Rampage’s $350,000 Downswing: The Brutal Reality of High-Stakes Poker in 2025

While the WSOP grind has been unkind, Yau’s biggest losses haven’t come from tournaments, but from high-stakes cash games. By early May, he had already dropped over $300,000—mostly at the cash tables. A $40,000 upswing that month brought brief relief, but his bankroll took another nosedive during the summer series in Las Vegas.

Here’s a breakdown of Yau’s 2025 stats so far, combining cash games and tournaments:

• Total Losses: $357,213

• Hourly Rate: -$848.61

• Average Loss Per Session: $3,133.45

• Total Sessions: 114

• Cash Rate: 24%

• Total Time Played: 420 hours, 56 minutes

Yau’s month-by-month results illustrate how brutal the cash game grind has been:

Rampage’s month-by-month performance in 2025 highlights just how punishing the year has been. He started the year with a massive $102,295 loss in January, averaging a brutal -$2,986 per hour. February followed with another $99,915 in losses at a rate of -$2,300 per hour. March brought some improvement, though still down $42,050, averaging -$925 per hour. In April, the downswing deepened again with a $71,095 loss at -$1,378 per hour.

May finally offered a glimmer of hope, as Rampage posted his only winning month of the year, earning $40,646 at an average of +$1,046 per hour. Unfortunately, that momentum didn’t last—June saw losses of $59,158 at -$318 per hour, and as of early July, he’s down another $23,346, averaging -$1,103 per hour.

Yau isn’t the only high-stakes player facing losses this year. Fellow poker pro Matt Berkey recently shared that his own 2025 losses have ballooned to $1.53 million, highlighting just how unforgiving variance can be—even for the best.

[Ethan “Rampage” Yau]

Rampage’s Tournament Results This Summer

Despite participating in a wide range of events—including the WSOP, Wynn Summer Classic, and Venetian DeepStack—Yau has only managed $182,925 in total tournament cashes so far. This marks his lowest annual tournament haul since shifting focus to MTTs in 2021.

Still, Yau did achieve a major milestone this summer, surpassing $3 million in lifetime live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob. However, as most poker players know, cashes don’t always translate to net profit.

Here’s a look at his 2025 tournament cashes so far:

Whether Rampage can turn things around in the back half of the year remains to be seen. For now, 2025 is shaping up to be the most challenging year of his poker journey.

Rampage’s tournament results this summer reflect a grind with few deep runs. His most notable finish came on May 28, when he placed 17th in the WSOP $5,000 8-Handed event, earning $22,552. A few days later, on June 2, he cashed for $3,000 after finishing 290th in the WSOP $1,500 6-Handed. The following day, June 3, he added $10,970 to his total with a 44th-place finish in the WSOP $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event.

On June 7, Rampage reached 8th place in the Venetian $800 UltimateStack, bringing in $5,833. He followed that with a 130th-place finish for $5,271 in the WSOP $2,500 NLH on June 8. The same day, he also cashed for $1,647 in the WSOP $800 Deepstack, placing 668th.

June 9 saw him make another cash, this time for $5,200 with an 82nd-place finish in the Wynn $1,600 NLH. On June 10, he added $2,099 to his total by finishing 182nd in the WSOP $1,000 + $500 Super Turbo Bounty. A few days later, on June 15, he took 237th place in the Wynn $1,500 + $700 Mystery Bounty, earning $3,365. The very next day, June 16, he finished 31st in the Wynn $1,100 NLH Turbo for $2,383.

His final recorded tournament cash for the summer came on June 29, when he placed 339th in the WSOP $1,000 Mini Main Event, good for $4,730.