he crisscrossed the state to join high-stakes tables. The double life took its toll, sometimes Dewey arrived home from a distant card game just in time for school. Kindergarten teachers were encouraged to join their students on the floor for afternoon naps, and when parents arrived to pick up their children, they often found him dozing with the children. A skilled teacher who had a good rapport with the children, he was only making $6,000 a year as a teacher. The teaching actually started costing him too much money. Dewey was making $4,000 to $5,000 a night at poker, leaving games with $1000 in the pot to go teach. Once he devoted himself fully to poker, he established himself as one of the nation’s best players. He became known for his fierce concentration, wearing earmuffs at the poker table and, more recently, earplugs.

Eventually Dewey’s poker obsession took a backseat when he married in the early 1970s and became the father of three boys Derek, David and Drew. He scaled back on his poker, playing only in a few events each year and becoming a “human taxicab” for his kids. separating his family and his profession, he refused even to have a deck of cards in his home.

With his sons grown, Dewey returned to full-time poker about five years ago and made an immediate impression, coming one card short of winning the World series of Poker in 2001. The second-place finish in Las Vegas yielded his biggest payoff yet, $1,098,000.

Weird or not, poker has propelled Dewey on a life’s journey he says is free of regrets. Cards carried him from a modest childhood to ownership of golf courses and casinos and to his current status as a poker patriarch who plays cards because he wants to, not because he needs to. Dewey has made as much money on side games as in tournaments and estimates his official career earnings at $10 million.

WsOP Main Event:

Dewey holds the record for consecutive entries to the WsOP Main Event, 2005 marks the 30th straight year that he will play in the $10,000 buy-in championship event. Twice the runner up there, the river has not been kind to Dewey. In both occasions the hand the World Championship was won and lost on, Dewey was in front only to have victory snatched away on the river. In 1982 Jack straus caught a higher pair on the river, and in 2001 Carlos Mortensen made a straight on the river, crushing Dewey’s pocket rockets.

In his own words:

“That’s the only thing I can do, I can’t change a light bulb. They say God gives all of us one thing we can do, and I’m glad I was able to figure out mine was playing poker.”

“When you lose, the agony of defeat is much greater than the joy of winning, You never learn nothing when you win. You learn when you lose. Poker gives you character. You can’t win every hand; you have to be able to accept losing.”

“For 15 straight years, I either played poker or slept,” he said. “I didn’t know who the president of the United states was.”

Career Highlights:

Poker Pro Bill Smith

Bill was a great no-limit poker player, a dangerous player, and it seemed like he never worried about anything, including whether or not he had any money. He featured on 3 final tables at the WSOP Main Event, winning the World Championship in 1985 and coming 5th in both 1981 and 1986. If he hadn’t drunk so much he would have had many more titles.

Bill was the tightest player you’d ever played in your life when he was sober, when he was halfway drunk, he was the best player you could ever played with. But when he got past that halfway mark, he was the worst player you could ever play with. It’s a pity that he never cared about that “halfway mark.” It seemed that he did not even care whether he had money or not. He just gambled and that’s all.

Of course Smith played poker in the backrooms as poker was prohibited. Once he even set a record for being arrested for illegal gambling. He was playing poker with his friends and the police went in and put all the players in jail. As soon they got out of it (which happened on the same afternoon) they immediately began another game. The police was here again and again arrested the whole company. Guess what they did, when they got out of jail for second time several hours later. And guess what the police did. He was arrested three times on that day.

Bill passed away in 1997.

TJ Cloutier moved all in with A3, Bill called. The board showed 45T5J helping neither player, and Hills pair of 3’s won a World Championship.

Career Wins:

• 1981 – NL Holdem – 5th
• 1985 – NL Holdem (Championship Event) – 1st
• 1986 – NL Holdem – 5th

Poker Pro Huck Seed

Huck Seed was a former engineering student at CalTech. He took a leave of absence in 1989, started playing poker, and never went back to college. It is said that he is a native of Montana. While imposing at 6′7″ tall, his quiet and private nature go far beyond the poker table. Stone cold silent at the tables, very little is really known about the very private champion.

Huck won won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 1994 in a Pot Limit Omaha tournament. Two years later he won the WSOP Main Event, his second bracelet, and $1 Million dollars. Huck returned to the final table of the WSOP in 1999, but finished 6th. As of 2004 he had a total of four WSOP bracelets. As of 2005, his live tournament winnings exceed $2,365,000.

Huck is also well known as an avid proposition gambler, taking on bets outside of card play. He once made a bet with Phil Hellmuth that he could float on any body of water. There was $10,000 at stake and he was allowed to wear a wetsuit. Seed lost. He subsequently won the money back from Hellmuth by traveling all the way to Madison, Wisconsin, where Hellmuth lived, and defeating him at 9-ball for $2,000 a game. Hellmuth lost $24,000 that night.

Huck also conquered what most of us would deem an impossibly challenging bet. With many thousands of dollars at stake, he had to play a desert golf course four times in a single day and break 100 on each round while using only a 5-iron, a sand wedge and a putter. The guy making the bet was able to choose the day, and he selected a day when the temperature was up to 120 degrees, and Huck had to play without the benefit of a cart, he had to run the course to complete all the holes. According to Howard Lederer Huck shot a 100 on his first round at 6 in the morning. So at 8:30 he still had to shoot four more rounds. More incredible than Seed’s winning the bet is that he improved with each round. As Seed put it at the time, “I really got into a groove with the 5.”

Holding K8 Van Horn initially raised with Huck calling quickly, when the flop fell 984 Huck went on the attack and bet, when Van Horn re-raised Seed pushed all in and Van Horn followed. An Ace on the turn gave Van Horn 12 outs including a straight draw, but the river bought a 3 and Huck’s 2 pair held up.

In his own words:
“Why don’t you two discuss amongst yourselves who has the best hand and then have that person call me.”

Poker Pro Greg Raymer

Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer shot to fame when he won the 2004 World Series of Poker and it’s $5 million first prize.

He adopted the ‘Fossilman’ nickname due to the fossils he uses for card protectors while sitting at the poker table. He actually sold similar fossils to pad his bankroll in the early stages of his poker career, and of course he plays with the table nickname ‘Fossilman’ at PokerStars.

Easily identified at the poker table by his trademark sunglasses, Raymer’s holographic lizard eyes began as a joke during a big hand in the 2002 World Series of Poker. But it seemed have a desirable effect on his opponent so from then on, he’s worn the glasses in all the major poker tournaments he’s played.

Greg Raymer graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1992 and practiced as an attorney for more than a decade, also utilizing his chemistry degree in the field of drug and biotechnology patents.

He lives in the USA with his wife and their daughter Sophie and prior to winning the WSOP frequented the Foxwoods Casino poker room in Connecticut.

He won his entry to the 2004 World Series of Poker via a $160 PokerStars double shootout satellite, making him the second WSOP winner in a row that qualified online. Unlike his predecessor, Chris Moneymaker, however, Raymer had played in live poker tournaments before.

Raymer first finished in the money of a World Series of Poker event during 2001 in the $1,500 Omaha hi-lo split 8 or better event won by Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. The next year, after finishing finished 80th of 631, he could be seen in the background as Robert Varkonyi celebrated winning the 2002 main event.

The Fossilman has had continued success since joing the poker tournament circuit full time. He earned some well-deserved respect from his poker peers in 2005 when he finished 25th out of 5,619 in the WSOP main event that Joe Hachem eventually went on to win. He was unlucky not to go further, when his KK was outdrawn by Aaron Kanter’s QJ of hearts running flush.

Raymer doesn’t seem to play many live poker tournaments lately, perhaps due his pending lawsuit against the World Poker Tour. Raymer – along with Andy Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, Howard Lederer, Joe Hachem and Chris Ferguson – are accusing the WPT of using the pros’ names and images to sell products without consent or compensation.

The lawsuit triggered a heated online debate between Raymer and fellow poker pro Daniel Negreanu, who had criticized the seven players on his personal blog. Raymer fired back, calling Negreanu “a tool” in the online chat at PokerStars. After a series of fiery exchanges, the two called a truce and apologized for their comments about one another.

We’ve met Mr Raymer, and he seems like a nice guy who can speak intelligently on just about any topic. Although we don’t agree with his penchant for wearing socks with his sandles… We hope theyr’e comfy Fossilman, because it looks ridiculous!

Poker Pro David Pham

David fled Vietnam for America at the age of 17 in a boat carrying 145 people (9 of whom died on the journey.) He is the cousin of Men “The Master” Nguyen. After Nguyen’s early success in professional poker, he opened up a cleaning business that David worked for. Like many of Nguyen’s workers, David would eventually take poker lessons from him and would later be active in the tournament circuit.

In 2000 David was named “Player of the Year” by Card Player, and then in 2001 he won is first WSOP bracelet, for the $2,000 S.H.O.E. Event. 2001 was also the only year he finished in the money for the WSOP Main Event, where he finished in 44th place. Since the inception of the WPT David has made 3 final tables, but is yet to win an event.

As of 2005, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,600,000.

In his own words:

“Asians gamble a lot you know, I think the Asians are more tricky than the Americans, tricky. They read the hand, but sometimes they don’t play the cards, they play the player.”

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