Born in 1939, TJ (Thomas James) Cloutier is a professional poker player well known for his tournament achievements, for the poker strategy books he’s written and for his passion for craps.
He was an avid sportsman for most of his life, he played football and baseball and took part in the Rose Bowl in 1959.
He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and was drafted into the Army. After his discharge he played football in Toronto and Montreal but got injured and was thus forced to give up his athletic ambitions.
He started a company of his own but failed to achieve success. He moved to Texas to work in the oil industry, and it was there that he began playing poker part-time.
Soon, he was making more money flipping the flops than working, which meant it no longer made sense for him to waste time at the oil rigs.
A renowned tournament specialist, TJ Cloutier has amassed 54 WSOP money finishes in his career and 6 WSOP bracelets. He finished just short of the title in 2 WSOP Main Events, in 1985 and in 2000, and hit the top 5 two more times.
He is the only player who has won a bracelet in all three Omaha variants played at the WSOP: PL, Limit high only and hi/lo split.
He also has 3 WPT final tables to his name and 9 money finishes. His best WPT result is a 3rd place attained in 2003 at the Legends of Poker which Mel Judah eventually won.
Word has it, Cloutier has won more than $9 million in tournaments in his career. Another rumor says he has squandered all his winnings at the craps table, and is basically broke, living from one day to another, getting staked by others, winning in poker and losing on just about everything else.
Together with Tom McEvoy, he wrote 4 books on poker strategy titled: Championship Holdem, Championship Omaha, Championship Tournament Practice Hands and Championship NL and PL Holdem.
He also played in the National Heads-up Poker Championship, in the Poker SuperStars invitational and in the Ultimate Poker Challenge.