David “Chino” Rheem: Man On the Run?
It has happened so many times before. There is a person who is hardly known to the public. Then that person hits the limelight. But even before the proverbial 15 seconds of fame are over the cupboard opens and skeletons start tumbling out. This is exactly what has happened with David “Chino” Rheem.
Rheem has been known within the poker fraternity as an up and coming tournament player. His total tournament earnings since 2005 have been listed around the $600,000 mark, which is nothing to write home about. Especially when more than half of these come from a single event – a WSOP 2006 preliminary in which he placed second. And then this week Rheem made it to the final table of the WSOP 2008 Main Event. This assures him of at least $900,000 in prize money, which could go all the way to $9.1 million if he wins.
And then the news broke. Rheem has an alive warrant for his arrest. Sun Sentinel, which came out with the news, says that Rheem has multiple convictions to his name in Broward County, including convictions for felonies. The charges include dealing in stolen property, burglary, larceny and possession of marijuana. All this happened eight years ago and Rheem was sentenced to four months in jail with 30 months probation. Then in 2003 he was slapped with a misdemeanor trespassing charge in Hollywood. He did not appear in court. Therefore the court was compelled to issue a warrant for his arrest, which is still active.
Understandably Rheem was unavailable for comment. Rheem is a member of the PokerStars team. In fact six of the nine players who made it to the WSOP 2008 Main Event have been sponsored by PokerStars. PokerStars have denied any knowledge of Rheem’s earlier tryst with the law. So have the WSOP officials. The only person who has spoken about Rheem since the news broke is Steve Watkins, the former poker manager of the Seminole Hollywood Casino where Rheem played a lot of his early poker. Watkins says that Rheem started playing there as soon as he was of legal age. Another regular who played with Rheem was Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who is a big name in the poker world today. Mizrachi was one of the players Rheem beat on the way to the final nine. Watkins remembers Rheem as ‘a very polite young man’, who learnt by watching others and playing a lot himself.
Whether Rheem plays the finals scheduled to be held in November or not, ESPN has hit the jackpot. This year the live televised finals have been delayed in order to allow ESPN to build up momentum by telecasting the earlier events. These telecasts are scheduled to begin on July 22 with the telecast of the final table of Event 1. And as they say in the TV world ‘any publicity is good publicity’ and Rheem has handed ESPN a goldmine on a platter.
Sam said
am July 21 2008 @ 7:08 pm
I grew up with David in South Florida and him and my buddy got busted together for the grand larceny charges. Those were mistakes he made when he was young and made some bad decisions. Hopefully it won’t affect him at the Final table
kaus said
am July 22 2008 @ 8:52 pm
We hope so too and I am sure many other players have skeletons as well as do most people. Its a shame that this waiting period gives the media time to go digging up dirt on people.
Something About Poker said
am August 8 2008 @ 4:10 pm
Most of the card players in the old western days were a bunch of bad boy hustlers, drunks and gun slingers. would have made Chino look harmless. I don’t condone crime, when you are young you can be prone to doing stupid stuff!
A good story for ESPN if they spin it the right way!
jopke said
am October 17 2008 @ 7:41 pm
David Rheem comes across as an arrogant jerk on TV. People who think he has “reformed” are fooling themselves. Good riddance to his final table appearance.
Azjjx2 said
am November 12 2008 @ 4:48 am
Hey Jopke… I didnt see u at the final table!!! Put that ” HATERADE ” down!!!
T.d said
am December 3 2008 @ 8:59 pm
In the game of poker, there are many jerks. Stop watching cartoons and start watching more Poker Jopke.