It’s no understatement to say that Cycalona “Clonie” Gowen
has taken the poker world by storm. Her varied experience and
unique perspective as a woman poker star will provide an exceptional
learning experience for students.
While visiting Costa Rica in 2002, poker amateur Clonie entered
a $500 no limit hold’em tournament on the World Poker Tour.
No one knew or paid her the slightest attention, but she finished
in the money by placing tenth -- just a few seats away from the
Final Table!
The impressive performance in Costa Rica resulted in a seat
at the WPT’s “Ladies Night” tournament. There,
Clonie outmaneuvered far more experienced players. She ended
up winning that special tournament, which aired nationally on
the Travel Channel. She has since followed that up with several
money finishes including last years World Series of Poker main
event. Right after that finish, Clonie followed it up with an
impressive 3rd place finish in the Full Tilt Poker Invitational,
beating the majority of the players in one of the toughest fields
ever assembled for a poker tournament and winning over $90,000.
She quickly followed that with a televised final table appearance
on the Ultimate Poker Challenge and another final table appearance
at the Bellagio where she placed 3rd in the $2000 buy in no limit
hold’em tournament.
The “Ladies Night” success launched Clonie’s
celebrity. She is now a regular columnist for Bluff Magazine,
writing a monthly advice article titled “Ask Clonie”,
and sits on the board of directors for the United States Poker
Association, a non-profit organization with a strong influence
in the world of poker. Clonie has also appeared on Good Morning
America, and has been featured in the New York Times and Esquire
Magazine. She also served as a guest commentator for the Ultimate
Poker Challenge in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the European World
Poker Championship in Dublin, Ireland.
A native of Kiowa, Oklahoma Clonie was introduced to poker by
a friend’s father. After moving to Dallas, she managed
to play poker at least once a week in homes and underground games.
She also drove to Shreveport, Louisiana, on weekends to play
poker and frequently claimed a few hundred dollars per visit.
Gradually, Clonie became better and better, learning to read
other players and use her intuition to her advantage. She closed
her successful travel agency in 2003 in order to pursue a full-time
career in poker. While she now plays in many major tournaments
during the course of a year—including all of the WPT Tour,
she can still most frequently be found competing is cash games
around the United States.
Competition is something on which Clonie has always thrived.
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 15, Clonie also competed in and won Miss Teen McAlester,
Oklahoma.
Today, Clonie is the mother of two youngsters, and spends her
non-poker hours being a rather traditional mom. |
Kenna got his introduction to
cards dealing at Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles in 1996.
At that time he started playing $1-2 limit hold’em. In
six months he became a tournament director for HPC and had moved
up to the big game…$3-6! It was the beginning of 1997
when Kenna started playing in $20 to $100 buy-in tournaments
around southern California. In 1999, Kenna began directing tournaments
internationally with his now wife, Marsha Waggoner. They helped
to organize and run the first major poker tournament at the Cosmos
Casino Hotel in Moscow, Russia.
A jack of many trades he decided to become a master of one,
poker. With only a few years of experience playing in low limit
games, he decided to turn pro and took a job as a proposition
player at Crystal Park Casino in LA in1999. More then a few times
Kenna went to the felt and came up with nothing but lint in the
pockets. “I surrounded myself with good people and developed
good friendships and that was the key for me in surviving some
tough times.”
Kenna has traveled the world many times over playing and directing
poker. He has traveled to Austria, Amsterdam, England, Russia,
Spain, Australia and Germany to name a few. Winning over a million
dollars in major tournaments around the world he is considered
one of the top pros on the Professional Poker Tour today. Kenna
is on a hot streak right now. His recent finishes are 2nd in
a WP T event, The Legends of Poker, at the Bicycle Club Casino
for $588,000 , 7th in the Monte Carlo Millions for $100,000 and
9th at the Aussie M illions for $85,000 Down Under in Australia,
$242,000 1st place win o ver the "Grinder" at the LA
Poker Classic and 2nd in the Party Poker Million worth $700,000
.
He has been on television numerous times both as a player and
as a commentator but perhaps is most remembered for burying his
head in his jacket and zipping up against Howard Lederer on ESPN’s
coverage of the 2003 World Series of Poker |
It's no understatement to say
that Nick Brancato has A LOT of experience. As an Internet Poker
Pro he's logged over a million hands, equal to nearly 20 years
of full time live playing experience.
Nick began his poker career with just $200 and promptly proceeded
to lose nearly half his bankroll. Disgusted, he purchased several
poker books and began to truly study the game. Nick relentlessly
scrutinized his play, carefully analyzing key decisions after
each session, constantly seeking to optimize his game. Initially
concentrating only on Sit-N-Goes, Nick worked his way up, eventually
learning to consistently beat some of the largest Single Table
Tournaments available.
Nick then began to focus on No Limit Cash Games. The experience
of playing over a thousand Sit-N-Goes made him an immediate low
stakes winner. Since then Nick has steadily moved up in limits,
consistently crushing the games, now playing eight high limit
tables at once. Playing so many hands has made the technical
side of Nick's game nearly automatic, leaving him free to focus
on more advanced strategies.
Nick graduated college with a Computer Science Degree in only
3 years. At just 20, he began a career as a Web Developer, soon
becoming a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. His heavily
computer oriented and mathematical background serves him well,
as Nick has become a master at the statistical analysis of poker.
Raised in New Jersey by a family of educators, Nick soon followed
in their footsteps. Inspired by his late father, Jerry, a teacher
who was also a great high stakes Stud player, Nick left his lucrative
computer job to become a high school educator. This afforded
him the opportunity to not only play more poker, but also to
do something he has always found extremely gratifying, teach.
Never doing anything halfhearted, within the year, Nick went
on to get a Master Degree in Educational Administration.
Now, Nick's primary focus is just poker. While playing tens
of thousands of hands a month, he remains a true student of the
game, spending countless time reviewing his play, studying hand
histories and devouring poker material. His prior teaching experience,
along with his online expertise, provides an exceptional learning
experience for students.
Nick currently lives in Jersey City, NJ. When away from the
tables he enjoys spending time with family and friends, especially
his mother, Karol, and long time girlfriend, Anna. |
