How did Devilfish start playing poker?
As a young man he mostly played three-card brag but by the time he was 30 he was regularly hosting games and playing in other people’s home games. He was so good his fellow players stopped going to his games and allowing him at theirs and by 1990 he was on the road six nights a week trying to find games all over the north of England and the midlands. Devilfish was driven from game to game by his pal Gary Whitaker who had 10 percent of his action. Whitaker also placed bets for Devilfish with one of the top UK bookmakers after Devilfish had been barred for running £4,000 up to £70,000 as a result of his successful wagers. During this time his exploits included losing a £60,000 pot to Irish professional Donnacha O’Dea and winning the money back in other games over the next 48 hours. He also once played in five cities on one session and won £35,000. In the early 1990s Devilfish was playing more tournament poker than cash and was sufficiently good by 1996 to win £100,000 in one two-week per
