RIP Chip Reese. Chip Reese died on December 4th, 2007 in his sleep from pneumonia.
Doyle Brunson: “I have lost one of my oldest and dearest friends today. He was one of the most unique individuals I have ever known and poker has lost one of the greats today.”
Todd Brunson: “I have lost a mentor and friend today. He was like a family member to me.”
T.J. Cloutier said that Chip "never said a bad word about anybody" and that Reese was the "greatest poker player that ever lived."
David Edward "Chip" Reese (1951-2007) was one of the best all around poker players who ever lived. When he was young, he missed a year of school because of a rheumatic fever. While being home schooled, his mother showed Chip different card games including poker. He later described himself as "a product of that year", and by the time he was six years old he was regularly beating 11 and 12 year olds in poker. Chip Reese went to Dartmouth for college where he paid his way by playing poker against other students and professors. Chip Reese turned down Stanford Business School for his masters degree but after winning $40,000 in a Las Vegas poker tournament decided to become a professional poker player.
Chip quickly gained the respect of other notable poker players and was asked by Doyle Brunson to write the Seven Card Stud section of Doyle Brunson's Super System, the greatest poker book of all time. Doyle Brunson forward in the book said Chip Reese was "one of the two finest young poker players in the world" and clearly the best Seven Card Stud player he had ever played.
At the World Series of Poker, Chip Reese won the $1000 Seven Card Stud Split tournament in 1978 and the $5000 Seven Card Stud tournament in 1982. His tournament success shows just a small segment of his poker success because Chip Reese mainly played cash games. Chip Reese was a regular winner in the 'Big Game' at the Bellagio for many years. Chip's induction into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1991 made him the youngest living player in the Poker Hall of Fame.
Recently, Chip Reese won the 2006 World Series of Poker's largest buy-in tournament in history, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. The $1,716,000 first prize and the title solidified his reputation as being one of the greatest all around poker players of all time. The heads up battle with Andy Bloch lasted over 7 hours and 286 hands were played before Chip Reese's Ace of clubs and Queen of clubs put Andy Bloch's 9 of clubs and 8 of spades all in on the final hand, and the J7744 board earned Chip Reese the victory.
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