David “Chip” Reese was one of the greatest card players who ever lived, according to many of his fellow players, including the legendary Doyle Brunson, the Godfather of Poker.
An economics major with a promising career ahead of him, Reese travelled out to Las Vegas to play poker fresh out of college, and ended up making it his home.
A success from the early days, David was a natural talent that comes along once in a generation.
He made millions playing cash games and was widely known as the best cash game player in Las Vegas, but his mainstream legacy was established at the tournament poker tables.
In 2006, he won the inaugural $50,000 Poker Players Championship, which was the biggest buyin event at the WSOP at the time.
Reese sadly passed away the year after winning the event, and the poker greats honored him by agreeing to name the Poker Players Championship trophy the David “Chip” Reese Memorial Trophy.
Chip Reese Dominates the Best Mixed Game Players
Three years after Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event and launched the “Poker Boom,” the Series was growing at an unprecedented speed, with thousands of players pouring into the game and hoping to repeat Moneymaker’s success.
While these new players were all gravitating to No Limit Hold’em, the veterans of the game were still playing all the games, and valued players who could play all the different poker variants at a high level above all else.
In 2006, the WSOP established the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E Poker Players Championship, the ultimate mixed game event designed for the pros.
The $50k buyin was unheard of at the time, and only the best pros were actually interested in competing in this field for such a high buyin.
At the time, Chip was heavily focused on cash games, but he could not pass up on an opportunity to compete in an event of this level and prestige.
He was one of the 143 players who bought in to play in this freezeout event, and one of the 16 to make the money.
The likes of Raph Perry, Berry Greenstein, Patrik Antonius, and Doyle Brunson had all made the money as well, but it came down to Chip Reese, David Bloch, and Phil Ivey in the end.
Ivey fell in third place, good for over $617k, while Andy and Chip ended up playing one of the longest heads up matches in WSOP history, which lasted over 7 hours.
David eventually got the best of Bloch, another poker legend, and won $1.7 million in the tournament, but also reaffirmed himself as the real mixed game end boss.
Reese’s unfortunate passing the next year prompted the entire poker community to advocate for the PPC trophy being named after the legendary Hall of Famer.
A Legacy for the Ages
David “Chip” Reese only won three WSOP bracelets in his career, and cashed for just under $4 million in poker tournaments. Despite many of his competitors having a more impressive tournament resume, few share Chip’s legendary status.
Those in the know understand that David had spent most of his card-playing career at the cash game tables, where he won countless millions.
Even late Doyle Brunson himself admitted he lost at least $6 million playing poker against Chip Reese, so we can only imagine how badly the less talented players did against him.
Yet, to truly establish himself as a poker legend, Chip had to win a major poker event, and the 2006 PPC gave him the ideal opportunity to do just that.
A combination of Reese’s undeniable skills and fate made him the inaugural PPC champion in one of the last poker tournaments he would play in his life.
Was Chip Reese Really That Good?
Many poker players have attained legendary status for various prop bets, fun stories, and unconventional lives, rather than their actual poker skill.
Chip Reese was not one of them, as his legacy was built entirely on the incredible talent and skill he showed at the poker tables.
Shortly after coming to Las Vegas, Chip Reese was asked by Doyle Brunson to write a chapter on 7 Card Stud for his book “The Supersystem,” which eventually became known as the Poker Bible.
Chip earned the respect of his peers very fast, as he showed incredible skills in various formats of the game, especially 7 Card Stud.
He quickly captured two WSOP bracelets in 7 Card Stud events, along with many other tournament wins, all of which came from just a few dozen tournaments he ever played in.
At the cash game tables, Chip Reese was one of the most feared poker players of all time, and the likes of Berry Greenstein and Doyle Brunson swore that he was the best player they had ever played with.
While the newer generations of poker players might not agree that Chip was the best who ever played the game, his skills were clearly years ahead of his time, and he was a true generational talent.
Setting the Foundation for a Generation of Mixed Game Players
No Limit Hold’em only became as popular as it is today with Chris Moneymaker’s Main Event win, but long before that, poker players were competing over dozens of poker variants.
Chip Reese was a true master of all the games and a definition of a well-rounded poker player, as he could hold his own in any poker format you threw at him.
The 2006 WSOP PPC was the first of many, and Chip was the perfect role model for players like Brian Rast, Michael Mizrachi, and Scott Seiver, who would come to dominate the mixed game events in the decades to come.
Even though today’s poker world is dominated by big bet games like NLH and PLO, the real pros still recognize mixed game pros like Chip Reese as the greatest among them.
