Poker got involved in a viral clip that made the rounds on social media this past week that involved the son of poker pro Bernard Lee and poker vlogger Ethan “Rampage” Yau.
$10,000 Game Winner
Noah Lee, who is a college student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass), was attending a weekday women’s basketball game when he was selected to participate in an in-game contest.
He easily drained a layup, free throw, three-point shot and then impressively, a half-court shot all in under 30 seconds to win the grand prize of $10,000. The crowd went wild and his video went viral thanks to the coolness and ease at which he completed the contest.
But there was a kicker coming for Lee. He was notified via email by “OddsOn Promotions” after the game that he would not collecting the $10,000 prize because he had broken the strict rules of the game. His foot was on the line of the half-court shot, which the form he had filled out explicitly stated was a requirement.
This is a standard rule for these type of in-game contests at college basketball games, as the company doling out the prize has to make sure that it is difficult to receive such a sum of money. This is certainly a scenario that has happened many times before in these type of contests.
Lee was obviously crushed as he was no longer going to receive the $10,000 after he had thought he was won it in spectacular fashion.
Rampage Gets Involved
Thanks to the video’s viral nature, many people decried the company’s decision to renege on the $10,000 prize.
One person who took particular notice was popular poker vlogger and WPT ambassador Ethan “Rampage” Yau, who is well schooled on WPT Global poker bonus codes and promotions.
Rampage had a personal connection being a UMass grad himself and working UMass basketball games when he was a student there. He shared his discontent.
“As a UMass grad, this is pretty lame. Can someone get me in touch with the winner, I’ll give him 5K. When I was in college, winning even 1K would’ve been year changing for me. You can’t scam college students like this,”. Rampage sent out on X, taking a break from his poker and focusing on how to play pocket pairs for a little bit.
UMass Corrects Situation
After the negative press that UMass received following the incident, the University made sure to make it right as it was not there fault to begin with. With the help of UMass head men’s basketball coach Frank Martin and UMass athletic director, Ryan Bamford, they intend to correct the situation.
It appears as though Rampage, who is among the top five YouTube poker vloggers, Rampage will not have to send his money as UMass itself is going to give Lee the money that he won in the contest that OddsOn Promotions denied to him.