Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau Loses Six-Figure Pot to Ruin Epic Cash Session

Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau is known for his whip-smart vibes at the poker table and award-winning poker content. His play at the poker felt has earned him tournament trophies and millions of dollars at the cash game tables. However, on the bottom end of a bad downswing, Yau lost a massive pot worth $600,000 that would have pulled him out of his slump and rescued his year.

Where Did Yau Play?

Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau has found the poker tables difficult for much of 2025. Suffering several six-figure downswings on live streamed poker shows like Hustler Casino Live, Yau didn’t even recover his losses at the recent World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas over the summer. A return to the cash game tables in The Big Apple felt like the perfect time to make a profitable comeback.

Many of Ethan Yau’s YouTube videos take place at the cash game felt. While Yau, a ClubWPT Gold ambassador, has often played in WPT Global games, his latest epic hand came at an underground club in New York City. Winning big in NYC is less regulated and therefore you need to know where the big action is… and Yau certainly does. Pots were frequently tipping five figures before getting to the turn, and Yau started like a train.

After 14 hours of action, and at ten in the morning, Yau was up by $400,000 when the crucial hand took place. But up to that point, Yau had been flying along. Winning two big pots with quads, he was confident, and his video seemed full of swagger. That was until he was dealt ace-queen of hearts.

The Action Heats Up

Dealt ace-queen of hearts, Yau might have been worried from the get-go. Texas Dolly himself, a.k.a. the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Doyle Brunson once said it was the hand that cost him the most money. Blinds at the club started at $25/$50 as the game, played in No Limit Hold’em.

By 6am, the blinds had gone up considerably, with $200/$400 now the limits. This actually suited Yau’s initial buy-in of $50,000 more, but the end result would still be the same. Four hours later, blinds were $500/$1,000 and Yau had played his night perfectly, up around $300,000. He’d done so by a combination of street smarts and good fortune, hitting a full house on the river to win one big hand against his opponent’s superior pair.

That was all about to change in dramatic fashion as at the same blinds of $500/$1,000, a coinflip turned into a cooler.

What Happened in the Hand?

Holding ace-queen, Yau saw his opponent in the hand raise to $3,000 from the button with pocket jacks. Yau fired off a three-bet to $14,000 with two overs and his opponent raised to $40,000. The flop came A-J-2, pairing Yau’s ace but giving his opponent a set of jacks. Yau checked, but his opponent bet $16,000.

A quick call from Yau came and the turn landed. An inconsequential nine of clubs and nothing to slow down the betting. Yau called a very chunky bet of $56,000, completely in the dark that he was drawing dead to a set. Of course, an ace on the river gave him trips. But it gave his opponent a full house. Yau checked, then his opponent said what Yau would later refer to as ‘the two most painful [words] that I never wanted to hear’.

‘All’ and ‘in’ were those two words, of course, to the tune of $199,000 in this case. Yau was in a real spot. With three spades on the board and the pair of aces, plenty of hands beat him, but then he had one of the aces that would complete some of those hands. After breaking down the video later, Yau admitted that the lure of what he could win – $700,000 in profit for one night’s amazing work – clouded his judgement.

Yau called, and a pot of $622,000 was pushed in his opponent’s direction.

A few minutes down the road, it was the end of the line for Yau, who booked $84,000 in profit. Not unhealthy, not insubstantial. Even a chip off the block of debt he’d been in.

But it was a long way from what it might have been, even if somehow Yau could have found a fold pre-flop with Doyle Brunson’s least favorite hand.

Yau Breaks Down the Defeat

In his trademark self-effacing fashion, ‘Rampage’ took to the screen to break down just how much the hand impacted him after it took place.

“I don’t know if I want to sleep and I’m numb to it, or I want to cry,” he conceded. “That would have meant a lot to me considering how bad of a month – and year – I’ve had. I lost it all in one go because I couldn’t fold trips heads-up.”

So far, over 219,000 views on YouTube have proven the old adage about people being unable to resist rubbernecking at the site of a car crash. This one hits the skids at 100mph, and Rampage barely climbs out of the wreckage.

If you can bear to see it, you can watch the hand in full right here: