The people’s poker pro

By Jeff Haney

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

David "Chip" Reese, who took on all comers in Las Vegas' biggest cash poker games for more than 30 years, was remembered this week as a gentleman gambler who attained universal respect from his peers even as he reached the top of his cutthroat profession.

His close friend Doyle Brunson said Reese was at the peak of his abilities when he died Tuesday at age 56.

"It's just so sad that he had to go at such an early time in his life," Brunson said. "The man was still in his prime.

"He was probably the best poker player who ever lived. If he wasn't the greatest poker player, then he certainly was the greatest gambler who ever lived."

Brunson and Reese were regular competitors in the high-stakes "Big Game" at the Bellagio and partners in a series of business ventures outside of poker.

"We had many endeavors together," Brunson said. "We were fierce rivals at the poker table. I would do anything to win the guy's last dollar at the poker table, and he would do the same to me. But after the game was over, all you had to do was hold your finger up, and if there was anything you needed from the other guy, you got it.

"We were more than just friends. We were almost like brothers."

Reese's pleasant, professional demeanor stood out in the sometimes down-and-dirty world of high-stakes gambling, said Larry Grossman, longtime poker tournament photographer and gaming analyst.

"The thing I'll remember most about Chip was that he had one of the warmest smiles you could ever imagine," Grossman said. "It was a soft, summer-breeze smile that could light up a room.

"But there was a lot going on behind his eyes. There are a lot of bright guys in poker, but besides being very bright, Chip had street smarts, great card sense and a great intellect."

Reese, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio, came to Las Vegas in 1974 after graduating from Dartmouth College. In an interview in the 2002 book "Gambling Wizards," by Richard W. Munchkin, Reese said he quickly increased his bankroll from virtually nothing to $100,000 by winning a poker tournament at the Sahara and playing 7-card stud cash games.

Although Reese had been accepted into law school, his early success persuaded him to stay in Las Vegas. Soon he was going up against the legendary "road gamblers" such as Brunson, Johnny Moss and Puggy Pearson, who dominated the Las Vegas poker scene at the time.

"He was always old-school, and he was really an old soul," Grossman said. "At 56, he was the youngest of the old-timers."

After shunning the major tournament circuit for most of his career in favor of cash games, Reese made his mark on the TV-driven "poker boom" in a big way in 2006.

Reese won the first $50,000-entry World Series of Poker HORSE tournament, a mixed-games event considered a demanding test of pure poker skill. He outlasted a field of 143 entrants, mostly top-level professionals, to earn the first prize of more than $1.7 �million. A seven-hour heads-up match between Reese and runner-up Andy Bloch was the highlight of the tournament.

"Most of us, especially old-school players like myself, feel that Chip is the greatest all-around poker player that ever lived," veteran poker pro Mike Sexton said. "That's especially true when it came to playing multiple games. That's why we were so happy to see him win the $50,000 HORSE tournament. It certified his status as the best all-around player.

"It seemed like it was justice, and very fitting, that Chip Reese won that event."

The HORSE championship gave Reese his third World Series bracelet, but his first since 1982. Reese opted to focus on cash games, Sexton said, in part because he did not crave the attention that came with success on the tournament trail.

"He didn't have the big ego that a lot of poker players have," Sexton said. "And this is a guy who played in the highest-stakes cash games in the world for three decades. When I say the highest-stakes cash games, I mean not once did he play in the second-biggest game, or the third-biggest game, in the room.

"He had all the qualities that poker players really admire. He was probably the most successful poker player in the history of the Earth, and I'm talking about financially. He was also widely respected because of the way he conducted himself. He always treated the dealers with class, and he never got out of line at the table."

Reese's interpersonal skills also helped him in terms of his bottom line, said poker pro Barry Greenstein, a regular in the Big Game.

"Poker is a game where you are trying to take the other person's money," Greenstein said. "Yet when people lost to Chip, they would consider it an honor to play with him. Wealthy people who are not professional poker players would carry a picture of Chip in their wallet. They would name their children after him - even though in the end Chip would end up with their money.

"Chip had that ability. He was a poker expert and a people expert."

When they were playing poker, Brunson was always taken aback by how many people would approach Reese and pull up a chair to chat or just sit and watch him for a while.

"Chip would say, 'Oh, it's just a friend of mine,' " Brunson said. "Well, he had more friends than anybody I've ever met. He had more friends than all the rest of us fellas put together."