Poker Mourns the Loss of Poker Hall of Famer David 'Chip' Reese

by PokerPages

Poker lost one of its greatest player this past Tuesday when poker legend and hall of famer, David 'Chip' Reese passed away unexpectedly after a very brief illness. He was 56 years old.

The Associated Press has quoted Doyle Brunson as saying that Reese died in his sleep and was found by his son early Tuesday morning at his Las Vegas home. Apparently Reese had been suffering from flu-like symptoms suspected to be pneumonia. Reese is survived by his ex-wife the aforementioned son, a daughter, and a step daughter.

Introduced to cards at an early age, Reese was one of the most prolific poker players to grace the felt in recent years. He was a regular player in some of the biggest games in the world; playing regularly in Bobby's room at the Bellagio Casino and Resort. Reese also was well known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event; an accomplishment that many agree crowned Chip as the greatest all-around poker player in the world.

At an early age Reese displayed the intelligence that would help him become one of poker's greatest players. In high school he took part in activities such as the debate team, winning the Ohio State Championship before advancing to the National Finals. Reese was also accepted to Harvard University, but instead opted to attend Dartmouth College. He continued to hone his skills at the felt, playing poker with fraternity brothers and professors alike. Later in life, Reese's fraternity honored him by naming their poker room the David E. Reese Memorial Card Room.

Reese first discovered Las Vegas on a trip west to attend Stanford University Business School when he made what was to be a short stop-over in 'Sin City'. The combinations of having earned a tidy sum at the tables and thoroughly enjoying his time were enough to convince Reese that Las Vegas was the place he would call home. He even held a job as the poker room manager at the Dunes for a stretch, holding the position for five years in the 1970s.

Considered one of the best seven-card stud players alive, Doyle Brunson honored him with an invitation to write the chapter on seven-card stud in what would turn out to be the best selling poker book of all time, Super System. Brunson wrote about Chip Reese "one of the two finest young…. poker players in the world." Not long after, in 1978 and later in 1982, Reese won WSOP bracelets in seven-card stud gaining the hardware to validate Brunson's claims.

While many of his contemporaries were finding fame and fortune on the tournament trail, Reese continued to play mainly cash games where it has been widely reported he was a large winner in some of the largest stakes in the world. At this time Reese also chose to focus more on his family, something many pros including Barry Greenstein were envious of, stating "Probably a lot of us were jealous of him that he was able to do that - that he had done well enough in poker, that he could always take time off of poker to be involved with his kids."

In 2004 at the urging of his family who wanted to see him more on TV, Reese began to enter more tournaments. Between 2004 and 2006 Reese went on a tear at the felt, cashing a total of 11 times in various WSOP and WPT events. His success at the tournament tables culminated with his $1.7 million in winnings at the 2006 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. event -a final table that lasted a record 12 plus hours in which Reese finally vanquished the very worthy Andy Bloch for the bracelet.

Also known as a sport's bettor, Chip Reese is rumored to have won and lost millions handicapping various sporting events. Earlier in his career, Reese was part of a sports betting group termed the 'Computer Group'. This group was one of the first to use advanced computer programs to help break down the stats for sporting events to gain an advantage over the house.

Reese was inducted into the poker hall of fame at what was then the record breaking tender age of 40 in 1991. Until recently when Phil Helmuth was inducted, Reese held the title of youngest person to be inducted into the poker hall of fame.

His funeral is to be held Friday December 7, but further details have yet to have been released. The Reese family has requested that in lieu of gifts or flowers, monetary donations to Alzheimer's Association be made in Chip Reese's name.