TJ Cloutier: The Legendary Poker Player and His Gambling Habits

TJ Cloutier is one of the most successful tournament poker players of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. From 1998 to July 2006, he held the record for the largest MTT prize pool of all time. Even after Jamie Gold won $12,000,000 in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, Cloutier's achievements remained legendary.

Born in 1939, Cloutier started playing poker at the age of 17. He began with no-limit lowball but switched to 5-card draw, where he found more success. His professional career was interrupted by military service, during which he also played American football professionally for teams in Toronto and Montreal. After injuries ended his football career, he returned to Texas and began working on an oil rig, where he resumed playing poker with his colleagues and quickly realized he could win more at the poker table than at work.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Cloutier's primary income came from illegal closed games. He won $200,000 in a game organized by Charlie Bissel in Dallas. Despite his successes, Cloutier was known for his gambling habits, often losing money in craps and horse racing. He lost to Bill Smith in the 1985 WSOP Main Event final and finished third in the 1998 WSOP Main Event. In the 2000 WSOP Main Event, he lost to Chris Ferguson in the final. Cloutier's gambling habits often overshadowed his poker achievements, but his legacy as a poker legend remains intact.