Sad News about a Friend…
Chip Reese Dies At 56
David Edward “Chip” Reese (born March 28, 1951, died December 4, 2007)
was an American professional gambler from Centerville, Ohio.
He suffered from rheumatic fever during his elementary years at school
and had to stay at home for almost a year. During this time, his
mother taught him how to play several board and card games and Reese
later described himself as “a product of that year.” By the age of
six, he was regularly beating fifth-graders at poker. At high school
he was a football player and appeared in the national finals of
debating.[1]
He attended Dartmouth College, after turning down an offer at Harvard
University. At Dartmouth, he played freshman football briefly,
participated in debate and majored in economics. He also had
tremendous success in poker games against students and some of his
professors. He taught his fraternity brothers at the Beta house to
play a variety of card games, including bridge and FYB. His
fraternity’s card room was later named the “David E. Reese Memorial
Card Room”. He was admitted to Stanford Business School, but decided
instead to play poker professionally after winning $40,000 in a
tournament in Las Vegas. By the time he would have started at
Stanford, he had made $100,000.[2] His first visit to Las Vegas was so
financially rewarding and so much fun that he literally never left–
calling several days later to quit his day job in Arizona and later
hiring someone to fly to Arizona to clean out his apartment and drive
his car to Las Vegas.
Shortly afterwards, Reese wrote the seven-card stud section for Doyle
Brunson’s Super System, the best-selling poker book of all time. In
it, Brunson describes Reese as “one of the two finest young … poker
players in the world” and the best seven-card stud player he had ever
played.[3] He won the $1000 Seven Card Stud Split event at the World
Series of Poker in 1978, and the $5000 Seven Card Stud tournament
there in 1982. His tournament results may seem modest, but he has
decided to concentrate his efforts on cash games instead. He has been
named in various gamblers’ magazines as the best all-around gambler in
the world, being proficient not only at all games of poker but also in
games like gin and backgammon.
He later became the card room manager at the Dunes casino. In 1991, he
became the youngest living player to be inducted into the Poker Hall
of Fame. By 2006, he still played poker but also betted on sports.[4]
The purported amounts he made as a member of the “Computer Group,” one
of the most successful sports-betting syndicates in history, are
likely in the tens of millions.
At the 2006 World Series of Poker, Reese won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E.
event, taking home the $1,716,000 first prize when his A♣ Q♣ held up
against Andy Bloch’s 9♣ 8♠ in the final hand, on a board of J♠ 7♣ 7♠
4♥ 4♠. This event was notable for having the largest buy-in in WSOP
history, as well as the longest heads-up battle with Reese and Bloch
playing for 7 hours and 286 hands. By comparison, the final table of
the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event lasted for 232 hands total.
During his life time, Reese’s total live tournament winnings exceed
$2,900,000.[5]
Contents
1 World Series of Poker bracelets
2 Death
3 Notes
4 External links
World Series of Poker bracelets
Year Tournament Prize (US$)
2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. $1,784,640
1982 $5,000 Limit 7 Card Stud $92,500
1978 $1,000 Seven-Card Stud Split $19,200
Death
Reese passed away from pneumonia on December 4, 2007.[6]
Notes
^ Pokernews.com Legends of Poker: David ‘Chip’ Reese
^ Super System 127
^ Super System 127 - 128
^ Poker-babes.com bio: Chip Reese
^ Hendon Mob tournament results
^ CardPlayer.com - Chip Reese: 1951-2007
External links
Barry Greenstein’s player analysis of Reese
World Poker Tour profile
PokerListings.com interview
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Reese
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