Meet Dave Ulliott, an English professional poker player who was once a member of the Hull (England) underworld. Nicknamed "Devilfish," Ulliott has been arrested for minor crimes (safe cracking, armed robbery, fighting) and has spent time in jail.
Prior to being called Devilfish, he was known as "Dave the Clock" because he once used a grandfather clock as a buy-in to a poker game where one of the players was a furniture dealer.
Reports indicate that the 40-plus year old Ulliott has been clean since age 28. The only mayhem he is prone to cause these days is likely to take place on a poker table.
As a professional poker player, Ulliott has had his moments. He has had 24 money finishes on the World Series of Poker (WSOP) tour and six money finishes in the World Poker Tour. He has also won one WSOP championship bracelet.
The manner in which Ulliott won his lone WSOP bracelet tells much about the man. The year was 1997, and he arrived at the WSOP tournament with $200,000. The tournament had hardly began when Ulliott lost all his money in cash games and tournament buy-ins. A friend lent him $70,000 more, but he lost that, too. Fortunately, he was able to put together a buy-in for the $2,000 pot limit Texas Hold 'em event. There, Ulliott made it all the way to the final hand against fellow Englishman Chris Truby. He went all-in in the final hand, where he had an open-ended straight draw and flush draw versus the pocket pair of Truby. When the river came, Ulliott got his straight. He pocketed the $180,310 top prize and captured his first WSOP bracelet, on which he had the word "Devilfish" promptly engraved.
After that tournament, Ulliott stayed hot for two weeks more. His recent victory had given him new-found resolve at the poker table, and he was winning major cash games left and right, pocketing about $10,000 to $20,000 a day. He challenged Lyle Berman in a game of heads-up pot limit Omaha and won $168,000. At the end of those two weeks and before he headed home, Ulliott had won $742,000 in cash. He carried the money around in bags from duty free. Upon returning to his favorite casino in Leeds, England, he was met with loud applause from his usual opponents.
Today, Ulliott is regarded as one of the characters of the game. His life in and out of poker has been depicted in a book, "Swimming with the Devilfish." In a recent survey of the Top 10 Poker Legends in PokerPlayer magazine, Ulliott was voted number nine on the list. As of 2007, his career live tournament winnings were pegged at above $4.4 million. That makes him the most successful and highest-earning English player ever. Not bad at all for a failed safe cracker and armed robber.
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