Tag Archives: WSOP

Mickey Appleman

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If you were to run into Mickey Appleman on the street, you would think that he was homeless. Everything from his dress to even the way he keeps his hair gives off the indication of someone that is destitute. This is the furthest thing from the truth. Appleman happens to be a poker champion and expert sports bettor.

Appleman started his gambling career about the middle 70’s. He was primarily a sports bettor and a highly successful one. He claimed that he had a natural knack for it and after he won his first be, he was hooked. Appleman moved to Vegas in 1975 and that year played in his first World Series of Poker. He would not see success until 1980 when he won his first bracelet in the $1,000 Stud 8 or Better Event. His next large score happened a few years later when he won the $5,000 Seven Card Stud Event at the Super Bowl of Poker.

The Super Bowl of Poker was considered the 2nd most prestigious title in poker back in the early days, much like the WPT Championship is 2nd to the WSOP Main Event. Appleman took down the $10,000 Main Event of the Super Bowl of Poker in 1985 and established himself as a top notch poker player.

Over the next few years, Appleman would make several final table finishes at the World Series of Poker but would not have another major win until 1992. That year he won the $5,000 2-7 Draw event to claim his 2nd bracelet and $119,250. He would finish runner up the next year in the $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem event. He would not record another professional cash for almost 2 years after that.

When Appleman did cash again, it was at the 1995 World Series of Poker. First, he finished 4th in the $5,000 2-7 Event and then he took home his third WSOP bracelet in the $5,000 Limit Holdem Event. After 1995, for several years Appleman would have many strong finishes at the WSOP, but wasn’t able to pull off a win.

Finally in 2003, Appleman was able to notch his 4th bracelet with a win in the $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem Event. So far, his fourth bracelet was the last major win on Appleman’s career. He still plays in many events at the World Series and regularly cashes in them. He finished 13th in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Event in this year’s WSOP. To date, Appleman has over $1.66 Million in tournament earnings.

Appleman doesn’t play as large of a tournament schedule anymore, but when he does play, he still is a force to reckon with. For those that do not know him, many may wonder how this guy that looks like he could afford to buy himself a meal could possibly play poker. Of course, if they start to play, they soon learn that looks are deceiving when it comes to Mickey Appleman. When you have accomplished all that Appleman has, it really doesn’t matter how you dress, just tell him where the action is at.

David Williams

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David Williams got his start in poker as the result of having downtime from another game that he was a champion at, Magic. Williams was a champion Magic player but was suspended from active competition for a year after a deck of cards that he was using was determined to be marked intentionally. Williams would admit to the marked deck, but not to the fact that he purposely did so. It didn’t matter and the suspension was upheld. So Williams turned to tournament poker. He began playing poker online and eventually graduated to high stakes poker. It was while playing online that he earned a satellite to enter the 2004 World Series of Poker.

David Williams made initial news during the 2004 World Series of Poker due to the support of his mother from the rail and his friendship with Marcel Luske. Luske had taken Williams under his wing and helped him to develop his game while they were going through the field together. Luske would come just shy of the final table, but Williams would make the table.

Williams would even use one of Luske’s moves against Josh Arieh. He made a dark check before the flop was dealt out. Arieh moved all-in to Williams, but Williams had flopped a set and he ended up winning the hand and taking a huge chunk of chips off of Arieh. Eventually, Williams wound up heads-up with Greg Raymer and was an underdog to win. He held his won for a while, but on the final hand his full house of deuces full of fours was 2nd best to Raymer’s deuces full of eights and Williams would finish 2nd in the Main Event, but would receive 3.5 Million.

Williams would continue his success at the table later in the year when he finished runner-up to Daniel Negreanu at the WPT Borgata Poker Open for $573,000. He would then win a preliminary event during the World Poker Open later towards the end of 2004.
Williams would have a few decent finishes in tournaments in 2005, but no significant cashes. It wasn’t until making a final table at the Bay 101 WPT event that he would receive his next large cash. He finished 4th at the event and won $280,000.

The 2006 WSOP was another strong year for Williams. He finished 2nd in the 2-7 Lowball event and then took down his first major title, winning the $1,500 7 Card Stud Event. After the 2006 WSOP, Williams has many strong finishes but only two six figure paydays when he won a preliminary event during the 2007 Bellagio Cup and won “Jam Up Week” on Poker After Dark.

To date, Williams has over $6.14 Million in lifetime earnings. This puts him 25th on the all-time money list. At only 28, he still has a long time left in his career to make a run for the top spot all time. Williams has expressed an interest in going back to finish his college degree and possibly go into business. While it is unlikely that he would walk away from a profitable poker career, if he decides to chance are that he will have similar success in his new found path.

John “The Razor” Phan

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John “The Razor” Phan is one in a long line of California professional poker players. For those that are not familiar, the Los Angeles, CA area has several casinos in the region and boasts some of the best poker action in the world, regardless of the game you are in.

Phan first started scoring in professional tournaments in 1998 when he won two tournaments in a month. He would then over the next few years make a name for himself in the L.A. area, making numerous final tables and taking down several events including the America’s Poker Classic and Legends of Poker.

His first big score in poker did not occur until 2004. He placed in five different tournaments at the World Poker Open in Tunica MS, winning the $500 Pot Limit Holdem and $500 No Limit Holdem events. He took home over $255,000 in winnings from his stint in Tunica that year. This would start a string of cashes in 2004 at various events and resulted in three more wins at the Fiesta al Lago, Legends of Poker, and World Poker Open.

2005 saw Phan make his first WPT final table when he finished 4th in the $25,000 WPT Championship event. He would also make his first World Series of Poker final table that year with a 4th place finish in the $5,000 7 Card Stud event. Phan nearly came up with bracelets at the 2006 and 2007 WSOP but finished runner up in the 2006 $1,000 No Limit event and the 2007 $2,500 No Limit Event.

2008 has been the best year so far in Phan’s professional career. He made a final table at the WPT Bay 101 shooting stars event, finishing in 6th and then rode the momentum from that finish into the World Series of Poker. He had two cashes in earlier No Limit events in the series before finally achieving his first major win.

Phan made the final table of the $3,000 No Limit Event and put on a masterful performance to get heads-up with Johnny Neckar. The two then proceeded to play a heads up match that lasted nearly five hours. After five hours of play, the two decided to start going all-in blind. This occurred three times and afterward Phan claimed that they were going to go back to playing normally. Play continued for one more hand before the chips were all-in again and in the end, Phan emerged victorious with his first bracelet. Phan would win his next bracelet less than a week later when he was able to take down the $2,500 2-7 Lowball event. Phan was finally a WSOP bracelet winner and World Champion and in a weeks time solidified himself as a force in poker.

Over the next two months after the WSOP, Phan would go on to two more final tables in the WPT. First he finished 5th in the $15,000 No Limit event at the Bellagio Cup. Then a little more than a month later, he took down his first WPT title with a win at the Legends of Poker. In the span of three months, Phan was a two time bracelet winner and a WPT champion.

At present, Phan has over $5.3 Million in lifetime tournament wins. His style at the table is considered very loose and aggressive. He tends to bluff a lot, or so it appears. After his bracelet win, he claimed that he is much more solid of a player than people tend to give him credit for. Of course, this is the same player who during the $2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2007 WSOP claimed to raise every hand he played during a particular stud round in the dark.

Phan does have a reputation to take an extremely long time while making his decisions at the poker table. This sometimes tends to rub poker players the wrong way. He usually is a sharp dresser and has a very flamboyant lifestyle, or at least gives off that image in public.

At just 34, Phan is now beginning to hit his stride in poker. His background in poker in the Los Angeles area has prepared him for the success he is currently enjoying. Time will tell whether he will be able to duplicate his recent success, but one thing is for certain, it should be very entertaining to watch.

Daniel Negreanu

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Daniel Negreanu grew up in Toronto Canada and had aspirations as a young man to be a comedian and actor. Around the age of 16, he was introduced to poker and soon afterward, poker and pool were the main focuses in his life. He eventually dropped out of high school to focus on playing poker. He started by playing in card rooms around Toronto until he was old enough to play in legal casinos. When he was finally old enough, he took a trip to Vegas but lasted only 8 months before he was broke again. He went back home to Toronto to rebuild his bankroll and the rest from there is history.

Negreanu started winning tournaments back in 1997 when he won events at Heavenly holdem and two at the World Poker Finals. His success continued into 1998 when he won events at the California State Championships, the Orleans Open, and another event at Heavenly Holdem. His first major poker victory came in 1998 as well when he won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem event.

Negeanu would go on in 1999 to win the Main Event of the United States Poker Championship and $210,000. While he had a few cashes after that, he was kind of quiet on the poker front until the 2001 WSOP when he made a final table in the Razz event and finished 11th in the Main Event that year. 2001 and 2002 would turn out to be solid years as he several final tables and took several small tournaments. In 2002 he made 2 WSOP final tables, finishing runner up in the $5,000 Omaha 8 Event.

It wasn’t until 2003 that Daniel would score his next major poker title. He had 3 final tables at the 2003 WSOP and took home his second bracelet in the $2,000 S.H.O.E. event. He also finished runner up in the $3,000 No Limit event that year.

2004 would prove to be Negreanu’s most successful year in regards to tournaments. He exploded onto the World Poker Tour scene. He had 6 cashes that year in the WPT, including 4 final tables and 2 victories. His two victories came at the World Poker Classic and the Borgata Poker Open. He also finished 2nd in the PartyPoker.com Million and 3rd in the PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure. He won over 3.7 Million in the WPT alone that year.

2004 was also a highly successful year for Daniel at the World Series of Poker as well. He cashed 6 times at the WSOP, which included 5 final tables, and his third WSOP bracelet. He took down the $2,000 Limit Holdem bracelet and nearly pulled off the $1,000 NL bracelet, but fell short in 3rd place. He also took home Player of the Year honors that year, winning himself a SUV in the process.

Although he would go on to make 2 more WPT final tables in 2005, his next big win was not until the WSOP Circuit Championship in 2006. For some reason, going into 2006, Negreanu was considered on a downswing in poker, not having a significant finish in 2005. The 2006 WSOP-C event in Tunica MS was the first major poker event of the year, and Negreanu was in the field. He made the final table, and never looked back and eventually emerged as the victor and $755,525 richer. To date, this is his only WSOP-C victory.

Negreanu would go on to have a solid WSOP in 2006 as well. He finished 2nd to Mike Sexton in the 2006 Tournament of Champions and then proceeded to cash 5 times in the WSOP. He made the final table of the $2,000 Omaha 8 event, finished 8th in the $2,500 Short handed event, and finished in the money in the Main Event. Negreanu would finish off the 2006 year with a 3rd place finish in the WPT event at the Doyle Brunson North American Championship, taking home $592,000.

Daniel would brag about how he loved Tunica later after the start of the 2007 year. He took 2nd in the WPT event at the Gold Strike Casino. This event won him $502,691 and was his 2nd big score in Tunica in two years. Beyond the WPT event, Negreanu’s 2007 was uneventful with the exception of his WSOP. He made 2 final tables at the WSOP, finishing 3rd in the $1,500 NL Shootout and 5th in the $2,000 Seven Card Stud event later won by Jeffrey Lisandro. He would finish the year with a 14th place finish at the Doyle Brunson classic for nearly $100,000, but overall it was an uneventful year.

2008 was looking to be relatively uneventful for Negreanu as he only had one cash in major tournaments. It seemed he was saving himself for the 2008 WSOP as he went on fire once the WSOP began. He cashed 5 times during the WSOP which included two final tables, and his first bracelet win since 2004. Negreanu made the final table of the $2,000 Limit Holdem event and ended up heads-up in the event. Once the match reached heads-up play, Negreanu literally won every hand in heads-up play to take down the his fourth bracelet and the $204,863 top prize. Negreanu would also cash in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, finishing 13th. Negreanu would also cash in 3 out of 4 events at the WSOP Europe and finished in 5th in the Main Event of the WSOP Europe for nearly $400,000. While his only significant cashes have been at the WSOP this year, many pros would love to have the year he has had.

For his career, Negreanu has won $10.8 Million which makes him 2nd all-time and 1st all-time for Canadian money winners. Negreanu is also known as one of the nicest players at the table. He is very gracious with fan requests for autographs and photos and takes a lot of time out for promoting the game. He also is a representative of PokerStars.com and runs the poker training site PokerVT.com. At just 34, Negreanu is already the 2nd all-time leader in money in poker history. It is safe to assume he has many good years ahead of him and would probably be a safe bet to be the all-time money winner in poker history when he finally walks away from the game.

Annie Duke

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Annie Duke started off being known in the poker world as “Howard Lederer’s little sister” but over the years has made a name for herself as a professional player and champion. She started her early life as a student working towards a doctorate in Psycholinguistics, but as she was nearing completion of her degree, she began to play poker professionally.

She started off by playing in legal card rooms in Montana, but then moved her family to Vegas to begin a career as a professional poker player. It wasn’t long after moving to Vegas that she started having success at the World Series of Poker. She cashed three times in her first main event. She made a final table, finishing 5th in the $2,500 Limit Holdem event and also finished in the money in the Main Event. Duke returned to the WSOP the next year and cashed 4 times, including final tables in PL Holdem Omaha 8 or Better.

Over the next few years, Duke would make numerous WSOP cashes and would come close to victory in several cases but she never quite got over the hump. Duke would actually make history in 2000 when she finished 10th in the Main Event while being eight months pregnant.

It was actually a WPT preliminary event in 2004 that seemed to get her over the hump. She took down the $2,500 Limit Holdem event during the Bellagio Five Star WPT Championship and made $157,140. This seemed to energize her as she went on to cash three times at the WSOP that year, including her first WSOP bracelet. Duke won the $2,000 Omaha 8 or Better bracelet and the $137,860.

Later that year, Duke would join a group of the best poker players in the world for a televised event called the Tournament of Champions. The top players in the world and the current world champion would compete for a top prize of $2 Million. Duke wound up heads-up with Phil Hellmuth and after some masterful play, took the Tournament of Champions title and instantly became the top female money winner in WSOP history. She held that distinction until 2007 when Annette Obrestad won the WSOP-Europe Main Event.

Duke has had several strong finishes since then but nothing to equal her 2004 wins. She divorced her husband Ben Duke in 2004. After 2004 she wrote an autobiography detailing her life and her path to winning her first bracelet in 2004. She is also currently endorsed by UltimateBet.com and plays many events sporting the UB logo. Duke is strongly dedicated to her family and has mentioned that she doesn’t play as many events as other players due to this fact. She also has a strong dislike for women’s events as she feels the events degrade women.

Still in her early 40’s, Duke is still a strong force in the poker world. She made a final table in this year’s WSOP and when she is playing well is a serious threat to take down any event. Duke plays primarily online when she is not on the road. While she may not play as much live as her other professional counterparts, she still is a threat at any table she sits at.

Scott Fischman

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Scott Fischman grew up in southern New Jersey and moved to Las Vegas at the age of 12. He fell in love with poker at an early age and became a poker dealer at both the Sahara and at the Mirage. Within a year, he had to give up his job when he developed rheumatoid arthritis and his dealing days were over. He then took up playing poker professionally.

Fischman took up playing tournaments in 2002 and in 2003 he joined a group that would dub itself as “The Crew.” The Crew was a group of young professional poker players that included David Smyth, Joe Bartholdi, Tony Lazar, Brett Jungblut and both Dutch and Bobby Boyd. Within a year of joining The Crew, Fischman had his most successful year to date at the World Series of Poker.

Fischman first started out the 2004 World Series of Poker with a deep money finish in the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem, finishing in 14th place. Then within the span of two weeks, Fischman went on a remarkable run that saw him win two bracelets. First, he took the $1,500 No Limit Holdem event at a final table that included future champions Joe Awada and Blair Rodman. Fischman caught a miracle river card to take the lead and then later outlast Awada heads-up to take home his first bracelet and $300,000. He would then take the $2,000 H.O.R.S.E. event which netted him $100,200 and his 2nd bracelet. He finished off his WSOP run with a 19th place finish in the $2,000 Limit event.

Fischman was not the only Crew member to make a strong finish. Brett Jungblutt took the $5,000 Omaha 8 or Better World Championship and $187,720. The wins by Jungblutt and Fischman put the Crew on the map and Fischman stated that the Crew would “take over the poker world.” While things seemed to be going good for The Crew, later the Crew would disband as personal problems and overall lack of performance made the players go their separate ways.

Fischman is still the best player out of the bunch, having multiple big money finishes. Later in 2004, Fischman would take Young Guns of Poker Invitational with the World Poker Tour. He would also finish in 8th place in 2007 at the WPT Championship. He has not racked up any significant victories since his WPT win but he has had several really strong finishes including a runner up finish in the $1,500 NL Event at the 2005 WSOP. He also made the final table of the 2008 WSOP-Europe Main Event, eventually finishing 6th.

In total, Fischman has won over $2.5 Million in live tournaments. He also has made a name for himself online, recording 13 money finishes at the World Championships of Online Poker. He is also a regular poker columnist and is also an instructor at the WSOP Academy. He also wrote a book called Online Ace. Unfortunately the book hit shelves around the time that the UIGEA went into effect and he said that he did not expect the book to do well as a result. At 28, Fischman is still in the early years of his career and is expected to be a force in poker for a long time. Time will tell just how good this former Crew member really is.

Ted Forrest

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Ted Forrest started off playing poker while working at a hotel at the Grand Canyon. He would travel back and forth to Vegas to play poker and did well enough to prompt him to move to Vegas. After moving to Vegas, Forrest did well enough at the poker tables to put himself through college at Lemoine College. He eventually left college 9 credits short of his degree. He claims that it was one of the bests decisions that he could have made because if he graduated, he claimed he would have likely took a 9 to 5 job and never played poker.

Playing poker seemed to be the wise career move as Forrest excelled at cash games for many years. He did play tournaments, but not that seriously. When he did play, he had regular success, making numerous final tables and taking titles at the LA Poker Classic and the World Poker Finals. It was 1993 that saw Forrest make a splash on the poker tournament scene.

Forrest entered the 1993 World Series of Poker with just over $100,000 in lifetime tournament earnings. All of that would change in short order as he took the Razz event, beating Charles Burris heads-up and taking home $77,400. Forrest did not stop there. On the very next day, he took the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event after a heads up battle with “Miami” John Cernuto and took home $120,000. Two bracelets in one WSOP is usually considered an amazing accomplishment for any pro, but Forrest apparently wanted to separate himself from other pros. A few days later, Forrest took his third bracelet of the World Series of Poker when he won the $5,000 7 Card Stud event, and took home $114,000.

The 1993 WSOP solidified Forrest reputation as a fantastic player and a champion stud player. He would go on to win two more bracelets and fittingly enough they were both in the same year. During the 2004 WSOP, Forrest won his second Stud bracelet when he took the $1,500 Stud Event and then he proceeded to win the $1,500 No Limit Holdem event. Amazingly enough, the Holdem bracelet was Forrest’s first win in a Holdem event and only his second significant Holdem cash ever. Out of his 5 bracelets, only one still remains in his possession. Three were stolen, and he gave one of the other two to his daughter.

Starting in 2004, Forrest also started to show prowess in NL Holdem with most of his success coming in the World Poker Tour. Forrest has 11 WPT cashes, including 5 final tables. Of those final tables, he has a runner up finish at the Mirage Poker Showdown in 2005 and a victory at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars event in 2007. The bay 101 event was Forrest’s first Million dollar payday.

In addition to his WPT success, Forrest won the NBC National Heads-Up Championship in 2006 as well as a PPT event in 2005. Forrest plays more tournaments now than he did in the past due to the fact that the paydays have gotten so big. In total, Forrest has over $5.5 Million in tournament earnings.

Howard Lederer – “The Professor”

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Howard Lederer grew up in New Hampshire as the son of an English teacher and linguist. Through school and college his gaming interest centered on chess. While attending college at Columbia University in New York City, he was introduced to poker and soon began playing at the famed Mayfair Club. The Mayfair Club was also home to other poker great Dan Harrington, Jay Heimowitz, and Steve Zolotow. He picked up the nickname of “The Professor” at the table due to his studied approach to the game.

Lederer began playing in major tournaments in 1987 when he played at the World Series of Poker. He made the money that year in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event and made the final table of the Main Event. He would eventually finish in 5th place, taking home $56,250. He would make two final tables at the WSOP the next year, placing 7th in both the $1,000 Limit Omaha and $1,500 Limit Holdem events. Lederer would continue to make numerous final tables at the WSOP through the 1990’s, but could never quite break through.

2000 was when Lederer achieved his first major title. He would enter the $5,000 Omaha 8 or Better event at the WSOP and wound up heads-up with Allen Cunningham. In the end, Lederer would come out on top and take home his first gold bracelet and $198,000. Now that he taken home his first major title, he returned to the WSOP the following year hoping to make a repeat performance. Lederer made the final table of the $5,000 2-7 Draw event and eventually came out on top after a heads-up match with Freddy Deeb. Lederer would take home $165,870 for this win.

Lederer would not cash in any events in the 2002 WSOP but he was able to win the first of two WPT titles. First, he won the Main Event of the World Poker Finals to take home $320,400 and then less than 6 months later; he won Party Poker Million, taking home $289,150. Lederer would then have good success in the preliminary events of the Five Star WPT Championship at the Bellagio in 2003 and 2004. He took down three events totaling nearly $700,000. Lederer would then go on to cash 7 times at the 2007 WSOP, making 4 final tables.

After the 2004 WSOP, Lederer fell of the poker map for the most part. He did have a few cashes but other poker related business ventures took up a lot of his time. He helped to create Full Tilt Poker and also put out several poker DVD’s. He also runs the Howard Lederer Poker Fantasy Camp.

It wasn’t until the 2008 Aussie Millions that Lederer made a significant win in the poker world. He was able to take down the $100,000 buy-in No Limit event, which netted him his biggest score in poker to date at nearly $1.1 Million. He would then cash three times at the WSOP, which included a final table. He then went to the WSOP Europe and made the final table of the H.O.R.S.E. event. He finished 3rd in the event.

Lederer has admitted that his other businesses have gotten in the way of him working on his game but has recently stated that he will be playing more and looks forward to being competitive again. With almost $5 Million in tournament winnings, Lederer already has established himself as a champion. Now that he is beginning to refocus on poker, the “professor” should continue to school players at the table for a long time to come.

John Bonetti

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John Bonetti is one of the few poker champions that started playing poker later in life. For most of his young life, John was a property manager in New York. He had moved to Houston, TX and was getting ready to retire when one of his co-workers introduced John to poker. John took a liking to the game and started to work on improving. John did not have a formal education but admitted that he did various mental exercises to help get his mind sharp and to improve his concentration.

John cashed in his very first Main Event in 1987 and then again in 1989. 1990 saw John win his first bracelet when he won the $5,000 2-7 Draw event for $83,250. He would win his second bracelet in 1993 when he won the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem event. His third bracelet would come in 1995, again in 2-7 Draw. He would also cash in the Main Event in 1992, 1993, and 1996. He finished in 3rd in both 1993 and 1996.

In total, John won 41 different events over the years including wins at tournaments such as the Diamond Jim Brady, Orleans Open, World Poker Finals, Legends of Poker, and the LA Poker Classic. He also took numerous titles in events at the United States Poker Championship and even won the Main Event of the now defunct Four Queens Poker Classic in 1993. He also finished 2nd in the 1999 United States Poker Championship Main Event behind Daniel Negreanu. In total John won over $4.1 Million in live tournaments. The most amazing thing about this was that after the age of 54.

John was as well known for his demeanor at the table as for his play, but in a bad way. He was very abusive to dealers, especially if he was given a bad beat. He received numerous penalties for swearing and even received one for swearing away from the table. He was disqualified from a Omaha Hi-Lo tournament in 2006 when a floorperson thought that John had swore at him, although it was hotly denied. However, his behavior up to that point was enough to warrant penalty so the disqualification stood.

As venomous as John was at the table, he was also said to have a heart of gold. He was known to take hard luck cases under his wing and served as a mentor to many players. John’s last really successful year was 2006 when he cashed 11 times in tournaments, including 3 at the WSOP. He also made 4 final tables at Winning ‘O’ the Green at The Bike in Los Angeles. His best finish was 3rd in a Limit Holdem event where Michael and Eric Mizrachi finished first and second. John Bonetti was 78 at the time.

Sadly, John had been battling health problems on and off for many years and he passed away June 27, 2008. The World Series of Poker made an announcement before the beginning of play and held a moment of silence for the fallen champion. Phil Hellmuth gave interviews and wrote on his blog about his memories regarding John and the great person he was.

John Bonetti may not have been the most pleasant man at the table, but there was no denying his talent. He proved to everyone that age does not matter in the game of poker as long as your mind is sharp. John Bonetti was a poker champion during the years that many people would spend in retirement. We should all be lucky to have a long and as productive a career as he had.

David “Chip” Reese

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David “Chip” Reese started his poker career at the age of six, when he was regularly beating fifth graders in school. In addition to playing cards, in high school he was a football player and member of the debate team. His debate team won the Ohio State Championship and made it to the National Finals, so at an early age Reese was a winner.

Reese attended Darmouth University where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He regularly played and beat other students and professors at poker. In fact, the chapter named their card room the “David E. Reese Memorial Card Room” to honor him.

Reese was accepted to Stanford Law School, but before going he made a trip to Vegas. After winning $60,000, he decided that he was going to stay and try his hand at poker. He worked his way up through the cash game ranks and then finally took his shot at the big game at the time, which was $400-$800 Stud 8 or Better. He convinced his business partner Danny Robinson to commit most of their bankroll to buy-in to the game. This game included the likes of Doyle Brunson, Puggy Pearson, and Johnny Moss. At one point, Reese was in a huge hand where at the end he made a steel wheel, which is an A-5 straight flush. This hand was good enough to take the whole pot and at the end of his session, Reese was up $29,000 in the game.

This would start Reese on a run in Vegas that continued for the rest of his life. Regardless of the competition, Reese held incredible composure at the table and was a consistent winner. Doyle Brunson said that Reese was the best 7 Card Stud player that he had ever seen. In fact, Reese took two bracelets in stud games at the World Series of Poker. He took the 1978 $1,000 Stud 8 bracelet and the 1982 7 Card Stud bracelet.

After those two wins, Reese mainly focused on cash games as during the 80’s and 90’s all the big money was in cash games. In fact, Reese was so dominant in the world of poker via cash games that he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1991. He was the youngest living member ever inducted, being 40 at the time of his induction. When the poker boom off 2003 hit, he decided that it was time to get back to playing tournaments. He would then proceed to achieve his greatest accomplishment at the poker tables in 2006.

2006 saw the induction of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at the World Series of Poker. H.O.R.S.E. is a rotation game including Holdem, Omaha 8 or Better, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Stud 8 or Better. It was created to give the big name pros a showcase where they could battle each other without the huge fields that had began to become a customer in most WSOP events. During Event #4 of the 2006 WSOP, Erik Seidel was asked who he thought would win the event, and without blinking, he said “Chip Reese.”

The final table of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event looked like a who’s who of poker. The table included Reese, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, Jim Bechtel, T.J. Cloutier, David Singer, Dewey Tomko, Doyle Brunson, and Patrik Antonius. The game at the final table was No Limit Holdem since ESPN wanted to televise the event and they felt Holdem would be better to draw ratings. This drew much criticism and future H.O.R.S.E. final tables stuck with the initial rotation format.

Andy Bloch and Chip Reese became heads up in the event and Bloch held a sizable chip lead on Reese. The heads up battle between the two lasted 7 hours and 286 hands. This was the all time record for a heads up match until the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event. Time and again, Bloch had Reese all in and behind and Reese was able to outdraw Bloch each time. The final hand saw Bloch have to call an all in bet with only 9-8 against Reese’s A-Q. The A-Q held up, and Chip Reese was the World Champion. He took home his third gold bracelet and $1.7 Million in prize money.

Many professionals consider the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event the true World Championship of poker; even above the Main Event and this win cemented Reese’s status as the best poker player in the world. For his career, Reese finished with $3.55 Million in career earnings. While he didn’t play many tournaments, when he did play, he usually finished strong with most of his cashes becoming final table finishes. He had many wins in other venues including the Grand Prix of Poker and the Super Bowl of Poker. Rees e

Sadly, Chip Reese died in his sleep on December 4, 2007 in his sleep from the effects of pneumonia. Friends of his speculate that he probably died of a blood clot. At his funeral, Brunson stated that he had expected Reese to deliver his eulogy. Brunson and Reese were best friends.

Soon afterwards the World Series of Poker declared that at all future $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. events, the winner would receive the “David ‘Chip’ Reese Award” trophy in addition to the bracelet and the prize money.

Chip Reese was by far the greatest cash game player to ever play the game of poker. In addition he took world championships from the greatest players in the game. Many of the top professionals looked up to this man whose demeanor at the table was never shaken and that was one of the true consistent winners in the game of poker. When players think of a poker champion, they will always think of Chip Reese. Sadly, we will never know just how much more this legend would have accomplished, but the feats he did accomplish will live on in poker legend forever.