To paraphrase Ethan “Rampage” Yau as he bagged his chips tonight at the 2026 U.S. Poker Open in Las Vegas, it’s so much more fun to be lucky than to be good. The poker vlogger felt this way after being on the winning end of major suckouts that propelled him to bag a top stack inside PokerGO Studio at the end of Day 1 of Event #3: $5,000 NLH.
Also among the five players remaining is chip leader Sam Laskowitz, middling stacks Adam Hendrix and Cherish Andrews, and Michael Berk, who is at the bottom of the pack after being victim to both of Yau’s suckouts.
The event, the final $5,000 buy-in tournament of the series, drew 115 runners for a prize pool of $575,000.
USPO Event #3 Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Laskowitz | United States | 3,750,000 | 47 |
| 2 | Ethan Yau | United States | 3,500,000 | 44 |
| 3 | Adam Hendrix | United States | 3,150,000 | 39 |
| 4 | Cherish Andrews | United States | 2,025,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Yifu He | United States | 1,025,000 | 13 |
| 6 | Michael Berk | United States | 925,000 | 12 |
Poker Vlogger Hits Two Crucial Cards
Yau busted out of the event early but had a lot more luck on his next bullet. He made it to the money but was at risk of going out in tenth place when he four-bet jammed pocket jacks into the aces of Berk. But a flopped jack kept the popular vlogger and Pokemon card collector alive, and Berk would rue the day he ever let him double up.
With six players remaining in the final hand of the evening, Yau again four-bet jammed, this time with ace-queen, into Berk’s ace-king. The end looked nigh for Yau after a blank flop and turn, but a queen landed on the river to bring a “WHEW!” from Yau and a defeated “Dude…” from Berk, who was at a loss for words and left the Studio before bagging what remained of his stack.
Yau wasn’t the only player who got lucky on Day 1. The early stages belonged to Alex Foxen, who began his day with a deep conversation with Landon Tice, who has been on a spiritual kick and made comments like “love fulfills all rules” and “the covenant is only fulfilled with Jesus.”
The conversation about spirituality inspired Foxen to snatch the souls of two opponents by hitting three-outers in big pots.
“You don’t know what it’s like being me,” Foxen joked after one of the hands.
The money bubble burst as Jesse Kertland had his king-queen dominated by the ace-queen of Berk. Those who fell in the money include Justin Saliba, Jim Collopy and Dylan Linde.
Day 2 will kick off later today at 11:45 a.m. local time on Level 21 with blinds of 50,000/100,000/100,000, who will win the trophy and first-place prize of $143,750.
Event #3 Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $143,750 |
| 2 | $89,125 |
| 3 | $63,250 |
| 4 | $48,875 |
| 5 | $37,375 |
| 6 | $28,750 |
*Photos courtesy of PokerGO
Connor Richards
Senior Editor U.S.