I and many more will be pleased to see that David "Devilfish" Ulliott was announced as an inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame today. Nicely done.

Phil Ivey is in on his first year of eligibility, which is probably no surprise.

phil ivey first player to get a unanimous vote decision.

in b4 fedor holz is better lmao


also rip devilfish

GOAT

Reminds me of that early WPT episode where Ivey and Devilfish were heads up in Tunica. One of the all time classics. Mike Sexton really did awesome job building them up.

a guy that cheats at casino games and a guy that went through a late mid-life crisis and started wearing bedazzled jeans and ed hardy shirts.

Oh man the Ed Hardy shirts were awful. Devilfish definitely had some style early and went berserk late with the fashion choices.

1st. The casinos couldve denied iveys request but they didnt, him and his partner found an edge and they allowed it to play out. Also lol @ sticking up for casinos who's sole purpose is to take every ones money.

2nd, devilfish had a big personality, maybe he felt like ed hardy spoke to his personality?

Either way im pretty sure you couldnt afford to be in either position stated in the 1st and 2nd point.

Two of the best and most interesting poker players who ever lived and that's what you come up with?

Being from the UK, seeing Ulliott and the Hendon Mob guys on Late Night Poker back in 1999 or so was what got me started in poker.

Ivey's record speaks for itself.

this HOF class decision. Ivey and Devilfish. Some of my fav pokernews WSOP interviews by Sarah Grant were each summer when she found Devilfish to chat with. lol One of my fav poker 'characters' was Devilfish, especially during Late Night Poker and on Premier League.
I really wish someone would do some bracelet bets with Ivey again during the World Series to get him back to entering events again in future years.

"The Poker Hall of Fame Governing Council would like to recognize and congratulate the other 2017 finalists, all whom remain eligible for future induction: David Chiu, Mori Eskandani, Ted Forrest, Thor Hansen, Mike Matusow, Max Pescatori, Matt Savage and Huckleberry Seed."

http://www.wsop.com/news/2017/Jul/92...S-OF-2017.html

RIP Dave - WPGG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsP...ature=youtu.be

Phil Ivey was a no-brainer.

I have a problem with Devilfish being inducted. He basically got the "guy who died early sympathy vote" and "guy who made televised poker entertaining vote".

This guy cashed $6.2 million in tournaments, but spent A LOT on buyins. It's not even clear how much was spent to "win" that $6.2 million, as his results go back a very long way. I realize that this could be said about many tournament poker players with eye-popping overall cash numbers, but I didn't see evidence of a player who was routinely crushing it. Rather, he was just producing fairly good results over a long period of time of very prolific play.

But what about giving him extra credit for the entertainment factor he brought to TV, and what his presence did to increase poker play in Europe?

Well, if you're going to take that factor into account, you also need to take into account his reprehensible behavior off the felt. This guy was a serial harasser of women. I witnessed it personally several times, including highly inappropriate behavior toward married/longtime-attached women who showed no interest toward him. This included many women involved in poker, both players themselves and wives/girlfriends of male players.

Prior to his entry into poker, he was a longtime thief and scammer, by his own admission in various interviews. Rather than having an epiphany regarding guilt about his prior criminal life, he simply moved on to poker because it was more lucrative and less risky. Had he not found poker, he would have been safecracking, scamming, and stealing to his dying day.

This was not a good person.

If he had extraordinary poker results, clearly his personal failings would have to be ignored and he should be inducted anyway.

However, his results are good, but not extraordinary. Any good he brought poker was negated by the bad he brought poker from his personal conduct.

I would have much rather seen Mike Matusow, Max Pescatori, or the very-underrated (but unfortunately very boring) David Chiu elected to the second spot.

And when are they ever going to fix the awful voting system and non-transparent nomination process?

They should induct two living players and if a deceased player gets in, it should be in addition to the living players. No issue with devilfish getting in, but let's recongize living players while they can appreciate their achievement.

I never knew about Devilfish's criminal background. I just read it on Wikipedia. It's fascinating. If it was the sixties he would have probably been part of the Kray Twins mob.

You make a good point. Devilfish was eligible for lots of years before he passed (RIP). Not saying he doesn't deserve it, but does he get in now as opposed to when he was still alive just because he passed? I agree there should be a separate "posthumous" entry category. And limiting to 2 a year seems quite arbitrary. But whatever, whole thing is kind of a circle jerk decided by Bobby's Room anyway.

I thought it was the "Hall of Fame" and not "Hall of Profitability in Poker Tournaments"?

There aren't that many players who had a bigger impact on making poker big in Europe. He's getting into the hall of fame because he is way more poker famous than anybody else on the list, maybe with the exception of Mike Matusow.

This.

Was Allen Cunningham eligible? He turned 40 earlier this year, just a few weeks after Ivey.

As a player results matter according to the halls own criteria. Being a public figure, being popular, or being a nice person does not. There is a seperate category for "builders" that can takes things like that into account.

But even the results part is somewhat nebulas. Without actually looking it up it is, standing the test of time and playing at the highest stakes. Mostly this has focused on cash games and more importantly playing in the right cash games. Which is how it's become the hall of Doyal's buddies and why Europeans are shamefully underrepresented. If it ever wants to be taken seriously there needs to be a major overhaul of how things are done. Someone like Moneymaker will never quality as a player under the current criteria.

Was Devilfish important to European poker? Definitely. Did he play high stakes for a significant period of time? I believe so. Was he a horrible human being? The evidence is pretty strong he was especially with regards to women. Should this disqualify him from the hall? I tend to side with those that feel it should but under the existing criteria it does not. Is it good to finally recognize a non American? You bet, too bad it was someone that brings so much baggage with him.

One thing to keep in mind, $6.2M meant more back in the day. Even after his last cash, he was around 75th (or higher) ranked overall, whereas now, just 3 years later, he's at 126th. It seems like the last few years of his life, he wasn't playing many tournaments either. I bet he was even a lot higher ranked back in 2007 or 2008, when he was playing a more serious tournament schedule. The highroller stuff has just recently started and he really never took part in it. That really skews the results for overall cash total. He certainly made a large impact on the poker community. I'd be pretty shocked if he wasn't very profitable during the bulk of his career, just look at this rally he had for 11 years of top 100 in cashes: .

I did find it kinda funny that Dnegs had to make and excuse for Ivey not bothering to enter any WSOP events this year because the cash around the world was just too good right now.

There are probably a couple hundred if not thousand people who fit the results criteria, except for the part about having to have played against acknowledged competition but what does that even mean?

If OJ can be in the pro football hall of fame, Devilfish should be allowed in the poker hall fame. Besides that, I doubt there are many people in the poker hall of fame without an at least somewhat shady background, including Doyle.

it wasnt an excuse, it was the truth.

So what is the reason he didn't enter then?

If you want some easy viewing, Devilfish documentaries are always fun. There's one out there from the mid-90's and it's so cringey but it's so much fun to watch.