Over the years, the state of California has produced more than its share of great poker champions. Yet at the top of this illustrious list, many fans would place Thomas Cloutier. He is one of the very few players still alive who has earned the well deserved status of legend. His accomplishments are many, yet none are so impressive as the fact that he is the only person in the history of the World Series of Poker to win events in all three types of Omaha (which are, respectively: Pot Limit High, Limit High and Limit 8-or-Better High-low split.) It really does not matter to Thomas (or T.J., as he is more commonly known) however you want to play a game of Omaha; he will always be more than willing to take your chips away from you.

Cloutier was born in Albany, California back in 1939. He did not pick up the game of poker during his formative years, rather devoted his efforts to earning respect as a distinguished student athlete. He went to Cal Berkeley on a conjoined athletic scholarship for both football and baseball. In 1959 he actually played in the Rose bowl and performed quite well. Yet he was unable to see his college career through, when money worries forced him to drop out before graduating.

Things may not have looked so rosy for T.J. back then, especially after he was drafted into the Army. And yet, as is so often the case in life, blessings come in disguise. Because it was while working for Uncle Sam that Cloutier first learned to play the game of poker. He took to it with all the ease of a pure natural and he never looked back.

Still, back then T.J. could not envision a life as a professional gambler. So he tried his hand in a number of other, more "respectable" fields of endeavor, but eventually could not deny the signs from the universe that kept pointing him back to poker.

Although he has never won the main event at the World Series of Poker, this hardly diminishes his status as a true champion. He has placed in the top five a total of four times and has finished in the second-place on two locations. In fact, Cloutier has been permanently enshrined in the poker world in a rather unusual way. A Texas Hold'em starting hand of Jack / 9 of clubs is known as the "T.J. Cloutier." Not many players can boast of having a hand named after them. The great Mr. Cloutier currently lives in Texas with his family, where he can enjoy the fruits of a massive $5,900,000 in lifetime tournament winnings.