Wow. What a week. Actually, it seems that it’s been two weeks since I put TJ Cloutier’s WSOP bracelet on and lost my mind. While my memory is a little foggy, I’ll give you a brief recount of what happened since then.

It all started in February when the WSOP bracelet Cake Poker bought off of eBay arrived from the pawn shop in Texas. In a fit of excitement I borrowed the bracelet and put it on my wrist to attend a buddy’s home game that night. Well let me tell you, nothing gets a party going quite like showing up to a poker home game.

The night went well with plenty of laughs and even more drinks. Things went horribly awry, however, when someone broke out the absinthe. My memory is a patchwork quilt that includes a vague memory of me putting TJ Cloutier’s WSOP bracelet into a pot while holding the nut flush. Apparently there are hands that can beat that. Who knew?

Long story short I am temporarily no longer in possession of WSOP bracelet. My manager has apparently been in contact with the gentleman who now holds it and negotiations are currently underway for us to rebuy it so we can give it back to TJ as soon as possible.

Hopefully I’ll still be around to keep you updated.

TJ Cloutier's WSOP bracelet feels like it belongs on my wrist.

The Eagle has landed! Yes, we’ve finally got our hands on the WSOP bracelet that we bought off of eBay. We’ll be shipping it off to its rightful owner, T.J. Cloutier, very soon. It just feels so right on my wrist though. Like it was destined to be there, forever… and ever…

Anyway, we were going to ship it back today, but it won’t hurt to just hold onto it for the weekend. We’ll send it off soon. Probably. Maybe. Probably.

YOU’LL HAVE TO PRY MY PRECIOUS BRACELET FROM MY COLD DEAD WRIST!

Wow, sorry about that. Not sure what happened there. Anyway, yeah we’ll return TJ’s WSOP bracelet soon. Probably.

TJ Cloutier's WSOP bracelet is on its way to Cake Poker HQ.

As we implied, rather blatantly in a previous post, Cake Poker did in fact purchase TJ Cloutier’s WSOP bracelet off eBay. Our initial impulse upon seeing the auction was to say, “Hey this is a cool piece of poker history. We love poker. We should buy a WSOP bracelet!” So we did.

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 TJ Cloutier… just as soon as we’re done having some fun with it.

No, there will be no sacrilegious treatment of the artifact, but we figure we’ve earned a few photo shoots with it, maybe a couple nights wearing it to a buddy’s home game. We’ll just hold onto it for a couple days. Call it a finder’s fee.

The bracelet is currently in the mail and on its way and should hit our wrists sometime next week. Stay tuned.

eBay seems to be full of surprises lately.

Who knew there were so many wonderful things on eBay? The team members here at Cake Poker only recently caught on to all the marvelous items on sale, including: electronics, bracelets, CDs, bracelets, cars, pet supplies, bracelets and all kinds of exciting memorabilia.

We did, however, find ourselves mourning the lack of poker paraphernalia. “If only there was a way we could buy a piece of poker history,” a Cake Poker executive cried out in despair.

Unfortunately, we were only able to find one little poker trinket of interest. A mere bauble, if you will. Nothing to get overly excited about, really.

“What is it? And what will you do with it,” you ask?

You’ll just have to wait and find out.

More to come.

Real? Fake? Only the seller knows for sure (photo from eBay ad)

A World Series of Poker championship bracelet, originally won by poker pro T.J. Cloutier, is for sale on eBay right now. Or at least that's what the seller says. The ad states that the "2005 World Series of Poker $5K No Limit Bracelet" was acquired directly from Cloutier himself.

Indeed Cloutier did win that event, but how the 14K yellow gold and diamond prize ended up in the hands of the Plano Pawn Shop is anyone's guess. It's especially puzzling, given that the poker pro has won more than $9.7 million bucks in live tournaments over his long career, and countless more in cash games. You would hope that would be enough to keep him from pawning off his valuables.

But no matter where it came from, and whether or not its real, you can buy it right now. The auction is open until January 24th, and it's listed with a starting bid of $2,999.00. Nobody has stepped up to the plate with a bid yet though. 

The eBay ad states: "...these bracelets are extremely hard to win, and even harder to find on the open market!" So will anyone buy it? You have to think that anyone who would care enough about a WSOP bracelet to pay three grand would also be the sort of person that would only want one if they won it themselves. But whoever does buy it will certainly get some attention at their next home game.