Poker Players

Birthdate: October 13, 1939
Birthplace: Albany, Texas
Current Residence: Richardson, Texas
Nickname: The Alabama Cowboy

TJ Cloutier is one of the greatest tournament poker players of all time. He is considered the best poker player never to have won the World Series of Poker. He started playing poker back in high school. TJ was a gifted athlete and played professional football in the Canadian Football League for five years, but eventually had to retire due to knee trouble. It was from there when he decided to take up poker full time and his poker career started to rise. He was one of the "Texas Rounders"; they made their way driving from city to city throughout Texas in the 1960s playing in some of the richest and most dangerous games around. He played in his first World Series of Poker in 1983 and has cashed in at least one event every year since, except for one. He has career earnings of just under $3 million dollars at the World Series which puts him third on the all time earnings list. The key to TJ's success is his amazing poker memory of recalling individual playing styles. Today Cloutier, who lives with his wife Joy in Texas, continues to travel across the nation to play in the major tournaments. TJ respects the playing styles of Chip Reese, Erik Seidel, Ben Roberts, and Surrindar Sunar.