I haven’t blogged since December 2012. I guess there has not
been much to say, although there have been some huge changes during this time
where I have fallen out of the Poker industry and then fallen back in again, I
haven’t been inspired to write.
I haven’t really felt loss (outside of family and friends) that meant
anything since May 1994. On a Sunday afternoon at Imola, I found out that your
heroes aren’t immortal and people that you were in awe of were just human like
the rest of us.
Regardless of personal opinion, the world is a poorer place,
with the news that Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott lost his battle with cancer on the 6th
of April 2015. Probably the first Poker player to attract mainstream popularity
in the UK, Devilfish had swagger, sunglasses, a cool nickname and a sketchy
past. What other ingredients do you need to be a legendary card player in the
Nineties?
While the game has changed beyond all recognition, moving
from smoky backrooms to Hilton Hotel Ballrooms, Poker is still a card game that
is widely perceived as gambling yet there is still an aura around the game, a
mystique that is both intoxicating and inviting to those who play or just have
a passing interest. I quite often wonder where I would be today if it wasn’t
for those backroom heroes from 20 years ago.
Back in 1999 I, like so many others, watched the card game I
used to play at school and during my teenage years after it was thrust on to
our TV screens courtesy of a little camera hidden under the table.
Yes, we have all seen the interviews where Steve Lipscombe
says it was the World Poker Tour that did it first, but those of us who
finished work late or stayed up late in the UK have always known it was not
true. Channel 4 pioneered poker television, four years before the world had
heard of Chris Moneymaker. Watching Series 1 of
‘Late Night Poker’ introduced us to the Devilfish, ‘Mad’ Marty Wilson, Liam Flood, Surinder
Sunar, Simon Trumper, Joe Beevers, Ross Boatman and his brother Barny all with
commentary from the equally legendary Jesse May.
They were all so far removed from the world I lived in and
were playing cards for an eye watering top prize of £40,000 (a number somewhat
lower than the multi millions of Pounds, Euros and Dollars that are played for
across the felt in 2015), yet they seemed like the most fascinating characters
in the world. Sometimes I find it strange that I have met all of these ‘Poker
Pioneers’ and socialised with most of them at some point over the last few
years. The world truly is a strange place.
Anyway, in case you missed Series 1, the Devilfish won the
£40,000 and became, as close to a household name in the UK as a poker player
will ever be. I always say if you as an American who has followed poker for 15
years to name a player they will inevitably say ‘Phil Helmuth’, but ask someone
from the UK who has followed poker for 15 years the same question they will say
‘ Devilfish’.
To say Dave Ulliott helped bring Poker into the mainstream is
pretty much on the money, to say I wouldn’t be doing what I do today without
Dave Ulliot is an exaggeration, but the truth is that without these heroes of
the game back in 1999 it would not be the multi million industry that it is
today.
RIP Fish and thanks for the memories.
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