Dave Ulliott
Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott (born
January 4,
1954 in
Hull, England) is a professional
poker player.
Ulliott, the son of a truck driver, began playing poker at the age of 16, although he pursued a different career at first. He worked as a jeweler and pawnbroker while playing cash games on the side. By the
1990s nobody in England would play with him, so in
1996 he switched to
tournament poker and began playing in
Las Vegas,
Nevada.
Ulliott got his nickname of "Devilfish" from friend Stevie Au-Yeung when playing poker in England. The devil fish, or tako, is a poisonous fish that can kill people when ingested, if not properly prepared. The nickname was not widely used for Ulliot until playing heads up with
Men "The Master" Nguyen in Las Vegas. Someone from the crowd shouted ‘Go on the Master', a devilfish supporter responded back with ‘Go on the Devilfish'. After Ulliot beat Men Nguyen, the headlines the next day read ‘Devilfish devours the Master'.
After winning a World Series of Poker Championship bracelet, he had the nickname "Devilfish" ingraved onto it. Likewise, Ulliot also wears large rings that say "devil" and "fish" on his two hands which he created himself. His nickname prior to then was "Dave the Clock" because he used a grandfather clock as a buy-in to a local game in England.
He became a minor celebrity in the
United Kingdom in 1999 after winning the first
Late Night Poker Grand Final, defeating
Dave Welch in the final heads-up confrontation. He also made the final table of Late Night Poker's second Grand Final, but made an early exit. Despite playing in the remaining four series of the show, he never made the final table again.
He is almost certainly the best-known British poker player at present, even more so than
1990 WSOP Champion
Mansour Matloubi of
Wales. His biggest prize, however, came with the Jack Binion World Poker Open stop on the
World Poker Tour (WPT), a
no limit Texas hold 'em tournament in which he won first prize and almost $600,000.
In the inaugural edition of
PokerPlayer magazine (
October 2005) Ulliott was voted #9 on their Top 10 Poker Legends List.
Ulliott is arguably the best pot-limit
Omaha hold'em player in the world. He won the WSOP title for the event in
1997 and has finished in 2nd place five times. In all tournaments combined he has finished
in the money more than 35 times since 1997.
Ulliott also captained the winning British team in the
888.com Poker Nations Cup.
As of
2006, Ulliott has won over $3,600,000 in live tournament play, making him the top money winning
English player in history.
* Ulliott has long campaigned against smoking in poker tournaments. On the other hand he has pointed out he is fond of a few drinks of beer.
* The foreign players he admires the most are
Johnny Chan,
Phil Hellmuth Jr,
Erik Seidel,
Howard Lederer and
Annie Duke. The European players he admires the most are
Ram Vaswani and
Marcel Lüske.
* In his spare time he enjoys playing the
piano and
guitar.
* He enjoys
blues music as well as
AC/DC,
The Rolling Stones and
Fine Young Cannibals (vocalist
Roland Gift is a close friend of his.)
* He is also a good friend of
Jimmy White (Dave's own
snooker break is 73.)
* His favourite movies are
Once Upon a Time in America,
Heat and
A Fish Called Wanda.
* He is also the only player to have ever won tournaments on Late Night Poker, the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker.
* He is a spokesman for online poker site
Ultimatebet.com. (He was recommended for the deal by Mansour Matloubi to
Russ Hamilton, and was offered 1% of the company for the deal.)
* Ulliott resides with his wife in Hull, England. He has seven children.
| Year | Event | Position | Prize Money | | 1997 | $2000 Pot Limit Hold-Em | 1 | $180,310 |
| 1998 | $3000 Pot Limit Hold-Em | 2 | $103,200 |
| 2000 | $2000 No Limit Hold-Em | 2 | $150,480 |
| 2000 | $2500 Pot Limit Omaha | 5 | $21,490 |
| 2001 | $1500 Pot Limit Omaha | 2 | $83,515 |
| 2001 | $2000 Pot Limit Hold-Em | 2 | $99,515 |
| 2005 | $1500 No Limit Hold-Em | 3 | $232,205 |
| 2005 | $1500 No Limit Hold-Em | 9 | $47,225 |
| Season | Event | Position | Prize Money | | 1 | Heat 3 | 1 | - |
| 1 | Grand Final | 1 | £40,000 |
| 2 | Heat 2 | 1 | - |
| 2 | Grand Final | 8 | £2,000 |
| Season | Event | Position | Prize Money | | 1 | World Poker Open 2003 | 1 | $589,175 |
| 2 | Ultimate Poker Classic II | 7 | $28,195 |
*
Official site*
World Poker Tour profile*
Poker Babes profile*
The Sun Online interview*
Alternative account of how Ulliott got his nickname*
PokerPlayer magazine interview*
Hendon Mob forum post by Ulliott about Poker Europa review of Swimming With The Devilfish*
PokerListings.com interview*
Hendon Mob tournament results
