Devilfish: He’s No Fish When It Comes To Poker
British poker pro David "Devilfish" Ulliot is the latest professional poker player to write an autobiography.
His book, titled "Devilfish: The Life and Times of a Poker Legend," comes out on Thursday, September 9, 2010.
The book is published by Penguin Books.
Gambling911.com hasn't seen an advance copy of the book, but if the author gives an honest account of his life, it should be quite a tome.
Ulliot, 56, according to official tournament records, has won over $5.8 million in his career playing live tournament poker, putting him in first place among all British poker pros.
And in 1997, he won a championship gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas in a $2,000 buy-in pot-limit Texas hold 'em tournament.
He's also spent some time in prison.
A thug in his youth, he served nine months for safe-cracking and later, 18 months for getting into a brawl outside a bar.
He also once planned to rob a bank, but changed his mind at the last minute.
He then found poker and, eventually, poker success.
(His personal life isn't so successful, though--he has seven kids of various degrees of legitimacy by three different women.)
A press release issued by Penguin Books about the autobiography notes: "Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott is never far from controversy and his new autobiography, published by Penguin on September 9, is expected to fuel debate about the colorful and charismatic gambling legend."
The release goes on: "In this explosive and insightful book Ulliott reveals, for the first time, the extent of the violent and unpredictable world in which he lived before he found poker fame and fortune. He details in glorious technicolor his near ruinous stints in prison which saw him spark a riot over a snooker game and in self-defense attempt to smash a skinhead weight-lifter with a 10-kilo weight. Ulliott goes on to admit regularly toting a gun to his backroom poker games around the north of England and occasionally using it."
A British newspaper which reviewed the book called it, "fast, funny, scary, smart, cocky and colorful."
Ulliott is just the lastest in a long line of professional poker players who have penned (or had ghost-written) their autobiographies.
Previous poker pros who authored their life stories include Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, Annie Duke, Roy "The Boy" Brindley, Victoria Coren, Vince Burgio, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Barry Greenstein, Phil "Poker Brat" Hellmuth Jr., Lyle Berman, Chris Moneymaker and Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston Jr.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
tomsomach@yahoo.com
