Nearly a year ago, Ethan “Rampage” Yau started his “Road to a Million” challenge with the intention of winning a million dollars playing poker and recovering from an earlier downswing.
Going into the final days of 2024, Rampage was doing well, having won over $329,000 in poker games since March in just 135 hours of gameplay.
The numbers seemed great, and the popular vlogger was mostly playing in soft games with smaller stakes. One could say he was doing it the right way and staying away from big gambles and unnecessary risks.
The new risk-averse attitude came to a halt during the World Poker Tour World Championship last December when Rampage decided it was once again time to take on the best players in the world and spin up his bankroll in just two quick sessions.
In the most recent episode of his Road to a Million vlog series, Rampage showed us the results of two high-stakes cash game sessions he played against the likes of Phil Ivey and Matt Berkey.
Unfortunately for all of Ethan’s fans, the games didn’t go too well and the player seemed to make some very questionable plays in massive pots he simply didn’t have to play.
We take a look at some of the key hands from the two sessions and the overall results that saw Rampage take a huge step in the wrong direction.
Rampage Takes on the Poker Elite
The WPT World Championship is one of the biggest poker tournaments of the year. The 2024 edition saw some of the best poker players in the world come together at the Wynn Las Vegas, one of Sin City’s finest poker hubs.
While many focused on the tournaments alone, Rampage got an exclusive invite to an ultra high-stakes cash game that included some of his fellow WPT ambassadors like Xuan Liu and Phil Ivey.
The game also involved the likes of Matt Berkey and Markus Gonsalves, making it one of the tougher televised games we have seen lately, although WPT made sure to get a few recreational players in the mix as well.
The stakes were set at $100/200, making this a huge game by any standard. If he wanted to play, Rampage would have to step out of his comfort zone and buy in with all the money he had at his disposal in Las Vegas.
Once again falling to his old vices, Rampage decided to go for it, and brought well over $100,000 to the tables to play at a table full of hardened poker sharks.
Ethan Falls Pray to Squid Game Mind Tricks
When Rampage bought into the first session of the WPT Cash Game, he brought $30,000 to the table to play stakes of $100/200. He was quickly informed that the table would also be playing Squid Game, a novel twist on No Limit Hold’em similar to the Stand Up Game.
The players would play nine hands of Squid Game every hour. Anytime a player wins a hand, they get a button. Players without a button have to pay $500 for every button, adding up to $4,500 in total.
One of the first interesting hands of the session came when Matt Berkey decided to limp in for $400 with A♥K♥, presumably with the intention to re-raise, and the majority of the table joined him in going to the flop.
With $2,600 in the pot and six players still with cards, the dealer put out a flop of K♠7♠K♦, giving Berkey an absolute monster. Rampage, on the other hand, held Q♣7♦, and was already drawing dead.
Action checked over to Nick, who put out a bet of $1,000 with no pair and no draw, which Rampage popped up to $4,000 in the hopes of protecting his two pair. Berkey sprang the trap and re-raised to $10,000, clearly indicating he has a big hand.
Yet, Ethan decided that the Squid Game was perhaps forcing Berkey to play looser than usual and that this back-raise could be an elaborate bluff attempt.
He put in the remainder of his $28,000 stack, and got quickly called by Matt, who had over 99% equity in the hand, with running sevens remaining Rampage’s only hope.
When the sevens didn’t come, Rampage re-bought for another $30k, and quickly got involved in yet another big pot with Berkey. This time around, he was able to get away from his ace-high when Berkey once again flopped trips and went all-in on the river.
Yet, the session would end in a disaster for Rampage, as he once again tried to pull off a big play against Matt Berkey, who was running hot throughout the game.
With the Squid Game on once more, Berkey popped it up to $5k over the top of a couple of $200 raises. Rampage saw an opportunity to take the pot away from Matt and put in his entire $33k stack with just K♦7♦, assuming that Berkey would often be bluffing in this spot.
While the logic was not flawed, Berkey once again had a big hand and was able to make a relatively trivial call with his A♥Q♦. They ran the board twice, but Ethan got no help and decided to leave the poker room for the day with a $60k loss to his name.
More Squid Game Action with Phil Ivey
While he initially contemplated not playing the next day, the news that Phil Ivey would be in the game made Rampage come back with $100k and try to win back his losses.
Playing against Phil Ivey may be one of the hardest tasks for most poker players, but it is also a dream that so many of us in the poker world have had for years.
The dream came true for Rampage, who was able to play a game of $100/200 with a $200 ante and the Squid Game on, which meant some crazy action would ensue.
Apart from Ivey, the game was made up of mostly the same players, with Matt Berkey, Dylan, Rips, and Markus Gonsalves all back at the table.
The first huge pot of the session for Ethan came when he called a $2,500 raise with pocket fives and went to the flop of Q♦Q♣3♥ with three other players.
Dylan, who held Q♥8♣ put out a bet of $3,500, and Rampage decided this was a good time to take a stand, raising it up to $10k.
Dylan called the raise with ease and the two went to the 4♦ turn. Rampage now checked and Dylan fired out a bet of $8k looking to get some value. Ethan called, getting the right odds to perhaps spike a five on the river, and looking to catch some bluffs.
The river card was the A♣ and this time around, Dylan bombed it for $38k. Always one to get curious in spots like these, Rampage made the call after some deliberation, only to see the bad news.
This hand wiped out more than half of Rampage’s stack and likely put him on tilt that he was not able to recover from.
Rampage would lose another $20k a bit later when he tried to pull off a 4-bet bluff before the flop, only to run into both KK and AA. He was able to get away from this hand, but only at great expense.
The final hand of Rampage’s session saw him get his last $38k in with a flush draw against fellow WPT ambassador Xuan Liu’s top pair. They ran it twice, but luck simply wasn’t on Ethan’s side, as he lost both runs and decided to leave the game with a total loss of $160k.
What’s Next for Rampage?
Following a brutal $430k loss in January last year, Rampage was well on his way to recover his losses and turn his year around, only stuck about $100k for the year in the lead-up to WPT World Championship.
His Road to a Million vlog series was producing results, and his more disciplined approach to the game allowed him to actually turn things around and start making money at the tables once more.
Yet, taking a shot in one of the biggest games of the year and definitely not playing his A-game there resulted in a $160k downswing that’s guaranteed to mess with his confidence.
We don’t expect Rampage to quit poker anytime soon, but the emotional way in which he finished his last vlog tells us a lot about the mental state of one of poker’s best vloggers.
Stay tuned for more updates from Rampage’s career and more vlogs, as he looks to turn a new page in 2025 and get back to his winning ways.
