No-hopers get Devil backing.
/ Editor / 23 September 2008 / Leave a comment
Dave Ulliott has long been considered the finest poker export from the UK having spent a long time at the top in the limelight, and he has now been drafted in to front a new poker TV show and offer his vast experience and expertise to a bunch of no-hopers, writes Rob Eddy.
A new series entitled 'How To Become A Poker Millionaire' is provisionally airing in Wales (but may expand to the rest of ITV later) and 'Devilfish' is to take four losing players and give them a month of intensive poker training in the hope of turning one into a winner.
One of the four contestants will be eliminated each week, with the winner taking home the bankrolls accumulated by all the players, as well as a seat in the next World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas.
"Poker players won't have seen anything like this before. It was a real boot camp for the participants and I took no prisoners," Ulliott said of the show. "There's laughter and tears, good poker and bad poker, and viewers will get to learn many of the tricks of the high-stakes poker trade which took me years and a lot of money to learn."
A real character on the felt, Ulliott is certainly the right man for the job as he was amassed over $5million in tournament earnings - the most on record by a British player - which he will use to give the contestants their bankroll to play with as they learn.
The 54-year-old from Hull has done just about everything on the tables and has a coveted WSOP gold bracelet to his name, which he claimed in 1997 in a $2,000 pot limit Texas Hold'em event.
Ulliott also has been unlucky on a number of occasions to miss out on a second gold bracelet with a number of runner-up berths in 26 other money finishes in the WSOP.
He is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with when the WSOP Europe kicks off on September 19 as he looks to give the home fans something to shout about at the Casino at The Empire.