One of the world’s most famous, or should we say notorious, poker players is Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott. Dave hasn’t always been a poker player, Devilfish started life playing 3 card brag at the beginning of a colourful life which has included safe cracking, armed robberies, trips to Vegas, trips to prison and winning a World Series of Poker bracelet. However it was 3 card brag that started Ulliott’s illustrious gambling career at the Fifty-One Club casino in his native Kingston-upon-Hull.
As a child Ulliott used to play poker with his parents and at the age of 16 started playing 3 card brag at the Fifty-One Club, where he would begin his famous career. By the 1990’s Ulliott, along with fellow gambling partner, Gary Whitaker used to travel six nights a week to poker games while at the same time placing bets at William Hill Bookmakers. However, it was Whitaker who had to place the bets due to Ulliott being banned from all William Hill shops after successfully converting £4,000 into £70,000.
In 1997 Ulliott arrived at Benny Binion’s Horseshoe Casino, Las Vegas with $200,000 in his back pocket but blew the lot playing cash games and buying into tournaments. He borrowed another $70,000 but managed to lose all of that too. He managed to scrape together $2,000 to buy into a pot limit Texas holdem event which he won, earning himself $180,310 and his only WSOP bracelet to date. Following his WSOP success Ulliott went on a phenomenal run that saw him pocket over half a million dollars in a two-week period.
Back in the UK Ulliott became a regular on Late Night Poker, where he won the £40,000 first prize during the first series along with a final table finish in the second series and three other appearances too.
So this awe inspiring career which has had some highs and some lows, some wins and some losses but one thing nobody can deny is that Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott is one of the greatest card players that the world has ever seen…and he started out life playing 3 card brag.
