He's a good guy; or at least he's one of us. In any event, one reason for the reserve knowing as he must that people will bid below it, is if the reserve is not met, he can go back to the high bidder and offer the chips to him for that bid or a little more [yes I know that violates eBay's rules, but eBay's rules suck at times]. At least I have had several dealers offer chips to me when the undisclosed reserve was not met.