Poker Legend Chip Reese Dies at 56

Today, December 4th, finds the poker community filled with sorrow at the passing of the legendary Chip Reese at the young age of 56. He was admitted into a Las Vegas hospital last night and passed away while sleeping. Although not official, the cause of death was said to be from related problems from what resembled pneumonia.

Chip Reese, whose real name is David Reese marked his place as a poker legend with an estimated $3.5 Million being won and three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame at the age of forty and had been nicknamed the "King of Cash Games."

Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP Commissioner had this to say today about Reese, "Many consider Chip the greatest cash-game player who ever lived, but he was also a World Series of Poker legend. His victory from the inaugural $50,000 buy-in HORSE championship in 2006 won him his third WSOP bracelet and made him a part of WSOP lore forever."

Chip Reese who was born David Reese on March 28, 1951in Dayton Ohio, began his poker career at the age of using baseball cards as a form of cash. In one of the many beloved stories about Chip, he finished up at Dartmouth College in 1974 and while on a trip to California to attend Stanford Law School he made a little side trip in Las Vegas. He parlayed $400 (the only money he had) into $60,000 from a seven card stud poker tournament. Chip Reese found his calling, he never left Las Vegas and the rest is history.

In an interview awhile back with online magazine NBCHeadsUp, one of the more now endearing questions Reese was asked was in relation to predictions for himself and when would he stop playing poker and when he does, what will he do. Chip responded by saying, "I'll stop playing at my funeral. And only God knows what I'll do after that."