David 'Dave' Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. He is known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's past pottery industry and his profession of potting snooker balls). He is also the first player on the television circuit to sport a plaster on his chin as a guide for his cue, which is a practise now adopted by Graeme Dott. As an amateur he played as David Harold, but since turning professional in 1991 he has been registered as Dave Harold. He has three children.
He has won one ranking title, reached two further finals and several semi-finals, and spent four seasons ranked among the top 16. Harold is renowned for both his very strong defensive play and his unusual cue-action, with which he is able to unleash a great deal of power on a shot without using backswing on the cue. Despite safety play ultimately being considered his strong point, he has compiled 112 century breaks, putting him 22nd on the all time list. Steve Davis has commented that he is not the most naturally gifted player, but makes up for this with strong tactical play. His technique and grinding play has been compared to that of Cliff Thorburn.