T.J. Cloutier
Pro pawns 2005 WSOP bracelet but hopes to get it back
I hope T.J. Cloutier gets back his World Series of Poker bracelet. I really do, even though I remember the night he… Well, more about that in a minute.
Cloutier has won six WSOP bracelets in a long and successful career as a tournament pro (60 titles, nearly $10 million in winnings). But his last bracelet — won in 2005 in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em championship — made headlines in recent days when it was sold at auction on eBay for $4,006.
The seller was a pawn shop in Texas where T.J. had pawned it for an undisclosed sum. “Yeah, it’s mine,” he was quoted as saying by several poker websites. “I was short. I pawned it. I tried to get it back with my ticket but I was too late.”
The buyer was online site Cake Poker. A spokesman for the site has been quoted as saying they will “have some fun” with the bracelet through their poker site and then return it to Cloutier.
In the site’s blog, a Cake Poker representative stated the following.
“Since winning the bid and celebrating wildly, we have taken some time to reflect on our glorious new prize. As much as we would love to have a WSOP bracelet, or even award it to one of our cherished poker players, we can’t, in good conscience keep it from the man who rightfully won it, which is why we’ve decided to return it to T.J. Cloutier…just as soon as we have some fun with it.”
I suppose at that point, everyone will be a “winner” in this bizarre story. T.J. got some cash for the bracelet, the pawn shop made money, Cake Poker will have had some fun, and the pro will get his prized possession back.
But my first thought when I read about this was a night about 10 years ago in a stud tournament at Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. The field was down to nine players and I was still alive, but short-stacked as were two others. Only eight of us would get paid.
The action had slowed to a snail’s pace. For at least 30 minutes it was: low card brings it in, high card completes, everyone folds. Nobody wanted to risk missing out on cashing, including me. All very strategic, but very boring.
Then, to move things along, a tall-stacked player proposed that everyone agree that the tournament winner would give the ninth-place finisher his buy-in back out of his first-place winnings.
Excellent idea, everyone said. Well, everyone except T.J. He steadfastly refused to agree to the plan, no doubt figuring that as the most experienced player left he had a good chance to win the event. Giving up a couple hundred bucks, if he won, wasn’t in his playbook.
So, the deal was nixed and play continued. As you can guess by now, I busted out ninth, with nothing to show for many hours of competition. The infamous “bubble boy” title was mine.
Although T.J. did nothing wrong by quashing the deal, at the time it struck me as not particularly sporting of him. Then again, my view of the situation admittedly was colored.
Two nights later, in another stud event at the same tournament, I found myself once again short-stacked as the money bubble approached. This time, more determined than ever not to bust out without cashing, I managed to score a fifth-place finish, which soothed the sting from what happened two nights earlier.
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