UNDER THE GUN 5 QUESTIONS WITH CLONIE GOWEN

1

You’ve done very well so far in the six-handed Poker After Dark tournaments. Which do you like better, single-table or multi-table tournaments?

To be quite honest, I like the single-table formats more just because they are over within four-to-six hours and you either win $120,000 or get out. You aren’t sitting there for four-to-five days in a tournament not to cash at all.

2

Are there any specific players against whom you struggle so much that you prefer not sit down at the table with them?

There are some cash-game players that I will definitely avoid their tables when I walk into the Bellagio because I don’t want to play with them: Gabe Thaler, Lee Markholt, and those guys. They are great cash-game players, so if I walk in and see them sitting at a table, I want to find another table. They are great players and there is no reason to sit in the same game as them.
3

You’ve been featured in a photo spread in Maxim. What male would you like to see in a sexy photo spread?

That’s a goooood question! Patrik Antonius! Absolutely Patrik!

4

What is the funniest fan encounter you have ever had?

Believe it or not, the funniest fan encounter I’ve ever had was the first time I met [noted poker writer] Michael Craig. It was during the World Series. He walked up wearing a backpack and asked me to sign something for him. I didn’t realize he had his backpack with clothes in it because he was headed to the airport, so he reached in over his shoulder to the backpack and he pulls out his underwear. I looked at him and said, ‘I’m not signing that.’ He was so mortified that he had accidentally pulled out his underwear instead of a T-shirt.
5

What’s the best bluff you’ve ever pulled off?

I think the best bluff was at the Red Rock $120,000 buy-in against Mike Matusow and John Juanda. I had like J-8 and was in the small blind. Erick Lindgren limped under the gun, Matusow limped on the button, I made the call from the small blind, and Juanda checked the big blind. The flop came like 10-10-7. I decided to check, John Juanda bet, Lindgren folded, and Matusow called from the button. I felt like Juanda didn’t have a ten there with Erick Lindgren and Matusow behind him. He knows one of them is going to bet, so he doesn’t have to give away the strength of his hand. I really felt he didn’t have anything. I decided to call, knowing I was going to make a bluff at this pot. On the turn is an insignificant card, and I check again, and Juanda checks, and Matusow bets. When it comes to me and Matusow had bet, I pause and start to think. I made it look like I was going to raise in that spot and I thought for quite a while. I finally call and Juanda folds his hand quickly. Another insignificant card comes off on the river, so I bet about 45 percent of my stack, and before I even got my chips out there, Matusow folded. I was right on about that one and I won a huge pot.