A week ago my phone rang at 5:30 a.m. I answered it extremely irritated at being ...

A week ago my phone rang at 5:30 a.m. I answered it extremely irritated at being awakened so early in the morning. My nephew, Ken Hale said, "I think Chip just died."

It took a moment to sink in and then disbelief overtook me. How could my best friend, who was 56 years old and apparently in good health, be gone? It felt like a big hole in my body which could never be filled. I jumped out of bed and drove to Chip's house as fast as I could.

I went into his house and cried with his children Brittany, Taylor, and Casey. Chip had gone to the doctor that afternoon and had a chest x-ray which showed a shadow on his lung. The doctor gave him a shot, told him he was coming down with pneumonia, and sent him home. The doctor, who was a poker player Chip had been teaching, called him at 10:00 to see how he was feeling. Chip told him he felt fine and when the doctor told him he was at the Red Rock Casino playing poker, Chip asked him if he wanted him to come watch him play. The doctor said, "No, if they saw you sitting behind me, they wouldn't play with me any more." They laughed and hung up.

Chip went to his room, talked to his girlfriend for 30 minutes, told his kids good night, and went to bed. Casey went to his room at 4:00 and Chip was dead.

We haven't got the results of the autopsy yet but the coroner said it looked like a massive heart attack and that Chip died peacefully in his sleep. Chip had rheumatic fever when he was a child and it left his heart in a weakened state. Another theory was that because Chip had high cholesterol his veins were soft and when pneumonia starts the blood thickens and that was the reason for the heart attack. After I find out the reason of his death for sure, I will put it in a future blog.

Everyone knows what a great poker player Chip was. He played all the games as well and it seemed as though he would just refuse to lose. The man was just a winner in anything he did. I know he was the best player I have ever played against. He was one of my closest friends but we were fierce competitors at the tables. We didn't take poker personally; we knew the object of the games was to win the other players' chips. He was always a class act at the table, never losing his composure. Actually I can't remember him raising his voice about anything. He was unbelievable.

He was also a class act outside of gambling. He was a devoted family man and loved watching his son play baseball. Casey is on scholarship at UNLV and is considered to be a top pro prospect.

If Chip had an enemy in the world I don't know who it was. He was a generous guy who almost never said no to anyone who needed help. Chip and I invested in some really far out business ventures. We had race horses, TV stations, oil wells, mining companies, sports services, and diamonds. We even went looking for the Titanic and Noah's Ark. None were successful and we always came back to poker.

All I know is that my buddy is gone and I can't stop mourning over our loss. He was always there for me and my life will never be the same. There are no promises for tomorrow for any of us.

Chip said, "I will stop playing when you have my funeral. Then only God will know what I'll be doing." I'm sure God has a special place for a special guy like Chip.

Rest in Peace my brother. - DB