Chip Reese
Chip Reese (David Edward Reese) was born in 1951 and hailed from Ohio. To this day many consider him to have been the best cash poker player there ever was. While Reese was a child he had to take a year off school as he had contracted rheumatic fever. It was during this time that he learned to play poker. He was already gifted at the game by the age of six.
Chip Reese
While at college in Dartmouth, Reese continued to play poker against both fellow students and professors. Although he received an offer for a place at Stanford Law School, he decided to instead play professional poker. On his first trip to Las Vegas he made quite a bit of money and from then on was hooked.
Although Reese was a big name in the cash poker games, he was also well known on the tournament circuit, winning three World Series of Poker bracelets. His first bracelet was picked up when he won the $1000 Seven Card Stud Split event in 1978. In 1982 he won his second WSOP bracelet in the $5000 Limit Seven Card Stud event and in 2006 he picked up his third bracelet in the first ever $50000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship event. In 2008 the World Series of Poker introduced the “David ‘Chip’ Reese Memorial Trophy” which would be an additional prize for whoever won this event.
His total estimated tournament winnings amounted to almost $4 million and of that he cashed 22 times at the World Series of Poker which netted him nearly two and a half million dollars. In 1991 he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame and this made him the youngest living player ever to achieve this.
On December 4th, 2007 Reese passed away at his home. There are conflicting stories about the cause of his death with some reports stating that he died as a result of pneumonia and others contributing his death to a blood clot caused by a gastric bypass which he had previously had.
