I awoke this morning to phone calls and text messages asking me if I had heard the news. \"The news\", of course, was Chip\'s passing. For the rest of the day Bear and I fielded phone calls and inquiries asking us to comment and provide information.

We rushed to put up some sort of decent memorium for Chip on PokerRoad, and of course nothing would do him justice. There is no doubt that others knew Chip far better, and longer, than I did, but I would just like to share my two strongest memories of him.

I will always remember the times that I walked into \"Bobby\'s Room\" at the Bellagio to run poker hand questions by Bear after a tournament. I usually had just busted out and, in the beginning at least, I was often confused as to what I had done wrong.

I would always start into an explanation to Bear about what happened while he was playing and I would always be greeted by...

\"Well Joe, what did you say you had?\"

\"Two Tens\", I would respond

\"And how much did you bring it in for?\"

\"18k\", again I provided the information.

\"Ahhh, I see, maybe shoulda been 16 there.\"

The voice didn\'t belong to Bear though, as it was Chip\'s of course. I always thought it was interesting that he would be in any way curious as to what I had just gone through in some small tournament when he had probably $500k in front of him. That always stuck with me. I didn\'t feel that Chip was so much concerned with my well being or anything, but just that his curiousity was piqued by the actual hand, and ultimately, by online poker in general. That\'s the way I always think of him; just one of the boys, doing what he enjoyed in life...playing poker. There are few things in life as beautiful as seeing someone doing something that they love, and I always felt that was when I was in the presence of Chip. It was very cool to see, and occasionally, be a part of.

My second memory of Chip was when we had him on the radio show, \"The Circuit\" at the time, with Gavin, Huffy, and myself. I will never forget the way that we all sat there in hushed tones, awaiting the next story out of his mouth. I felt like I was watching some sort of movie that I just didn\'t want to end. Chip regaled us with tales of the Dunes and old-school gambling, stories of abandoned careers for massively lucrative lifelong spins playing poker in Vegas. It\'s difficult to keep both Gavin and I quiet for very long, but Chip had us silenced like two babies down for the night. We had to be. We didn\'t want to miss one minute of his experiences and things he had gone through. I don\'t think it\'s too far of a stretch to say we were somewhat awestruck.

Today, poker lost a truly unique individual in Chip Reese. He was unlike almost all other poker players in so many ways, and only those of us who got to see him in a personal light will every truly know it. I wouldn\'t sit here and spin some tale of how well I knew him, as I didn\'t really, but that just goes to show how strong his influence was and how valued he was as a person.

Chip Reese will be sorely missed by the poker community, for more reasons than most will realize immediately. We are all a little poorer for this loss, and will be for quite a while...

peace,
J