Total life earnings: $1,639,064. Latest cash: $21,311 on 18-Jan-2009. Click here to see the details of Clonie Gowen's 42 cashes. Reminded me that Daniel Negreaneau, Phil Ivey and Clonie Gowen also got divorces. Not really surprising but you have to wonder how much the 'poker life style' might have contributed to them. I stood on the Dublin docks and my future was uncertain in a place where fortunes are won or lost on the turning of a card. Clonie Gowen, Self: The Ultimate Poker Challenge. Clonie Gowen was born on November 30, 1971 in Oklahoma, USA.
In my tenure as a consultant for commercial lawsuits, I read more than my fair share of initial complaints. Early on I realized these complaints often overbet the pot with farfetched claims, many of which can’t be supported by facts. So I wasn’t totally surprised by the far reaching claims of Clonie Gowen’s complaint against Full Tilt Poker et al. But I was surprised by what she was unable to piece together about the entities she was suing. And overall, I think her case may have one fatal flaw.
Whether Clonie understood it or not, I don’t think her ownership stake was vested. Time may or may not prove my assertion — I suspect this will be settled out of public view. But if I am correct, all that hype about Gowen’s savvy business acumen may go in the same tank as Sarah Palin’s executive experience. Although I will say this for Clonie: she won two major tournaments after a rift with her benefactors. We’ll see how well Palin can do now that the price of oil has dropped below the point that balances the Alaska state budget.
Clonie Gowen recently filed a lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker and a number of related companies. She also is suing Team Full Tilt, on the (flawed) assumption that they all received some form of ownership compensation that she was entitled to but failed to receive. She alleges that when she became a Team Full Tilt member, she was verbally promised 1% share of said enterprises but has never received any ownership disbursements. She is seeking $40 million in damages. Reading the claim and the thread on 2+2, I was entertained by the wild speculations.
Clonie Gowen Bio
Here’s either what I know to be true, or things that I’ve heard from so many different sources that I believe them to be true.
– Clonie is not the only member of Team Full Tilt not to have an agreement in writing.
– Some people invested in Full Tilt (or a related company) and received a piece of the business for it. Some of these people were Team Full Tilt Team Members. Many of them were not.
– Some of the people Clonie named did not have an ownership stake when she claims she was owed an ownership disbursement. She doesn’t list a number of owners or stakeholders that did receive disbursements.
-Some Team Full Tilt members didn’t invest in the company, but were promised a stake in a related company only after they were vested. I have some reason to believe that the vesting period was five years, but I don’t know that as a fact.
-Whether or not they had an interest or a vesting interest, many Team Full Tilt members, including Gowen, were backed in tournaments, were compensated for hourly play on the site, and received a monthly endorsement fee. These monthly fees varied in range, were generally in the five figure ballpark, but no where near what 2+2 posters believe them to be.
– I have never heard of anyone who was promised a stake in the range of companies that Gowen lists.
– For the first few years of operation, the company (or companies) reinvested the owners’ money back into the business. The understanding was that the company would ultimately go public and the owners would be reimbursed at that time.
– When the UIGEA passed, the company had to alter its IPO plans and as such the compensation plan for its owners.
– In 2007 the company started making ownership disbursements. At this time however, a number of the Team Full Tilt Team members were still not vested. It is my guess that Clonie, whether she knew it or not, was not vested.
– It is also my guess that Clonie was “let go” before she was vested. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the timing of Clonie’s separation as only now are they removing her from the site and other promotional materials.
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The poker world is strange in that players can be a major figure on the scene one day and then gone the next. The poker boom made celebrities out of players who made a single signature tournament run or multiple appearances on poker televisions shows. The range was unlimited. For most of those players, they eventually faded away to make room for new stars.The five listed below saw their star power dry up almost on the spot. Lucky for them, they had plenty of money stashed away (we think) to laugh at all the way to the bank. They are no longer with the poker world leading many to wonder how they left the game in the first place.
1. Darrell Dicken (Gigabet)
Known as “Gigabet” in the online world, Dicken was as OG as it gets when it comes to the first wave of internet tournament superstars. Dicken racked up millions in earnings and left all to wonder how he was able to do it so easily. The success Dicken had playing against virtual opponents translated into the live game. Dicken accumulated $1.865 million in earnings with two World Poker Tour final tables highlighting the list.
Dicken’s last live cash came in 2009 at the World Series of Poker and since then, Dicken has been in the wind. There is no social media trail to find Dicken on and can only hope that he is using the brain he used to make millions with on another constructive project.
2. Craig Marquis
The first-ever World Series of Poker Main Event November Nine final table took place in 2008. In a field of 6,844, nine fortunate souls regroup almost four months later to battle for the Main Event title. The first player to depart was Texan Craig Marquis. The college student earned $900,000 for his finish and plenty of camera time with his battles against Brandon Cantu and Tiffany Michelle.
Like Dicken, Marquis last cashed in the WSOP and has yet to be heard from since. That payout came in 2010 and one can imagine that Marquis has since then moved on to other projects. His degree could possibly be involved there and the near $1 million he won likely serves as a nest egg.
3. Clonie Gowen
As a member of the massive Full Tilt Poker roster, Gowen was regularly featured on shows such as Poker After Dark. Gowen put together a strong list of results in the late-2000s but left the tournament scene in the days following Black Friday. Not many televised characters have come close to matching Gowen’s flair and charisma in the years since she left the game.
There have been rumors about Gowen’s whereabouts posted in recent years but they have not lead to anything affirmative. Should Gowen ever return to the live poker world, her positive personality would light up any table.
4. John Hanson
Remember the 2009 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship event final table that took over 20 hours to complete? John Hanson sure does. The New Yorker with a background in cash games made the $50,000 event his personal playground in 2007 and 2009. Those years, Hanson finished third and second, respectively. In 2009, Hanson battled David Bach for seven hours in heads-up play before falling short of victory.
Hanson has not recorded a single tournament cash in the time since that event. The $789,199 he earned in 2009 along with the $852,000 he claimed in 2007 are not bad numbers to have as two of four career cashes. The $50,000 field has undergone a makeover in recent years but Hanson’s black hat stands out almost 10 years since his last appearance.
5. Jason Lester
If a card or two goes different in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, then maybe we’re having a conversation about the “Lester” effect. Alas, Jason Lester wound up placing fourth and earned a footnote in poker history. Lester followed that disappointment up a few years later with a bracelet win in 2006.
Clonie Gowen Net Worth
The Florida resident appears to have given up the tournament grind a few years ago. Lester will always have the tale of the “one” he could have had but overall, a career of $2.3 million in earnings is solid.
Lester appeared stoic and often humorless on television, perhaps not a full representation of his personality. Based on that perception, though, perhaps it is best he was not thrust into the ambassador role bestowed up Chris Moneymaker.
Clonie Gowen 2020
There are probably dozens if not hundreds of other poker players who have since disappeared from the scene. Give us a shout on Twitter with your favorite poker player that vanished.
Clonie Gowen Poker