David “Chip” Reese, the high-stakes poker player in Las Vegas died in his sleep on Tuesday at his home after suffering symptoms of pneumonia. He was 56.

“I knew him for 35 years, I never saw him get mad or raise his voice,” Poker great Doyle Brunson said. “He had the most even disposition of anyone I’ve ever met. He’s certainly the best poker player that ever lived.”

The immediate success at cash games and his low-key persona won him friends, even among those who wound up passing him their chips.

Reese won three World Series champion’s bracelets over the last four decades, including a $1.8 million HORSE event in 2006 that combines five poker disciplines, Reese focused on high-stakes cash games away from the limelight.

Over the years Brunson and Reese eventually became business partners, investing in everything from oil wells and mining to TV stations and racehorses and becoming sports betting consultants.

“Many consider Chip the greatest cash-game player who ever lived,” said Jeffery Pollack, World Series of Poker Commissioner. “His victory in the inaugural $50,000 buy-in HORSE championship … made him a part of WSOP lore forever.”

Reese is survived by his son, daughter and a stepdaughter, Brunson said. He was recently divorced from his wife.

In my opinion there are three names that should be considered as the greatest poker players of all time. Those names are Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Stu Unger.

Brunson has been around the longest and has 10 WSOP bracelets under his belt. He is poker’s greatest ambassador, and still competes at the highest levels while in his seventies.

Chan also has 10 WSOP bracelets and continues to be dominant at just about any table he joins. He won the WSOP main event back to back (as did Doyle), and his bracelets were won in numerous variations of the game.
The greatest, however, in my opinion was the late Stu Unger. He was a three-time winner of the WSOP main event and the purest card player ever to live. Unfortunately he was unable to control his addiction to drugs and his career was cut short in his forties when he overdosed in a Vegas hotel.