When it comes to poker players with street cred, few have anything on Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott. The famed British pro was a street fighter, part of a safe-cracking team, served two prison terms (27 months total), worked as a bouncer, and played in dangerous underground poker games. Taking all of this into account, he’s somewhat of the anti-online poker player, who sits on their computer for hours grinding each day.
And this was part of Ulliott’s message in a recent interview with PokerListings, where he advised that young players “get off their laptops” more often and live life.
Ulliott began the interview by talking about how he was kicked out of home at age 16 because he was “running with the wrong crowd.” Devilfish also discussed how, during his early poker years, he played in the type of underground games where you needed a gun in your pocket.
Then the interview switched to the subject of young online poker players, at which point Ulliott quipped that he could “out-fight ’em, out-fu** ’em, out-think ’em, out-drink ’em, out-sing ’em and out-bling ’em.”
Cheesy quotes aside, Devilfish had some very good advice for younger players as he said that “life passes you by pretty quickly” and “you gotta get out there, and get off them laptops. and get out there and live.” He added, “There’s a lot of stuff to be doing, you know. Not just sitting there on a computer. Most of ’em (young pros), they couldn’t tell you a good story because they haven’t got any.”
As we’ve covered so far, Devilfish definitely has lots of life experiences and stories to draw upon. And he’s always got some very interesting things to say as well.
In regard to his poker career, Ulliott ranks second among UK players with $6,193,273 in tournament winnings. His tourney earnings have remained somewhat stagnant because he mainly plays cash games these days. But regardless of whether he wins another tournament or not, Devilfish will always be one of the poker world’s most dynamic figures.