Event #26: $500 No-Limit Hold’em Grande Finale took place on Sunday and attracted a total of 1,677 players. Moreover, 825 rebuys were recorded, meaning the field actually consisted of 2,502 entries that made a prize pool of $1,125,900.
The event lasted for 12 hours, and the player who took the final prize was Ethan “RampageP” Yau, who won $164,393.99 for his effort. On top of that, Yau managed to win his first bracelet.
Yau is only 22 years old, and he decided to share his happy moments with the world by streaming his victory on YouTube in his channel Rampage Poker. According to his description of himself, Yau is a “player who often loses.” His Hendon Mob page shows that he only managed to win $2,180 in tournaments, mostly coming from two small cash prizes at Encore Boston Harbor.
It’s safe to conclude that Ethan Yau is not one of the most experienced players, but he has huge potential. The sheer fact that his first WSOP-related cash also brought him a gold bracelet is simply astounding. He traveled to New Jersey to take part in WSOP online, as only Jersey and Nevada players are allowed to participate due to poker’s legal status in other states.
The first thing Yau did was ask for a one-day extension on his Airbnb account, as he didn’t expect to win the tournament at all. Perhaps the toughest thing Yau had to do was tell his mother about the victory, as he didn’t inform her about his trip to Jersey to take part in the World Series of Poker online series.
The event awarded top 372 players with cash, and “WinCiry” was the player who had to burst the bubble. Many great players managed to make it to the money list but failed to reach the final table. Some of them include Nick Binger, Chris Moorman, Guy Dunlap, Daniel Negreanu, Eric Baldwin, Mark Smith, and Brandon Eisen.
The Final Table Results
Mohammed “Tmomoney” Mufti started the final part of the event with the biggest stack, but Yau was right behind him. Yau was determined to win the event, and soon scored his first two eliminations, which made him the chip leader.
Yau’s first victim was Michael “Mike91680” Guzzardi, who had to settle for the ninth place and the prize of $13,961. After that, Yau faced Joon “jykpoker” Kim, who won Event #7 of the WSOP online. Kim’s ace-king was no match for Yau’s cowboys, so he had to hit the rail as eighth-placed and win $18,014.
But Mufti didn’t give up so easily, scoring one more elimination against Matt “OMG_Obama” Iles who ended up in the seventh place for $23,531. After that, it was time for Jason “TATTOOMONEY” Scott to hit the rail, winning $31,075.
The five-handed play was part of the final table that took long to move forward, and the player who had to say goodbye to the remaining four players was David “reallytight” Kim, who won $41,321.
After him, Blake “shampainpopn” Whittington exited the competition with $55,282 and was foon followed by start-of-the-table chip leader Mohammad Mufti.
Ethan Yau’s last opponent was Brian “LakersGTD” Patrick. At the start of the heads-up, Yau had 22.8 million in chips, whereas Patrick’s stack was 14.5 million. The two players soon decided to flip for it, but Yau’s two red fours were better against Yau’s ace-eight. Therefore, Patrick had to settle for second place and the prize of $101,669.