Dave Ulliott is one of the most successful British poker players of all time.  After spending his late teens and early twenties involved in crime, including two spells in prison, he moved away from that life and it was poker where he found his wealth and fame.

He won a WSOP bracelet in 1997 (one of the few Brits to have done that), and his appearances on the first series of Late Night Poker in 1999 (that he went on to win) were one of the reasons for the huge poker boom that has grown to the extent it has in the UK.  It was the first TV programme to use cameras to show the hole cards of the players, letting the viewer see what was previously hidden from them. 

He's well known for his nick-name, "Devilfish".   Which sounds pretty cool.  The story goes that it was given to him by Stephen Yeung at a game in Birmingham.  Dave himself tells the story like this:

"The Devilfish was given to me by a Chinese guy in Birmingham by the name of Stevie. This guy likened me to the Devilfish because I'm very aggressive and I give 'em the needle after I take the money off them. The Devilfish is the fish that only a few chefs can prepare - if they don't take the poison out right it'll kill you."

This is where I have to point something out.  I think Stevie might have made a mistake.

The name 'Devilfish' is actually incorrect.  The fish I guess he was meant to be named after is actually the puffer fish or blow fish, called fugu in Japanese. 

A devil fish is actually a genus of ray that is part of the family of eagle rays.  It's also the name given to some species of octopus in America.  I've searched all over the web to find other instances of fugu being referred to as a 'devil fish'.  I couldn't find any.

Fugu - blowfish

Fugu is dangerous because it contains lethal amounts of tetrodotoxin.  This is most concentrated in certain organs such as the liver. In Japan, specially licensed chefs are allowed to prepare and sell fugu to the public, and the consumption of the liver and ovaries is forbidden. However, a number of people die every year from consuming improperly prepared fugu.  Most of these are in cases where 'amateur' chefs decide to have a go at preparing fugu sashimi.  The connoisseurs of fugu tell me that the key is for the chef to leave a minute trace of the poison in the sashimi which makes the lips tingle.  Nice.  Others have told me that fugu is actually very bland and very expensive.  I managed to avoid this gastronomic Russian-roulette when I was in Japan, and I don't feel as though I missed out on much.

Dave "Blowfish" Ulliott

Anyway, back to Dave.  The wikipedia entry for Dave Ulliott also contains further misinformation  - more factoids:

The Devilfish is another name for the Japanese delicacy tako, which is a poisonous fish which will kill if eaten without proper preparation.

This is just completely incorrect.  The poisonous fish is the fugu, the blow fish.  Tako is Japanese for octopus, and the ones that are eaten aren't poisonous, which would spoil the meaning behind the nick-name.

So really, his nickname should be 'Blowfish' or even 'Puffer fish', but I guess Devilfish has a better ring to it.  Certainly beats the nick-name he had before then, which was 'The Clock', because he'd used a grandfather clock as a buy-in to a local game where he knew a furniture dealer was playing.

Still, it's better than being called 'a fish', a derogatory term aimed at players who are there to be taken by the sharks at the poker table.  One that's been levelled at me from time to time, and usually with good reason…♠