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T J Cloutier - Poker Legend
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With an incredible victory in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Event (#14) at the 2005 WSOP, T J Cloutier showed once again that he is one of the greatest tournament poker players to ever play the game. Cloutier, a former linebacker who is still an imposing figure at any poker table, has won more than fifty major poker tournaments.
His record at the World Series Of Poker is impressive (in terms of overall winnings) yet also tinged with bad luck. Cloutier has never won the big one, the Main Event, but he has finished second twice and has no less than 4 finishes in the Top 5. Very few players in the world can match that record, and with the sudden explosion in popularity that the World Series of Poker has enjoyed (5660 entrants in 2005 for the Main Event) it is a pretty safe bet that this record will never be surpassed by another player.
T J Cloutier is a living legend of poker. He even has a specific starting hand named after him, the J9 of clubs. Some players mistakenly refer to all J9 starting hands as a "T J Cloutier", but only when they are suited in clubs is this strictly accurate. The reason the hand is named after him is that in one year alone, at three separate big-money tables, Cloutier was dealt the J9 of clubs and flopped straight flushes in clubs all three times!
If one plays poker long enough the good luck stories should at least equal the bad (although most players only remember the worst beats and tend to ignore those times when they sucked out). But Cloutier was consistently beaten by worse hands at the WSOP until this year's event where he beat 465 other entrants and scooped the top prize of over $650,000. He did it by sucking out on his opponent heads-up, and he promptly called his wife to tell her that for once at the WSOP luck was on his side.
T.J. Cloutier has now won five bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He also has made 2 final table appearances on the WPT. The 2005 WSOP will be remembered for the return to form of poker legends from the past: Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan both won their 10th bracelet here, and TJ Cloutier won his first bracelet in the last 7 years!
Related Poker Articles And News Items:
> Stu Ungar - Poker Legend
> Joe Hachem - Instant Poker Legend
> Phil Ivey - Poker Legend
> Mike Matusow - Poker Legend
> Layne Flack - Poker Legend
> Gus Hansen - Poker Legend
> Greg Raymer - Poker Legend
> Chris Moneymaker - Poker Legend
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