It looks like 6-Time World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament champion T.J. Cloutier, 69, of Richardson, Texas will be getting back a cherished possession he'd hocked at a Plano, Texas area pawn shop, thanks to the generosity of an online poker playing site, which won the bid for it after it had been listed for auction on eBay.
Poker pro Cloutier is the holder of six WSOP Golden Bracelets tournament champion awards. The 14 karat, diamond cpvered bracelet is thought to have an actual value of around $2500. The one that was hocked appears to be from Cloutier's 2005 $5,000 No-Limit Holdem event which was the last of his six World Series of Poker wins.
It seems Cloutier holding tournament career winnings of nearly $10 million, pawned that item and another non-Vegas tournament bracelet at a Plano pawn shop for unknown reasons. It hasn't been denied by Cloutier, however, that he did so to finance his buy-ins at tour events.
The Texas poker legend's last tour win was in 2007 and he isn't sponsored, meaning he has to self-finance, which can be an expensive proposition. It's also well known that he has a fondness for other types of table games, including craps, where he's won – and lost – considerable sums of money.
The pawn shop listed the bracelet on eBay with an opening bid of $2,999. After a last-minute run-up, the bracelet fell into the waiting hands of the Cake Poker Room, an online poker playing site of some renown in the USA.
Cake Poker's winning bid was slightly more than $4,000, and the site stated it would eventually be returning the bracelet to Cloutier after some time spent using it to promote its action offerings and also after “having a little bit of fun with it.” Cloutier has generally been mum about the whole affair and plans no comment on the matter.
