This pro poker player has been steadily adding to his tournament wins with a record 60 tournament win worldwide, all of which are major events in addition to his 6 WSOP bracelets. It is no wonder that T.J. Cloutier is considered among the top poker players and a legend in the world of competitive poker.
Known in his inner circle as ‘The Albany Cowboy,’ after his hometown, TJ was born in California (Albany) in 1939. He was a former CFL player but has been pursuing a poker career for over 3 decades now. He has also written a book called ‘Championship Hold’em’ which is regarded as an authority account of tips and advice for serious Texas Hold’em gamers.
Yes, TJ Cloutier is definitely old school and not embarrassed about being one of the founding fathers of his style of the game. His life is the stuff of adventure tales of the Wild West and he sure is one of the legendary road gamblers, what with his cowboy bearings taking him from one town to another for a good poker game.
He has played in the smoky Texan bar rooms where it was quite the normal thing for guys to be packing heat sitting at a table and TJ in his inimitable style is known to have said, “ The hard part of playing in Texas backrooms wasn’t making money in those games. – But walking outta the door with it!” It is this friendly manner of recounting hard stories in a jovial way that has ensured that TJ has a strong fan following among poker enthusiasts of all ages with his name coming up repeatedly in any discussion naming poker greats. His name is recounted as frequently as Doyle Brunson’s is for the possibility of having played the most poker hands and this is the reason that there is probably no situation of poker hands he hasn’t dealt with, making his experience the stuff novices would love to have access to.
A WSOP final table position 4 times over, with 2 runner-up positions and one of the biggest prize money grosser through WSOP history makes TJ a strong contender for the most enduring poker player ever. It was only when Paul Phillips cracked Phil’s pocket jacks with his pocket 7’s that TJ finished at third place in the Bike season 2 event) of the WPT.
Unlike other WSOP winners or pro poker players who tend to let aggressive play rule their game, TJ is known to always conduct him with dignity and class at the poker tournament table, which is why he is so popular too. The 2000 WSOP main event where he was struggling with Chris Ferguson in a heads-up situation with chips almost even (Chris had a A9 while TJ had AQ) witnessed this playing grace in Cloutier as Chris raised and he pushed all-in, to have Chris make a call but not liking what he saw, it resulted in the flop and turn becoming solid. Then the 9 floated up on the river. That’s all it took to win a title TJ had yearned for but when Chris asked if they were still friends, the legendary player replied ‘of course,’ affirming he had played well and even hugging him to show no hard feelings.
Now that kind of gentlemanly behavior is what lends class to a pro poker game – that even in the midst of heartbreak like TJ is sure to have felt at that moment, he masked his disappointment and let the better player enjoy his day in the sun.