Criminal background and poker beginnings
 

Ulliott was born in 1954 in Kingston upon Hull in the East of England. A troubled childhood caused him to leave school at the age of 15 and become involved in organised crime. Over the course of his life, Ulliott served several prison terms for a variety of offences including insurance fraud, armed robbery and muggings.

He was given a helping hand by his second wife, who was able to pull him out of that rut, and shortly after they met, Ulliott was changed from the ground up. He cut all old acquaintances, took up with his wife, and threw himself fully into the game that had tempted and entertained him for many years. He regularly travelled all over England to play poker, and persistence gradually began to bring success.

Poker Success
 

Ulliott recorded his first tournament entry in 1993 and soon after, in 1997, he won a WSOP bracelet and $180,310 in a $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event. It became his only bracelet for the rest of his life, but he came close to winning a second one several times. He lost heads-up three times in 1998, 2000, and 2001, finished third in a $1,500 NLH event for $232,205 in 2005, and notched another third-place finish in a $5,000 PLO event ($349,811) in 2007.

At the height of his fame, Ulliott also appeared on Late Night Poker, the first poker show to use camera technology and the ability to see players' cards. In 2003, Ulliott added a WPT title to his bracelet when he defeated a young Phil Ivey in heads-up play at the Jack Binion World Poker Open to win $589,175. He managed to surpass that amount once more in his career when he finished third in the $674,500 Doyle Bruson Five Diamond WPT in December 2007.

Incidentally, in 2017, it was Devilfish and Phil Ivey who were jointly inducted into the WSOP Hall of Fame

Origin of the Devilfish nickname
 

To this day, the poker public refers to Ulliott as Devilfish rather than Ulliott, but many have no idea how the nickname originated. In the book Devilfish: The Life and Times of a Poker Legend, one of Ulliott's private cash game sessions is described in which Ulliott row-for-row destroyed all of his opponents. One of the players at the time referred to him as a devilfish.

"I've been told all sorts of things, but I've never heard anything like it. The player told me that devil fish is a slang name for the Japanese fish fugu (four-tooth fish), which is a dangerous delicacy. In fact, if not prepared exactly as it should be, its poison can be fatal. I liked the name devil fish, but we just laughed about it and kept playing. When I left the game, I forgot all about it."

Ulliott completely forgot about the incident until he made his first trip to Las Vegas with a friend named Gary Whitaker, who had been his companion and driver for ten years. It was January 1997, and the pair headed downtown to check into the Four Queens Hotel. During the trip, Ulliott decided to enter the $500 buy-in Four Queens Poker Classic Omaha tournament. Not only did he advance to the final table, but he battled his way to heads-up play where he faced none other than Men "The Master" Nguyen. Ulliott may have played highstakes, but he had never played in such a prestigious event against an opponent with such a resounding name.

"I've played all sorts of games where guys have yelled, cursed, even fought, but I've never played a big game like this in front of such a big crowd. The crowd really got into it, shouting at me, cheering and groaning when the cards were turned. I started to get the upper hand in heads-up play and one of the Mena supporters yelled: "Go, champ!". Gary, who was standing up front by the rail, shouted back: "Go, Devilfish!" I had completely forgotten that nickname until Gary resurrected it. When Gary shouted it out, it went over very well with the audience, and that's how it all came about."

With the crowd at his back, Devilfish began picking off hand after hand and it didn't take long for him to defeat the Master and win his first major tournament and the $21,000 bounty. The next morning, Ulliott received a pleasant surprise in connection with his win, forever cementing his new nickname in the poker world.

"One of the British poker players showed me the morning edition of the local newspaper. The headline on the sports page was about my tournament victory over Meno 'The Master' Nguyen. It said, 'DEVILFISH DESTROYS THE MASTER!' And so the legend of Devilfish was born." Ulliott was diagnosed with colon cancer in February 2015 and died of the disease on April 6, 2015 at the age of 61.

Sources - pokernews, YouTube, wikipedia, wsop, TheHendonMob