About T.J. Cloutier
| Name | T.J. Cloutier |
|---|---|
| Current Residence | Richardson Texas |
| Born | Oct. 13, 1939 |
| Birth Place | Albany Calif., US |
Eventually, T.J. was sidelined from football due to knee problems. After working a short time in the oilfields near Longview, Texas, he moved to Shreveport, L.A., at which time he started to play poker in earnest, traveling to Dallas three times weekly to play Pot-Limit games.
He then progressed to tournament play in Las Vegas. It is no small testament to his acumen that he is the third all-time money winner in the World Series of Poker with total winnings from the event adding up to $2,992,841, so far.
T.J. has written four books on poker with Tom McEvoy and frequently writes poker articles for CardPlayer.com.
T.J. is famous for having once won with a "Mystery hand." Here is his explanation: "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. So, this is what I call my "mystery hand" play."
Mr. Cloutier is most famous, though, for his elephant's memory. He says of the phenomenon: "It's more like pages opening up in a book in my mind. I've been very observant throughout my entire life and I've always had a sort of photographic memory for how people play their hands in certain situations. 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."
He can also recount no small number of colorful poker anecdotes, including this one, which makes his having lost three teeth in football look like a needlepoint convention in Pasadena. "I'll tell you about the unluckiest player in the world. There was this big card game years ago in a house down in Odessa or Midland ... don't remember which. Nobody except a few notorious men from the area could play in that game, and they were all what we called "packing" in Texas ... they were armed. Seems that one guy accused another one of cheating (which they were all doing) and the guns started blazing. Two men were killed right there in the game, and another guy was shot going out the front door. All of the houses were right next to each other, and the people next door heard all the gunshots and called for the cops. So the man that was shot in the doorway started pounding on the neighbors' door to ask for help, standing there just bleeding to death. The guy opened up the door and killed him with a shotgun, thinking that he was trying to break in. Next time you think you're having an unlucky day in poker, just think about this guy!"
T.J. has an attitude towards poker that others who wish to emulate his success would do well to heed. He advises, "If you don't learn something new every time you play poker, then you aren't doing your job."
Trivia
- Graduate of U.C. Berkeley
- Played in the 1959 Rose Bowl
- Played pro football with the Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts
- Travels to tournaments with Joy, his wife
- Author of multiple poker books with Tom McEvoy, including Championship Pot-Limit and No-Limit Hold'em
T.J. Cloutier recent tournament placings
| Place | Winnings | Tournament |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | $4,523 | 2009 WSOP, Event 11 - $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em |
| 34 | $65,955 | WPT - Season 6, WPT World Championship |
| 21 | $12,060 | WPT - Season 6, World Poker Open |
| 12 | $72,955 | WPT - Season 6, World Poker Finals |
| 21 | $14,017 | WPT - Season 6, Gulf Coast Poker Championship |
| 17 | $25,593 | 2007 WSOP, Event 47, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 11 | $10,902 | 2007 WSOP, Event 37, Pot Limit Hold'em |
| 23 | $20,034 | 2007 WSOP, Event 22, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 9 | $25,000 | Special 2007, NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship |
| 120 | $4,591 | 2006 WSOP, Event 37, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 152 | $2,902 | 2006 WSOP, Event 27, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 5 | $480,480 | 2006 WSOP, Event 20, H.O.R.S.E. |
| 57 | $1,500 | 2005 World Series of Poker, Event 34, $1,000 Seniors No-limit Hold'em |
| 1 | $657,100 | 2005 World Series of Poker, Event 13, $5,000 No-limit Hold'em |
| 44 | $2,980 | 2005 World Series of Poker, Event 11, $2,000 Pot-limit Hold'em |
| 5 | $0 | World Poker Tour - Specials, WPT Poker by the Book |
| 9 | $20,020 | WSOP - 2004, Event 29, Limit Hold'em |
| 1 | $90,500 | WSOP - 2004, Event 26, Seven Card Razz |
| 15 | $8,720 | WSOP - 2004, Event 25, Pot-Limit Hold'em |
| 3 | $146,775 | World Poker Tour - Season 2, Legends of Poker |
| 6 | $18,934 | World Poker Tour - Season 1, World Poker Challenge |
| 2 | $162,550 | WSOP - 2001, Event 5, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 3 | $43,500 | 1993 WSOP, $5,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw |
| 7 | $15,000 | WSOP - 2000, Event 18, Pot-Limit Hold'em |
| 1 | $72,000 | WSOP - 1987, Event 3, Pot-Limit Omaha |
| 17 | $4,120 | WSOP - 2002, Event 28, Limit Hold'em |
| 5 | $63,000 | WSOP - 1988, World Series of Poker Main Event - 1988 |
| 7 | $19,500 | WSOP - 1990, Event 13, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 8 | $5,790 | 1992 WSOP , Event 15, Pot-Limit Hold'em |
| 2 | $88,550 | WSOP - 1995, Event 20, Limit Seven-Card Stud |
| 24 | $4,260 | 1997 WSOP , Event 7, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 1 | $136,000 | WSOP - 1998, $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha |
| 4 | $25,950 | WSOP - 1999, Event 5, Pot-Limit Omaha w/ rebuys |
| 3 | $70,720 | WSOP - 2002, $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em |
| 2 | $54,000 | 1989 WSOP , Event 2, Pot-Limit Omaha |
| 9 | $9,640 | 2003 WSOP , Event 11, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 9 | $4,590 | 1993 WSOP, Event 19, Pot-Limit Hold'em |
| 4 | $22,750 | WSOP - 1996, Event 20, Limit Seven-Card Stud |
| 1 | $163,000 | WSOP - 1994, $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em |
| 5 | $18,360 | WSOP - 1998, Event 8, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo |
| 5 | $23,595 | WSOP - 1987, Event 12, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 3 | $437,500 | WSOP - 1998, World Series of Poker Main Event - 1998 |
| 15 | $4,680 | WSOP - 1991, Event 16, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 5 | $32,000 | 2003 WSOP , Event 22, No-Limit Hold'em |
| 5 | $21,075 | WSOP - 1996, Event 9, Pot-Limit Omaha w/ rebuys |
| 11 | $4,356 | 1997 WSOP , Event 14, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo |
| 10 | $4,800 | WSOP - 2000, Event 16, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo |
| 6 | $8,820 | WSOP - 1994, Event 8, Pot-Limit Omaha |
| 6 | $34,400 | WSOP - 2002, Event 2, Limit Hold'em |
| 6 | $20,700 | 1989 WSOP , Event 4, Pot-Limit Omaha with Rebuys |
| 3 | $23,915 | 2003 WSOP , Event 13, Seven-Card Stud |
| 8 | $14,750 | WSOP - 1996, Event 22, Limit Hold'em |
| 1 | $135,000 | WSOP - 1994, $2,500 Omaha Eight-or-Better |
| 9 | $9,480 | WSOP - 1999, Event 3, Limit Hold'em |
| 8 | $10,380 | WSOP - 2001, Event 23, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo |
| 10 | $2,715 | 1989 WSOP , Event 1, Pot-Limit Omaha |
| 2 | $896,000 | WSOP - 2000, World Series of Poker Main Event - 2000 |
| 7 | $14,700 | 1992 WSOP , Event 8, Limit Hold'em |
| 12 | $4,470 | 1993 WSOP, Event 17, Limit Hold'em |
| 7 | $12,525 | WSOP - 1996, Event 16, Limit Hold'em |
| 8 | $13,200 | 1997 WSOP , Event 18, Limit Seven-Card Stud |
T.J. Cloutier in the Media
Interviews
News
Player analysis
- Aggressiveness
- 6
- Looseness
- 5
- Limit
- 5
- No-Limit
- 7
- Side Games
- 3
- Steam Control
- 4
- Against Strong Players
- 6
- Against Weak Players
- 8
- Tournaments
- 7
- Short-Handed
- 6
Player analysis
Conventional wisdom is that T.J.'s non-poker gambling has limited his monetary success.
T.J. often shows his good hands because he likes to give the image that he is always there. His philosophy is: if you never get called, you will end up with all of the chips.
T.J. has probably played in and won more major tournaments than any other person.
Amusing Anecdote
When T.J. and I first played together, we had discussed how I had played some No-Limit Hold'em in Houston in the '70s whereas he had played in Dallas. I moved in on someone with ace-king. The player called with a pair of queens and I won the race.
T.J. said, “I can see you learned to play in Houston. Those Houston players would come to Dallas and play that ace-king, but they'd always end up against a pair of aces. That's why we call that hand ‘Walking back to Houston.'”
