I have been on an unsuccessful mission for the past couple of months. I've been trying to find someone who would say something bad about the late Chip Reese and so far it's been a fruitless job.
Reese, who was born David Edward Reese in Centerville, Ohio, was Doyle Brunson's friend and business partner for many years. They formed a sports betting syndicate that earned them a lot of money betting on baseball games. They traveled together to play cash poker and in major poker tournaments. And they even teamed up on far-fetched ventures like trying to raise the Titanic or searching for Noah's Ark.
Doyle thought so much of Reese as a poker player that he asked him to contribute a chapter on how to win at seven-card stud which he published in his best-selling book, 'Super Pro.'
I played against Reese only one time in a major poker tournament. I'll share that experience with you later in this article.
Chip's mother taught him to play cards when he was just six years old. He went on to become extremely proficient at poker, gin rummy and other card games.
He played outstanding football in high school and later at Dartmouth College. He enrolled at Stanford Law School, planning to become an attorney, but changed his mind and became a professional poker player after winning $60,000 in a seven-card stud tournament in Las Vegas.
Chip was different from most of his opponents. He never lost his temper. He never berated a dealer. And he always put his family first.
A fellow poker player said, 'Chip would leave a game to watch his son, Casey, play baseball. If his kids were involved in a school event, Chip was there. Family always came first to him.'
He won over $3.5 million in World Series of Poker tournaments and took home three bracelets. He once borrowed $30,000 from a bankroll he shared with Danny Robison to play in a $400-$800 high-low game and won over $300,000. And he won a $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E tournament in the WSOP that players are still talking about.
Someone once asked him what he thought of Stu Ungar. Reese was complimentary on Ungar's play, but added that Stu would never be a truly great player because he didn't know what poker was all about. He said the object of playing poker was to improve a person's lifestyle and make his family life better -- objectives that were far astray from Stu's drug-addled lifestyle.
I once played in a Texas Hold'em tournament and Reese was at my table. I remember he was sitting two seats to my right.
The dealer dealt me pocket jacks. I was short of chips and when a player raised, Reese called the raise and I called. The flop came J-J-A, giving me quads.
There were bets and of course I went all in. Reese called. When a second ace came on the end, the betting continued and I knew I was beat. Reese turned over pocket aces. I numbly got up from the table and headed for the bar.
At the time of Reese's death, he owned a 13,000-square foot home in Las Vegas, an ocean front condo in Santa Monica, and a lakeside retreat in Montana.
He died at the age of 56 in his sleep of a blood clot that came following gastric bypass surgery. At his funeral, which was attended by most of the top poker players in Las Vegas, Brunson called him the greatest seven-card stud player and perhaps the best cash player who ever lived. And not one person in the room had anything bad to say about Chip Reese, a true gentleman at the poker table.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
