There's still something which feels wrong about having to write an obituary for one of poker's all time greats. David "Chip" Reese, was certainly that - an epitome of all that is correct about poker. Chip Reese was a consummate professional, likeable and ruthless in equal measure, and his seat at The Big Game will be one which may never be filled.
Born 28'h March 1951, Chip grew up in Dayton, Ohio. As a child, he contracted rheumatic fever and was housebound for almost a year. During this time his mother taught him many board and card games, and it was this combined with Reese's sharp mind that made him a potent games player from a young age.
Academically Reese was gifted. After graduating from Dartmouth, Reese was on his way to Stanford School of Law, but the lights of Las Vegas provided a distraction. Arriving in town with $400, he soon lost it playing blackjack. A friend offered him a job selling raw land, giving Chip enough money to play some $5/$10 Seven Card Stud. The rest, as they say, is history.
Chip became infamous as being one of the young generation willing to take on the poker gods of that time: Brunson, Pearson and Slim. Watching a Seven Card Split game, he believed they were playing badly. He sat in on the game with $15,000 and by the end of a four day stretch left with $400,000.
Reese went on to win two World Series of Poker bracelets in Stud, in 1978 taking the $1,000 Seven Card Stud Split Championship, then won the Seven Card Stud title in 1982. At this time noted poker author David Sklansky labelled Chip Reese the best 7-card stud player in the world, an evaluation that never changed during Reese's career.
The remainder of Reese's career saw Chip dominate game after game, until he became one of the most respected players to sit in on The Big Game. With the dawn of the new poker era, many of his contemporaries sought out higher profile and air time on new shows like the World Poker Tour. Reese stood firm; for him poker was a business, the aim merely to make as much money as possible. Only when he won the inaugural WSOP $50,000 HORSE Championship did Reese get a fraction of the credit his career warranted.
Chip Reese was one of the best poker players ever. Not the best Hold'em player, or the best Omaha player but the very best all round. Greats of poker such as close friends Doyle Brunson and Barry Greenstein have echoed this sentiment, and the poker world will take many years to really come to terms with the loss of a perfect gentleman and quite possibly the best poker player to ever grace our game.

more information about Chip Reese in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_Reese

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