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Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007
PokerListings remembers Chip Reese
Chip Reese: 1951-2007
By Sarah Polson
This week saw the poker world lose one of its legends as Chip Reese, 56, was found dead Tuesday morning. With the Associated Press reporting his memorial service will be held on Friday, PokerListings.com takes a look at the contributions he made to the poker world.
Considered by many to be the Ty Cobb of poker thanks to his wide-ranging strengths, Chip Reese has had a long career in cash games and tournaments. His journey into the world of professional poker began in the early 1970s when he made a detour into a Las Vegas cardroom while on the way to attend Stanford University.
He'd already received a degree from Dartmouth, where he played poker and crushed the competition regularly. His legendary status endures there, with the cardroom at his fraternity named the David E. Reese Memorial Card Room in his honor.
He was on his way to bolster his economics degree with a law degree at Stanford when he was sidetracked by poker. Reese was once quoted as saying, "Law doesn't have the same monetary incentive as poker."
In Las Vegas, Reese won big and just never left. His immediate success might have put off other players, but instead his personality won out and he became friends with some of the best even after taking their chips.
Reese kept a low profile in the poker world despite his success. He played at the highest stakes with some of the biggest names in poker and befriended many of them, including Doyle Brunson.
He and Brunson became business partners for a while, getting involved in what could be considered some crazy ventures. Brunson recalled to the AP that they invested in projects like looking for the Titanic and Noah's Ark and never did make any money in their deals.
Luckily, they had poker skills to put to use and keep them rolling in the money. In 1978, Reese put those skills to use to win his first World Series of Poker tournament as well.
It was the $1,000 Seven-Card Stud Split event during the ninth WSOP, with a top prize of $19,200. That was a fraction of the money he would bet with in his regular cash games, but it was a start to entering the poker spotlight and building a legendary legacy.
Reese preferred to stick to the more lucrative cash games over the years, but when he did hit the tournaments he usually made a splash. His ledger in poker history includes many wins and cashes.
After his WSOP win in 1978, he picked up another bracelet in 1982 when he won the $5,000 Limit Seven-Card Stud event. In 1985 he placed second in two more WSOP events, giving him even more exposure as a major player in the industry.
Reese had plenty of other cashes and final tables in WSOP events, World Poker Tour events and others over the years, and he became the youngest person to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame at age 40 in 1991. (Phil Hellmuth would break that record in 2006.)
Reese was actually playing in fewer tournaments during this time and focusing on cash games and other ventures. In 2004, his children convinced him to return to more tournament play. They wanted to see him competing on TV with some of his big-name friends.
Reese wins $50k H.O.R.S.E. event.
It was two years later that he entered the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event of the World Series of Poker and solidified his name in the history books. The Main Event may crown the World Champion, but many of the pros consider the H.O.R.S.E. event to be the true test of poker skills.
Reese won the event, taking down one of the toughest playing fields of the World Series and a final table that included Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, T.J. Cloutier, David Singer, Dewey Tomko, Doyle Brunson and Patrik Antonius.
It came down to Reese and Andy Bloch in a marathon heads-up session that saw Reese come back from a 5-1 chip deficit to win.
"His victory in the inaugural $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. championship in 2006 won him his third WSOP bracelet and made him a part of WSOP lore forever," said Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP commissioner.
His success continued into 2007 with a few cashes, but it was the H.O.R.S.E. win that poker fans will most likely remember him for. However, to his friends and fans, he was much more.
"I knew him for 35 years; I never saw him get mad or raise his voice," Brunson said. "He had the most even disposition of anyone I've ever met. He's certainly the best poker player that ever lived."
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