The headlines continue to bleed with titles from the law suit filed by Clonie Gowen against former sponsor FullTilt.net in early November. Ms. Gowen accused the online poker room of breach of contract, along with a few other poignant allegations, and just recently, the pro player response has been overwhelming.
The most intriguing reaction came from PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu, who posted on his web site forum, Full Contact Poker, calling Clonie “ding bat crazy” and accusing her of fabricating her story. Negreanu said there was “no freaking way” FullTilt.net would offer her 1% of the company, going so far to compare her action to “crazy ex-girlfriend extortion”.
Negreanu went on to blast Clonie’s actions against FullTilt.net, stating his belief that she will be “nothing, broke and out of poker within the next two years”. He then took a few jabs at Gowen’s choice to bring other Full Tilt Pro’s names into the lawsuit.
“As for Clonie, naming random people associated with FTP in a lawsuit is extremely irresponsible and inappropriate. It’s like she’s just throwing darts and guessing. She’s not going to make any friends doing that. I mean, Mike Matusow? Like he needs to be on that suit, it’s ridiculous.”
Fellow Team PokerStars.com Pro Barry Greenstein responded to Daniel Negreanu’s post on his own web site forum, PokerRoad, stating that he did not believe this would ruin Ms. Gowen’s poker career, but that it may become much harder for her to cover every day living expenses without the support of an online poker room sponsorship. “I don’t get the feeling that Clonie supplements her income with side game winnings, although she does make something from poker boot camps.”
Greenstein then went on to praise Clonie Gowen’s impeccable poker tournament skills, including 3 out of 3 wins in the Poker After Dark series. “That makes her sixth on the all time money list for women in poker,” Greenstein said.
In regards to the validity of Gowen’s case against Full Tilt Poker, Greenstein commented, “I vaguely recall her telling me a few years back that she thought she was going to get some stock, but I would have thought she would have gotten that cleared up within a year of representing the company. It certainly seems strange to bring it up after all these years.”
Another response to Negreanu’s public attack of Clonie Gowen came from seasoned poker tournament player Kevin O’Donnell, with a post on TwoPlusTwo forums. O’Donnell berated Negreanu’s comments saying, “There has been more mud thrown around on this than the presidential election. Only this time, Negreanu, you have thrown most of it, in a race you’re not even in.
O’Donnell spoke of his admiration for Clonie Gowen as “a good person” and “a great ambassador for Full Tilt”. He then pointed out that neither he nor Negreanu knows “what the arrangement that she had with FT was, but to assume there was nothing at all, would be a little naive.”
Kevin O’Donnell wrote further with a recommendation for Negreanu, suggesting: “have your mom make you lunch, chill out, and mind your own business. All the people I have had the pleasure of meeting on “The FT Team” are very nice people with more integrity and manners than you have shown here. They all seem, intelligent and capable enough of dealing with any issues they might have with Clonie, one on one in private.
“I might not be much of a poker player, but, I do know right from wrong, and you are WAY wrong in your attempted public assassination of a nice person.”
It will be interesting to see the outcome of the Gowen VS FTP case as many speculate whether it will be settled out of court. The latest talk around the water cooler claims that several FullTiltPoker.net Pros – Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Andy Bloch and Erick Lindgren – are displeased with the current situation and may be seeking to end their own contract with Full Tilt. The effect these actions may have on further online poker room sponsorship deals – for any professional poker player, not just Ms. Gowen – also hangs in the balance.