T.J. Cloutier is a professional poker player from Texas. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006.
Born October 13, 1939 in Albany, California, Cloutier attended the University of California, Berkeley on an athletic scholarship for football and baseball and played in the Rose Bowl in 1959. However, due to financial hardship, he had to drop out of school to help his family. After a stint in the Army after being drafted, he played football in the Canadian Football League for Toronto and Montreal, but an injury cut his career short.
Cloutier then started up a wholesale food business with his father and brother-in-law in the San Francisco area. The business closed in 1976 because of embezzlement by an outside partner. After deciding that he needed a change in life, he moved to Texas and worked on the oil rigs. On his days off he began to play poker, and quit his job after he was making more money playing poker than working.
Cloutier is the co-author of several poker books:
Cloutier began regularly winning tournaments and went on the road to make his living playing poker. Along with Doyle Brunson, Cloutier is the last of the original Texas road gamblers. His books contain several of his famous road stories. Here is one interesting story:
"I was playing pot-limit hold'em down in Shreveport. We'd been playing for quite a few hours and there was a lot of money on the table. A hand came up in which I had the stone nuts on fourth street. I had $5,000 in front of me and made a $2,000 bet. Wayne Edmunds was in the game and he had a habit of putting his head down after he called a bet, so that he never saw what was going on anywhere else. As I was making my bet, the dealer grabbed my cards and threw them in the muck. Of course, Wayne didn't see it happen. "What do I do now?!" I was wondering. I have big hands and so I just kept them out in front of me like I was protecting my cards. The dealer burned and then turned the river card. I bet my last $3,000 and Wayne threw his hand away. I won the pot without any cards! Everybody at the table except Wayne saw what had happened, but nobody said a thing."
When asked how he gets a read on the other players he says:
"If you and I had played poker together five years ago, I wouldn't necessarily recall your name today, but I would remember your face and how you played your hands in different spots, your tendencies. I think that knowing your opponents is the most important thing in big-bet poker. To do that, you have to be alert at all times, even when you're not in a hand, because you can learn something valuable. If a wing fell off a gnat at the end of the table, I'd see it."
Cloutier specializes in playing tournament poker; especially no-limit and pot limit hold'em. He has placed in the top 5 on 4 different occasions in the main event of the WSOP, including two 2nd place finishes (in 1985, losing to Bill Smith, and 2000, losing to Chris Ferguson). Cloutier also finished in 5th place in 1988, won by Johnny Chan, and in 3rd place in 1998, won by Scotty Nguyen. In 2009, he was one of numerous players turned away from the main event, as registration was capped on that particular day.
He has also been featured in the Ultimate Poker Challenge, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and Poker Royale: Battle of the Ages. He has also played in WPT events, where his best finish was a 3rd place finish for $146,775 in the 2003 Legends of Poker event, won by Mel Judah.
Cloutier has admitted to entering $10 online tournaments to in order get accustomed to playing against the younger, and more aggressive, online players.
As of 2009, he has 6 WSOP bracelets, 55 WSOP cashes (5th place all-time), and total live tournament winnings exceeding $9,700,000. He now resides in Richardson, Texas.
Year | Event | Prize |
---|---|---|
1987 | $1,000 Limit Omaha Hi | $72,000 |
1994 | $1,500 Limit Omaha 8 or Better | $135,000 |
1994 | $2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em | $163,000 |
1998 | $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi | $136,000 |
2004 | $1,500 Seven Card Razz | $90,500 |
2005 | $5,000 No Limit Hold'em | $657,100 |
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weight, and uses a electric cart....must have had a stroke!