Things you might not know:
T.J. Cloutier, although late in his career, is one of the all time greats of poker. He is known for his incredible memory.- Cloutier attended the University of California, Berkeley on football and baseball scholarships.
- Cloutier played in the 1959 Rose Bowl.
- Cloutier dropped out of college due to family financial hardship.
- Cloutier was drafted into the U.S. Army.
- Cloutier played in the Canadian Football League, for Toronto and Montreal, until a knee injury cut his career short.
- Cloutier started playing poker while he was a caddy at a golf course, playing after the rounds.
- Cloutier started an unsuccessful wholesale food company with his family, but after his divorce and the business ended, he moved on to working on oil rigs.
- Cloutier quit working the oil rigs when he started making more money on his off days from playing poker.
- Cloutier has won more than 60 major poker tournaments worldwide.
- Cloutier is the co-author with Tom McEvoy of four poker books plus one other:Championship Tournament Practice Hands, Championship Holdem, Championship Omaha, Championship No-Limit, Pot Limit Hold'em and How To Win The Championship: Hold'em Strategies For The Final Table.
- Cloutier has been featured on World Poker Tour final tables, Ultimate Poker Challenge, the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament and Poker Royale: Battle of the Ages.
- Cloutier has always had a fondness or weakness for high stakes craps.
As Cloutier explains it..."It's more like pages opening up in a book in my mind. I've been very observant throughout my entire life and I've always had a sort of photographic memory for how people play their hands in certain situations. If you and I had played poker together five years ago, I wouldn't necessarily recall your name today, but I would remember your face and how you played your hands in different spots, your tendencies. I think that knowing your opponents is the most important thing in big-bet poker. To do that, you have to be alert at all times, even when you're not in a hand, because you can learn something valuable. If a wing fell off a gnat at the end of the table, I'd see it."
Even in his 70's now, Cloutier asserts "If you don't learn something new every time you play poker, then you aren't doing your job."Cloutier going for his 6th WSOP bracelet, an interview, and his last hand at the 2000 WSOP:
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