T.J Cloutier

Its commonly known that if your two hole cards are a J-9 of clubs then you are holding "T J Cloutier" in your hand. T.J Cloutier is a poker legend who still competesin the poker world today in the modern game. There are some confusions as to what is a "T.J Cloutier". It is only the J-9 of clubs and the reason it is called this is because in 1 year he managed to flop 3 straight flushes holding J-9 of clubs. It is written in many poker articles and books that T.J.Cloutier is considered one of the top tournament poker players of all time. He has won more then fifty major events in his poker playing career and sits at the top of the tournament prize pool leader board. In addition, T.J. has an excellent record at the World Series of Poker events. That being said, T.J Cloutier has never won the the WSOP main event and this title still alludes him.

Cloutier is always around at all the major events and has had four Top 5 places in the WSOP main event. If you should be lucky enough to meet Cloutier in person, no doubt you will be very intimidated. Cloutier used to be a CFL tight end and has a strong presence with gigantic hands the size of irons. Cloutier has written several essential guides to being a good poker playerl. Most find his advice to be very helpful. For example, on whether one should concentrate on ring (cash) games or tournaments: "There is so much dead money in tournaments that good players have a huge overlay, especially in pot-limit and no-limit games, because the skill factor is so much higher in these games than in limit."

Another interesting concept that he covers in his various articles and books is "What do you do in a no-limit tournament when you flop middle set, and your opponent bets out before you?" Let's say you're holding pocket 10s. The flop comes A - 10 - 2. Your opponent bets, and based on betting before the flop you are confident he has an A. Cloutier says to flat-call the bet. Don't raise or go all-in. But what if your opponent is holding A-2 or A-10 and that second A hits the board? In terms of percentages it is a pretty good option to take, and you can possibly win a lot more of your opponenets stack. Cloutier is still a top player in any no-limit event and is widely considered as one of the best players in the world today.