He's never won the WSOP Main Event, but he's been in the top five four times, including two second places.
You wouldn't know to look at him but T. J. Cloutier, the barrel-chested, 6"2&;, former Texas roughneck and professional football player, is a late bloomer.
Thomas James Cloutier was born in Northern California in 1939. Growing up he was a stand-out athlete and attended the University of California Berkeley on a football scholarship. He was part of the Golden Bear's 1958 Pac-10 championship team, but he was forced to leave college when his mother became ill. He got a job in the U.S. Army to help pay her bills, and spent the next several years in Uncle Sam's care.
When Cloutier left the service, he set his sights on playing professional football. He went knocking on the NFL's door, but his long absence from the game made him a forgotten man. He joined the Canadian Football League, and played for the Montréal Alouettes. He had a promising career ahead of him, but a knee injury cut it short.
Cloutier moved back to Northern California and invested his football money into a new family business. But like his stint in college and pro football, the endeavor ended shortly after it began. He filed for bankruptcy when he was 37 years old. He had six kids and wife who wanted a divorce. Cloutier had to start over again.
Cloutier could always count on his muscles, so he moved to Texas and joined an oil rig gang. During his time off, he'd play poker, regularly tapping big cash reserves in those dusty Texas towns. Within a few years, he quit his job and started playing tournament poker full time. That's when Joy entered his life. He and Joy were married in 1984, and less than a year later he took second place at the WSOP's Main Event. It was the start of a beautiful relationship.
In 1987, he won his first gold bracelet and, over the next 20 years, he'd win five more. Cloutier has had 39 final table finishes at the WSOP, including a second place at the 2000 Main Event. Cloutier is the only person in WSOP history to win bracelets in all three Omaha events - Pot-Limit High, Limit High, and Limit 8-Or-Better High-Low Split. In 2006, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Starting a new life when you're middle aged is a bit like playing short stacked - every hand is counts. And with the cards he was dealt, Cloutier played them perfectly.
