Poker Player Profile - Dave Ulliot

Among English poker players, no one has achieved the level of fame of one Dave "Devilfish" Ulliot, whose working class Englishman grit and aggressive style of play have caused more than one poker player to sit up and take notice.

Born in 1954 to a truck driver in Hull, England, Dave Ulliot has played cards nearly all of his life. At 15, while working in a trophy factory, he was turned on to a game called Brag, which the players believed was basically a game of luck but which Ulliot found a way to beat. His working class father was so frustrated with Ulliot.s financial success that he threw Ulliot out of the house at 16. Ulliot spent the next few years living by his wits, playing cards and working at whatever job he could find, including boxer and bouncer. After spending a year in jail for assault and narrowly avoiding a second prison sentence, Ulliot decided to reign in his wild ways a bit. He got married and opened up a pawn shop, running poker games in the back which he inevitably won. Eventually, Ulliot, who never missed an opportunity to needle his opponents, killed his own poker business by either annoying or scaring the opposition too much to get a game.

Not ready to give up on the game which his talents were so perfectly suited for, Ulliot took up poker tournaments, where opponents had no choice but to play against him. Here, as in the cash games, Ulliot dominated. He famously won the first season of "Late Night Poker" the British show which was the precursor to the World Poker Tour. His other tournament successes include a World Series of Poker bracelet for Pot Limit Hold`em in 1997, a second place finish in the 1997 European No Limit Hold`em Championship at the Victoria Casino in London, 1st Place in the 5,000 Franc Pot Limit Omaha event of the Euro Finals of Poker in Paris in 1998, and 2nd in the 1998 World Series of Poker's $3000 Pot Limit Hold`em event. More recently, Devilfish made the final table of the 2002 World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi, and won the event outright the following year. In 2006, Ulliot won the 888.com Poker Nations Cup. "Devilfish" got his name from Chinese poker player Stevie Au-Yeung, who likened him to the deadly Asian fish which can be poisonous when ingested. He is considered to be one of the best Pot Limit Omaha players in the world. He has seven children and enjoys listening to rock music in his spare time.

With over three million dollars in tournament winnings, Devilfish Ulliot is by far the most successful British poker player in history. With his ability to get under his opponents. skins, his aggressive nature, and his seemingly random yet brutally effective style of play, he is by far one of the most feared poker opponents of any nationality.

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