Chip Reese: Professional Poker Player Profile

David "Chip" Reese is thought of as the best high stakes cash game player in the world. He may not have earned as much as other players from tournament winnings, and he may have only two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets to his name - one for the $1,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo Event in 1978, and the other for the $5,000 Seven-Card Stud Event in 1982 - but his expertise and experience have earned him much respect. In 1991, Reese became the youngest ever player to be elected to the Poker Hall of Fame; he was only 40 years old.

Chip Reese's skill at the tables is unmatched, and undisputed. Even Doyle "Dolly" Brunson, a legend in his own right, has said that Reese is the best seven-card stud player he's ever played with. Stud was, in fact, Reese's first game, and he used it as a launch pad to becoming one of the most successful all-around players in the history of poker.

Reese was born in Dayton, Ohio. Growing up, he used to play poker using baseball cards as currency. He realized he also had a talent for gin rummy and backgammon. Reese brought his gambling skills to Dartmouth College, where he got his degree in economics. The card room at his fraternity house was called the David E. Reese Memorial Card Room in his honor.

In 1974, Reese traveled to California to attend law school at Stanford. He stopped by Las Vegas with only $400 in his pocket. By the end of his first weekend he had already won $60,000 in a Seven-Card Stud tournament, in addition to many smaller victories in seven-card stud. He never left Las Vegas. It was a year before he told his parents that he was not actually in law school, but was playing poker for a living.

Chip Reese stopped playing tournaments shortly after he got his second WSOP bracelet in 1982. He found that he could earn more money from playing cash games, therefore he stuck to them. He was a regular at the Horseshoe Casino, where he moved seven-figure amounts in a single session. But his children insisted that they wanted to see their father on television. Bowing to their request, Reese made the final table at the 2004 Jack Binion World Poker Open at Tunica, Mississippi. In the same year, he also finished fourth in his first televised appearance at the World Poker Tour (WPT).

Chip Reese is credited for the immortal lines: "Law doesn't have the same monetary incentive as poker." He has contributed some chapters on seven-card stud to Doyle Brunson's book, "Super/System." He is living in Las Vegas, and is a regular player in the "Big Game," which also features Doyle Brunson, Lyle Berman, Bobby Baldwin, and Johnny "Orient Express" Chan.