Clonie Gowen filed an amended complaint in her lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker last month, according to Pokerlistings. The complaint added two additional defendants (Pocket Kings Consulting and Tiltproof) as well as adding seven causes of action in a response to the defendant’s motion to dismiss.
Those interested in reading the case can read the amended complaint and her motion for expedited discovery over at Scribd.com:
Attorneys for Tiltware, the parent company of Full Tilt Poker, filed a motion yesterday to dismiss Clonie Gowen’s case against them for $40 million as an alleged 1% owner of the company. For those interested in reading the motion, it can be read here.
The two chip leaders on Day 2 in the World Poker Tour’s Doyle Brunson 5-Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio (the WPT DB5DWPC?) are Clonie and Kido Pham. I’d say congrats, but I have argued vehemently with many an ESPNer that being chip-leader early in a big tournament is more often a kiss of death than a path to victory. Hopefully I’m wrong — I’d love to see Clonie and/or Kido go extra-deep. Also looking forward to seeing a big-table pic of her without the Full Tilt uniform.
Donkey Bomber, btw, went into Day 2 with 8,000 chips (they started with 45k) … and is still hanging on, now with 20k.
200 players left. Average stack is about 110k. BTW, field size this year was 497, compared to 664 last year. But by no means does there seem to be a shortage of any periphery play at Bellagio.
Click here to follow the tournament action.
UPDATE: Tom is out.
Also, a WPT video update, where we learn it snowed in Las Vegas today (or at least in Summerlin), Daniel Negreanu doesn’t like to tip valet parkers, and apparently now he drinks again (didn’t he go straight-edge at some point?):
A few people have asked me WTF I’m talking about saying that November 2008 will go down as an historical month where everything changes/d. To spell it out, you have:
The November Nine — historic simply as it pertains to the conclusion of a single not-so-little tournament that seems to be the barometer for all things related to the poker industry.
Midnight Rule-push for UIGEA Regs — we’re just one of 100 single-issues affected by the Bush administration’s attempts to party it up like frat boys and trash the joint before checking out … but regardless, it means we have a whole bunch of additional clean-up to do.
60 Minutes/Washington Post Exposés — whether it’s determined to be fair-and-balanced good-for-poker coverage or a damning hatchet job hacked with a double-edged blade of lies … the Thanksgiving weekend stories represent the official exposure of the online poker biz, hairy warts and all, to the non-poker world.
Clonie Gowen vs. Full Tilt Lawsuit — a loyal soldier turns on her poker-biz commanders, with attempts to air grievances in American court threatening to bring the multibillion-dollar operations of a super-private jurisdictionally challenged business into the public domain. While FTP reps actively petition the Feds to let them open these books but only if they can pay extra taxes, the former Full Tilt covergirl arms herself with a taser gun and takes aiming at a Red Pro.
Formation of Cereus — the two most scandal-ridden online poker sites officially join forces to create a recovering cheater supersite, flooding their own tables with “refund” money to keep the action moving.
Plug Pulled on PokerBlog.com — hardly the biggest deal in the bigger picture … but PartyPoker’s apologetic canning of Dr. Tim represents a new fiscal reality facing even the most legitimate of online poker sites and their workers.
Introduction of HB 222 in Texas — Take 2 on trying to bring the game that had everything to do with the creation of an $18 billion industry (subject to all the hubbub above) back home where it belongs.
All this, of course, is going on in the midst of a major lawsuit related to internet authority in Kentucky — where unprecedented government action has shaken up/down the online poker industry, forcing noticeable shifts in business ops and resource allocation. Clearly:
An interesting prop bet reportedly went down this weekend … good, clean, generally non-lethal fun between Clonie Gowen and Brandon Cantu.
I wasn’t there nor have I spoken to either of the principals, but reliable sources say it was a simple lasts-longest bet (at a Phil Hellmuth charity event for the Taser Foundation for Fallen Officers, at Fort McDowell Casino in Arizona) with the winner getting to tase the loser.
Um, OK.
As you probably know, these high-society fundraiser tourneys don’t exactly have the best blind structures. But they do have great gift bags, which at this event apparently came with gift certificates for taser guns. At one point Cantu supposedly had Clonie out-chipped like 5:1 … and she was getting really nervous. But he took a few bad beats and soon was out. So now Clonie gets to zap Cantu with 50,000 volts at the time and place of her choosing.
UPDATE: The authenticity of this report has been confirmed.
ALSO: Tase-Mania … and award-winning story on the greatness of high-voltage, police-force shocking.
It seems that David Benyamine is no longer a “red” pro at Full Tilt. According to several sites, Benyamine is still playing on FTP but no longer a paid pro. And in return, they’re possibly working on a deal with Tom Dwan. According to not-so-reliable reports the forums, FTP is clearing the way for Dwan, better known online as “drrrr,” by asking someone else who just happens to be of the same name to relinquish his online name.
Nothing wrong with wanting Dwan on the list of pros, but dropping Benyamine doesn’t exactly make sense, especially when glancing at the looooooong list of pros and finding more than a handful of unrecognizable names. For instance, take this guy.
Recognize him? Evidently, he’s Greg Mascio, plays mixed games, and has a sponsorship deal with FTP.
Just not sure who’s running this Full Tilt show. First, they call Clonie’s bluff and get slapped with a $40 million lawsuit, and no matter their thoughts on winning-this-thing odds, is any publicity really good publicity? Second, their list of pros just doesn’t make sense. Sure, their Team Full Tilt kids are top-of-the-line in most respects, but it seems strange that an in-charge someone wouldn’t look at that list of a kazillion Full Tilt Pros and scratch a few to trim it up all nice and perty. But I’m not making millions and running a successful online poker site, so what do I know? Would love to see something positive come from FTP in the coming months.
For those of you who love parsing legal documents, and perhaps want a little one-sided insight into the inner workings of Full Tilt, here is the official 20-page lawsuit filed by Clonie Gowen against her former partners? employer? friends? online poker site cronies:
I’m still thinking settlement … but maybe not, as Howard Lederer has responded publicly (odd that any attorney would encourage this) saying, basically, bring it on, let’s open it up … we’re all-in, ho-bitch!
UPDATE: The below from “HowardLederer” has turned out to be a hoax post. My apologies for briefly forgetting that blogs came about in part to filter through all the crap on forums, so you don’t have to waste your time. But the Negreanu stuff after the jump is really him.
Originally Posted by HowardLederer
I have personally given Clonie over 600K in cash over the last three years alone. I wonder if she has paid he taxes on this money? I never once offered her 1 percent of anything. For her to say otherwise is disingenuous and is really sad.Team Full Tilt has decided to take this case all the way. There will be no settlement. This will just give us more publicity, and when online poker is no longer public enemy number one in a few months, it will make our brand that much stronger.
Clonie, I am really disapponted in you. What you really need is a good tax attorney for the 600K that you never reported.
Regards,
Howard
OK, hmm. Intriguing. I have a feeling that Howard “never once offered her 1 percent” might hold up as technically true. But I’m not so sure how the “tattletale strategy” will work in the legal system. But can’t wait to find out! The OJ Trial of Poker: Juicy!
And even though he has nothing to do with Full Tilt, Daniel Negreanu offers up his $.02 on Full Contact Poker — letting people know essentially that Clonie should be ostracized from the poker community. He also claims there’s “no freaking way” that she is a 1 percent owner, making him the first non-Team Full Tilt member to make an assertion with absolute certainty on the mysterious ownership nature of the biggest competitor to the site he works for.
We all knew something fishy was going on with Clonie and Full Tilt, right? And we’ve always wondered how exactly Full Tilt operates — seriously it’s kinda a mystery, even to people who work for them — and now, with Clonie Gowen suing four different companies connected to the game so many play with the pros, we should find out quite a bit of interesting info.
As far as I know, this is the first time any online poker biz that operates in the grayish world of processing money from American players (really really light gray, but still … ) will have to show its stuff publicly. Even Ultimate Bet/Absolute, with all the audits and investigations hasn’t really had to show anything it doesn’t want to to anyone outside its own semi-corporate family.
Um, hole-card cameras in the courtroom?
Gowen v. Tiltware LLC, et al.,
Plaintiff: Cycalona Gowen
Defendant: Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware LLC, Pocket Kings Ltd., Kolyma Corporation, A.V.V., Raymond J. Bitar, Howard Lederer, Andrew Bloch, Phillip Ivey, Christopher Ferguson, John Juanda, Phillip Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman-Traniello, Michael Matusow, Allen Cunningham, Gus Hansen and Patrick AntoniousCase Number: 2:2008cv01581
Filed: November 14, 2008Court: Nevada District Court
Office: Las Vegas Office [ Court Info ]
County: Clark
Presiding Judge: Judge Robert C. Jones
Referring Judge: Magistrate Judge Robert J. JohnstonNature of Suit: Contract – Other Contract
Cause: 28:1332 Diversity-Other Contract
Jurisdiction: Diversity
Jury Demanded By: Plaintiff
They’re talking about it on 2+2, and the summary of her allegations below comes from the Hendon Mob:
For those out there looking for their Clonie Gowen fix, you can head down to the Gold Strike Casino in Robinsonville, MS and catch the final table of the $5,000 Main Event of their World Poker Open. Clonie goes into the final table as the chip leader and the $183,224 first prize available. Here’s how the final table will be seated:
Seat 1: Blake Huff 66,500
Seat 2: Jim Peanick 124,500
Seat 3: BJ McBrayer 159,000
Seat 4: Michael ‘Carwash’ Schneider 242,500
Seat 5: Barry Hatcher 122,000
Seat 6: Justin Allen 141,000
Seat 7: Brandon Jarrett 173,000
Seat 8: Kirby Brewer 251,500
Seat 9: Clonie Gowen 331,000
I’m sure Dan will gladly clean this up and add like a red headline and make it look like a table, as he’s the professional blogger. Pokerpages will be providing live updates sporadically on its website, starting at 2pm CT Tuesday.
Results of the final table are on the next page:
More…
Semi-related conversation from last week:
Dan: I knew the Poker Bowl was in trouble when they hired me to be TV commentator without even having talked to me on the phone.
Clonie: I knew the Poker Bowl was in trouble, too, when I heard they hired you.
Interesting charity event going on in Dallas this weekend … a $1,500+ buy-in with $1k going to the prize pool. The rest going toward medical expenses for internationally renowned Russian/American/Dallas artist Vladimir Gorsky, who is suffering from brain cancer. TJ Cloutier writes a little about him and the event here. Some of the other Vlad-loving pros supposed to attend include: Amir Vahedi, Tom McEvoy, Young Phan, Kido Pham, Jennicide, and Warren Karp.
The event takes place at the Westin City Center. Glad to see it. If they successfully pull off this event, it will be good to see charity poker getting back to what it could/should/used to be in Texas — though it does seem a little strange for a charity event to be going on in Dallas that doesn’t have anything to do with Pokerati or Clonie.
Fortunately, I will be able to follow the action on HoldEmRadio.com.
One other really interesting thing about this event: the support it’s getting from the Choctaw Nation. They’re running single-table satellites to this event 24/7 between now and then. And as a show of appreciation for helping out their friend Vlad, the pros slated to be in Dallas on Saturday will be in Oklahoma for Choctaw’s Friday night tourney, reportedly playing with bounties on their heads.
Click below to see the flyer and get more details about signing up:
Best Poker Song Ever?!?
Interestingly enough, Clonie is playing in South Africa this week — in the Sun City Million, the biggest tourney festival in Africa, a US$1.5 million guaranteed — without any of her Full Tilt cronies. Hmmm …
(To be fair, the event is hosted by Shannon Elizabeth, who is one of her very top MySpace friends, but still … I feel a blip in the Clonie sector of the Poker Force.)
Michael Binger said she was due … and sure enough, Clonie Gowen got it good — not at the WSOP, but across I-15 at the Bellagio Cup IV, in a $5,000 NLH event that drew 235 runners.
Kinda like a high-stakes second-chance tourney for early main-event busters and pros callously accused of being in a drug-addled downward spiral. Her payday for winning: $437,775
Awesome. Congrats, Clonie! I knew you had it in you, regardless of your status with Full Tilt … Seriously, we should be like best friends again and hang out all the time.
Today’s attendance at day 1c of the Main Event was a vast improvement over the past two days, as 1,928 laid their money down to participate in the Main Event. Rumors are circulating that Sunday will have a complete sellout of 2,700 which would take them near the 7,000 figure that seemed improbable on Thursday. Among those whose dream is already over, such notables as: Huck Seed, Larry Flynt, Sean Buchanan, Gavin Griffin, Mimi Tran, Justin Bonomo, David Chiu, Bart Hanson, and Marco Traniello.
The leader at the dinner break appears to be Michael Martin, who is just under 100,000 in chips. More familiar names near the top: Jeff Madsen, Chris Moneymaker, Mike Matusow, TJ Cloutier, and the lovely and talented Liz Lieu, Clonie Gowen, Evelyn Ng, Kara Scott, and Isabelle Mercier. More updates can be found at the WSOP update site here.
The returning horde of about 1,500 will return shortly to play two more two-hour levels, with those survivors returning to play on Wednesday, July 9.
More updates during the evening…
Not a good start for @bentonblakeman @hptpoker running kings into aces. Benton fires another bullet, hopefully with better results. #hpt ...
Good read --> "Attack Dog" on the Willie Horton attack ad, Super PACs & the effects of Citizens United: http://t.co/LsvWH2Dd via @NewYorker
@skputts the only difference between Madonna and Keith Richards is that I could interpret the words she was singing.
