Friends, Family Mourn Loss of Longtime Poker Player Esther Rossi
Friends and family members of Esther Rossi, who passed away from cancer April 1, gathered on Saturday in Las Vegas to celebrate her life.
The young generation of poker players might not be familiar with Rossi, but those who followed the game in the pre-Chris Moneymaker boom era will certainly recognize the name. She was an accomplished player and beloved member of the poker community for years, and had many friends in the game.
Remembering Esther Rossi
Rossi took a step away from the poker world at one point in the 2010s, but she recorded 13 cashes for over $200,000 at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), her first being a runner-up finish in the 1998 $500 Ladies Limit 7-Card Stud event for $10,625. According to The Hendon Mob, she had $339,000 in live tournament cashes.
The late poker player is the former girlfriend of David "Chip" Reese, considered by many one of the greatest poker players of all-time. Reese, a three-time WSOP bracelet winner, passed away in 2007 at age 56.
Rossi grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and learned to play cards as a child thanks in no small part to her father, Armando “Spare” Rossi, who played cards all his life. In 1987, she moved to Las Vegas.
“I moved out to Vegas to work for United Airlines and a friend of mine, the only person I knew from my hometown, he was playing poker and it was 7-Card Stud,” Rossi told PokerNews in a 2018 interview. “I sat behind him and watched. After a hand I’d tell him he should do this and that, and he said, ‘Oh you be quiet, you don’t know an ace from a king.’ But I grew up playing poker, sat around the table on Saturdays with family.”
She continued: “After watching him that night I thought I could do it. It seemed fun and I started going on my own playing $1-$3 at Bally’s and I was cleaning up. Then I started playing $5-$10 at Caesars and quit the airline. I played close to 20 years just Stud.”
Rossi had a passion for stud poker and even once moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles just so she could continue playing stud after the poker variant had mostly dried up in Vegas.
"It’s a shame really because it’s one of the best games that there is. It’s my favorite game," Rossi said.
Ten of Rossi's 13 WSOP cashes came in stud or stud hi-lo events, and two others were in H.O.R.S.E. or Razz, a stud variant. PokerNews would like to send our condolences to the friends and family of the Esther Rossi.
