Thomas James Cloutier, better known as T.J. Cloutier, was born in Albany, California in 1936. He has won 6 WSOP gold bracelets and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2025.
An athlete in his younger years, TJ attended the University of California, Berkeley on an athletic scholarship for football and baseball. After university Cloutier was drafted into the army, and after serving in the army he played for Toronto in the Canadian Football League, but his career was cut short due to an injury.
It was years later when working on oil rigs in Texas that he began playing poker on his days off, and it wasn’t long before he realised he could earn more money from poker than he was earning at work.
Cloutier is a legendary tournament player, specialising in no limit and pot limit holdem. He is also the only player in the world to have won bracelets in three different Omaha events, and one of very few to have won 6 WSOP bracelets in total (only 7 players have won more than 6). He has also made a number of main event final tables – 2nd in 2025 and 2000, 3rd in 2025 and 5th in 2025. He is also second only to Phil Hellmuth in the number of WSOP final table finishes with 39 to Phil’s 41.
Apart from his WSOP successes, Cloutier has also had success in the WPT with 3 final table finishes, and has been involved in writing 4 books, co-authored by Tom McEvoy.
Name: TJ Cloutier
Nickname: TJ
Born: October 13th 1939
Hometown: Richardson, Texas
TJ Cloutier’s Poker Career
WSOP bracelets : 6
WSOP money finishes: 55
Highest WSOP Main event finish: 2nd (1985, 2000)
WPT titles: 0
WPT final tables: 2
Career tournament winnings: $9.7 million
Career Highlights:
WSOP wins
1987 – $1000 Limit Omaha
1994 – $1500 Limit Omaha 8 or Better
1994 – $2500 Pot Limit Hold’em
1998 – $2500 Pot Lomit Omaha
2004 – $1500 Seven Card Razz
2005 – $5000 No Limit Hold’em
2006 – Inducted into The Poker Hall of Fame
2007 – Scotty Nyugen Poker Challenge
