Ethan “Rampage” Yau has stunned his stakers by refunding them their share of the first bullet, and more, after winning the $25k High Roller at the WPT World Championship for a staggering $894,240!
Giving everyone who bought action on @StakeKings on the first bullet a full refund + 2x. LFG pic.twitter.com/RXO83jmVbF
— Rampage (@rampagepoker) December 13, 2022
Yau is a hugely-popular YouTube poker streamer and sold out his first bullet on StakeKings, but the last of those chips went the way of Seth Davies as Yau battled with the best of the highstakes crew.
Undeterred, Yau decided to pump $25k of his own money into a 2nd bullet with a public vote on Twitter agreeing with his YOLO (You Only Live Once) approach.
Thinking of firing this 25K again and yoloing 100%.. have end of dinner break to decide
— Rampage (@rampagepoker) December 12, 2022
Usually that would mean that he keeps anything he wins on the 2nd bullet, the first bullet stakers receiving nothing, but Yau was in generous mood.
“Catching a sun run right now.. 200K starting —> 1.3M If I somehow win.. everyone who bought will get a refund from first bullet,” he tweeted.
What followed was a rollercoaster of emotions for Yau and his fans, a day 2 bag seeing him on the main stage, but fearing the worst: “I’m gonna bubble this 25K and it’s going to suck, preparing for it now. 12 left, 11 pay. I’m last in chips.”
Somehow the “jinx” didn’t arise and not only did Yau make the paid spots, he made it all the way to heads-up, before downing Kevin Rabichow for the title when his K♥ J♥ held up against his opponent’s Q♠ J♠.
The $894,240 first-place prize was the biggest by far of Yau’s career, more than doubling his lifetime live tournament earnings. There were those who couldn’t believe he would give a chunk of it away, however, with Christmas “Grinch” Doug Polk among them…
This is messed up. You got freerolled if you pay people that money.
If I buy a piece of you in a tourney with no reference to bullets, its clearly just bullet #1. If you lose a 2nd theres no way I’m paying for the second bullet as a backer. This is just wrong.
Congrats btw https://t.co/iXatZEoLKl
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) December 13, 2022
Yau replied to Polk, explaining the gesture would only cost him $21k and that he had plenty of good luck previously: “I don’t disagree with this tweet at all. I’ve been personally “lucky” with bricking every bullet that I’ve sold action on and binked when I had 100% of myself.
He added: “I only sold 25%~ which totalled 7K. This was by far the biggest score of my life, happy to freeroll myself to the small % of people who believed in me.”
Positive stories are often hard to find in poker, so Yau’s largesse was a pleasant surprise to many. Among the comments disagreeing with Polk:
- “It’s not “messed up”…it’s a nice gesture. He knows he doesn’t owe this money, but f it, he won so he’s feeling good. Congrats @rampagepoker.”
- “The guy just made sure he is Staked for Every Tournament he ever wants to play.”
- “Don’t get the drama. He lost first bullet. Bought back in 100% and decided to pay back something that wasn’t owed to backers. Well done that man!”
What do you think of Yau’s decision to pay out money he didn’t have to? Leave a comment and let us know on our social media channels!
- Get the best rakeback deals
- View all poker strategy articles
- View the latest poker news
- Watch more poker videos
- Get the biggest poker bonus
- Watch the best Twitch Poker streamers
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Please gamble responsibly! Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, visit www.begambleaware.org
