“That Was Completely Inappropriate” Chainsaw Slams Rampage After Online Challenge

In one corner, the cash game and YouTube content creator Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau. In the other, mixed game legend and five-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler. This week’s ‘Poker Twitter’ row started small but ended way too big as insults got personal. We spoke with Chainsaw in the aftermath to find out the truth of the matter.

How the Row Began

“You’re drawing dead versus a ton of notable players.”

Can ‘Winner’s Tilt’ kick off a poker row? If you’re a content creator hunting engagement, the answer would appear to be a resounding ‘yes’. Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau put out his latest video and in doing so, threw down a metaphorical gauntlet that he would like his chances heads-up against anyone. After several comments to the contrary in his YouTube comments, Yau said: “After beating the end boss, Adrian Mateos, and winning my second WSOP bracelet, I like my chances.”

Never one to countenance hot air, mixed game specialist Allen Kessler replied, “You’re drawing dead versus a ton of notable players” and it’s hard to disagree with that. Kessler wasn’t saying that he himself would beat Yau, but that several better players than Yau could, an opinion likely shared by most in the game.

“Allen, I’d be honored to play you $100/200 or higher, play 100K hands and see what happens,” Yau clapped back. “It would be fun content.”

“Sure in limit mixed format T.O.R.S.E.?” Kessler asked.

“I’m just talking about [No Limit] sir.” Came Yau’s response.

“Not interested in heads up no limit, but I can line up several players who would be.” Kessler came back. At which point, Yau jumped off the deep end.

“If you’re trying to take shots online, be a man and back them up yourself. Or stay in your lane and be quiet please.”

“I wasn’t taking shots at all,” replied Kessler. “I’m not a No Limit specialist like you are. I offered to play you in my realm, and you refused that. All I said was that I could find some players who would gladly accept your offer.”

Rampage Goes to War, Gets Flamed

“I’m tired of this whiny ass fart degrading others constantly.”

While Rampage did indeed win a WSOP bracelet after beating Mateos in the $5,000 WSOP Online Hybrid event earlier this summer for $228,825, Yau’s experience lies almost exclusively in No Limit Hold’em, either in live-streamed cash games, go-pro self-filmed cash games in Vegas or online, where he promotes ClubWPT Gold, which he later admitted to CoinPoker pro Bobby James was “a promo for pokercoaching and peak, not a play me HU open challenge.”

This seemed disingenuous to many, with one follower stating: “You literally said “I like my chances but let’s find out” and when somebody says ‘OK let’s find out’ you basically say na na it was just clickbait bro. You actually have an opportunity to get great content and reach a different audience but completely ****ed out.”

In sharing the argument on X – gotta get those clicks – the cash game pro Yau then lowered himself to the following:

“I’m tired of this whiny ass fart degrading others constantly online but has no backbone when push comes to shove. You’re a cancer to this industry and a miserable c**t.”

This didn’t go down well with players such as Bob Mather and TV writer and former WPT Player of the Year Matt Salsberg, who corrected Yau on Kessler’s status in the game.

“He’s a National f**king Treasure, buddy.” The Weeds and Kidding writer said.

The reigning WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb also wasn’t happy, saying: “Listen, I pick on Allen a lot more than most, but at least he didn’t get rich off his supporters hustling them like others.”

After WSOP Main Event finalist Garry Gates put up an AI-created poster (below) depicting Rampage and Chainsaw as battling monsters, Rampage replied: “It would be an honor to represent the community and knock some sense into this pr*ck.”

Chainsaw Cuts Down Young Pro

“There was no online challenge to begin with – it was a marketing ploy.”

We reached out to Allen Kessler and he said that it was obvious to him that the original post from Yau was pure clickbait and he took against it.

“The whole thing was a sham,” Kessler told us. “He eventually admitted it wasn’t an open invitation to play him. There was no online challenge to begin with – it was a marketing ploy.”

Such marketing ideas might sound good in their creation, but Kessler is one of a growing number of players who are starting to turn away from the relentless shilling of tournaments for no sake other than self-promotion.

“When I said I could line up notable players to play him heads up then he suddenly challenged me,” says Kessler. “I have no interest in that, and the funny thing is that 100,000 online hands would take literally months to play out.”

That would take Kessler – and Yau himself – away from both of their professional paths in poker. Yau wouldn’t have the time to focus on the content creation that still forms the cornerstone of his earnings and Kessler would lose the chance to take part in several series in Las Vegas and the surrounding area.

“I’m way too busy for that nonsense and despise No Limit anyway,” Kessler said.

While the jibes and inflammatory language are water off a duck’s back to Kessler, it was Yau calling him “a cancer on poker” which Kessler was not at all comfortable with.

“That was completely inappropriate – my Mom died from cancer.” Kessler said.

In an age where very few people atone for the words they have said with a heartfelt apology and a notable change in their future behavior, it is likely expecting far too much from Yau to see the error in his words or the manner in which they were said to one of his elders in the game.

Those words seem cheap when the proposal of a heads-up challenge was never really there.