Dec
7
The poker world was saddened today when it heard the news that one of its most beloved and well known high-stakes players had passed away peacefully this morning in his sleep. According to Card Player, Reese was admitted to a hospital last night with symptoms of pneumonia. This morning, news of his death was officially confirmed and released.
Reese’s lifetime accomplishments as a poker player were extraordinary. As a winner of three World Series of Poker bracelets, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, cash-game superstar, and author of Doyle Brunson’s chapter on Seven Card Stud in his world famous book “Super System”, Reese was no stranger to cards.
The story of David “Chip” Reese’s rise to poker superstardom has become a poker legend. An Ohio native, his mother taught him how to play a number of card games as a young child while he was suffering from rheumatic fever during his elementary school years. He was a natural card player, and was beating the fifth graders at poker by the time he was in first grade.
As he grew older, Reese began to develop a keen intellect and a mind for money. While in high school, he made it to the national finals in debate, and did so well in school that was accepted into Harvard University, only to turn down their offer and get his degree at Dartmouth College.
While at Dartmouth, Reese played football for a brief stint during his freshman year, continued to participate in debate, and majored in economics. It was at Dartmouth where Reese began honing his poker skills, gaining a fierce reputation not only among fellow students but professors as well. His card playing was so memorable that his fraternity, the Beta house, actually named their card room as the “David E. Reese Memorial Card Room”.
He was admitted to the Stanford Business School straight out of Dartmouth, but decided to pursue a career as a professional poker player instead. This decision seemed quite natural to him after winning $40,000 in Las Vegas poker tournament; and then quickly accumulating a grand sum of $100,000 by the time he would have started school. His first visit to Las Vegas was so enthralling - as well as financially rewarding - that he literally never left the city: he quit his day job over the phone in Arizona and hired somebody to clean out his apartment and drive his car over to him.
After that his reputation exploded. He became known as one of the best cash game players in the business, and for this reason seemed to play very few tournaments. Many gambling magazines have even called him the best all-around gambler in the world at various times, a testament to his versatility with card games.
In 1991, at the age of 40, Chip Reese became the youngest living player to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Rumor has it that by 2006, he still played poker but had delved into the world of sports betting. As a member of the “Computer Group”, one of the most famous sports-betting syndicates in history, he purportedly earned sums estimated in tens of millions.
Recently Reese won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2006 World Series of Poker. This event won him his third bracelet, and certainly proved that Chip was one of the greatest card players who have ever lived.
Although many of the details surrounding his death are still unknown to the public, what is known is that the poker world will truly miss one of its most talented and recognized friends.
This article was published courtesy of This Is The Nuts (www.thisisthenuts.com), a rakeback site devoted to giving online poker players the most competitive financial rewards for their play and referrals, as well as monthly promotions and freerolls. We are proud to offer 24/7 online support. TITN is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian.
December 7, 2007
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