David "Chip" Reese, My Expert Collaborator on Seven Card Stud

It was in the Card Room in the Flamingo Hotel Casino in Las Vegas in 1974 when I first saw Chip at a Poker table. He looked like some kid right out of college (which he was). Like all of the local Pros, I looked his bankroll over and "licked my chops". We (the local Pros) are used to seeing young, bright looking "home town champions". Little did I realize as I drooled over the prospect of winning his money, I was looking at one of the two finest young (under 30) all around Poker players in the world. (Bobby Baldwin is the other one.)

That night, and the many nights that followed, Chip won my respect grudgingly and then my admiration as I watched him consistently beat the top players in town (which means the top players in the world).

Although we're still fierce competitors at the Poker table, we're very friendly when we're not trying to win each other's money. As I got to know him better, I found out he graduated from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Chip was rarely penalized for missing classes because many of his professors owed him money from the daily fraternity Poker games. Those fraternity games were his basic training" and almost all the gambling students on campus owed him money since there was no one who had anywhere near the Poker talent he did. Proof of this is the fact that the card room in his fraternity Beta Theta Pi was dedicated the David E. Reese Memorial Card Room when he graduated.

Deciding not to go on to graduate school, Chip worked for a year as a Manufacturer's Representative and left a $25,000 a year job to come West.

He was living in Arizona when his friend (and now partner) Danny Robison came to Vegas for a weekend. Between them, they had $800 and started playing in the low limit Seven Card Stud games. They doubled their bankroll the first day and have continued to win to the point where they're already a legend in Vegas.

Chip reminds me of the saying: "Gamblers are like little boys, the only thing that changes is the price of their toys." It seems as though he's always playing for "fun" as I've seen him literally pour black ($100) chips into the pot when he's playing with the "big boys". But, I know he's dead serious every time he plays.

In addition to being a fundamentally sound player, he has the best natural instincts about what to do in difficult situations of any card player I've ever sat at a table with.

Although he's a super all around card player, at his speciality Seven Card Stud, Chip appears to be on a different plateau from everyone else. And ... by everyone else, I mean the best Seven Stud players in the world. Without a doubt ... Chip's the best Seven Card Stud player I've ever played with.