David Edward Reese was an American professional poker player who was more commonly known by the name 'Chip' Reese. He was born on March 28^th 1951, in Centerville, Ohio, and died on December 4^th 2007 – the official cause of death is stated as pneumonia, but some of his friends speculated that the actual cause was a blood clot caused by a gastric bypass operation. He was considered by many to be the best all-round poker player who ever lived.

Reese was survived by his son, daughter, stepdaughter, and ex wife.

Reese was introduced to card games while in elementary school – he caught rheumatic fever and had to spend almost a year at home, during which time his mother taught him several board and card games. He learned poker quickly, and was able to beat much older children by the time he was six years old.

When he went to high school he took up football, and continued to play in his freshman year at college. He still played poker regularly, but did not decide to play poker professionally until he finished college – he was offered a place at Stanford Law School, but had just won a major Las Vegas tournament, so he declined the place and chose to continue with poker tournaments.

Chip was a winner of 3 World Series of Poker bracelets, out of a total of 17 money finishes. He also managed five money finishes in the World Poker Tour, and one final table, but he never won the tournament. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1991 – as the youngest living player ever to earn that honor.

Reese collaborated with Doyle Brunson on the Seven-Card Stud section of his book, the 'Super System'. Reese had won the Seven Card Stud Split event in the 1978 World Series of Poker, and the $5,000 Seven Card Stud WSOP tournament in 1998.

If Chip Reese's tournament totals do not seem impressive, it should be remembered that he chose to focus mostly on cash games rather than tournaments.   He has been called 'the best player to ever live' by fellow poker legends such as T. J. Cloutier and Doyle Brunson.

At the end of his poker career, his total live tournament winnings were in excess of $3.4 million.