Chip Reese - The Road Less Traveled To Poker Immortalit

Those that have earned the term "immortal" in the world of poker have taken differing paths to their success. Some, such as Doyle Brunson, earned their greatness over decades of traveling through cash games across the United States before striking into the tournament poker world. Others, such as Phil Hellmuth, have staked their immortality almost purely on their performance in the tournament arena. When it comes to "the best all around player ever", as Chip Reese has been called, he has seemed to shun the tournament world to a point while simply beating everyone who ever crossed his path!
Born in Dayton, Ohio and now residing in Las Vegas, the man born as David Reese started playing poker at six for baseball cards with his childhood friends. He polished these skills as he moved through college, but didn't seriously look at poker as a future. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1974, he decided to make a trip west. There were dual reasons; a girlfriend in Los Angeles wanted to see him and there was an interview for law school at Stanford. "The road less traveled" popped up, however, somewhere between the two in Las Vegas. On a lark, Chip entered into a Seven Card Stud tournament while in Las Vegas and took down the championship worth $60,000...and Reese never left Nevada!
He continued to ply his trade (and, to this day, is still at it) in the cash game world of poker. He would take on any game that crossed the table and, usually, would be the one who walked away with the lion's share of the stakes. He gradually climbed up the ladder into the upper echelons of the poker world, where playing high stakes poker against Brunson, Billy Baldwin, Lyle Berman and others was a daily activity. His performance in these games have led many (including those same men who play against him) to call him the best all around player ever and also led to his induction into the Poker Hall Of Fame in 1991 at the age of 40, the youngest man ever inducted into the hall.
If it wasn't for his children, it is possible that Chip would have never stepped from behind the scenes into the World Poker Tour. After their prodding to be able to see him on television, Reese started playing more tournament events which culminated in a final table finish during the Second Season of the WPT. He has had other cash finishes in WPT events, but it is the World Series of Poker where Chip has truly made his mark.
Since starting to play in the World Series in 1978, he has cashed in eighteen events and made the final table in thirteen of those tournaments. He has won three WSOP gold bracelets with perhaps his greatest coming in 2006. In the star-studded $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event, surrounded by 143 of the finest all around poker players in the world, Reese solidified his standing as the best all around player ever by defeating them all to take the gold. His six hour heads up battle against runner-up Andy Bloch is considered by some to be one of the all time great battles in World Series competition and battling through the field over three days and fifty one hours shows that Chip still has the endurance to play the game as well. Overall in his tournament poker career, Chip has earned almost $3 million dollars and it is unfathomable how much he has earned in cash games in his lifetime.
Because of his abilities to play any game, Chip is highly dangerous. While he personally admits that No Limit isn't one of his best games, he still has the highly analytical style that makes him a winner. The real danger that he presents is in the mixed game or cash game formats. If you come across a game where he is playing outside of a tournament, it is best to save your money for another night.
Away from the tables, Chip is an unassuming figure who isn't approached as much as the current "stars" of the game are. This is unfortunate, as with his wealth of experience in differing disciplines and time in the game he would be a great player to learn from. While he contributed his Seven Card Stud knowledge to the seminal poker work "Super System", Reese hasn't written much else; it would truly be a treat to see him contribute to the poker literature world with the entirety of his poker expertise.
While the current world of poker focuses on the tournaments that populate the schedule, Chip Reese's overall record of excellence in cash games as well as tournament poker demonstrate that, arguably, he has to be considered one of the greatest players ever. As he continues to demonstrate, there is more than one path to poker immortality. There also could potentially never be another like him as No Limit Texas Hold 'Em and the tournament world dominate poker more and more nowadays.

Joseph Hachem - Australia's Recent Poker Hero

Australia has given the world many great cultural gifts. Good beer, the hard rock band AC/DC and the "Mad Max" trilogy of movies are just a few of the things that have become important parts of the world outside of the land Down Under. One of the favorite sons of Australia, however, was given to the poker world in the form of Joseph Hachem.
Hachem was originally born in Lebanon and immigrated to the island nation in the early 1970s. He was a chiropractor by trade, but a degenerative arthritic condition forced him away from that profession. After much deliberation, Joseph decided to take up one of his great passions, poker, as a way to support his wife and four children. It was a decision that would change his life forever.
For the better part of a decade, Joe became a fixture on the Australian poker scene. His first significant poker achievement was during the 2000 Australian Poker Championship when he finished fourth in the $300 rebuy Pot Limit Omaha competition. Over the next five years, his tournament game rounded into form during other competitions mostly at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, which became his home base. When 2005 came around, even Hachem wasn't ready for what was about to happen.
On a whim (and with his wife's blessing), Joseph headed to Las Vegas for the 2005 World Series of Poker. He cracked onto the scene there with a 10th place finish on July 4th in the $1000 No-Limit Hold 'Em event, outlasting over 800 players that included Howard Lederer, David "The DevilFish" Ulliot and Rob Hollink. This gave him the confidence (and the bankroll) to take a shot at the greatest championship of all…the $10,000 No-Limit Championship Event, considered to be the World Championship of Poker.
Hachem battled through the 5,619 player field to be in the mix at the final table of the Championship Event, but it took him some time to work his way through the final nine. "I was very aggressive throughout the tournament and once I reached the Final Table, I tried to keep up that aggressive play," Joseph said to this writer in 2005. "Once I found myself short stacked, though, I had to make a big adjustment to my game and became a little more conservative. When I rebuilt my stack, then I could go on with the aggressive attack." That controlled aggressive attack allowed him to outlast the table until, in one of the longest final tables in the history of the World Series, he was able to defeat Steve Dannenman and capture the $7.5 million first prize, at that time the largest in the history of poker.
After winning the World Championship, Joseph has been quite active in the poker community. Later in 2005, he showed his WSOP victory wasn't a fluke by making the final table of a WSOP Circuit event in Las Vegas, only finishing fifth due to a devastating bad beat when his Kings failed to hold up against Kido Pham's J-10 (Kido flopped two Jacks to take the hand and virtually eliminate Hachem). He has also done well on the European Poker Tour and, in 2006, returned to the World Series, where he final tabled twice in preliminary tournaments and finished a highly respectable 238th in defending his Championship Event title.
Perhaps Hachem's finest moment came at the end of 2006, however. At the Five Diamond $15,000 World Poker Tour event in December 2006, he was able to defeat one of Canada's finest players, Daniel Negreanu, and one of Denmark's best in Mads Andersen to capture his first WPT championship, joining a very elite group of players who have won both the WSOP Main Event and a WPT title (the other three men are legendary…Doyle Brunson, Scotty Nguyen and Carlos Mortensen). With that win, Joseph said he had finally achieved "validation". Along with that "validation" (as if it were needed), he also became only the second tournament poker player to have cracked the $10 million mark in career earnings with $10,274,627.
At the tables, Joseph is a consummate professional. He has been able to harness the aggressive style that is necessary in today's game to be a lethal force. He also is adept at changing his game style which, added in with his expressionless concentration at the tables, makes reading him close to impossible. Away from the tables, Joseph is a dedicated family man who looks to take care of his own before venturing to the tables. He partakes in no other gaming other than poker and, along with 2004 World Champion Greg Raymer, has been two of the greatest ambassadors that the game has seen in recent history.
As 2007 begins, it is a given that we will see more of Joseph Hachem. He will be heading back to his old stomping grounds of the Crown Casino in Melbourne for the 2007 Aussie Millions and should also be seen in many other WSOP and WPT events. He has been one of the great things that Australia has given the world and, with hope, we will see Joseph Hachem continue to be at the forefront of the poker world for many years to come.

Johnny Chan to Create Poker Hotels Worldwide!

February 2, Las Vegas, NV - Poker legend and all-time great, Johnny Chan, is partnering with Las Vegas hotelier, Liko Smith, to create 5th Street, "The World's First Poker Hotel." The first location will open in 2007.
A site has been selected in Los Angeles county, other sites in California, Illinois, New York, Florida and Macau are under development.
The creative team for the hotel concept includes, Johnny Chan of http://www.chanpoker.net/, Liko Smith of Rogue Hospitality, and Matt Savage, Jeff Brausch and Kelly Flynn of THE DIVISION Poker. The team has been developing the concept for nearly 2 years. Rogue Hospitality is the exclusive management force behind THE BLOCK "The World's First Snowboarder Hotels,". Rogue Hospitality will also manage the 5th Street Hotels. "We have a brand development process, a level of service and a genuine authenticity that no other management company can deliver;" says Liko S. Smith, President of Rogue Hospitality.
"When we first approached Johnny about our plans to create a hotel that would cater exclusively to poker in his image, he was 100% for it," says Liko Smith, President of Rogue Hospitality."5th Street is going to improve the experience for poker players everywhere and set a new standard of service, quality, and game that you can't get online, or in any casino in the US today," he finishes. Kelly Flynn, 5th Street Partner, adds, "The time has come for a concept such as 5th Street to grace the felt for poker players...a hotel for poker players by poker players. It will be a home away from home, the cure for the common casino that most poker players are forced to find themselves in now.".
All 5th Street hotels will offer highly designed exteriors and interiors, state of the art room amenities. Daily services will include fully licensed Poker Tournaments in the best Poker rooms on the planet. 5th Street Hotels will create a "high-roller" experience for guests from reservations to check out. Plans call for rooms to include: 70-inch plasma screens, in-room safes, free wi/fi, 500 watt custom sounds systems, full service computers, fax machines and high-quality case furnishings with complimentary fine cigars and hi-def wall art of the greatest poker photographs ever taken.
Hotels planned will be full service with valet, fine dining restaurants, rooftop bars, spa and massage treatment and an exclusive full service men's salon as well as a 24-hour cafe.Selected sponsors will be able to sponsor guest rooms, bars, public areas, amenities, case goods, and other amenities.
Poker will be the primary game at 5th Street, no slots, keno, craps or roulette. The hotel along with its multi-million dollar poker rooms, will feature monthly celebrity poker tournaments and social events. Several owner/operators are being interviewed for joint venture opportunities with the 5th Street brand.