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Clonie Gowen

Clonie Gowen, A Woman, Wins World Poker Open In Tunica (not as impressive as it sounds)


Clonie Gowen wins World Poker Open

So how do you make it easy for a woman to win a World Poker Tour event when it’s never been done before (in an open event)?

You lower "the hurdle", so to speak, by cutting the buy-in in half, getting the number of players down to about a 100 or so, and keeping as many big name pros away as possible.

And oh yeh, you drop the event from the tour so it’s not an actual World Poker Tour event anymore.

That’s what happened in Tunica yesterday when Clonie Gowen, a woman, beat out 106 players and a final table that read like a who’s who of who knows these guys but friends and family to win the World Poker Open, the Southern staple of the WPT for the past six seasons but dropped this past year because, we’re guessing, Tunica isn’t so much a vibrant city as it is an island of crappy casinos in a sea of cotton fields.

For the win, Gowen takes home $183,224 and a seat in the WPT event in Biloxi this January.

Finishing in second, and only worth noting because he’s a friend of FOWCP Brian Heptinstall, was BJ McBrayer, who grabs $96,701 but has to play his next tournament with his pants down for losing to a woman.

Read more about the WPO here.

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Clonie Gowen Patched Up Today at the WSOP


. . . and about to cash in the $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha W/ReBuys event.

Relatedly, Michael Binger has something to say about Clonie here.

Semi-relatedly, these photos show what 44 should look like.

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WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star: Michael Baker Has a Big Lead


This image not as attractive as  Ashley Alexandra Dupré (aka Ashley Youmans)Only 36 remain at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star main event, and some guy named Michael Baker has jumped out to a huge chip lead.

Baker, who is from Boston and has a few tournament cashes, is stacked at 952,500. He’s followed by some guy named Dan Morris, who has one tournament cash, with 701,000.

Other big names include but are certainly not limited to John Phan (495,000), Clonie Gowen, a woman (326,500), Brandon Cantu (225,000), Blair Hinkle (223,000), and Paul Wasicka (137,000).

The people that the WPT decided to play God with by anointing as so-called "shooting stars" aren’t faring as well. Only five of them remain, including the spectacularly breasted J.C. Tran (183,500), Jennifer Harman (164,500), "Salty" Joe Hachem (100,000), Layne Flack (89,000), and last year’s champ Ted Forrest (64,500).

And poker agent/paparazzi/Card Player TV host Rich Belsky is still alive with a respectable 154,000.

Get full chip count here.

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WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star: Blair Hinkle, Clonie Gowen (a Woman), and Paul Wasicka Lead Day 1B


Blair Hinkle leads WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Day 1b play.The so-called "shooting stars" fared much better in Day 1b play at the WPT Bay 101 main event, as 11 survived the action (compared with 5 for Day 1a).

Day 1b ended with Blair Hinkle as chip leader, stacked at 170,800. You may remember Hinkle as the man who briefly led the WPT LAPC last month.

Hinkle is followed by Clonie Gowen, a woman, with 163,300. And following the woman Clonie Gowen is 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker champ Paul Wasicka with 140,600.

Of the so-called "shooting stars" that survived Day 1b, last year’s WPT Bay 101 champ Ted Forrest leads the way with 118,600. Other so-called "shooting stars" include Isabelle Mercier (61,200), "Salty" Joe Hachem (aka Adnan Ghalib) (52,600), Phil Laak (47,000), Erick Lindgren (42,700), Jennifer Harman (40,800), Barry Greenstein (38,900), Mike "The Mouth" Matusow (33,500), Cyndy Violette, a woman (29,300), Allen Cunningham (19,700), and Scotty Nguyen (7,200).

Also remaining at the WPT Bay 101 is our pick to win it, 2008 Canadian Open Poker Championship champ Huck Seed (28,200).

As of "press time," the Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day had not yet been named.

Get full chip counts here.

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