Poker Pro - Chip Reese Dead at 56

David Edward "Chip" Reese was a well known and respected figure in the world of poker having won 3 WSOP bracelets and 17 WSOP money finishes. Not only was he respected, he was considered by many as the best all round poker player to have ever played, well so said Doyles Brunson, Johnny Chan and T. J. Cloutier.

Having made the decision not to go to law school after having been accepted at Stanford Law School, Chip decided to play poker having taken a trip to Las Vegas where he made $60,000 in a poker tournament. It didn't take Chip long to establish himself as a top tournament player raking in just short of 3.5 Million USD.

Chip collaborated with poker legend Doyles Brunson (Doyles Room) on the Seven Card Stud strategy section of what became one of the best selling poker books of all time, Super System. Doyle considered Chip the best Seven-Card Stud player he had ever played. He won the $1,000 Seven Card Stud Split event at the World Series of Poker in 1978, and the $5,000 Seven Card Stud tournament there in 1982. His tournament results may seem modest, but he had decided to concentrate his efforts on cash games instead. He later became the card room manager at the Dunes casino.

In the 2006 WSOP Reece won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E Event taking home $1,716,000. Sadly 17 WSOP money finishes and 5 World Poker Tour money finishes were all we were destined to witness.

Reese died today in his Las Vegas home on December 4th 2007. Some sources state that Reese died in his sleep from the effects of pneumonia, while friends of Chip, including Barry Greenstein and Doyle Brunson, speculate that his death might have been related to an earlier gastric bypass which caused a blood clot. Upon learning of Reese's death, Doyle Brunson stated, "He's certainly the best poker player that ever lived." 

World Series of Poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said upon his death that many consider "Chip the greatest cash-game player who ever lived, but he was also a World Series of Poker legend."

Our thoughts go out to the Reese family on this tragic day.