by Hillary LaClair, Senior Editor
April 24, 2009
According to notifications that appeared on DoylesRoom.com and Full Contact Poker, Casey Reese, the son of late Chip Reese, died of a suspected drug overdose in his apartment this week. Chip Reese had three WSOP bracelets to his credit and died nearly 16 months to the date before his 20 year-old son.
In a blog post on Doyle’s Room, poker legend Doyle Brunson writes, “It seems like yesterday when my nephew called and gave me a message that made my blood run cold, “I think Chip just died” he told me.
“It happened again yesterday, only this time it was Chip’s only son, Casey Reese. Casey was found in his apartment from an apparent overdose of prescription drugs. I had seen Casey a few days ago and he looked great. He was very handsome and extremely personable. I will always remember the closeness between Chip and Casey.
“My deepest condolences to the Reese family. I feel like I’ve let Chip down but I don’t know what I could have done to help Casey.”
David Edward Reese, more commonly known as Chip Reese, died in December 2007 from what was reported to be pneumonia while some speculated his death may have been related gastric bypass surgery. Chip was widely regarded to have been the greatest cash game poker player that ever lived. Reese collaborated on the seven-card stud section for Doyle Brunson's Super/System, the best-selling poker book of all time. In it, Brunson describes Reese as "one of the two finest young ... poker players in the world" and the best seven-card stud player he had ever played. He won the $1,000 Seven Card Stud Split event at the World Series of Poker in 1978, and the $5,000 Seven Card Stud tournament there in 1982. He later became the card room manager at the Dunes casino. In 1991, he became the youngest living player to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Daniel Negreanu wrote on Full Contact Poker, “I was at Bellaagio last night when we all got the news. Very sad. Everyone took it pretty hard. Kid was 20 years old, an incredible baseball pitcher, super smart, good looking kid… very sad. Chau was a very good friend of both Chip and Casey and while he came down to play poker he just couldn’t do it. It was a shock. People were both sad, and also pretty angry at the same time.”
Casey played baseball in high school and had since accepted a scholarship to UNLV in 2008. He was absent from the 2008 World Series of Poker when the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy was unveiled. The HORSE Championship trophy is since named in Chip’s honor.
Pictures of Reese playing in high-stakes tournaments around the and stories from those who had the honor to play with him can be found at the popular TwoPlusTwo forum in what is already a 28 page long thread.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Reese family and others who may be mourning the loss.
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