Dave Ulliott’s Life: Net Worth, Biggest Profits, Losses and Private Life

Dave Ulliott, better known as Devilfish, was a British professional poker player, gambler, WSOP bracelet winner, WPT champion, and Poker Hall of Fame member. He was born on April 1, 1954, in Hull, England, and passed away on April 6, 2015.

He finished his career with more than $6.2 million in live tournament earnings, one WSOP bracelet , one WPT title , and a legacy that still feels louder than most modern poker résumés. His estimated net worth at the time of his death was between $2 million and $5 million.

That number is an estimate, not a confirmed figure. With Devilfish, the database only tells part of the story. He was a tournament winner, a cash-game gambler, a sports bettor, a TV personality, and one of the first true characters of televised poker.

Before poker became polished and media-trained, Devilfish was already built for the cameras. The tinted glasses, the suits, the leather jackets, the table talk, and the famous DEVIL and FISH rings made him instantly recognizable. He did not need a personal brand manager. He was the brand.

Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott | Key Facts

Who Was Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott?

Dave Ulliott was one of the most important poker figures to come out of the United Kingdom.

He was not just successful. He was memorable. Poker has had plenty of winners, but not many players could walk into a room and change the temperature of the table before the first card was dealt. Devilfish could.

His story was rough around the edges from the beginning. He grew up in Hull, played cards young, spent time around gambling rooms, and made money through crime before eventually finding a better outlet through poker and sports betting.

That past followed him, but it also shaped the player people saw on television. Devilfish played with the confidence of someone who had already survived much harder rooms than a poker table.

Dave Ulliott Net Worth

Dave Ulliott’s estimated net worth at the time of his death was likely between $2 million and $5 million.

There is no public financial record confirming the exact figure. Poker winnings alone do not show a player’s true wealth, especially for someone like Devilfish. He made money from live tournaments, private cash games, sports betting, television appearances, and business interests, including his former online poker room.

His recorded live tournament earnings sit at more than $6.2 million, but that figure does not include:

• Cash-game profits – Devilfish played live cash games for decades, including high-stakes games in Las Vegas.
• Sports betting – He was a serious gambler away from the poker table.
• Television and media work – His personality made him a natural fit for poker’s first TV boom.
• Business interests – He owned devilfishpoker.com before selling the site in 2010.

His lifestyle also reflected a man who was used to money moving quickly. Devilfish was never the quiet bankroll-nit type. He was a gambler, and with gamblers, the real number is always a moving target.

How Did Dave Ulliott Get The Nickname Devilfish?

The nickname Devilfish was given to Ulliott by Birmingham poker room owner Stephen Au-Yeung.

The name refers to the fugu, a poisonous fish served in Japan. If prepared incorrectly, it can kill you. That suited Ulliott perfectly. At the table, he was dangerous, sharp, unpredictable, and not especially interested in making opponents comfortable.

The nickname stuck because it felt earned. Some poker nicknames sound forced. Devilfish sounded like it had been waiting for him.

What Made Devilfish Famous?

Devilfish became famous through a mix of results, personality, and timing.

He was already a serious player before poker became mainstream in the UK, but Late Night Poker turned him into a recognizable figure. The Channel 4 show launched in 1999 and helped bring hole-card poker to British television audiences.

For many UK fans, Devilfish was one of the first poker players who felt larger than life. He talked, needled, laughed, stared people down, and played the game with a kind of street theatre that made perfect television.

He was not pretending to be a character. That was the whole point. The camera simply arrived late.

Dave Ulliott’s Live Tournament Career

Ulliott recorded more than $6.2 million in live tournament earnings across 227 live cashes.

His first recorded tournament cash came in 1993, when he finished sixth in a £200 7-Card Stud event at the Grosvenor Spring Classic in London. That result only paid him £200, but it was the start of a tournament record that would stretch across more than two decades.

His career included wins in the United States, major results in Las Vegas, a WSOP bracelet, and a World Poker Tour title. For a British player from his era, that was a serious global record.

Dave Ulliott’s Biggest Tournament Results

Dave Ulliott’s WSOP Bracelet

Dave Ulliott won his only WSOP bracelet in 1997.

He took down the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event for $180,310, defeating American player Chris Turby heads-up for the title.

That bracelet helped confirm what many in the UK already knew: Devilfish was not just a talker. He could play. Winning a WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas carried serious weight, especially at a time when British poker was still fighting for wider recognition.

His biggest WSOP cash came a decade later, when he finished third in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Rebuy event in 2007 for $349,811.

Overall, Ulliott cashed in 33 WSOP events for more than $1.7 million.

Dave Ulliott’s WPT Title

One of Devilfish’s biggest wins came in 2003 at the Jack Binion World Poker Open in Tunica, Mississippi.

He won the $1,100 No Limit Hold’em WPT event for $589,175. Even better, he defeated Phil Ivey heads-up for the title.

That result has aged very well. Beating Ivey heads-up in a major event is not a footnote. It is a proper trophy mark.

Late Night Poker and the UK Poker Boom

If there is one show most closely linked to Devilfish’s public image, it is Late Night Poker.

The Channel 4 show first aired in 1999 and became a cult hit in the UK. It used hole-card cameras, moody lighting, and a small-table format that made poker feel intimate, tense, and strange in the best possible way.

Devilfish was perfect for it.

He had the look, the voice, the confidence, and the table presence. He understood something many players took years to learn: televised poker is still poker, but it is also a show. Devilfish gave viewers someone to remember.

For British poker, that mattered. Before online poker exploded, shows like Late Night Poker helped turn poker from a smoky backroom game into something people could follow at home. Devilfish was one of the faces of that change.

Devilfish and Live Cash Games

Ulliott was also a serious live cash-game player.

He appeared on the partypoker Big Game in 2007, where players battled in a £50/£100 no-limit hold’em cash game. The line-up included major personalities such as Phil Hellmuth and Tony G.

He was also known to play in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, one of the most famous high-stakes poker rooms in the world.

Those games do not show up on Hendon Mob. There is no clean public record for whether he won or lost in every private session. But cash games were a real part of his poker life, and any discussion of Devilfish’s money has to include them.

Devilfish Poker and Online Poker

Ulliott also moved into the online poker world with devilfishpoker.com.

He later sold the site for a reported £330,000 in 2010. The site is no longer active, but it was another example of how recognizable the Devilfish name had become.

Plenty of poker players had results. Fewer had a nickname strong enough to build a poker room around.

Devilfish’s Criminal Past

Part of Ulliott’s story is his criminal past.

Before poker became his main life, he was involved in crime, including safe-cracking, and served two prison sentences. It is not the cleanest chapter of his life, but leaving it out would make the story less honest.

What makes Devilfish interesting is not that he had a rough past. It is that poker became the place where his nerve, risk tolerance, reading ability, and appetite for pressure could be used without going back to that life.

He was not polished. He was not supposed to be. That was part of why people believed him.

Was Dave Ulliott Controversial?

Devilfish was one of poker’s great talkers, so yes, he annoyed people.

He could needle opponents, talk through hands, arrive late, and create the kind of table atmosphere that made some players laugh and others quietly boil. He came from the same broad school of poker personality as players like Tony G and Mike Matusow , where the mouth was part of the toolkit.

But he was not just noise. The table talk had a purpose. He wanted opponents uncomfortable. He wanted them reacting. He wanted to pull them into his game rather than play theirs.

That style does not work for everyone. For Devilfish, it was part of the whole package.

Dave Ulliott and the Poker Hall of Fame

Dave Ulliott was posthumously inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2017.

It was a fitting recognition for a player whose influence went beyond results. He helped shape poker’s television era, carried the flag for British poker internationally, and left behind one of the most recognizable identities the game has ever produced.

Hall of Fame debates can get messy, but Devilfish had a strong case. He won at the highest level, played across decades, became a genuine poker celebrity, and helped make the game more watchable for a wider audience.

Dave Ulliott Career Timeline

How Is Devilfish Remembered Today?

Devilfish is remembered as one of the most original characters poker has ever had.

He was a winner, but the results alone do not explain why people still talk about him. It was the full thing: the Hull accent, the sharp suits, the rings, the table talk, the gambling stories, the needle, the danger, and the feeling that he belonged to an older poker world that no longer really exists.

Modern poker is cleaner now. More studied. More professional. More careful. That has made the game better in many ways, but it has also made players like Devilfish feel even more rare.

He was not a template. He was a one-off.

And that is why, years after his death, the name still lands.

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